Really starting to have my doubts

[Dolebludger]

I merely posted the port charges matter “as I understand it”. I haven’t reviewed the court opinions on the subject. But I understand that port charges are taxed on a per person basis, and not per ship. So they should be easy to quantify. Leaving that subject now, National TV news this evening (Dec 29) again reported another 1000 flight cancellations by US airlines. So I ask this question: does most travel insurance cover a cruise missed due to flight cancellations?

[CruiserFromMaine]

11 hours ago, DarthCruiser said:

The taxes and fees are specifically enumerated on the travel agent invoice, but are not on the guest invoice.  That said, we've never had a refund for a missed port on Regent.

I’ve wondered about port tax refunds on Regent too, and figured we would not receive any, since we had not paid any, in an itemized sense. I’m suspect they’re broken out on TA invoices since they aren’t commissionable, which makes me think we did pay them after all. With any luck, it’ll be a non-issue! 

[Zqueeze1]

Bill:

First of all, I commend you for your attitude and new perspective. The glass is half full.  IRT wearing masks, during our recent TA cruise, it wasn’t such a big deal since we were really wearing it as we moved from one part of the ship to another then we were involved in an activity that allowed us to remove our masks (booze, coffee, snacks, meals) or were sitting outside.  The moral of the story is to either drink all day or eat up a storm. I recommend lots of liquids. Piece of cake. 
Seriously, I’m sure you went through worse in the military, so you can do this standing on your head.  
We hope you have a great cruise and keep us posted on your adventures. 
Z and TB

Edited December 30, 2021 by Zqueeze1

[Tudorcruisers]

We are due to pay this week for an upcoming Regent cruise and we are going ahead with it as we did a cruise in October and it was just so perfect.  I have been so nervous throughout this whole pandemic so it was a big deal to go ahead with the Cruise.  It was with a different line and from the moment we stepped onboard every reservation I had just disappeared.  Two weeks of absolute bliss and having to wear a mask when walking about really wasn’t as bad as we thought . Luckily every passenger did adhere to this and I felt extremely safe indeed and for two weeks totally forgot about Covid and from someone who really was pretty much hibernating I hope this helps anyone else who is nervous.   I now can’t wait for the cruise in April.   

[UUNetBill]

2 hours ago, Zqueeze1 said:

Bill:

First of all, I commend you for your attitude and new perspective. The glass is half full.  IRT wearing masks, during our recent TA cruise, it wasn’t such a big deal since we were really wearing it as we moved from one part of the ship to another then we were involved in an activity that allowed us to remove our masks (booze, coffee, snacks, meals) or were sitting outside.  The moral of the story is to either drink all day or eat up a storm. I recommend lots of liquids. Piece of cake. 
Seriously, I’m sure you went through worse in the military, so you can do this standing on your head.  
We hope you have a great cruise and keep us posted on your adventures. 
Z and TB

 

Z - from the archives…I guess you’re right - a KN-95 doesn’t seem so bad after all…😆

 

I’ll follow your advice on lots of liquids, too.

 

 

[rallydave]

18 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

Well, many people book cruises with few or no port visits (such as transatlantic cruises). We may take one when we are more assured that this mess is over. But as I understand it, if one books a cruise with a published itinerary that includes port stops, one pays port charges to the cruise line — included in the fare or by separate charge. If some or all of the ports are missed for any reason, the ship doesn’t pay these charges, and the passenger is entitled to a refund of the charges paid for the missed ports. I believe Federal Courts have so ruled. This does not apply when a similar port visit is made, and cruise line contracts with passengers allows substitution of similar ports for virtually any reason, without compensation to the passenger. But where a port is missed for any reason without similar substitution, the passenger is entitled to a refund of charges he/she paid for that port. Port charges are not that great when compared to the total cost of a cruise, but a guest on a Regent cruise is entitled to a refund for ports missed with no substitution. 
 

For example, it is my understanding that guests on recent sailings where no ports could be visited are untitled to refund of all port charges paid to the line. Another example comes from our Mariner cruise a few years back with a listed port call at Pitcairn Island that was to be tendered and was missed (no substitute) due to high seas. Regent people told me that this port had no port charges — thus no refund to me. My own check on this revealed that this is true. But on a cruise where a port charge was paid by a passenger for  missed ports (not substituted) the passenger is entitled to a refund.
 

