jpl619

Thank you Richard for your very informative post. You obviously know more

on the subject than I. I simply posted on the (little, haha) research that I did

on the subject, which was new territory for me. I will consider the case closed

and more educated than I was. I am new (today) to Cruise Critic (have been on 3 cruises) and looking forward to learning more information from more seasoned Cruisers. Thank you again and have a great day!

Thanks for the info Bill. It seems that the Panama govt has all cruise lines over a barrel knowing how much money they take in on each cruise. The fact that Princess is also charging over $300 supports my post that now, ALL cruise lines are gouging us on those fees, LOL I do understand that a cruise line is all about profit, but a half a million profit on the Canal fee? Once again, LOL

TravelZoo recently announced a PC Cruise aboard the Norwegian Star for 14 nights for $599. Departures for 2013 are from L.A. and Miami.

They are imposing an average "tax" of $350 (per person!!) to cross the Panama Canal. "Just So You Know":

Capacity of the Star is 2,348 passengers. Ship's tonnage is 91,000.

It costs a ship of 90,000 tons $200,000 to cross the Canal.

Multiply 2,348 passengers by that $350 "Canal Fee" and you get $805,000.

What this means is that Norwegian is gouging(?) their passengers on this

"fee tax" to make a $605,000 profit per cruise excursion when crossing the Panama Canal. WOW!!

Still, $950 (base plus Canal fee) for 14 nights is a good price, not counting

the daily gratuities fees they impose, etc. But, the Canal fee and the profit

mongering by Norwegian does seem to be quite excessive.

Just So You Know.......