Duty-free

[tdracer]

Like so many things, the short answer is: it depends. Washington state has some of the highest liquor taxes in the US, so it's not hard for Duty Free to beat the local prices - but I seldom buy hard liquor here. I take regular trips to Colorado (very low liquor taxes), and load up when I'm there.
When I'm headed somewhere out-of-country where access to liquor is tight, and/or uncertain (Indonesia being a prime example), I'll usually pick up something at Duty Free for use on the trip (the Duty Free in the Singapore Airport or Incheon airports is pretty decent).
On the return trip, I typically only visit Duty Free to spend whatever local currency I have left over - often on chocolate rather than booze. The exception being if there is some local liquor that's not readily available here (Soju when in Korea comes to mind).

[Rush2112]

Originally Posted by tdracer

Like so many things, the short answer is: it depends. Washington state has some of the highest liquor taxes in the US, so it's not hard for Duty Free to beat the local prices - but I seldom buy hard liquor here. I take regular trips to Colorado (very low liquor taxes), and load up when I'm there.
When I'm headed somewhere out-of-country where access to liquor is tight, and/or uncertain (Indonesia being a prime example), I'll usually pick up something at Duty Free for use on the trip (the Duty Free in the Singapore Airport or Incheon airports is pretty decent).
On the return trip, I typically only visit Duty Free to spend whatever local currency I have left over - often on chocolate rather than booze. The exception being if there is some local liquor that's not readily available here (Soju when in Korea comes to mind).

The next time you go through CGK I would recommend East Indies Archipelago gin - distilled in Bali and well worth a taste.

[justapax]

Originally Posted by BonnieLass

A fair percentage of cruise ships are LNG thesedays

I was dubious about this percentage, but didn't have the facts to back up a refutation.

Now I do.

19 ships, or 6.7% of the fleet are powered by LNG

https://cruising.org/en-gb/environmental-sustainability .

... and this is from an organ promoting cruising.

[BonnieLass]

Originally Posted by Justapax1

I was dubious about this percentage, but didn't have the facts to back up a refutation.

Now I do.

19 ships, or 6.7% of the fleet are powered by LNG

https://cruising.org/en-gb/environmental-sustainability .

... and this is from an organ promoting cruising.

The ships on the orderbook with a bright green square against them are "alternative fuel" such as LNG, hydrogen etc

https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-ship-orderbook/

There are 21 LNG powered ships

Full List Of All 21 LNG-Powered Cruise Ships

[justapax]

That means there are nearly 500 cruise ships burning heavy marine oil.

There are alternatives to burning heavy marine oil, the industry just chooses not to take them up. There is no real alternative to JET-A1.

Left as an exercise for the student:

'How many A380s flying 100 miles does it take to produce the same amount of CO2, NOx, SO2, microparticulates and soot as it does to equal the emissions of one cruise liner at dock for an hour?'

Far better to take a jet and spend longer at your destination than to burn dirty fuel getting there.

[BonnieLass]

Originally Posted by Justapax1

That means there are nearly 500 cruise ships burning heavy marine oil.

There are alternatives to burning heavy marine oil, the industry just chooses not to take them up. There is no real alternative to JET-A1.

Left as an exercise for the student:

'How many A380s flying 100 miles does it take to produce the same amount of CO2, NOx, SO2, microparticulates and soot as it does to equal the emissions of one cruise liner at dock for an hour?'

Far better to take a jet and spend longer at your destination than to burn dirty fuel getting there.

With the best will in the world no-one can expect cruise lines to simply scrap the older ships just cos they run on oil based products, just will not happen cos it would be frankly uneconomical to do so.

Most of the older ships have various "green" measures that have been retrofitted to them such as scrubbers to prevent most of the bad emissions and "magic carpet of bubbles"

https://hakaimagazine.com/news/ridin...et-of-bubbles/

Scrubbers have their issues...

https://alaskapublic.org/2024/08/29/...tion-concerns/

The most polluting cruise lines...

https://www.which.co.uk/news/article...d-aErcC4S3Z1W0

[Gargleblaster]

Never buy anything in airports, especially my local one, CPH. Same price as local shops. They pocket the VAT. Also hate being forced to walk through the bl....y odeur department when through security.

