Recent "duty free liquor" price list

[kid-at-heart]

Does anyone have a recent duty free liquor price list for DCL? Sailing on the Wonder soon and want to make a list wist.

Also, do I remember correctly, two bottles per person duty free? Any idea of what we will need to pay if we go beyond the allowed amount.

Many thanks,
Kate

 

[dmunsil]

Does anyone have a recent duty free liquor price list for DCL? Sailing on the Wonder soon and want to make a list wist.

Also, do I remember correctly, two bottles per person duty free? Any idea of what we will need to pay if we go beyond the allowed amount.

I don't have a recent list, though I do think there were some good deals if you like what they have. They always have popular stuff like Grey Goose, Bombay Sapphire, Johnnie Walker, Kahlua, Bailey's. They will usually have some fancier stuff as well, but exactly what seems to change constantly. Cointreau is often a screaming deal, as is Grand Marnier, if you use either of them as mixers or just like a little liqueur now and then. With single-malt Scotch, they seemed to mainly have special "duty free" bottlings, and who knows if that's a good deal or not? That said, I've enjoyed every fancy Scotch I've gotten in a duty-free. Remy Martin XO was a great price, IIRC. The more expensive the bottle, the better the deal as far as I can tell, largely because the taxes really add up on pricey bottles.

The US duty-free exemption for spirits is 1 liter per person, and the duty over and above that is 3% plus some taxes that I think are less than 1%, but in my experience they'll just wave you through with a lot more than that. You should be prepared to pay it if needed, but for small amounts they have leeway to just waive the duty. I always declare exactly what I'm carrying, and save all my alcohol receipts to make sure I'm ready if they need them, but I've never been charged duty, and on our last trip to Scotland I went a little crazy and brought back 8.5 liters of Scotch. One suitcase was basically all Scotch. You can read about people bringing cases of liquor and not being charged. It's a hassle to calculate the duty exactly, fill out the paperwork, collect from the traveler, etc. so as long as you aren't trying to hide anything, you rarely get charged duty on personal purchases. Mostly they want to make sure you're not bringing in fresh plants or meat. And if they do charge the duty, it's still a great deal, so just buy what you want and have capacity to carry, and tell the customs folks the truth.

 

[dmunsil]

Disney Cruise Line blog has a fairly recent list:

http://disneycruiselineblog.com/wp-...uty-Free-Liquor-Price-List-September-2016.pdf

In my experience, they'll have a few other bottles (mostly pricey Scotch and so forth) that aren't on the list.

 

[kid-at-heart]

Thanks! Great information all.

 

[OKW Lover]

Its always smart to be familiar with the prices of your favorite liquor from your local beverage purveyor. We've found that a lot of the duty free stuff can be bought at home for nearly the same price. Saving $1-2 on a bottle may not be worth the hassle of getting it back home.

 

[dmunsil]

Its always smart to be familiar with the prices of your favorite liquor from your local beverage purveyor. We've found that a lot of the duty free stuff can be bought at home for nearly the same price. Saving $1-2 on a bottle may not be worth the hassle of getting it back home.

Solid advice. Though do allow for the fact that duty free bottles are 1L, while most bottles in the store are 0.75L. Just checking some random prices from that 2016 list, Grey Goose is $38 at the duty free and $43.50 with taxes at the Total Wine & More (for a 1L bottle), which to me is not enough to be worth the schlep. Whereas Cointreau is $28 on the ship and $55.50 around here (again, for a 1L bottle), which is a pretty good deal. We have very high liquor taxes (Washington State), so if you live in a low-tax state you might find better deals locally.

 

[OKW Lover]

We have friends that will be on the Fantasy in just a few weeks. Wondering if anybody has a recent price list from DCL so that they can be prepared.