Port service charge on drinks

[ve3ell]

Hello we have noticed that a service charge now applies to drinks when sailing out of Texas and also Los Angeles. Does this apply to drinks bought when sailing out of New Orleans also ?

[MeHeartCruising]

6 minutes ago, ve3ell said:

Hello we have noticed that a service charge now applies to drinks when sailing out of Texas and also Los Angeles. Does this apply to drinks bought when sailing out of New Orleans also ?

 

It's actually the state SALES TAX and not a service charge.   It is charged while inside the geographic limits of the sales tax in some locations.  It is also charged in Miami.  Unfortunately, I do not know if it is charged in New Orleans.  

[ve3ell]

1 minute ago, MeHeartCruising said:

 

It's actually the state SALES TAX and not a service charge.   It is charged while inside the geographic limits of the sales tax in some locations.  It is also charged in Miami.  Unfortunately, I do not know if it is charged in New Orleans.  

I have an onboard credit so a small charge doesn't matter much. Still cheaper than price of drinks in Canadian bar.

[Kenny2skidoos]

Last November we were charged the tax out of NO. It lasted a few hours as we sailed down the Mississippi until we hit open water. I think it was like 3%.

[dtiger]

I found that charge also in Boston and San Juan ports.

[eser1174]

We had to pay taxes on drinks when we we sailed from Barcelona and also while we were in any Spanish ports. 

[ggTexasGal]

2 hours ago, ve3ell said:

Hello we have noticed that a service charge now applies to drinks when sailing out of Texas and also Los Angeles. Does this apply to drinks bought when sailing out of New Orleans also ?

I pulled receipts from our cruise out of NOLA, December 2017.  From the time we embarked until we entered the open water, we paid 10% LA tax on each drink we had (averaged $1.00 per drink)!  We've found this to be about the same from most US ports. 

[cml4958]

They are charging you state and local sales tax on the value of the drinks.  I work as a sales tax auditor and this is something we consider taxable.  I do find it odd that they are charging sales tax on the value (price) of the drink when they should be charging sales tax on the COGS of the drink.  In the COGS scenario, you would take an average COGS of drinks and then apply that to the ticket.  But the rules in those states may be different and that's why they charge on the price of the drink vs COGS.

[zqvol]

4 hours ago, ve3ell said:

Hello we have noticed that a service charge now applies to drinks when sailing out of Texas and also Los Angeles. Does this apply to drinks bought when sailing out of New Orleans also ?

 

It's not a service charge, it is a tax, and it applies to almost every US port.

[BirdTravels]

7 hours ago, ve3ell said:

Hello we have noticed that a service charge now applies to drinks when sailing out of Texas and also Los Angeles. Does this apply to drinks bought when sailing out of New Orleans also ?

No service charge. The local state/city is requiring the ship to collect sales tax while in their port. It applies to most US embarkation ports. Not duty/tax free. Same as buying a photo from the photo ship on disembarkation day. Once you arrive in your disembarkation port, the photo shop has to charge tax. 

Edited November 15, 2018 by BirdTravels

[esm54687]

Here's a thread that was just started on Monday: