Help please with 'free' gift from recent cruise

Please correct me if I am wrong but if you attend these "art presentations / auctions" they feed you up on free bad tasting cheap bubbly

Wow! This is so tacky. Thanks for sharing this information. So happy I've never "won" anything.

I have not tread the rest of the responses but the import taxes in the UK are always the responsibility of the recipient and not in the control of the sender. The amount you are being asked to pay by UPS will also include their handling charge and may well be higher than the duty charged by HM Customs and Excise! What you paid on your seapass was the delivery costs.

It stinks, I know, but as UPS has already paid the import duty, you are likely to be liable for it regardless of whether or not you accept the package. You may as well accept it although you are likely to be disappointed with the print when you get it!

Put it down to an expensive lesson learned. Cruise ships are not the only place where you can be hit by "free gifts" with a high cost attached! You know what they say about a free lunch ...

There are cruise lines that dumped Park West.

We occasionally look but do not participate. We purchased a piece of art on our first cruise to remember it by, I love it and never, hardy ever, almost never, well only occasionally, remember the insane price I paid for it.

And doesn't one wonder whether all these Picasso's and other Grand Masters are real? How prolific did these artists have to be to have turned out all these works? I have always had my doubts about the veracity of anything Park West has to say, knowing how many hundreds of thousands of dollars they have been, and are currently, being sued for.

I've never understood the whole Kincade business either. Of course, art is in the eye of the beholder, but I feel that if an "artist" agrees to sell his works on home shopping channels, and you can get prints at discount stores and clearance racks, you lose all credibility. When TJ Maxx sells artwork, you do have to wonder.

OP, I'm sorry for your experience, but hopefully no other Celebrity cruiser will fall for the Park West dog and pony show again.

There are cruise lines that dumped Park West. .../quote]

Celebrity had dumped them for a while but I think they brought them back - although not 100% sure of that. I'm not sure the other art auction companies are any better. They all have sales quotas and commissions to make and the cruise lines like their cut.

 

And doesn't one wonder whether all these Picasso's and other Grand Masters are real?..

60 Minutes had a fascinating story on an art forger recently. The story is worth seeing. I'm sure there are others.

It's a little late for this now, but it may be worth a try.

I know when i'm flying home, I fill out the blue customs card (for Canada) on which I have to declare the value of goods I'm bring with me, and the value of goods to follow.

Did you by any chance declare this among the value of your goods? If so, you may have a case to fight with your local tax agency. You will likely have to pay the courier company and then get reimbursed from your tax agency.

Even if you didn't declare it, it might be worth a try

1) if you had room in your declaration (i.e. you didn't take advantage of your full duty free exemption

2) whatever you have to pay the shipping company justifies all your time and effort.

Hope you like the piece and when you see it on your wall, you can look at with a smile and remember your sailing. On our honeymoon, hubby accidentally bought a print at an art auction. He feel asleep. I nudged him to say how much fun I was having .... and up went the paddle :D We were laughing so hard when we went up to the admin desk. We did not know what we'd bought or how much we'd spent. We were scared and cracking up all at the same time. Park west agreed to let us off, but we went through with the purchase. We love to tell this story to anyone who comments on the print.

Very rarely is anything claimed as an original work of art. most of what they sell are limited edition prints. You might be a 1/100 print ... but there could have been 1,000,000 or more series that have been printed. Doesn't make what you've bought valuable. If you're buying art for an investment, don't do this on a cruiseship. If you're going to buy art on a cruiseship, it should be because you love the piece or you want a souvenir of your sailing.

And doesn't one wonder whether all these Picasso's and other Grand Masters are real? How prolific did these artists have to be to have turned out all these works? I have always had my doubts about the veracity of anything Park West has to say, knowing how many hundreds of thousands of dollars they have been, and are currently, being sued for.

 

I've never understood the whole Kincade business either. Of course, art is in the eye of the beholder, but I feel that if an "artist" agrees to sell his works on home shopping channels, and you can get prints at discount stores and clearance racks, you lose all credibility. When TJ Maxx sells artwork, you do have to wonder.

 

OP, I'm sorry for your experience, but hopefully no other Celebrity cruiser will fall for the Park West dog and pony show again.

Have been down the Park West dog and pony show once, luckily didn't buy anything, ended up buying the exact lithograph what they were selling onboard for about 1/5 of the cost when I researched it at home.

Two things will always be facts on cruise ships

1. You'll never get a bargain on a piece of art on a cruise ship, you'll pay high market AT LEAST when they add on all the MANDATORY extras

2. You'll never get a good deal on jewelry/gemstones either on board or in the Caribbean ports

Seen so many customers (I have a jewelry gemstone business called Simply Sapphires), that have come back with their FIND from a cruise of a gemstone or piece of jewelry and in 95 cases out of 100 I can tell them either

-I could of gotten it for them for much less than they paid

-It's a synthetic , lab grown, or some other term for not real

So like everything in life Caveat emptor

 

60 Minutes had a fascinating story on an art forger recently. The story is worth seeing. I'm sure there are others.

 

Great story! I enjoyed that. ;) Really makes you think...

Was this a original painting or a print. If it was a print, it has mucho lesser value than a original. I cannot believe that they would "give" an original work of art in a raffle.

My wife won a painting, sorry do not remember by who, on the Eclipse Transatlantic this spring. She paid just to have it shipped I and she just said it was reasonable?????? maybe to her LOL. Anyway in Florida, we did not have to pay any extra when it arrived.

Could it have been a VAT tax in European Union, I think Spain has a extra tax on stuff bought in there territorial waters, and some how it was passed, later on to you?

PS when I see or my wife sees some one buying a $25K painting on a ship, RIGHT, that means some kinda of f**** to me of course being poor, and not a lottery winner makes me wonder LOL

Was this a original painting or a print. If it was a print, it has mucho lesser value than a original. I cannot believe that they would "give" an original work of art in a raffle.

My wife won a painting, sorry do not remember by who, on the Eclipse Transatlantic this spring. She paid just to have it shipped I and she just said it was reasonable?????? maybe to her LOL. Anyway in Florida, we did not have to pay any extra when it arrived.

Could it have been a VAT tax in European Union, I think Spain has a extra tax on stuff bought in there territorial waters, and some how it was passed, later on to you?

 

PS when I see or my wife sees some one buying a $25K painting on a ship, RIGHT, that means some kinda of f**** to me of course being poor, and not a lottery winner makes me wonder LOL

With the commissions payable to galleries around 30% I would have thought that having sold a "picture" for $25k the gallery could have paid any freight

We avoid at all costs the art auctions and port talks--all it took was once to see the scams. Plus, the art is mostly ugly, at least to me!

Many threads and stories if you google PW,,,

if folks would not participate they will not be a profitable activity for X....then we'd avoid getting endless fliers to attend, not have to trip over the displayed art and would re-claim space onboard for other activities,,,

, many do participate and continue to buy so they are back on X....

We avoid them and shopping talks and have a nice collection of locally painted artwork and local sculpture, crafts etc,,,,

Many threads and stories if you google PW,,,

 

if folks would not participate they will not be a profitable activity for X....then we'd avoid getting endless fliers to attend, not have to trip over the displayed art and would re-claim space onboard for other activities,,,

 

, many do participate and continue to buy so they are back on X....

 

We avoid them and shopping talks and have a nice collection of locally painted artwork and local sculpture, crafts etc,,,,

You and me both...

I much prefer collecting Arts & Crafts from the places I visit than from onboard a cruise ship.

We are amassing a nice collection... None of it is worth a whole lot of money... Even combined (averaging $ 5 to $ 100 a piece). But it supports local artisans and has a authentic Flavour to it that ALWAYS makes me smile when I look at it and think back to the fond vacation memories it evokes.

Cheers!

You and me both...

 

I much prefer collecting Arts & Crafts from the places I visit than from onboard a cruise ship.

