Beverage package in Hawaii

[cruisebrat15]

Can you know buy the beverage package for Hawaii and if so do you have to pay sales tax every time you buy a drink in port?

[steamboats]

Yes, you can buy the Hawaii beverage package in advance. And yes, during our cruise there was some kind of local tax which was charged for each drink. It did depend on the port.

 

steamboats

[markkw07]

1 hour ago, cruisebrat15 said:

Can you know buy the beverage package for Hawaii and if so do you have to pay sales tax every time you buy a drink in port?

If I recall correctly, Tax is charged regardless if in port or not. 

 I am sure someone will confirm or deny that. 

[Sailing12Away]

2 hours ago, markkw07 said:

If I recall correctly, Tax is charged regardless if in port or not. 

 I am sure someone will confirm or deny that. 

I don't remember that... tax/gratuities are usually included at the time you buy the package.

 

But when you're in port I'm pretty sure nearly EVERY port charges taxes, not just Hawaii.

[chengkp75]

Hawaii does not have a "sales tax", they have a "General Excise Tax", which is levied on each company involved in the entire purchase chain of the good or service.  So, the alcohol sold onboard has had GET paid by the wholesaler, the shipping company that brought it to the islands, the trucking company that delivered it to the wholesaler, and finally the retailer (the ship).  Now, you will notice that this GET is levied against the business, but the state allows each company to decide if they want to roll their cost of GET into the sales price, or pass it on to the customer as a marked "tax".  So, until a "good" has been sold, there is no GET, as the package (while a service), also depends on the sale of the "goods", so each drink is charged GET.

 

This applies to anything purchased onboard the ship (shops, drinks, specialty dining), while the ship is within state limits (out to 3 miles offshore).  The bridge notifies the purser's office when the ship leaves the 3 mile limit, and the POS registers are reprogrammed to not charge GET anymore.

 

GET varies by county (island) and some municipalities, but runs about 4.5%.

[steamboats]

13 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

I don't remember that... tax/gratuities are usually included at the time you buy the package.

 

But when you're in port I'm pretty sure nearly EVERY port charges taxes, not just Hawaii.

 

No, not all ports do have an extra tax added and usually not when you do have a drink package.

 

But as for Hawai´i that GET was added and the percentage depended on the port (island). And it was added to single drinks I bought having the package. I didn´t check on but some drinks I didn´t have to pay anything extra. But this could have been while we´ve been at sea.

 

steamboats

[Sailing12Away]

On 7/23/2022 at 4:29 AM, steamboats said:

 

No, not all ports do have an extra tax added and usually not when you do have a drink package.

 

We never sail without a drink package, and have just about always been charged tax on drinks we get while at port. This was last on embarkation day on the Star in Barcelona.

 

February on the Pearl out of Miami

 

Last year on the Encore out of Seattle

 

Etc, etc etc.

[njhorseman]

2 minutes ago, Sailing12Away said:

On 7/23/2022 at 4:29 AM, steamboats said:

 

We never sail without a drink package, and have just about always been charged tax on drinks we get while at port. This was last on embarkation day on the Star in Barcelona.

It is port-dependent . You  can't generalize from your personal experience.

 

Not all ports charge a sales, excise or value added tax. For example if you were to take a cruise to Bermuda you would not be charged tax while in port in Bermuda because doesn't have a sales tax or any similar tax.

[steamboats]

1 hour ago, Sailing12Away said:

We never sail without a drink package, and have just about always been charged tax on drinks we get while at port. This was last on embarkation day on the Star in Barcelona.

 

February on the Pearl out of Miami

 

Last year on the Encore out of Seattle

Etc, etc etc.

 

As for Barcelona it´s the 10% EU VAT they charge. But usually you don´t pay this when you have a package. Seems to be something NCL is doing. RCI is not charging those 10% when you do have a package.

 

Try out a German port and there shouldn´t be an extra charge.

 

steamboats

[chengkp75]

3 minutes ago, steamboats said:

 

As for Barcelona it´s the 10% EU VAT they charge. But usually you don´t pay this when you have a package. Seems to be something NCL is doing. RCI is not charging those 10% when you do have a package.

 

Try out a German port and there shouldn´t be an extra charge.

 

steamboats

While that is an EU tax, it is up to the member nation as to whether they collect it or not.  As far as I know, only Spain and Italy charge this, and only on cruises that are entirely within the EU.

[CruizinSusan70]

While sailing in the Caribbean the only time you're charged a sales tax is while you're still at your embarkation port in  the US or if you visit a port in the US such as Port Canaveral or Key West.  There are no taxes applied while in international waters or while visiting any foreign ports in the Caribbean.  

