Port Charge Question

[Mainecruiselover]

My husband and I did the 11 night holiday cruise on the Celebrity Silhouette which left from Ft. Lauderdale on 12/24/2021. We were supposed to have 5 ports, but due to the number of Covid cases on the ship, the ship wasn't allowed to port in Cartagena or Bimini. Celebrity has refused to refund the port charges we paid for those 2 ports, saying that they aren't required to. We've had ports cancelled on other cruises (not covid related) and we were immediately refunded the port charges for the missed ports. This doesn't seem like good customer service on Celebrity's part. What do other loyal Celebrity cruisers think?

[LGW59]

1 minute ago, Mainecruiselover said:

My husband and I did the 11 night holiday cruise on the Celebrity Silhouette which left from Ft. Lauderdale on 12/24/2021. We were supposed to have 5 ports, but due to the number of Covid cases on the ship, the ship wasn't allowed to port in Cartagena or Bimini. Celebrity has refused to refund the port charges we paid for those 2 ports, saying that they aren't required to. We've had ports cancelled on other cruises (not covid related) and we were immediately refunded the port charges for the missed ports. This doesn't seem like good customer service on Celebrity's part. What do other loyal Celebrity cruisers think?

cest la vie

[neverlaysup]

4 minutes ago, Mainecruiselover said:

My husband and I did the 11 night holiday cruise on the Celebrity Silhouette which left from Ft. Lauderdale on 12/24/2021. We were supposed to have 5 ports, but due to the number of Covid cases on the ship, the ship wasn't allowed to port in Cartagena or Bimini. Celebrity has refused to refund the port charges we paid for those 2 ports, saying that they aren't required to. We've had ports cancelled on other cruises (not covid related) and we were immediately refunded the port charges for the missed ports. This doesn't seem like good customer service on Celebrity's part. What do other loyal Celebrity cruisers think?

How much do they owe you?

[Mainecruiselover]

I don't know the exact cost. We paid for charges for 5 ports and it wasn't broken down. Not a lot of money, but it's the principal.

[cruisestitch]

The issue of port charges is much more complicated than it first appears.

 

For one thing, port charges go up and down frequently. From the time you booked, the port charge may have actually gone up, but they didn’t ask you to pay extra, you just paid what the port charge was at the moment you booked.

 

So if you miss port A, they may be applying that fee to some other ports B and C where the charge rose.

 

Yet on the other hand, if all the port fees went down, and you miss a port, you might get some fees refunded.

Edited January 19, 2022 by cruisestitch

[CHOPPERTESTER]

1 minute ago, Mainecruiselover said:

I don't know the exact cost. We paid for charges for 5 ports and it wasn't broken down. Not a lot of money, but it's the principal.

All depends on what were the port taxes/fees assigned to you when you made your booking. Between the time you make your booking and during the actual sailing if port taxes/fees go up then the cruise line eats the increase unless you re-price your booking prior to sailing and then you end up paying the higher cost.

 

Generally, if ports are missed, or the actual fees are less regardless if you miss a port or not, then the cruise line returns the fees to you IF the amount they collected from you for port taxes/fess is higher than the actuals during sailing. If you paid port fees/taxes that were less than the actuals then you will not see a refund dependent upon the difference.

 

For example if you paid $300 in port taxes/fees but the actuals at time of sailing was $350 and you missed a port with individual fees of $30, or the total fees went down by $30, you would not see any refund because you are still have paid less than the actuals of $320.

 

If you paid $300 in port taxes/fees and the actuals went down to $280 then you will see a $20 credit on your onboard account. 

[Dolebludger]

As I understand it, if port charges are included in the fare and not separately itemized on your bill, they are not refundable for missed ports. If they are separately stated, a Fla. court case requires charges for missed ports to be refunded if no substitute port is visited.

[PTC DAWG]

The Principal or the Vice Principal? 🙂 Sorry, couldn't resist..I do it all the time myself.  

 

As others have stated, I think you need it to be broken down for any refund to be forthcoming for missed ports.  Me, I wouldn't sweat it.  

Edited January 19, 2022 by PTC DAWG

[CyberTag]

I inquired about this when we didn’t dock in Costa Maya on our October sailing.  I was told the other port fees went up so a refund wasn’t issued. 

[Arizona Wildcat]

5 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

As I understand it, if port charges are included in the fare and not separately itemized on your bill, they are not refundable for missed ports. If they are separately stated, a Fla. court case requires charges for missed ports to be refunded if no substitute port is visited.

Correct but not exactly.  The reason for no refund is that the port charges at ports that WERE visited went up between the time the OP booked.

If the total of port charges PAID by the cruiseline is less then there is a refund.  If the total is more (charges went up as they did in Florida in 2022 and most other ports) then the cruiseline pays the increase.

[LB_NJ]

OK, I understand what is being said.

 

Is this widely understood by Celebrity's 800 number agents.

[jelayne]

58 minutes ago, LB_NJ said:

OK, I understand what is being said.

 

Is this widely understood by Celebrity's 800 number agents.

Probably not as most are new hires.  I had to tell one how to calculate the drink package upgrade with the Elite+ discount.  The intricacies of port fees probably isn’t included in the basic training.

[cruisestitch]

And here’s another wrinkle with port fees. People who live in different countries pay different port fees.  
 

So it is possible that if a port is missed, people from one country would get their fee refunded but people who live in another country wouldn’t.

[Mainecruiselover]

The port charges were a separate item on our invoice. The Silhouette is registered in Malta, so I'm not sure if Florida laws apply. I booked the cruise about 2 months ahead, so I wouldn't think there would be much change in port charges. Thanks for everyone's input. Very helpful!

[TeeRick]

15 hours ago, CyberTag said:

I inquired about this when we didn’t dock in Costa Maya on our October sailing.  I was told the other port fees went up so a refund wasn’t issued. 

That seems a bit of a convenient excuse by Celebrity. 

[cruisestitch]

“Paranoia strikes deep, into your life it will creep….”

[jelayne]

2 hours ago, Mainecruiselover said:

The port charges were a separate item on our invoice. The Silhouette is registered in Malta, so I'm not sure if Florida laws apply. I booked the cruise about 2 months ahead, so I wouldn't think there would be much change in port charges. Thanks for everyone's input. Very helpful!

 I checked our Booking Confirmations  from Celebrity and none had port charges as a separate amount.  There is a line item Taxes, fees and Port Expenses, but no breakdown of that amount.  Did you book with a TA who broke  the taxes, fees and port expenses as 3 charges?

[thebutlerdidit]

I’ve had an unexplained credit to my onboard account before. It turned out to be a small credit due to us when a port charge had decreased. I’d trust Celebrity’s accounting of port fees.