Paying customs dues at port

[chrisnb]

Hello does anyone have any experience paying dues at the port, do you pay there or do they send you a tax bill? how is it calculated. I know you are allowed 800.00 per person , and Disney supplies them with a printout before hand on how much you spent total on ship, which includes things that are not taxed like spa and cabana rentals. I am considering buying a piece of art from gallery.
thanks,
chris

 

[TRTRguy]

Fine art is not taxable / dutable.

 

[Trera]

I believe cabanas are taxed.

Hello does anyone have any experience paying dues at the port, do you pay there or do they send you a tax bill? how is it calculated. I know you are allowed 800.00 per person , and Disney supplies them with a printout before hand on how much you spent total on ship, which includes things that are not taxed like spa and cabana rentals. I am considering buying a piece of art from gallery.
thanks,
chris

 

[MelSpees]

I believe cabanas are taxed.

Taxed as in customs dues? I doubt it. It's a rental, not a purchase of something you are bringing back into the country.

 

[Trera]

Taxed as in customs dues? I doubt it. It's a rental, not a purchase of something you are bringing back into the country.

I was talking about sales tax.

 

[chrisnb]

Fine art is not taxable / dutable.

Thanks I did not realize that, makes things easier.
I am sure once they swipe KTW card on debarkation day and see we are over allowance we will get the VIP escort straight to a customs officer, for them figure out what we bought.
chrs

 

[chrisnb]

I was talking about sales tax.

yes cabana rentals pay Bahamian tax 7.5%
chris

 

[MelSpees]

I was talking about sales tax.

I made my comment as the OP was talking about paying duties when returning to a US port.

 

[diznymom]

I thought the OP was talking about paying duties, also.

You will receive a form on the last night to fill out for customs. Everyone gets it. You only fill out one per household.

Go to the US Customs website to see what is allowed to bring back into the USA. It will also tell you the limits.

 

[chrisnb]

I thought the OP was talking about paying duties, also.

You will receive a form on the last night to fill out for customs. Everyone gets it. You only fill out one per household.

Go to the US Customs website to see what is allowed to bring back into the USA. It will also tell you the limits.

Yes was talking about paying duties, I did not realize art was exempt, which makes things easier I still expect to be escorted by security once they swipe KTW card.
chris

 

[Stratus22]

Fine art has no Duty, The Declaration cards are no longer passed out to staterooms the last night unless you know you've gone over the $800 per person(Section 321). Then you will need to go to Guest Services for the Declaration Form. Alcohol is dutiable which I can tell you that Wine will probably be overlooked because the duty on wine is only a few cents per bottle...not really worth the time.

 

[clten]

OP, I'm not sure what you think happens when you go through customs - looks like you've cruised out of FL before so not sure why you are referencing customs and your KTTW card. They are not DCL and they do not have access to DCL systems so there is no swiping of a KTTW card to see how much you spent on board. Two things would be wrong if that's how they did it: First, not everything purchased on board would accumulate to your $800pp allowance - services like spa do not, port adventures do not, drinks consumed on board do not, etc. How would they know if that $40 charge was for a bottle of alcohol you are bringing back or for a case of water you consumed on board? Second, it would not include any purchases you make off the ship that you will be bringing back. It gets further complicated in Custom's definition of household because you may have had separate on board accounts but your $800 customs allowance may roll up. If there are 4 people in your "household" you are allowed a combined $3,200. Customs wouldn't be able to or want to take the time to mix and match all the charges even if they had access to DCL's system.

If you really will be going over your customs allowance, there used to be a meeting place on board (customs official is on board long before they start the debarkation process). I have never gone over our allowance so I don't keep up with it so don't know it that's still how they do it.

 

[waggles02673]

You pay when you go through customs. i bought a watch onboard that was over the $1600 dollar allowance for wife and me and the customs agent figures out what you owe right there. They let me go on through as what I would have owed wasn't that much.

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

If I remember right, there is an increased allowance for items purchased on St. Thomas. We were there a few years ago, but I believe it's much more than $800.