[Sailing12Away]

2 hours ago, njhorseman said:

It is port-dependent . You  can't generalize from your personal experience.

 

Not all ports charge a sales, excise or value added tax. For example if you were to take a cruise to Bermuda you would not be charged tax while in port in Bermuda because doesn't have a sales tax or any similar tax.

If you expect me to pull up every single cruise and cross reference very single port we docked in and whether I got a drink and was charged or not... you've got a lot more free time on your hands than I do.

 

Based on my personal experience, it feels as though we have been charged at every port.  Whether it's a sales tax, an EU tax, a VAT, or a 'just because we can' tax... I personally don't care. If there are ports that don't charge anything, that's beautiful... I just haven't experienced it yet.

 

It's peanuts compared to the overall cost of the cruise, but the whole thing which started this side track was that someone commented about it being unique to Hawaii, which isn't the case.

[CruizinSusan70]

5 minutes ago, Sailing12Away said:

 

Based on my personal experience, it feels as though we have been charged at every port.  

Then you obviously have never taken a Caribbean, Bahamas or Bermuda cruise since all three of them contain ports where drinking is tax free while on board.

[njhorseman]

13 minutes ago, Sailing12Away said:

If you expect me to pull up every single cruise and cross reference very single port we docked in and whether I got a drink and was charged or not... you've got a lot more free time on your hands than I do.

 

Based on my personal experience, it feels as though we have been charged at every port.  Whether it's a sales tax, an EU tax, a VAT, or a 'just because we can' tax... I personally don't care. If there are ports that don't charge anything, that's beautiful... I just haven't experienced it yet.

 

It's peanuts compared to the overall cost of the cruise, but the whole thing which started this side track was that someone commented about it being unique to Hawaii, which isn't the case.

No one's asking you to do any research.  But anyone who makes a broad generalization  by citing their personal and possibly limited experience runs a substantial risk of being wrong, and you are just that...wrong.

[AmazedByCruising]

6 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

While that is an EU tax, it is up to the member nation as to whether they collect it or not.  As far as I know, only Spain and Italy charge this, and only on cruises that are entirely within the EU.

 

Huh? There is no EU tax. The EU certainly wants direct taxes (VAT, income, wealth) as a source of income, but luckily we haven't reached that stage yet. This is just Spain wanting money. Like Germany could tax drinks at 40% or whatever they feel like while the ship is still close enough to Warnemunde, but that money would flow to Germany, not the EU. 

[steamboats]

14 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

While that is an EU tax, it is up to the member nation as to whether they collect it or not.  As far as I know, only Spain and Italy charge this, and only on cruises that are entirely within the EU.

 

Actually all countries do charge it. But the law is very complicated and everyone has a different interpretation. While some countries like Spain do charge it for the whole cruise when there´s no non EU port on the itinerary others only charge it while the ship is in port of the country. In Germany the VAT is included in all marked prices. Therefore you won´t find any extra charges.

 

Anyway, it´s just NCL which adds the tax to all drinks you consume with a beverags package. I´ve never had this with RCI. There I only pay the EU VAT for single drinks.

 

steamboats

Edited July 25, 2022 by steamboats

[steamboats]

8 hours ago, AmazedByCruising said:

 

Huh? There is no EU tax. The EU certainly wants direct taxes (VAT, income, wealth) as a source of income, but luckily we haven't reached that stage yet. This is just Spain wanting money. Like Germany could tax drinks at 40% or whatever they feel like while the ship is still close enough to Warnemunde, but that money would flow to Germany, not the EU. 

 

Actually it is an EU law but the percentage of the VAT is up to the country. And the money is not going to the EU but the country. But the basic EU law requires each country to charge the VAT when the ship doesn´t leave the EU and has no non EU ports. The percentage is the one of the starting point. So out of Barcelona it´s 10% for food (and 21% for non food). The interpretation of this law is very complicated and each country handles it differently.

 

steamboats

[markkw07]

I believe the OPs question was about the beverage package in HAWAII!

 

I am not sure how we ended up with the debate about international ports, as that is a whole different topic. 

 

The Hawaii bev package is unique compared to the regular(non hawaii) bev package, as everyone is aware. 

 

Edited July 25, 2022 by markkw07

[sunquest76]

If I have already paid GET Tax on my invoice, will I be charged again on the ship? I realize it is not a large amount, but I am getting conflicting information [NCL TA is saying no, boards and FB say yes]

[steamboats]

16 hours ago, sunquest76 said:

If I have already paid GET Tax on my invoice, will I be charged again on the ship? I realize it is not a large amount, but I am getting conflicting information [NCL TA is saying no, boards and FB say yes]

 

Yes, tax has to be paid for the single drink you order even with the package.

 

steamboats