Wait, what.!?!?

[imacruiser99]

Unless your a a tax attorney for the state, you do not know if there are provisions in the law which does not allow the company to pick up the tab.  Just like in land base casino's there are local/state/tribal laws which totally prohibit complementary drinks.  There are also state and local laws which prohibit 2 for 1 drink offers.  

 

Personally, if you cannot fork over a few extra bucks to the local/state taxing authority, I think you need to find a new place to spend your vacation hours.

 

THIS IS NOT A CRUISE LINE ISSUE.

[mz-s]

1 minute ago, imacruiser99 said:

Unless your a a tax attorney for the state, you do not know if there are provisions in the law which does not allow the company to pick up the tab.  Just like in land base casino's there are local/state/tribal laws which totally prohibit complementary drinks.  There are also state and local laws which prohibit 2 for 1 drink offers.  

 

Personally, if you cannot fork over a few extra bucks to the local/state taxing authority, I think you need to find a new place to spend your vacation hours.

 

THIS IS NOT A CRUISE LINE ISSUE.

at least for cheers - the drinks are not complimentary. They’re just pre-paid. 

[imacruiser99]

18 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

That’s kind of crazy. When they delivered it to your room they didn’t charge. When you pick it up at the bar you have to pay. I paid the tax on my free water in Galveston because I wanted the free water the day I didn’t have cheers and the tax was cheaper than buying a small bottle.

I have bought alcohol delivery to the room and it ALWAYS shows up the next day because of the tax in Texas.

 

The port of Galveston has a good write up on the Texas laws

 

https://www.portofgalveston.com/191/Notices-to-Cruise-Passengers

 

 

[Saint Greg]

3 minutes ago, imacruiser99 said:

I have bought alcohol delivery to the room and it ALWAYS shows up the next day because of the tax in Texas.

 

The port of Galveston has a good write up on the Texas laws

 

https://www.portofgalveston.com/191/Notices-to-Cruise-Passengers

 

 

I was just talking about the free bottle of water. 

[skridge]

On 8/20/2022 at 11:27 AM, Tierun said:

Ok, I have not sailed on a fun ship since 2009, but just booked Celebration and looking at the cheers package it says that taxes are charged for drinks in US ports. I’ve sailed X, RCCL, and MSC (all multiple times) and never experienced this. Is this solely a Carnival thing, and why?

They have to pay taxes when docked in port.  They are going to pass that onto you every time.

[DallasGuy75219]

14 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Clearly texas has no such law about unlimited drink pkg.

Clearly you are wrong.

 

https://www.cruzely.com/answered-first-day-drink-packages-and-alcohol-on-galveston-cruises/

“State law and TABC rules prohibit any practice which could reasonably be interpreted to allow or encourage overconsumption of alcohol. This includes “all you can drink” packages or other promotions which allow unlimited alcohol for a buy-in price. These standards would apply to any alcoholic beverages served or sold within Texas territory, including any waters over which Texas claims jurisdiction. Once a vessel is outside of Texas territory, the state’s laws no longer apply.”

 

Why does Royal allow drink packages on day one of Galveston cruises and Carnival doesn't?  Probably their own individual risk tolerances for TABC enforcing this law against the cruiselines.  Royal's all you can drink package clearly violates the law but maybe they don't think it's probable to be enforced. Carnival's 15 drinks a day, as close as 5 minutes apart, could still be reasonably be interpreted to allow or encourage overconsumption of alcohol, although more of a grey area than Royal's. 

 

At the end of the day, Carnival may just have a lower risk tolerance than Royal.  And if they don't want to serve Cheers drinks in Texas waters, maybe it's just simpler for them to wait until day 2 for Cheers to be effective.

[firefly333]

2 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

Clearly you are wrong.

 

https://www.cruzely.com/answered-first-day-drink-packages-and-alcohol-on-galveston-cruises/

“State law and TABC rules prohibit any practice which could reasonably be interpreted to allow or encourage overconsumption of alcohol. This includes “all you can drink” packages or other promotions which allow unlimited alcohol for a buy-in price. These standards would apply to any alcoholic beverages served or sold within Texas territory, including any waters over which Texas claims jurisdiction. Once a vessel is outside of Texas territory, the state’s laws no longer apply.”

 

Why does Royal allow drink packages on day one of Galveston cruises and Carnival doesn't?  Probably their own individual risk tolerances for TABC enforcing this law against the cruiselines.  Royal's all you can drink package clearly violates the law but maybe they don't think it's probable to be enforced. Carnival's 15 drinks a day, as close as 5 minutes apart, could still be reasonably be interpreted to allow or encourage overconsumption of alcohol, although more of a grey area than Royal's. 

 

At the end of the day, Carnival may just have a lower risk tolerance than Royal.  And if they don't want to serve Cheers drinks in Texas waters, maybe it's just simpler for them to wait until day 2 for Cheers to be effective.

I can remember when carnival started cheers day 1, after they hit international waters. I've done carnival close to 20 years now out of texas. This starting cheers day 2 is not that long ago. Not how it used to be.

 

There is no legal reason for it to start day 2. I agree carnival waits as it's just simpler. And perhaps also they make more money this way. 

 

Princess is going out of Galveston this winter .. see how they do it. Ncl is inclusive with drinks and coming end of 2023. Be interesting how theh do it.

 

I've done princess out of Galveston before they left, then changed to carnival. Never had drink pkg. Long long ago. Could be interpretation. OK?

[karmamule]

We sailed on the NCL Joy out of NYC this past May and were told we'd see tax charges for drinks on embarkation day until we're at sea. It was just a few dollars total and we got our money's worth for the package regardless not only because of the various cocktails/champagne but the fancy coffee drinks we got at Starbucks on that ship.

