VAT / Taxes on Fjords & Northern Europe DCL

JazzyC · 12 Mar 19, 11:42 AM

Hi Everyone

We have a Back to Back Norwegian Fjords and Northern Europe cruise booked for this summer on Disney Cruise Line. It is Dover to Dover calling at 6 different ports in Norway - plus Copenhagen in Denmark.
Our previous DCL cruises have been 3 Transatlantics and 1 Panama Canal -- we did not have to pay any tax on purchases on those trips.

On European cruises is everything in the shops on board going to be more expensive than we are used to because they have to add on additional taxes or VAT? If so are the items labelled with the actual cost or is it just 20 or 25% more when you go to pay (the same way it is about 6% more when you shop in the USA)?

Since we will only be visiting Norway and Denmark (which are not in the EU) I do not know what the tax situation will be. Does anyone have experience of this? I just need to know if I should hold off on more expensive purchases until a later cruise that will not have any additional tax. A friend has asked some Pandora charms for example -- I will not promise to get some for them if it is going to cost them 20 or 25% more than it would on a non-Europe to Europe cruise.

I am sure since this is the DIBB it goes without saying -- but I am a Brit -- not from the USA -- I know that they can claim back the additional taxes when they fly back home. Hope this is not too confusing a post, and thanks for any help,
Claire

W3LUM · 12 Mar 19, 12:06 PM

Originally Posted by JazzyC

Hi Everyone

We have a Back to Back Norwegian Fjords and Northern Europe cruise booked for this summer on Disney Cruise Line. It is Dover to Dover calling at 6 different ports in Norway - plus Copenhagen in Denmark.
Our previous DCL cruises have been 3 Transatlantics and 1 Panama Canal -- we did not have to pay any tax on purchases on those trips.

On European cruises is everything in the shops on board going to be more expensive than we are used to because they have to add on additional taxes or VAT? If so are the items labelled with the actual cost or is it just 20 or 25% more when you go to pay (the same way it is about 6% more when you shop in the USA)?

Since we will only be visiting Norway and Denmark (which are not in the EU) I do not know what the tax situation will be. Does anyone have experience of this? I just need to know if I should hold off on more expensive purchases until a later cruise that will not have any additional tax. A friend has asked some Pandora charms for example -- I will not promise to get some for them if it is going to cost them 20 or 25% more than it would on a non-Europe to Europe cruise.

I am sure since this is the DIBB it goes without saying -- but I am a Brit -- not from the USA -- I know that they can claim back the additional taxes when they fly back home. Hope this is not too confusing a post, and thanks for any help,
Claire

Hi

I wouldn't think there was taxes to pay because the shops are not open when in port. I am trying to remember if you got charged vat on your drinks when you are in port or if that was by an other cruiseline.
I will be doing the EBTA in May, i will try and find out when onboard. If you are doing back to back you should become a CC gold member for your 2nd cruise , then you will get a disscount on your shop purchases

William

Omega1 · 12 Mar 19, 12:18 PM

Originally Posted by W3LUM

Hi

I wouldn't think there was taxes to pay because the shops are not open when in port. I am trying to remember if you got charged vat on your drinks when you are in port or if that was by an other cruiseline.
I will be doing the EBTA in May, i will try and find out when onboard. If you are doing back to back you should become a CC gold member for your 2nd cruise , then you will get a disscount on your shop purchases

William

I know that when in port in Barcelona we were charged an additional tax on drinks which wasn�t added when at sea. I can�t remember any charges in other ports.

**Bats** · 13 Mar 19, 02:02 PM

Unfortunately, I think you will have to pay tax, sorry.

On the British Isles cruise last year, we paid 20% on top of all labelled costs - it hurt even with my platinum discount!

If your first cruise is Dover back to Dover, then you may have to pay 20%, but I honestly can't remember what happened on our Fjords cruise as it was some time ago.

Joa

JazzyC · 13 Mar 19, 03:12 PM

Originally Posted by Bats

Unfortunately, I think you will have to pay tax, sorry.

On the British Isles cruise last year, we paid 20% on top of all labelled costs - it hurt even with my platinum discount!

If your first cruise is Dover back to Dover, then you may have to pay 20%, but I honestly can't remember what happened on our Fjords cruise as it was some time ago.

