Amsterdam established a tax on cruise passengers effective January 1, 2019. The new tax of €8 ($9.12) applies to every cruise passenger over 3 years old per 24-hour period.

As reported by the LA Times, two cruise lines have cancelled port visits to Amsterdam because of the nominal tax.  MSC Cruises and Cruise & Maritime

Last year, following a series of hurricanes which struck the Caribbean, FEMA decided to charter the Carnival Fascination to house relief workers in St. Croix. The news was widely reported last October. Carnival cancelled its sailings of the Fascination from October 2017 through January 2018 with the cruise line planning to return the cruise ship

The cruise lines and the cruise industry’s trade organization, the Cruise Line International Organization ("CLIA"), spend many millions of dollars lobbying our U.S. Congress each year.

In 2015, CLIA spent $1,380,000 lobbying Congress. Carnival Corp. spent an additional $898,710, plus $80,000 on behalf of subsidiary Carnival Cruise Line and another $80,000 for subsidiary Holland America Line. Royal Caribbean

This week we have seen the leak of 11.5 million financial documents over a period from the 1970s to December 2015 from the Mossack Fonseca law firm in Panama to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. These documents allegedly reveal the identity of individuals involved in creating shell companies

Carnival Cruise TaxesCarnival Corporation announced its second quarter profits today.

Its revenues to date for 2015 (June 30th) were $7,180,000,000 (billion), consisting of passenger fares (tickets) of $5,425,000,000 and onboard purchases (booze, spa, specialty meals, casino) of $1,755,000,000. It’s net income was $271,000,000.

And Carnival paid taxes of?  Nothing.

You have heard me say this before. By

Micky ArisonIn an exclusive story, Cruise Law News has learned that cruise industry giant Carnival Corporation plans to incorporate its business in the United States (in Florida). Carnival intends to announce this historic development tomorrow, April 2nd, at Carnival’s headquarters in Miami. 

Since 1972, Carnival has incorporated its business and registered its cruise ships in the

KHOU 11 reports that alcohol and cigarettes purchased by cruise passengers, represented by cruise lines as "duty-free products," are being taxed by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) once the ships return to Galveston.

The state of Texas will start collecting similar taxes from cruise passengers at the Port of Houston by in October.

The

As promised, Senator Jay Rockefeller announced that he has introduced legislation seeking to eliminate the Section 883 exemption for cruise industry income derived from cruises that embark or disembark passengers in the U.S.  Senator Rockefeller stated in a press release: 

“The cruise industry can’t operate for free here in the U.S. It costs money to

Cruise lines hate U.S. governmental scrutiny of their business operations.  

The whole purpose of incorporating their businesses and flagging their cruise ships in foreign countries is to avoid U.S. taxes and the scrutiny of federal regulators. This business model permits the cruise lines to pay virtually no U.S. taxes and to avoid U.S. wage, labor

Under public criticism and pressure initiated by U.S. Senator Rockefeller, Carnival announced today that it will reimburse the federal government for costs of over $4,000,000 incurred by the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy in responding to its Triumph and Splendor cruise ships.

Senator Rockefeller set his sights on the cruise industry at a Senate