Perfumes and cruises go together. Both are luxurious indulgences that are really not unaffordable. Both make you feel good. And if you go on a cruise, you are very likely to find a well-stocked onboard boutique with dozens and dozens of perfumes for you to sample and buy. The cruise lines must think so, too, because most cruise ships feature perfume pretty prominently in their onboard shops. One perk I find in cruising is that you can sample a lot of different perfumes in these shops to really get the feel (and wear) of fragrances you might not normally try. Cruise lines feature duty-free shopping but the astute woman of fragrance nosing around the cruise shop perfume counter may notice that prices on the perfumes onboard ship are not much different than prices back home at the local department store or online shop. So what's the big deal about duty-free anyway? Perfume is one of those things, like diamond rings and the room rate at a Tahitian resort, that just doesn't go on sale. Most experienced women of fragrance can tell you that perfume prices are stable as the Rock of Gibraltar. The best deal you'll get from most perfume companies is some sort of packaged set at the holidays or for Mother's Day. So don't expect the $60 bottle of perfume you've had your eye on at home or the $100 gift set you've been checking out at the Sephora website to be available for much less onboard ship. (Perhaps there will be good news, but do not anticipate anything even remotely like a big discount or a cut rate.) The benefit duty-free shopping is that you don't pay tax (city, state, or federal) on your purchase. For instance, buy that $60 bottle of perfume at your hometown department store, and you can expect to pay about another $5 in sales tax. (That's based on an approximate sales tax rate in the U.S. of 8%. If you live in Canada, it's closer to 12% and in Europe, it's higher than that!) Most Europeans instantly "get" the concept of duty-free shopping because it is customary in Europe to add the tax to the purchase price that appears on the label. Thus, seeing the price without the tax added in shows the discount quite plainly. In the U.S., sales tax is a lot more sneaky. It does not appear until you're standing at the checkout when it is just tacked on to the purchase price. Buying duty-free eliminates the tax. Of course, in the U.S. you can purchase perfume from online sources that are based out of state and also circumvent the sales tax. However, you'll get dinged with shipping and handling charges. When you buy something duty free, you are paying only what the merchandise cost. Even if you don't get a penny off the retail price of your next bottle of Chanel or Michael Kors or DKNY Be Delicious, you'll still leave the store paying less than you would have using more traditional outlets. Another great reason to buy perfume on a cruise ship is that you can really try it before you buy it. You can pop into the cruise shop, get a spritz on the scent you're considering, and then wear it for the day. Women of fragrance can tell you that sniffing at a perfume in the bottle or spritzing it on a paper strip are useful, but there is no truer test to whether or not you'll love a new scent than actually wearing it for a few hours. I had that experience with Cinema by Yves St. Laurent. I liked the scent well enough when I used the paper tester strip but there were many other perfumes that seemed more intriguing and interesting. Yet when I did a "test" of wearing Cinema for an afternoon, I found that I loved the scent. The range of perfumes your cruise ship will carry will depend on the cruise line. Most cruise ships manage to stock a pretty decent range of products. Look for some big names (Givenchy, Chanel, Lancome, and so on) and some newer names (DKNY, Michael Kors, Vera Wang). You won't find everything. For instance, on my last cruise, I found the shop had Chanel No. 5, Chance, and Allure from Chanel, but no No. 19. There were many Estee Lauder cosmetics in stock, but no fragrances. Dolce & Gabbana's Blue was available, but no other scents. It is possibly to locate unusual, hard-to-find, or relatively rare scents (I was charmed to find Incanto Charms byFerragamo) but most cruise onboard boutiques are not fully stocked perfumeries. When purchasing perfume onboard, the duty-free purchase counts toward the allowance of merchandise you are allowed to bring back into the country. American citizens are allowed to return from their international cruises with $800 in purchases (per person). Should you exceed that sum, you must declare it to customs and it is possible that you may be asked to pay duty upon your return to the U.S. What about buying perfume at your ports of call? That depends on whether or not the port charges sales tax and if there are good perfume stores available. A big surprise for cruising perfume lovers is Cozumel, Mexico. Not only does this sunny Mexican Riveria destination not charge sales tax, there is an outstanding (and very large) perfume boutique in the shopping district immediately near the port. (Just get off the cruise ship and head to the left to the stores .... it's just a few blocks down.) European ports charge hefty taxes but may offer perfumes that are not so easy to find in the U.S. But if perfume lovers go cruising, they can purchase their old and new favorite scents onboard their cruise ship with confidence.
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