 

[Meriweather]

No forms to fill out anymore......3 cruises this year....2 Disney, 1 RCCL and none had the customs forms anymore.
Just show your passport and go through

 

[PrincessShmoo]

No forms to fill out anymore......3 cruises this year....2 Disney, 1 RCCL and none had the customs forms anymore.
Just show your passport and go through

As noted, if you are going to be close to, or over, your allotment, you need to pick up a customs form onboard at Guest Services. They do not leave them routinely in the room any longer.

 

[over50visits]

Fine art has no Duty, The Declaration cards are no longer passed out to staterooms the last night unless you know you've gone over the $800 per person(Section 321). Then you will need to go to Guest Services for the Declaration Form. Alcohol is dutiable which I can tell you that Wine will probably be overlooked because the duty on wine is only a few cents per bottle...not really worth the time.

Spot on advice. Just add up what you spent on anything you’re taking off that you didn’t bring on, and if over $800 get the simple form from Guest Services.

 

[chrisnb]

OP, I'm not sure what you think happens when you go through customs - looks like you've cruised out of FL before so not sure why you are referencing customs and your KTTW card. They are not DCL and they do not have access to DCL systems so there is no swiping of a KTTW card to see how much you spent on board. Two things would be wrong if that's how they did it: First, not everything purchased on board would accumulate to your $800pp allowance - services like spa do not, port adventures do not, drinks consumed on board do not, etc. How would they know if that $40 charge was for a bottle of alcohol you are bringing back or for a case of water you consumed on board? Second, it would not include any purchases you make off the ship that you will be bringing back. It gets further complicated in Custom's definition of household because you may have had separate on board accounts but your $800 customs allowance may roll up. If there are 4 people in your "household" you are allowed a combined $3,200. Customs wouldn't be able to or want to take the time to mix and match all the charges even if they had access to DCL's system.

If you really will be going over your customs allowance, there used to be a meeting place on board (customs official is on board long before they start the debarkation process). I have never gone over our allowance so I don't keep up with it so don't know it that's still how they do it.

DCL does give them total amount you spent on all things on ship, Obviously they have no idea what you spent ashore in a port.

I have gone over the allowance Dollar amount twice,That sent up red flag, one trip was just my wife and I, so we were allowed 1600.00 we had a cabana rental, couples massage, palo dinners, photo package ,etc none of these things count toward the 1600 and we also spent 800 on things that would count. so are total bill from ship was 3800 which only 800 was spent on items that would be eligible for duty the other 3000 was basically food and services. So we were fine I thought

Here is what happened we were disembarking when DCL swiped our KTW card it caused a alert to come up on screen, at that point they told us to wait and a security guard came and escorted us direct to a customs officer, at that point he said I see you spent 3800.00 what did you purchase, And he had a copy of are bill I cannot remember if it was handed to him by DCL security officer or he already had it, I told him what we bought he asked a few questions, made us fill out customs form, and we were on are way. Since we had not gone over the 1600 in merchandise, we were fine. This has happened on 2 separate occasions on DCL with us.

So the reason for original post I wanted to be prepared on what the process would be when I had to actually have to pay, but since art is exempt I assume It will be same process, Just my wife will be embarrassed for getting escorted to front of the line, But i told look at this way we just saved 20 min in line. I also keep copy of bill on me with passports now.
chris

 

[cedricandsophie]

I’ve gone thru customs a couple of times in Chicago with jewelry over the allowance. Both times we filled out form, had the merchandise ready to show and both times were thanked for being honest and sent on our way.
I don’t get the fact that customs actually looks at your Disney Cruise bill. I guess I thought that all the stuff you buy on the ship was duty free. Obviously I’m wrong. But we usually take 6 or 7 people all charging on our card and with excursions, liquor and spa it often totals way over 5000. The actual merchandise is usually relatively small. I’ve never been stopped. Just interesting to me.

 

[chrisnb]

I assume the the only thing you have to pay on from ship is from the stores, like purses and jewelry if you went over the allowed amount.
we have been escorted to customs to twice out of 7 trips with same spending habits.
chris