 

We are amassing a nice collection... None of it is worth a whole lot of money... Even combined (averaging $ 5 to $ 100 a piece). But it supports local artisans and has a authentic Flavour to it that ALWAYS makes me smile when I look at it and think back to the fond vacation memories it evokes.

 

Cheers!

I agree...in some ports you have to search out local craft centers, flea markets and items of a generic tourist nature made in India and China.,.

Also enjoy getting samplers of local music and locally made clothing...often home made

I avoid art auctions or buying anything on a cruise. When shipping anything to the USA from outside the country, you are liable for paying duty. Also, you can wait forever to get the item. I swore off sending after we bought a Turkish rug . We were told that it would arrive in 6 weeks. It was more like 6 months. I will never do that again. Fortunately, the rug was considered to be a local work of art. No extra duty. I bought it from a tour approved dealer. The amount of time that it took me to contact the tour company was outrageous. I kept sending emails which went unanswered until a week before the rug was due to arrive. I was happy to finally get my rug. However, I now do not buy anything outside the country unless I can carry it in myself.

 

As for winning a painting on the ship. You were taken. I hope that you contacted Royal Caribbean Ltd. you deserved better.

In a related story I just bought a Murano vase from a dealer in Murano and had it shipped to our home. We told the store when we would be home and it showed up one day after we were home with absolutely no additional charges. SO, there are some reputable dealers out there. Very pleased with a one of a kind piece of art and an excellent customer service experience.

Thanks for sharing your story, sorry for you, hopefully this with help others to avoid the art auctions.

We enjoy looking at the art but that is it.

Never want anything for "free".... I would not even accept a "free cruise"....

"Never want anything for "free".... I would not even accept a "free cruise"...."

Whyever not?

"Never want anything for "free".... I would not even accept a "free cruise"...."

 

Whyever not?

As with the painting, many shysters use the word "free" to lure people in... and then find there are a bunch of catches to it.

At a minimum, you've usually wasted time, and then dollars get added to it as you think well since I've spent the time already, and it's not so much. And them more dollars get added on since you don't want to lose what you've already spent...

Well all OP here again. Painting now arrived in its tube. I haven't yet opened it. I paid the £20 tax on receiving it.

I emailed parkwest two days ago. Not asking for the money back just as feedback in not deceiving customers. It's a con job! They haven't had the good manners to acknowledge my email. Nothing!!!! Shows what type of business it is.

Next cruise we will attend seminars as we enjoyed listening and learning about art as I am a novice but wouldn't buy anything and certainly not receive a free gift!

Lesson learnt good and true.

It was a fantastic cruise though :D

As someone who actually won a life changing amount of money, your comments are not accurate about winnings in the US.

 

Wife does auctions all the time, she will look at the art but won't participate in ship auctions.

I have also heard that you lose quite a bit of any win to tax in the US. We have Canadian relatives who regularly go to gamble in Vegas and they have had a couple of very big wins which were taxed heavily. Perhaps it was because they were not US cutizens?

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Well all OP here again. Painting now arrived in its tube. I haven't yet opened it. I paid the £20 tax on receiving it.

I emailed parkwest two days ago. Not asking for the money back just as feedback in not deceiving customers. It's a con job! They haven't had the good manners to acknowledge my email. Nothing!!!! Shows what type of business it is.

Next cruise we will attend seminars as we enjoyed listening and learning about art as I am a novice but wouldn't buy anything and certainly not receive a free gift!

Lesson learnt good and true.

 

It was a fantastic cruise though :D

We have bought twice on cruiselines - both Princess as far as I can remember. They are both Norman Rockwell prints as we like his work and they were not expensive. On the first one I believe it was with Park West and they actually sent us an authentication certificate but I do not believe there is any 'value' in either print - we just liked them. On one which was framed for delivery, we paid no duty and on the other which was unframed and in a tube, we paid duty 😕

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In the US, gambling winnings, prizes and the like are taxed as ordinary income. This rate will graduate from 0% to approx 40% plus any applicable state tax. However, one may have various deductions and credits that would reduce the tax total by substantial amounts. For most on this forum a "large" win would be taxed at around 35% total tax.