are cruise taxes and port fees refundable with cancellation?

I bought 3rd party travel insurance for my upcoming cruise. For the pre existing condition waiver to be applicable you need insurance for all non refundable costs for your whole trip, if your policy is even a little less than the total non refundable costs, you would not be covered for pre existing conditions. In my case (rounding numbers for simplification) I bought a $1500 policy. Airfare is $300 and cruise is $1220 so total trip cost is $1520 pp. (I bought the insurance then airfair went up slightly.) Anyway I talked to the insurance company and they said don't worry, your port charges and taxes are typically refundable from most cruise lines (approx. $100 in my case) even with last minute cancellations. So my policy is enough. They sugggested I call Celebrity to confirm that taxes are always refundable. I tried to call Celebrity and they really didn't answer my question, they gave me the breakdown cancellation costs (50%, 100% , etc.) based on days prior to cruise, etc.. . That is not what I wanted. I just want to know are port charges and taxes refundable even with last minute cancellation. Can someone help !!!

Try calling Celebrity again, and then try asking for a supervisor. Nothing's fool-proof, but it can't hurt.

I also agree with the trip cancellation insurance agent; those fees should all be refunded if you cancel before departure.

Good luck.

--May

According to my travel agent who has been in the business for over 20 years, port charges and taxes are refunded if you cancel, so she said no need to insure for them.

Yes, they are refundable even with a short notice cancellation. I had this situation a year ago. Got my port charges and tax back (after about 10 phone calls).

thanks very much for the quick answers... I think am OK with the insurance. Lets hope I don't need it!!

Ditto on refund of port charges and taxes..came back immediately on our cc and insurance covered the rest. This was on HAL but assume they are all the same. If you need the insurance, it is invaluable. We did and re-booked for later cruise and got a great upgrade. We did it for pre-existing person and the non-pre-existing person got sick - so who can tell. Good investment.