Taxes, Fees & Port Expenses Over $400 Each On Alaska Cruises?!

[DominicAUS]

33 minutes ago, cruiser2015 said:

I'll be there with you.

I grant you my allotment of bubbly.

🤪

Hope to see you onboard, when I say onboard I mean a bar! Hehe. 

[cruiser2015]

6 minutes ago, DominicAUS said:

Hope to see you onboard, when I say onboard I mean a bar! Hehe. 

Sounds great, mate.

[hallux]

@DominicAUS you can drink the ship dry of the bubbly for all I care, I don't drink.  Wait, I'll have to put up with disgruntled people complaining of no bubbly for 2 weeks, maybe don't do that...

[ronrythm]

On 12/16/2023 at 7:52 PM, cruisingrob21 said:

While the more affluent ports tend to have higher port charges, there have been rumors that the cruise lines sometimes do pad the port charges with their own "fees".  Certainly the panama canal is not really a port but it does have charges, which have gone up considerably in the last 20 years for vessels to transit it.  Based on anecdotal stories, various harbor pilots charge exorbitant rates, but it's the price to visit a specific port I suppose.

 

There are theories that cruise lines are also padding those fees somewhat   it might be true.  We have occasionally noticed an on board credit "refund" for port charges and fees even though there was no change to the itinerary.  Makes you wonder if the cruise lines estimate the charges and if it's calculated after the ship leaves and is less, the cruise line then gets a credit. It's hard to say since there is no explicit breakdown of those port charges 

If it’s in the United States, the port fees are not padded. By law they can only be what is charged to the cruise line by the port. @chengkp75 has explained this several times. The cruise lines divide the fees by the expected number of passengers and charge that. If there are more passengers than expected, they have to refund the difference if it is over a certain small amount. If there are fewer passengers than expected, the cruise line will typically just take the loss.

Enjoy your cruise.

[cruiserbear55]

21 hours ago, So_Tweetie said:

When booking with Princess and Royal, the fees are shown on the page where you browse sailings. I find it easier to scroll past and not consider cruises with high fees that way. On NCL though, I got my heart set on a birthday cruise and thought I had found a fantastic price all the way until I got to checkout and the fees were revealed. 

 

   Taxes, port expenses, and fees are shown upfront, per person, on every cruise offering. If you were, for instance, to go to the NCL site and click on "Find a Cruise". all the cruises listed have them in small print at the bottom right of the ad. No need to go through a whole mock booking just to find the fees.

[cruiseny4life]

47 minutes ago, cruiserbear55 said:

 

   Taxes, port expenses, and fees are shown upfront, per person, on every cruise offering. If you were, for instance, to go to the NCL site and click on "Find a Cruise". all the cruises listed have them in small print at the bottom right of the ad. No need to go through a whole mock booking just to find the fees.

But still a shock when you click that final button and NCL actually adds the small print fees to the bottom line. I'm well-versed in how NCL's booking funnel works and it gets me saying gosh dang it every single time! 

[cruiser2015]

15 hours ago, hallux said:

@DominicAUS you can drink the ship dry of the bubbly for all I care, I don't drink.  Wait, I'll have to put up with disgruntled people complaining of no bubbly for 2 weeks, maybe don't do that...

Oh, why worry?

No doubt they will restock in Miami.

Bet they load up - right in front of your baggage.

😎

[9tee2Sea]

I never pay attention to port fees, taxes, etc.  It's just the cost of going on a cruise.  Pretty soon, you won't be able to drive without going thru toll roads, so the GOVT gets ya anyway it can.  Like I said, it's all part of the price of a cruise.   Now, If i was doing a very cheap cruise ( total cost of $200), then port charges and fees add up to more than double the amount, I would not go on that cruise

[So_Tweetie]

3 hours ago, cruiserbear55 said:

 

   Taxes, port expenses, and fees are shown upfront, per person, on every cruise offering. If you were, for instance, to go to the NCL site and click on "Find a Cruise". all the cruises listed have them in small print at the bottom right of the ad. No need to go through a whole mock booking just to find the fees.

Thank you, I didn't realize that! 

[nimbex1970]

I'm not surprised. I live in Alaska and the cost of everything has gone up greatly this year.  As you have seen the price of excursions, well yup, that's the price of Alaska.  Where I am, gas is $8.99 a gallon and milk is 10 bucks a gallon.  Crazy times here.  I Hope it's still in your price point, as your itinerary is great!