Taxes on drinks - no sea days

[Yg13]

Looking at a European/Mediterranean itinerary for June. The trips is 9 days with NO sea days and an overnight at one of the stops.
 

with the FAS beverage package, will we be paying taxes/VAT on all drinks all the time?
 

TIA  

[cruiseny4life]

Possibly. But possibly not. It's hard to determine. It seems that it is based on embarkation port or disembarkation port or which countries you travel to or if you're in the EU or out of the EU or have the Free at Sea or don't have the Free at Sea. 

 

For reference, on my cruise, leaving from Barcelona, stopping in Cartagena and the Azores, before finishing in NYC, we only paid taxes on beverages purchased while in US waters due to NYC taxes. There were signs around the ship stating only those withOUT a beverage package would pay taxes. 

 

Good luck! You probably won't really know until you're onboard. 

[graphicguy]

12 minutes ago, Yg13 said:

Looking at a European/Mediterranean itinerary for June. The trips is 9 days with NO sea days and an overnight at one of the stops.
 

with the FAS beverage package, will we be paying taxes/VAT on all drinks all the time?
 

TIA  

There was a dust up a few months ago (October) about the VAT while in European ports.  They charged in while in Barcelona, but not in France or Italy.  Then, the refunded the VAT from Barcelona.  Not sure hw they worked it out with Spain, but they did.

 

What they're doing now?  I don't know!

Edited January 4 by graphicguy

[graphicguy]

2 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

Possibly. But possibly not. It's hard to determine. It seems that it is based on embarkation port or disembarkation port or which countries you travel to or if you're in the EU or out of the EU or have the Free at Sea or don't have the Free at Sea. 

 

For reference, on my cruise, leaving from Barcelona, stopping in Cartagena and the Azores, before finishing in NYC, we only paid taxes on beverages purchased while in US waters due to NYC taxes. There were signs around the ship stating only those withOUT a beverage package would pay taxes. 

 

Good luck! You probably won't really know until you're onboard. 

That's what I'm thinking.  Probably won't know until you board.  But, it did seem to be more of a Spain issue than anywhere else we docked.

[Yg13]

9 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

Possibly. But possibly not. It's hard to determine. It seems that it is based on embarkation port or disembarkation port or which countries you travel to or if you're in the EU or out of the EU or have the Free at Sea or don't have the Free at Sea. 

 

For reference, on my cruise, leaving from Barcelona, stopping in Cartagena and the Azores, before finishing in NYC, we only paid taxes on beverages purchased while in US waters due to NYC taxes. There were signs around the ship stating only those withOUT a beverage package would pay taxes. 

 

Good luck! You probably won't really know until you're onboard. 

The trip is r/t from Barcelona, and we will have the beverage package. Thanks for the reply, hopefully the taxes won’t be too excessive if they do charge them

[jkbec101]

We never paid taxes on any drink when we embarked in Barcelona.  It didn't matter if we were in port or not.  This was in 2022.

[FLAHAM]

Took a 7 day Med cruise out of Rome in late September on the Viva.  No sea days.  Never charged tax on drinks.

[luv2kroooz]

Our experience on a recent Transatlantic embarking in NYC....we were also charged taxes in NYC. We were charged taxes in all four Spanish ports. Beverage service was limited to beer, wine, and soft drinks in certain Italian ports and for hours after leaving the dock. Taxes were at least 10% of the overstated menu prices. I think we ended up paying an additonal $80-$100 per person for the cruise. We met some passengers that wanted to use the Plus package, but on a $100 bottle of wine, they were paying $10 in taxes.

 

Upon making inquiry of staff on board, they said they just received the "deer in the headlights" look. NCL staff had no clue. We didn't inquire onboard and just paid the taxes. If there is a tax or fee to be charged, rest assured NCL will attempt to charge you for it.

 

It was so refreshing to embark a Princess ship a few months ago in Brooklyn with the Princess Plus package. We were not charged a dime on any of our drinks consumed while in NYC territorial waters. I assume Princess handled that on behalf of their guests.

[1025cruise]

My understanding is that if a cruise starts in Spain, but never leaves the Schengen region, then VAT needs to be charged.

[PSU78]

We sailed the Mediterranean on the Prima 11/1/23 - 11/11/23. We embarked with the drink package in Barcelona and never paid any VAT at any of the Spanish, French, or Italian ports we visited.