Brining a case of wine in from the US to consume on a cruise

[oskidunker]

What duties would I have to pay? 6 Champagne and six red wines.Flying US to Munich connecting to LHR

[soccerdad72]

No idea what the duty would be, but I would check with your cruise line to see what their restrictions are. With Royal Caribbean, there's a limit of two bottles per cabin that's allowed to be brought on board with you.

[GrJ Berkshire]

How? You could not have in hand baggage, and putting that much 'booze' in a case and if you did have you seen how the bags are thrown around I dread the state of any clothes in that case soaked in wine with broken glass.

Surely better to buy in Europe, just as you embark the ship.

[Bob++]

According to a wine seller (cellar?) in Calais wine weighs in at 8kg per 6 bottle case and Sparkling Wine, 9kg per 6 bottles, so you are planning to lug 17kg (38lb) of wine in your luggage. Add to that, there is an old saying about carrying coals to Newcastle. (look it up) :)

[klfrodo]

There is much more than just Duty.

You'll need a Customs broker to ensure you have the proper import and export paperwork,,, even if just hand carrying.

[oskidunker]

i have wine cruzer which is hard luckage on wheels with inserts made of styrafoam. travels well as luggage. done it many times flying from SFO to Ft Lauderdale.

 

However going to Great Britain sounds like cost would be prohibitive. Will just buy wine on the ship.

 

Most wine I would take is rare and hard to find. Cost $50- $100 per bottle.

[gnome12]

There’s a big difference between flying domestically and internationally in this case.

 

 

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[GrJ Berkshire]

This has to be a joke post, you would never transport 'quality' wine like this !! I am a wine drinker and would not even consider putting wine through this trauma ! Equally what are you going to wear on the cruise, your entire luggage limit would be used up on the wine. Anyway wine in Europe is better and cheaper than the states especially Champagnes, which almost certainly would not enjoy the pressure changes and temperature variations of a trans-Atlantic flight.

[John Bull]

. Will just buy wine on the ship.

 

Because ship's wine is at restaurant prices and higher, you'd do well to use the allowance of one bottle per adult or two per cabin allowed by most cruise lines and buy them at your embarkation port.

With NCL you're screwed, with Princess you just might find it better to buy your dozen bottles before embarkation and pay Princess's corkage fee (is it still $15 per bottle?) on ten of them. Saves the excess baggage & transportation and paperwork grief.

 

If your port is Southampton you'll get an excellent choice and knowledgeable staff at https://www.majestic.co.uk/stores/southampton (opposite the rail station & quite handy for the coach station and cruise terminals.)

 

If you're using ship's airport transfer bus (to Southampton or Dover) you'll likely not have the opportunity to buy there because the transfer buses are non-stop direct to cruise terminal.

But you can try the World Duty-Free shop at Heathrow immediately after the baggage carousel and customs (not sure if there's one at all terminals). They're not actually "duty-free" (there's no duty-free on arrival) and they're quite small shops with a very limited selection of wines (possibly only champagnes), but they'll be better value than ships' wines.

 

If you buy in Munich the prices will be duty-inclusive and no paperwork to take the wines to LHR - but still the transportation cost & grief.

 

JB :)

[oskidunker]

flying business so luggage allowance would not be a problem. will buy at Majestic. Thanks for all the advice!

[LHT28]

I would be afraid it may miss the connecting flight :)

 

Good plan to buy in the UK

[Cotswold Eagle]

There is much more than just Duty.

 

You'll need a Customs broker to ensure you have the proper import and export paperwork,,, even if just hand carrying.

 

 

 

Why? This is for personal consumption, not commercial import, with the wine travelling with the passenger.

 

OP, your personal allowances (2 litres sparkling plus 4 litres still wine, I think) cover most of your case. You will have some to declare, and it’s possible you’d be let off the duty, which would only be a few pounds per litre.

 

The relevant UK agency is Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and searching online should find you the detail of allowances and duty. Note, even though you are transiting through Germany, the relevant info will be ‘travelling from outside the EU’, assuming you are not actually entering Germany, I believe. Here’s a start:

 

https://www.gov.uk/duty-free-goods/arrivals-from-outside-the-eu

 

 

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[Globaliser]

Most wine I would take is rare and hard to find. Cost $50- $100 per bottle.

OP, your personal allowances (2 litres sparkling plus 4 litres still wine, I think) cover most of your case. You will have some to declare, and it’s possible you’d be let off the duty, which would only be a few pounds per litre.

I agree - if you have three bottles of champagne and three bottles of still wine per person, that's 2.25 litres of each. The still wine is within your duty free allowance so there's nothing to pay. And in all probability customs will simply not be in the least bit interested in your 250 ml excess of champagne. Customs is simply nothing to be worried about.

 

Like others, I would be more concerned about the state of fine wine after it's been transported like this. It's perfectly possible to get it to your destination intact when checked-in (more than once I've imported half a dozen bottles of still wine in a suitcase packed with clothes), but there's going to be a lot of banging and shaking it about in all the mechanised and automated systems that are used.

 

However, if you choose to buy in the UK, don't necessarily expect to be able easily to get wine of that sort of quality at Majestic. They do sell some, but it's not really what they're known for or what they do best.

 

If you buy in Munich the prices will be duty-inclusive and no paperwork to take the wines to LHR - but still the transportation cost & grief.

Actually, if you buy in the shops at Munich airport during your connection, it will be advisable to make sure that you have paperwork in the form of hanging on to your receipt. Because your checked bags will be marked as having originated outside the EU, you are not permitted to use the Blue customs channel for EU arrivals and must choose between Green and Red. If you go through the Green channel with enough wine to look like it might be over the limit, you will want to be able to demonstrate that you bought it tax-paid and duty-paid in Germany (which will be the nature of the purchase you make in Munich).