HAL Port charges in the Caribbean

[MISTER 67]

Looks to me for some reason HAL port charges in the Caribbean are higher than Celebrity and Princess, why would that be. For instance we are sailing Feb 15 on a 9 day cruise to Grand Cayman and the ABC islands, port charges are 129.00 per person. We are also on the Sky Princess for a 7 day cruise in May and port charges are 180.00 each. A 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise with HAL in December is 225.00 each, something smells.

[REOVA]

You didn't mention which HAL and Celebrity ships but it could have something to do with what services the ship needs in port and the cost divided by how many passengers are on each ship. 

[Mary229]

Adding to @REOVA other factors are the port, time in port, docking versus tendering, which dock.  

[CruiserBruce]

Some of the former ship's officers on Cruise Critic have answered this many times. It has to do with a number of issues,  services contracted for and required, the differing ports...a number of things. Some cruise lines have special relationships with ports, like Grand Turk, that Carnival built. 

[FlaMariner]

Just guessing.....but....

 

If there is some "fixed cost" from the port/government and we are on HAL's "mid sized ships" and not sailing "condo of the seas", seems as though HAL would have higher port/government fees per passenger?

[Hlitner]

Cruise lines, in theory, do their best to estimate port charges/fees (docking fees, tug fees, pilot fees, etc) and allocate them down to the passenger level.  Sometimes they underestimate and the cruise lines generally eat the extra charges.  Other times they over estimate and will sometimes refund the overage (we have had credits to our onboard accounts on numerous cruises).  I recall one HAL cruise when we had lots of problems docking in Halifax, due to a heavy off-shore wind.  The Captain and Pilot decided to bring in 2 large tugs to help maneuver the ship to the dock.  Both tugs worked for over an hour trying to push us against the wind....to no avail.  Finally, our Captain abandoned to port.  HAL refunded the port fees for that voyage (done the following day) but still had to pay the extra cost for those two tugs.

 

Bottom line is that the system is not perfect (there has actually been at least one major lawsuit, over the issue, decided in Florida courts).  Sometimes the cruise lines win (and make a few extra dollars) and other times they lose (it is very rare to be charged extra for underestimated port charges).

 

Hank

[cbr663]

I have noticed when sailing on HAL a refund of port charges shows up quite often in our onboard account.

[horseymike]

Very interesting thread here. I never gave it much thought.

Cruising with another line at the same port 2 times a few years apart, 

once there was a bus provided to take the ship passengers from the actual dock to the gate into the town ( quite a long walk ) the next time there was no bus provided.

I asked one of the local security officers why , he said the cruise line did not contract the bus service for this cruise. Interesting stuff.

Guess things like this are part of the port charges.

[MISTER 67]

21 hours ago, cbr663 said:

I have noticed when sailing on HAL a refund of port charges shows up quite often in our onboard account.

I have had that happen on numerous cruise lines.

[Haljo1935]

21 hours ago, cbr663 said:

I have noticed when sailing on HAL a refund of port charges shows up quite often in our onboard account.

Same - I think I've had refunds more frequently than not. Not large amounts, but we get them.

[Mary229]

1 hour ago, Haljo1935 said:

Same - I think I've had refunds more frequently than not. Not large amounts, but we get them.

Interestingly if a port is dropped and not replaced prior to cruising I have never seen a refund. Then again, some cruise lines never refund 

Edited February 6 by Mary229