 

Hi Rich,

 

Have to chime in here with facts regarding port charge refunds as I have read the results of the court case several years ago.

 

The case was not a federal court case, it was in the State Courts of Florida and only applied to cruise lines based in Florida.

 

The resultant agreement that  Regent signed at that time (no NCLH then) clearly stated that the refunds had to be made if not paid to a Government agency if the taxes and port fees were separately called out on your invoice.

 

Since Regent does not separately list the Port Charges and taxes on your invoice, that is the out that allows Regent to not be required to refund the Port Charges or taxes.

 

Those are the facts and how Regent avoids refunding the Port Charges and Taxes while complying with the signed agreement while complying with the agreement.

[rallydave]

12 minutes ago, cwn said:

Really no big deal as most fees are not that much and Regent makes up for that in the service offered!

Really can be a significant amount of dollars if you included the tour cost you pay for for each port.  Say approx. $150/port (excursion +taxes + port charges) and with the big ships at 750 passengers, that would be approx $113,000 in pure profit for each missed port.

 

And, I did explain in Post 56 above the difference.

[RachelG]

Many missed ports on both Regent and Silversea.  Have never received any refunds for port fees.

[cwn]

36 minutes ago, rallydave said:

Really can be a significant amount of dollars if you included the tour cost you pay for for each port.  Say approx. $150/port (excursion +taxes + port charges) and with the big ships at 750 passengers, that would be approx $113,000 in pure profit for each missed port.

 

And, I did explain in Post 56 above the difference.

From our experience your sample of profit to ships for missed ports is off. The port fees/taxes refunded to us never amounted to more $30 pp for the lines that have refunded port fee/taxes. Every ship we have been on always funded ship sponsor excursions for canceled ports including Regent. For my money I will go with Regent with they excellent service and responsive crew. The rarely missed port fee/tax is a decimal rounding error as my husband says. And as I said Regent has compensated us when a missed port was their fault.

[rallydave]

7 minutes ago, cwn said:

The port fees/taxes refunded to us never amounted to more $30 pp for the lines that have refunded port fee/taxes

While we have had port/tax refunds on other lines larger than $30 pp, I was including in my calculation the approx. $100 for Regent included excursions at the missed ports which is a substantial amount.

 

In any case, while not a lot for the individual cruisers, it can become a substantial amount for the entire shipload of people to the cruise line.

[Zqueeze1]

1 hour ago, rallydave said:

Really can be a significant amount of dollars if you included the tour cost you pay for for each port.  Say approx. $150/port (excursion +taxes + port charges) and with the big ships at 750 passengers, that would be approx $113,000 in pure profit for each missed port.

 

And, I did explain in Post 56 above the difference.

Your argument assumes that Regent doesn’t have to pay the excursion fees for a cancelled port visit and pockets the cash.  Who is to say that is correct?  Is it possible that Regent is obliged to pay regardless as possibly negotiated with the excursion company?   How do you know for sure Regent gets the excursion fee refunded if the port call is cancelled?  We are creating a mob mentality based on way too many assumptions and not enough facts. 
 

I say we either table this topic or start a new thread since we have hijacked Bill’s original post. 
Z and TB

Edited December 30, 2021 by Zqueeze1

[Zqueeze1]

3 hours ago, UUNetBill said:

 

Z - from the archives…I guess you’re right - a KN-95 doesn’t seem so bad after all…😆

 

I’ll follow your advice on lots of liquids, too.

 

 

Oops. Lots of memories wearing MOPP gear back in the day.  I noticed you are not wearing the booties. 
Z and TB

[rallydave]

53 minutes ago, Zqueeze1 said:

Your argument assumes that Regent doesn’t have to pay the excursion fees for a cancelled port visit and pockets the cash.  Who is to say that is correct?  Is it possible that Regent is obliged to pay regardless as possibly negotiated with the excursion company?

Very true Z.  Might be an incurred cost but, likely at least some of the excursions at missed ports are not paid for and thus savings to Regent..

[Pam]

I thought that from the beginning, the Regent Reassurance thing expired as of 12/31/21; I remember a lot of protests from the beginning on that.  It seemed a long time away at the time, but now we know it wasn't.  

 

[Pam]

Obviously, I was wrong about the Regent Reassurance thing expiring, or Regent is hit or miss in applying it.

]