Taxes and port fees included may not be good if you need to cancel

[Wayward Son]

1 hour ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

I am not seeing this reflected on Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity in comparing the major cruise lines.

 

I'm absolutely certain we will, soon, if CCL doesn't get much backlash for it.

 

[LAFFNVEGAS]

4 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

There seem to be complaints about this also on the Carnival board.

Probably I will admit I did not check Carnival, I would assume it also is happening with Seabourn and Cunard. I personally have several Norwegian cruises booked and checked each of those and Norwegian is not doing this at all. If anything the taxes went up on two of them but my reservation stayed the same they do not increase pre existing reservations of taxes do go up.

[BermudaBound2014]

5 minutes ago, TiogaCruiser said:

So for those who game the system, there is less reward with this model. 

 

I wouldn't call it 'gaming the system" as most good travel consultants actually suggest this option. I have had agents recommend a ghost booking on more than one occasion.

 

Example: Price of one person all in is $3,000. Price for two people all in is $2,500. From what I have been told, in this case it's a computer glitch not applying appropriate discounts to the solo, it is not that the cruise line is trying to charge MORE than 200% for solos. Charging double is fair game, but based on what I've been told, most don't consciously try to charge more than double.

 

There is also the situation where two people are booked and one person legitimately needs to cancel. They would be out refund money based on the new pricing structure.

 

Just things to note.

 

 

 

 

[Blackduck59]

I think the "old" way was so they could advertise the lowest fare possible and then throw on Taxes (which are set by the presiding Government) which are zealously collected and accounted for. And "fees" which are rather ambiguous. Now they have broken out the actual "taxes" and rolled the "fees" into the fare. The old way was to show the "Fare" in bold letters and then in small letters "plus taxes and fees" which could be a shockingly high number. I have never had a refund of "taxes and fees" but I doubt they ever refunded the full amount.

[RedIguana]

21 hours ago, POA1 said:

Ironically, those are probably paid to some government agency - "cause there aren't a ton of private ports.

I was under the impression the majority of ports were under private control.

[Heartgrove]

Doesn't all of the angst concern future bookings? If you have booked a cruise before July 1, the terms of that contract would apply.

[rj59]

20 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

The cruise lines took this new law and turned it to their advantage.

The same thing is happening with new standby fares of $99/$129. They're adding on $50 per day to include taxes/fees, which means more profit for them in places that have lower taxes/fees, like the Caribbean or Mexico. It just will take a mind reset when calculating cruise value, just as nobody thinks about all the fees/taxes included in airfare now. The higher upfront fare might give people more reluctant to book--I know I've suffered from sticker shock when searching this week, so it's understandable that cruise lines might try to sneak in extra profits where possible, since the higher listed cost might cause a drop in booking demand, if/when the current cruise mania subsides. But at the same time, it makes it easier to accurately compare fares, whereas before I knew that bargain fares wouldn't be so attractive after fees/taxes, particularly in Alaska, the Panama Canal, Canada/New England, and Pacific coastal stops in SF. The easiest way I've found to easily compare fares is searching cruiseplum, where I can rank cruises by overall cost per cabin per day for a solo. 

[chengkp75]

14 hours ago, RedIguana said:

I was under the impression the majority of ports were under private control.

No, nearly every port is under governmental, or quasi-governmental port authority agencies.  Many terminals and piers are leased to private concerns to operate, but the port receives the passenger tax (if any), and the wharfage fee, if paid to the operating company, gets back to the government port authority through the lease payment.

[RedIguana]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

No, nearly every port is under governmental, or quasi-governmental port authority agencies.  Many terminals and piers are leased to private concerns to operate, but the port receives the passenger tax (if any), and the wharfage fee, if paid to the operating company, gets back to the government port authority through the lease payment.

Yep, the leases put them under private control. The reason we still have stops in Key West is the one pier accepting larger ships is leased out. 

[chengkp75]

1 minute ago, RedIguana said:

Yep, the leases put them under private control. The reason we still have stops in Key West is the one pier accepting larger ships is leased out. 

Yes, but the private company does not typically receive the "port taxes", these go to the city's Port Operations department (Port & Marine Services Department, to be exact), and the dockage agreements, which lists the amount of dockage fee (port fees) is directly between the ship owner/operator and the city.  The passenger "head tax" also goes directly to the city, not the pier operator.

[Wayward Son]

11 hours ago, Heartgrove said:

If you have booked a cruise before July 1, the terms of that contract would apply.

 

Would it? Can you still find the version of the contract for the date you booked? I can't. It's just a link to the current contract.

 

Regarding this subject of taxes and fees, I assume you would be refunded whatever is stated on your booking confirmation. That can't change like a cruise contract can.

 

[Mary229]

1 hour ago, Wayward Son said:

 

Would it? Can you still find the version of the contract for the date you booked? I can't. It's just a link to the current contract.

 

Regarding this subject of taxes and fees, I assume you would be refunded whatever is stated on your booking confirmation. That can't change like a cruise contract can.

