Oceania does not refund port taxes for skipped ports

[Sdancer]

On 3/1/2024 at 7:55 PM, ak1004 said:

 

All excellent points, and another thing that is often missed by the conspiracy theory advocates is all the revenue lost from shore excursions. This alone can account to tens of thousands of dollars per port.

 

Those repeated claims that O (or any other line) misses ports on purpose to save money really get old and tired. But if this is what some people believe, they should definitely look for another line. Good luck in finding the perfect line that never misses ports.

 

Never stops to amaze me how people pay thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars to cruise on a luxury line, but become so cheap when it comes to $10-20 in port charges. btw, SS also does not refund port charges, and I believe it's the same with SB. But if people prefer to sail with Princess, NCL or Carnival because those lines refund port charges, there is not much to discuss.

No one claimed that Oceania skipps ports to save money - it an absurd statement and is not based on any post here, really :).

BWY, Oceania does not lose money from cancelled excursions in skipped ports - I am not going to go into financial details here.

 

The reason I am posting today to let you Today that I received an email from Oceania that on the "second look" they decided to refund us for skipped Cozumel.

How about that? 🙂

Have a nice day!!!

[Vallesan]

We have never had taxes refunded for missed ports from Oceania but our travel insurance does give cover for missed ports. We have claimed several times.

Oceania do refund port taxes if you cancel a cruise.

[ak1004]

53 minutes ago, Sdancer said:

 

The reason I am posting today to let you Today that I received an email from Oceania that on the "second look" they decided to refund us for skipped Cozumel.

How about that? 🙂

Have a nice day!!!

 

Good for you! How much was it per person?

 

And yes, many people actually claim that O skips ports to save money. Just read some of the topics on this board.

[TRLD]

On 3/7/2024 at 10:19 AM, ak1004 said:

 

Thank you.

 

I read the review. Our experience with food on Riviera and Regatta was very different. But then again, it's matter of expectations. Is a couple hundred bucks for a 50 minute massage exorbitant? Of course it is, but those are the prices on all cruise lines. This is why we don't do massages on cruise ships. Some of the other points are equally ridiculous. But obviously everyone is entitled to their opinion.

I can sum up our views on our current Regatta cruise as being over curated. Basically resulting in little variation from one day to the next. Remove the grill to order steak and lobster from the Cafe and the larger than normal selection of steaks, and the food is not much better than on other lines, even some of the adult focused mass market lines like HAL or Celebrity.

 

We have been on the same size/model (Renaissance) ships on other lines and have not found them as sedate lacking in day to day variety in both food and entertainment.

 

Would be nice if they would have a Chefs corner in the Terrace Cafe where the Chef can present some of their favorite dishes outside of the corporate curated menu.  Do the same with the musicians and maybe on occasion have a session with more audience involvement and them selecting favorites outside of the curated list from corporate. 

 

While the quartet playing for tea, and the show band playing for happy hour is nice it tend to be more like repetitive background music.

 

We had to cancel one port Lahaina for obvious reasons. We did make it into port at Kauai when the Carnival ship that was supposed to get in port with us decided that conditions were too poor to make it into port.

 

Kind of the opposite of the what one would expect based upon the comments of those that say Oceania looks for reasons to cancel ports

Edited April 18 by TRLD

[TRLD]

1 hour ago, Sdancer said:

No one claimed that Oceania skipps ports to save money - it an absurd statement and is not based on any post here, really :).

BWY, Oceania does not lose money from cancelled excursions in skipped ports - I am not going to go into financial details here.

 

The reason I am posting today to let you Today that I received an email from Oceania that on the "second look" they decided to refund us for skipped Cozumel.

How about that? 🙂

Have a nice day!!!

Depends upon how one defines lose money. Under simply more much of the excursion money is collected in the fare. However with each cancelled port they lose the opportunity for people to use excursion credits as well as potential lost revenue from some that might book without using credit. With credits not being used, might result in potential lost revenue from other excursion sales in other ports. It's all in how one categorizes it.

[TRLD]

On 3/4/2024 at 7:23 AM, ak1004 said:

 

Imagine paying 50%+ more for SS cruise just to find out that they run out of Perrier, Pellegrino and most diet drinks around mid cruise. Not as a one time occurrence, but on a regular basis. Cruise after cruise.  

Well on our current 21 day cruise on Regatta Oceania ran out of a noticeable percentage of their wine selections.

[Tranquility Base]

1 hour ago, Vallesan said:

Oceania do refund port taxes if you cancel a cruise.

Thanks.

 

So, just to clarify.

If you cancel whilst in the % penalty phase (ie: 25%), the fees & taxes will be refunded 100% and the 25% penalty will be applied to the remainder of the fare ? 

[1985rz1]

4 hours ago, Tranquility Base said:

Thanks.

 

So, just to clarify.

If you cancel whilst in the % penalty phase (ie: 25%), the fees & taxes will be refunded 100% and the 25% penalty will be applied to the remainder of the fare ? 

The fees and port taxes are bundled in the total fare, so they are not separated out at any level of cancellation.

[Tranquility Base]

5 hours ago, Vallesan said:

Oceania do refund port taxes if you cancel a cruise.

@Vallesan

Were you in the % penalty period when you cancelled ?

3 minutes ago, 1985rz1 said:

The fees and port taxes are bundled in the total fare, so they are not separated out at any level of cancellation.

OK, thanks @1985rz1

 

 

 

[ORV]

7 hours ago, Sdancer said:

No one claimed that Oceania skipps ports to save money - it an absurd statement and is not based on any post here, really :).

BWY, Oceania does not lose money from cancelled excursions in skipped ports - I am not going to go into financial details here.

As AK mentioned above, there are many people on this forum that claim exactly that. 

[edgee]

2 hours ago, 1985rz1 said:

The fees and port taxes are bundled in the total fare, so they are not separated out at any level of cancellation.

My understanding is that that port fees and taxes are separated out on the TA's copy of invoices along with the air fare portion, if applicable. According to my TA, this has to happen since O subtracts them out when calculating TA commissions.

[1985rz1]

20 minutes ago, edgee said:

My understanding is that that port fees and taxes are separated out on the TA's copy of invoices along with the air fare portion, if applicable. According to my TA, this has to happen since O subtracts them out when calculating TA commissions.

I don't know what applies to TA commissions, but on the passenger level we had to cancel in the 100% penalty level because of a medical emergency, and there was no compensation for port fees and taxes because we didn't pay for them separately.

[Vallesan]

3 hours ago, 1985rz1 said:

I don't know what applies to TA commissions, but on the passenger level we had to cancel in the 100% penalty level because of a medical emergency, and there was no compensation for port fees and taxes because we didn't pay for them separately.

Maybe it’s different in the UK but we didn’t pay for the port fees separately either. We were also in the 100% penalty level and they just ‘appeared’ as a refund on my credit card without any notification. I couldn’t even tell you if the amount was right or wrong as they were never specified!

 

I do know that Seabourn take out the port fees and refund on the  basis of the fare only but then they specify the port fees and taxes separately.

Edited April 19 by Vallesan

[Vallesan]

10 hours ago, Tranquility Base said:

Thanks.

 

So, just to clarify.

If you cancel whilst in the % penalty phase (ie: 25%), the fees & taxes will be refunded 100% and the 25% penalty will be applied to the remainder of the fare ? 

 I’ve never been in that position only 100% penalty so can’t answer that. I do know that’s what Seabourn do.