Alba1

Just realised that the 10% tax must be them taxing the service charge. Would that be correct? So its 20% tax on the purchase and then 10% tax on the service charge? Is that correct?

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 calm down. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 you seem more upset about it than me and you were not even on the cruise. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Again, fully aware of terms and conditions and a possible 10% tax if in Spanish waters or ports. We were in France and Italy so we were not near Spanish Waters or Ports. 20% tax added on all inclusive drinks and only told about it once onboard. Customer Services could not tell us and did not know what it was for or why it was only on the Epic and only started the 25th Sep. Passengers on the ship prior to the 25th Sep were not charged this tax but had this added tax added on for their second week of their cruise after the 25th and were not notified or given a reason for it. It was our first NCL cruise and we enjoyed the ship, the food and entertainment etc onboard very much Just don't like being ripped off. 🤷‍♂️ It's never happened with any other cruise line we have sailed with so it will put us off booking with NCL again for the time being.

Thanks for that. Will take note.. 👍

Thank you. We are really looking forward to visiting this area. 👍

We did a carribean cruise 4 years ago with Royal Carribean in the Carribean. Hee Haw, (Scottish saying which mean no )taxes applied to all inclusive drinks. We are planning on doing a 2024 cruise taking in New Orleans etc and surrounding area. Is there an extra tax charge for cruises around that area?

Yes I have checked onl7nw and otherwise along with probably all the other passengers that were on board that week. Nothing about 20% vat tax for France or Italy at sea or in Port on line or otherwise. If there is show me. I just went on to check and book the Epic for next week to see what ot says and went through the full process to the end. It still says taxes included. Hee haw (Scottish saying) about any 20% extra charge on your all inclusive drinks. Nothing about why one ship in NCL, The Epic applying 20 tax and no other ship in the fleet Europe. If there show me. Maybe they are trying it on the Epic to see the reaction and then spread it across the fleet. If any other ship on any other cruise line are applying 20% added tax in Europe then show me. I really can't see why you are defending this stealth tax unless you secretly work for the cruise line

Nothing on booking form or final invoice about extra VAT charges. At final invoice it say taxes included. Well aware of terms and conditions we are not daft. This was our sixth cruise and the first cruise this has ever happened on. We were aware of a possible 10% tax if in Spanish waters but were not near Spanish waters. The cruise was France and Italy. There is nothing about a 20% tax or the reason for it online or otherwise. Along with all the other passengers on board we were not aware of this 20% tax. As previously stated passengers that were on the ship the week before were not charged this 20% tax but were then charged it on their 2nd week of the cruise without being told. Still not heard of any other NCL ships in Europe introducing this 20% charge or other any cruise lines. It just seems to be NCL Epic.

Rocket. The 20% added Vat charge started on NCL Epic on 25th Sep leaving Marseille visiting France an Italy. Apparently the Epic is first ship they have done this on. We booked the cruise 2 weeks before departure and at no stage were made aware of this until onboard the ship. Not aware of any NCL ships based in USA they have tried this extra VAT charge on. If they did I would expect a full blown mutiny.

That would make sense and less of a hit in the pocket if they did. Or they could let their customers know at the booking and payment process that they may be liable for added vat and port taxes even if all inclusive. If they did that then customers can budget for it. They started this on 25th Sept without letting passengers know. As far as everyone was aware taxes were included like other cruise lines.

Yes that's right. I love paying extra taxes. YAWN 🥱 . Get a life!

It was a NCL ship that we were on when the 20% vat was introduced. NCL did not inform the passengers before hand and we only found out about it once onboard. Introduced it by stealth. Long lines at guest services with complaining passengers. Why its 20% most of the crew didn't even know. We were told it was only the Epic that these charges have been introduced from 25th Sep so would be interesting to see if any other NCL ships have had the 20% vat introduced. We are booked with P and O in November so I will contact them to see if they are introducing this vat charge or not.

That is just our luck that it started on our cruise. 🤦🙄 Lesson learnt. Will just need to budget for it in future. Its put us off booking with NCL again.

We were also on this cruise and had Free at Sea. Alot of unhappy people on board. When you order anything you got a receipt showing the items purchased and their value, the service charge and both the 20% and 10% Vat charges as per PollMurgs receipt shows. When checking your cabin account it takes the purchase off and only the vat charges and service charges are applied to your cabin account. If you have prepaid the service charge then this also comes off. So your free drinks are still technically free but then you have to pay the vat tax on what the original value of what the drink was. Making them not free. We knew about the 10% in Spanish Waters tax but we were never in Spanish waters. It was France and Italy. The 20% and a further 10% Vat tax cant be justified by NCL and the staff couldn't answer why it was being applied. Passengers on the ship the week before didn't have these taxes but then had them this week. Every passenger we spoke to felt completely ripped of by NCL

Thanks for the thread. Glad to see I am not the only one complaining about this. 👍

Read my post. 20% tax for everything. An extra 10% charge when in a Port. Makes 30% in a Port. So if you are trying to be smart or have a new calculator that you are playing with I will try to be more precise for you. When at sea it was 20% = $4 tax for 2 $10 wines. When in Port it was the 20% plus and extra 10% vat charge making it a total of 30% tax for all drinks and purchases in Port. The point is that it is Stealth taxes being added that customers don't budget for.

We have just completed our first cruise with NCL on the Epic from Marseille on 25th for 7 nights and it will probably be our last. We did enjoy the cruise and the ship very much and the food on board was fantastic. The big downside was we were charged Stealth Vat charges by NCL for EVERYTHING we bought on board. We had the free at sea package with unlimited drinks etc but were charged 20% vat on every drink that we ordered even though it was meant to be all inclusive. So for example, two wines at $10 dollars each which equals $20 should be free on the drinks package but a charge of $4 tax was added to our bill. This happened every time for every drink ordered. To make matters worse, if we were in port another 10% vat charge was added on all purchases making a total of 30% vat charge. How can they justify that? We were not notified of these stealth taxes before our cruise and the que at customer service with complaints showed that fellow passengers were not informed of these charges either. We spoke to a couple that had been on the ship the week before and did not have these charges but were getting the charges on their second week. Another couple were on their 11th NCL cruise and this was the first they had these extra taxes added. They said they are now finished with NCL. Customer service desk did not appear to know why these charges were being applied and had various excuses and were very unhelpful. I was told to take it up with my travel agent once we were home. Apparently the Epic was only ship in the fleet applying these extra taxes for some reason. If it is an all inclusive package then that is what it should be? We have travelled with Royal Carribean and P and O on numerous occasions with a drinks package and never been charged extra tax per drink before. We did have a very enjoyable time on the cruise but we feel that we have been ripped off off by NCL so will not be booking with them again.