Joa

I feared that would be the case! I will have to try and restrain my shopping impulses

. I will certainly want to buy any special Fjords or Norway stuff they have -- but I will try and resist any regular DCL stuff in anticipation (and hope!

) of the next cruise. In the second half of the B2B we will finally be gold -- not sure what the gold discount in the shop is (5%? ) -- but clearly, it will not cover that kind of price increase.

Thanks all for taking the time to reply,
Claire

**Bats** · 13 Mar 19, 06:03 PM

Originally Posted by jazzyc

i feared that would be the case! I will have to try and restrain my shopping impulses

. I will certainly want to buy any special fjords or norway stuff they have -- but i will try and resist any regular dcl stuff in anticipation (and hope!

) of the next cruise. In the second half of the b2b we will finally be gold -- not sure what the gold discount in the shop is (5%? ) -- but clearly, it will not cover that kind of price increase.

Thanks all for taking the time to reply,
claire

10%

Dinglebert · 19 Mar 19, 01:40 PM

We did Southampton to Southampton last year and didn't pay tax. Shops closed when in port. Year before was also EU and no tax paid.

This may help

travelweekly/Cruise-...inted-with-VAT

and

cruisecritic/articles.cfm?ID=3242

As Norway not in EU then many of these rules don't apply

Also just read interesting bit about reclaiming of VAT for Norway purchases. In short if you spend more than �40 (315 kroner) in a single shop and they are showing a Tax Free for Tourist sign then you can get a receipt which allows you to reclaim the VAT on the final day in Norway. Apparently they have a specified time on that day where onboard you go to a desk and reclaim the VAT

JazzyC · 19 Mar 19, 05:20 PM

Thanks very much for the information and including those links - very interesting reading.

I am hopeful again that we may not pay the tax because Denmark and Norway are not in the EU -- and not to bring up politics -- but goodness knows if the UK itself will be in the EU or not by the time my departure day of August 25th comes along!

I hope it is not applied because I had not even considered the fact that it might be added to drinks -- our bar bill at Keys is usually high enough anyway 😵 -- or even to meals at Palo. But I will be prepared either way.

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply. I will try and remember to come back and give our experiences after the trip in case anyone else is interested.

12 Mar 19, 11:42 AM	#1
	12 Mar 19, 11:42 AM JazzyC Looking for my Ears
JazzyC Looking for my Ears Join Date: Oct 09	VAT / Taxes on Fjords & Northern Europe DCL Hi Everyone We have a Back to Back Norwegian Fjords and Northern Europe cruise booked for this summer on Disney Cruise Line. It is Dover to Dover calling at 6 different ports in Norway - plus Copenhagen in Denmark. Our previous DCL cruises have been 3 Transatlantics and 1 Panama Canal -- we did not have to pay any tax on purchases on those trips. On European cruises is everything in the shops on board going to be more expensive than we are used to because they have to add on additional taxes or VAT? If so are the items labelled with the actual cost or is it just 20 or 25% more when you go to pay (the same way it is about 6% more when you shop in the USA)? Since we will only be visiting Norway and Denmark (which are not in the EU) I do not know what the tax situation will be. Does anyone have experience of this? I just need to know if I should hold off on more expensive purchases until a later cruise that will not have any additional tax. A friend has asked some Pandora charms for example -- I will not promise to get some for them if it is going to cost them 20 or 25% more than it would on a non-Europe to Europe cruise. I am sure since this is the DIBB it goes without saying -- but I am a Brit -- not from the USA -- I know that they can claim back the additional taxes when they fly back home. Hope this is not too confusing a post, and thanks for any help, Claire

19 Mar 19, 05:20 PM	#8
	19 Mar 19, 05:20 PM JazzyC Looking for my Ears Thread Starter
JazzyC Thread Starter Looking for my Ears Join Date: Oct 09	Thanks very much for the information and including those links - very interesting reading. I am hopeful again that we may not pay the tax because Denmark and Norway are not in the EU -- and not to bring up politics -- but goodness knows if the UK itself will be in the EU or not by the time my departure day of August 25th comes along! I hope it is not applied because I had not even considered the fact that it might be added to drinks -- our bar bill at Keys is usually high enough anyway 😵 -- or even to meals at Palo. But I will be prepared either way. Thanks very much for taking the time to reply. I will try and remember to come back and give our experiences after the trip in case anyone else is interested.