[justapax]

Originally Posted by BonnieLass

With the best will in the world no-one can expect cruise lines to simply scrap the older ships just cos they run on oil based products,

You don't scrap them, you convert them. You just miss out the stage where an external engine turns the thick black sludge into an aerosol.

I think that's enough topic drift for a Thursday.

[krismiler]

Heathrow Airport used to regularly get caught out with duty free prices higher than nearby off licences. It certainly isn’t unusual to find the same product cheaper in town than the airport duty free. I even found Swiss chocolate at Zurich duty free was more expensive than my local supermarket.

First rule of duty free shopping, know the High Street price. There can be some worthwhile savings but you need to do your research.

Actually I find the term “duty free” to be misleading as it implies than a saving will be made as duty isn’t charged. Often there is no saving at all and if there is, the saving seldom amounts to the total duty in the normal price.

I agree with Gargleblaster, I hate being led on a mandatory meandering walk through duty free to get to or from the aircraft.

[Asturias56]

"Also hate being forced to walk through the bl....y odeur department when through security."

At least IKEA has well hidden shortcuts...........................

[bbrown1664]

It may be duty free but the shops still need to pay the high rents and make high profits so you need to check the local supermarket prices before buying anything in these rip off locations.

Tobacco is usually cheaper though

[SWBKCB]

"Safety is our first priority"

"How many glass bottles of inflammable liquid would you like to take on board, sir?"

Hypocritical?

[longer ron]

Originally Posted by bbrown1664

Tobacco is usually cheaper though

Aaaah - cheaper cancer - excellent !!

[justapax]

Originally Posted by DButler

"We generally get through the DFS labyrynth as quickly as possible"

I think that DFS labyrinth was invented by the Irish - certainly the first place I ever saw it was at Dublin an age ago - and of course it was quickly taken up by everyone else. Still not as bad as IKEA tho'...............

I don't know about the labyrinth, but Duty Free shopping was invented in 1947 at Shannon Aeroport. Legend has it that Irish Coffee was also invented there, and one of the first customers for this exotic new cocktail was Marilyn Monroe.

It's many years since I last flew through SNN and at that time is was a museum of the golden age of transatlantic flying - it was as if it was stuck in a 1947 time-warp. I was the only boarding passenger for the SNN-DUB hop in surely the world's shortest 747 flight - this was in the days when all transatlantic flights into Ireland had to make an obligatory stop at SNN.

[Krystal n chips]

Originally Posted by Asturias56

"Also hate being forced to walk through the bl....y odeur department when through security."

At least IKEA has well hidden shortcuts...........................

They also do a very good, cheap, breakfast....all you have to do is ignore the ahem "already assembled " product range to, and from, the cafe.

"Actually I find the term “duty free” to be misleading as it implies than a saving will be made as duty isn’t charged."

I'd go for that, a term that has it's origins in an era many wallow in nostalgia for, when only respectable people who got dressed up to fly, for reasons I've never understood, flew and then oik travel took off and we had more harmonious relations with Europe.

Unfortunately, this "retail experience" has also spread to the major rail stations and has long been adopted by monuments / heritage / museums with the obligatory "gift shop" thoughtfully situated at ?....the exit !

As it's usually impossible to exit via the entrance, the gullible are trapped

[justapax]

Originally Posted by Krystal n chips

only respectable people who got dressed up to fly, for reasons I've never understood, flew

My father was a diplomat, so didn't pay to fly, he was the exception rather than the rule - most people were shelling out a month's salary for even an intra-Europe flight. Also, flying was a novelty, new and exciting. People dressed up for it as they still do to go the opera.

An article I wrote for Listverse tries to capture the romance and excitement of flying in those days. The editors dumbed it down and introduced several errors, but they didn't entirely destroy the zeitgeist. Anyway, I got paid, which was the main thing. It's at https://listverse.com/2020/05/11/top...age-of-flying/ .

[Mr Mac]

Justapax1
I would concur with all of the observations in your link. It did make me think and reminisce .
Cheers
Mr Mac