 

Agree.  To make the cruise contract simple. “We can change anything we want and if you show up when and where we indicate you will find a ship on the water”. 

[POA1]

8 hours ago, RedIguana said:

Yep, the leases put them under private control. The reason we still have stops in Key West is the one pier accepting larger ships is leased out. 

I hate to break it to you, but Pier B in Key West is under government control. There are other government entities besides Key West. True private ports are really rare. You can usually tell by immigration, tax and gambling policies.

 

https://keysweekly.com/42/ceasefire-settles-latest-cruise-ship-clash/

[MikeD4134]

You folks have completely lost me.  Could someone please show an example of an official communication from a cruise line that states you will not receive a full refund if you cancel your cruise before the Cancelation Fees begin.  Is all this chatter about a hypothetical scenario or has someone canceled and not received their full refund?

 

Thanks

[BermudaBound2014]

6 minutes ago, MikeD4134 said:

You folks have completely lost me.  Could someone please show an example of an official communication from a cruise line that states you will not receive a full refund if you cancel your cruise before the Cancelation Fees begin.  Is all this chatter about a hypothetical scenario or has someone canceled and not received their full refund?

 

Thanks

 

All cruise lines offer non-refundable deposit fares. In that case, you will not receive a full refund on any line. 

Edited July 7 by BermudaBound2014

[knittinggirl]

Can we ask our TA for an itemized receipt?

[Wayward Son]

4 hours ago, MikeD4134 said:

You folks have completely lost me.

 

In order to get lost, you need to know where you were to begin with.  😂

 

This thread is about what would be refunded in taxes and port fees before, and after, the new law in California went into effect. I haven't seen anyone talking about basic cancellation fees.

 

 

Edited July 7 by Wayward Son

[Menocchio]

On 7/5/2024 at 9:59 PM, Blackduck59 said:

I think the "old" way was so they could advertise the lowest fare possible and then throw on Taxes (which are set by the presiding Government) which are zealously collected and accounted for. And "fees" which are rather ambiguous. Now they have broken out the actual "taxes" and rolled the "fees" into the fare. The old way was to show the "Fare" in bold letters and then in small letters "plus taxes and fees" which could be a shockingly high number. I have never had a refund of "taxes and fees" but I doubt they ever refunded the full amount.

And if they did, it's because they did the math and figures that they'd still come out ahead overall with the more attractive lower "Fare" price. 

 

This is absolutely nothing to complain about. It means the cancellation penalty is a little higher if you cancel after final payment. That's not a big deal, especially since it'd still be covered by insurance. If you actually get on your cruise, it doesn't affect you at all.

 

And I couldn't care less if it makes the Ghost Booking more expensive. Tricks like that get canceled all the time.  

 

And in return, pricing is more honest and less confusing. Sounds like a win to me.

[Blackduck59]

48 minutes ago, Menocchio said:

And if they did, it's because they did the math and figures that they'd still come out ahead overall with the more attractive lower "Fare" price. 

 

This is absolutely nothing to complain about. It means the cancellation penalty is a little higher if you cancel after final payment. That's not a big deal, especially since it'd still be covered by insurance. If you actually get on your cruise, it doesn't affect you at all.

 

And I couldn't care less if it makes the Ghost Booking more expensive. Tricks like that get canceled all the time.  

 

And in return, pricing is more honest and less confusing. Sounds like a win to me.

I'm not sure why you chose to quote me. You could have made your point without me. My point, if it wasn't clear was that the old way was to show the "Fare" in big bold letters and in small letters the "taxes and fees" implying that those taxes and fees go to "the Man" as it were.

Now they have to put the total of Fare + Taxes & Fees in bold letters. What the refund would be for a cancelled port is a mystery to the consumer; because the "Taxes & Fees" are different for each port. We have been on cruises with cancelled ports and recieved precisely nothing in refund or compensation except the excursion we had planned was refunded. 

[MikeD4134]

On 7/7/2024 at 4:42 PM, Wayward Son said:

 

In order to get lost, you need to know where you were to begin with.  😂

 

This thread is about what would be refunded in taxes and port fees before, and after, the new law in California went into effect. I haven't seen anyone talking about basic cancellation fees.

 

 

Neither did I, learn how to read.

How dare you insult me.

[KAKcruiser]

Isn't this going to affect the pricing for a single person in a cabin?  Before there was only one charge for taxes and fees.  Now that it is all added together, it seems like the price for a solo is more expensive than before. 

[Bethcb]

What’s the big deal? If you cancel before final payment you get it all back. If after final payment your insurance should cover the fees. If no insurance, you will lose your cruise fare (or a portion of it depending on cancellation date)  which is a whole lot more than the port fees. 

[Mary229]

On 7/10/2024 at 7:03 PM, KAKcruiser said:

Isn't this going to affect the pricing for a single person in a cabin?  Before there was only one charge for taxes and fees.  Now that it is all added together, it seems like the price for a solo is more expensive than before. 

Additionally if you miss a port they are not as motivated to reimburse you.