[cruisegirl1976]

I  sailed on NCL out of Port Canaveral and was charged tax on the drinks until we left also.  Never been charged when leaving out of Ft Lauderdale or Miami.

[Buckeyefrank100]

On 8/20/2022 at 11:27 AM, Tierun said:

Ok, I have not sailed on a fun ship since 2009, but just booked Celebration and looking at the cheers package it says that taxes are charged for drinks in US ports. I’ve sailed X, RCCL, and MSC (all multiple times) and never experienced this. Is this solely a Carnival thing, and why?

Every drink you have prior to being in international waters will incur a sales tax charge..  It's not a Carnival thing, it's state law.  Other cruise lines have simply eaten the charges and not passing them onto the consumer.

[ballarinamom]

On 8/20/2022 at 5:10 PM, pc_load_letter said:

Port thing, not a fun ship thing.

Yes. And some ports wont even allow the drink package to begin until you leave.

[ABQrobin]

WE mostly sail out of Galveston and we see people arguing with the bartenders on embarkation day every cruise...  Texas has some rule about it, drink packages don't start until next day when out of Texas port, or something like that.  

[asalligo]

Does not surprise me that Carnival passes this cost on to us. They have the slimmest profit margin of any cruise line. Happy that our fares are still low though. Much rather that cost be recouped on something like drinks instead of paying prices like on NCL where I am buying everyone's drinks. 

[mjkacmom]

54 minutes ago, asalligo said:

Does not surprise me that Carnival passes this cost on to us. They have the slimmest profit margin of any cruise line. Happy that our fares are still low though. Much rather that cost be recouped on something like drinks instead of paying prices like on NCL where I am buying everyone's drinks. 

NCL has the passengers paying the tax, and I love the free drinks, so thanks!

[Tierun]

Another point of contention for me is the drink package not covering the private islands. Royal and MSC allow the package to be used at their private island visits. This is actually a far greater bone of contention than the taxes.

[Tierun]

1 hour ago, asalligo said:

Does not surprise me that Carnival passes this cost on to us. They have the slimmest profit margin of any cruise line. Happy that our fares are still low though. Much rather that cost be recouped on something like drinks instead of paying prices like on NCL where I am buying everyone's drinks. 

True, each line has the singular objective of turning a profit and if this works for Carnival while also providing a value to its customers, than more power to them.

[allinwonderland]

On 8/21/2022 at 5:16 PM, DallasGuy75219 said:

Why does Royal allow drink packages on day one of Galveston cruises and Carnival doesn't?  Probably their own individual risk tolerances for TABC enforcing this law against the cruiselines.  Royal's all you can drink package clearly violates the law but maybe they don't think it's probable to be enforced. Carnival's 15 drinks a day, as close as 5 minutes apart, could still be reasonably be interpreted to allow or encourage overconsumption of alcohol, although more of a grey area than Royal's. 

 

At the end of the day, Carnival may just have a lower risk tolerance than Royal.  And if they don't want to serve Cheers drinks in Texas waters, maybe it's just simpler for them to wait until day 2 for Cheers to be effective.

I always thought it was because all the other lines have a package that's truly unlimited, whereas Carnival caps you at 15. Which means they need to enter the transaction into their point of sale system as soon as it happens, in order to track your drink count (also why they don't let you use it on their private island). I think the other lines get around the "can't sell all you can drink law" by not charging it into the system till you're in international waters - definitely a gray area by the spirit of the law, but in theory adhering to the letter of the law.

[DallasGuy75219]

3 hours ago, allinwonderland said:

I always thought it was because all the other lines have a package that's truly unlimited, whereas Carnival caps you at 15. Which means they need to enter the transaction into their point of sale system as soon as it happens, in order to track your drink count (also why they don't let you use it on their private island). I think the other lines get around the "can't sell all you can drink law" by not charging it into the system till you're in international waters - definitely a gray area by the spirit of the law, but in theory adhering to the letter of the law.

The language of the statute is pretty vague... "any practice which could reasonably be interpreted to allow or encourage overconsumption of alcohol" and  "any alcoholic beverages served or sold within Texas territory".  The other lines could be construed as violating the law just by serving unlimited drinks, even if the package was paid for before the cruise and they waited to process POS transactions until international waters.

 

I think it all goes back to the cruiselines' interpretation and risk tolerances. 

[BoozinCroozin]

This is a US waters thing. Inside the line, you pay the state taxes. We did this out of NOLA which is about 5 - 6 hours through the Mississippi. I think out total taxes in and out were about $25.

[ray98]

I have paid tax on NCL also, not just a CCL think.

[cameronp12]

Just to chime in here, I've never paid them on Celebrity out of Florida or on Royal out of Galveston, so my guess would definitely be that RCI just eats the taxes and doesn't pass them on the customer - a much better feeling IMO. I have also noticed that with both RCCL and Celebrity, they don't always even ring up every drink, since the packages are truly "unlimited", so that might have something to do with it, as mentioned above.

[MrsKC08]

Definitely not new at all, and not specific to Carnival. We have not been charged when sailing on RCCL our of Florida, but we have been charged on NCL sailing out of NOLA each time we've sailed from there. Doesn't matter if you have the drink package or not.

[justafem]

Up until May of this year, I'd exclusively cruised with Princess.

 

I was shocked to be charged tax on a package I'd paid for on carnival.  

 

I asked about this on my next princess cruise.  It was explained that princess doesn't actually process the drink purchases until they get into international water.  

 

I guess it's about how the cruise line wants to utilize the labor.  

[Drew B 58]

1 hour ago, justafem said:

“I asked about this on my next princess cruise.  It was explained that princess doesn't actually process the drink purchases until they get into international water.” 

 

So they’re basically committing tax evasion.  Great!  🙄

[Tierun]

Loopholes are meant to be used.