Refund of Port Charges for Skipped Port

[erisajd]

Before I get my panties in a wad . . . NCL has canceled the Manzanillo Port stop on our 15 night Panama Canal voyage - will they reduce the port charges since they [and we] do not have to pay the local government for the port stop?  

[Asawi]

20 minutes ago, erisajd said:

Before I get my panties in a wad . . . NCL has canceled the Manzanillo Port stop on our 15 night Panama Canal voyage - will they reduce the port charges since they [and we] do not have to pay the local government for the port stop?  

Yes, if the total port taxes are lower than what you have paid they will refund the difference. 

[schmoopie17]

27 minutes ago, erisajd said:

Before I get my panties in a wad . . . NCL has canceled the Manzanillo Port stop on our 15 night Panama Canal voyage - will they reduce the port charges since they [and we] do not have to pay the local government for the port stop?  

We're also on this cruise, since it's one of the official #Schmoopiefest25 cruises.

Thanks for asking the question so my panties don't get in a wad, either (or at least not as big of a wad as they usually are).

[erisajd]

34 minutes ago, Asawi said:

Yes, if the total port taxes are lower than what you have paid they will refund the difference. 

since we haven't paid final yet and since they haven't added any new ports . . . . I'm figuring the port fees charge will go down . .  

[MeHeartCruising]

Just to be clear what the response means.  Here's how it works:

 

Cruiselines take bookings and add in a port fee charge at the time of booking.  In reality, it is an estimate of the port fees.  NCL doesn't always know what those actual charges will be to them a year in advance (or whatever).  Over time, as the cruise gets closer, those expenses may actually increase to NCL.  But NCL does not ever increase the fee to the customer above what they charged at the time of booking.

 

Now, as the cruise gets closer or even underway, if a port is skipped, NCL will calculate whether the ACTUAL OVERALL port fees for that cruise will be reduced.  It is possible that another port that is visited raised their rates since the bookings were done.  So that could wash out any decrease in fee from a skipped port.  

So, you may or may not actually get refunded a port fee.  They will if the actual total port fees (as calculated during the cruise) are less than what the customer paid at the time of booking.

[hallux]

10 minutes ago, erisajd said:

since we haven't paid final yet and since they haven't added any new ports . . . . I'm figuring the port fees charge will go down . .  

Not always.  If other ports increased their fees (which NCL would have otherwise 'eaten') the 'refunded' fees from Manzanillo will first be used to cover the overage.

 

The port fees and taxes are ESTIMATED based on what they expect them to be and averaged over how many people they hope to have on board (it's usually a per-berth fee, regardless of how many are booked).  If there are fewer bookings than anticipated the per-person port taxes and fees would be higher, but NCL doesn't come to you asking for more.

 

Point is - there are reasons you may not see lower port fees or a refund for a missed port. There are many threads on this.  Oh - as recently as 2 years ago I HAVE received an OBC for a missed port during the cruise, it was all of $12 per person....

 

lol @MeHeartCruising we were typing at the same time.  Maybe two of us with the same answer will be believed....

Edited August 15 by hallux

[MeHeartCruising]

4 minutes ago, hallux said:

Point is - there are reasons you may not see lower port fees or a refund for a missed port. There are many threads on this.  Oh - as recently as 2 years ago I HAVE received an OBC for a missed port during the cruise, it was all of $12 per person....

 

lol @MeHeartCruising we were typing at the same time.  Maybe two of us with the same answer will be believed....

 

Indeed!  I believe the last missed port that I was credited for got me about $7.00 in refund to my account.  I've never had it be more than $20 on any cruise line I've taken.

[Middleager]

Since Covid, we've been on cruises with ports skipped.  No refund.  Some others had reported the same experience, no refund.  So if some people got refund, good for you, but don't be expecting to get refund and then get disappointed.

[erisajd]

Imagine the profit being made by cruise lines when they cancel ports after they have charged [whether estimated or not] for port charges.  Has a cruise line EVER lost money estimating port charges?  This seems like a major consumer protection /fraud class action lawsuit just waiting to happen in South Florida. . . even if they make $100 a person per cruise - its tens of millions of dollars retained by the cruise industry. . . . 

[Middleager]

2 minutes ago, erisajd said:

Imagine the profit being made by cruise lines when they cancel ports after they have charged [whether estimated or not] for port charges.  Has a cruise line EVER lost money estimating port charges?  This seems like a major consumer protection /fraud class action lawsuit just waiting to happen in South Florida. . . even if they make $100 a person per cruise - its tens of millions of dollars retained by the cruise industry. . . . 

Imagine the money cruise lines have to pay extra when port charges go up but they don't come to you for extra money.  And it's no where near $100/p/cruise, if a certain port is skipped/cancelled.

Edited August 15 by Middleager
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[Asawi]

Well, I have had a refund even without any port being skipped. During a cruise I saw $15-ish on my account that I didn't understand so I asked at guest services and the reply was that port fees were lower than estimated, like @hallux explained. And on cruises with ports skipped while underway there has been refunds as well. I don't remember any amounts, but probably around $10-20 per port.

[mapleleaves]

we skipped Kotor on the Gem last yr.   We didn't get a refund; we didn't ask.  The people who asked got about $10 so it wasn't worthwhile. 

[chengkp75]

Generally, the only time port taxes and fees would increase after booking, is for a Panama Canal transit.  Also, there was a class action lawsuit against NCL a couple decades ago, so the cruise lines are severely restricted on what they can and can't include in port fees and taxes.

[vacation44]

We got $20 per person this past June while on the Joy credited to our cabins.   When we originally booked this cruise, it was scheduled to stop in Virigina.

 

In February 2023 while on the Epic, we got a credit of roughly $10 a person for a missed port that we were notified we would be missing months before.  

[julig22]

53 minutes ago, erisajd said:

Imagine the profit being made by cruise lines when they cancel ports after they have charged [whether estimated or not] for port charges.  Has a cruise line EVER lost money estimating port charges?  This seems like a major consumer protection /fraud class action lawsuit just waiting to happen in South Florida. . . even if they make $100 a person per cruise - its tens of millions of dollars retained by the cruise industry. . . . 

Pretty sure that a reason that the taxes/fees are listed as a separate line item is that they can only charge/keep the actual fees. So no, they aren't making a profit from keeping fees if they miss a port. They probably aren't losing money currently when the ships are at capacity but I'm willing to bet they lose quite a bit when ships aren't full, assuming that some or all port fees include a set fee, regardless of how many passengers are onboard.

 

I had $31 refunded on my last cruise, presumably because of port changes - we didn't miss any ports but the initial itinerary changed a few months before we sailed.

 

[ontheweb]

We were on the Prima last summer, and like every Prima voyage between the UK and Iceland, we skipped Isafjordur. Our particular cruise also skipped our scheduled first port stop, Zeebrugges for Brugge due to an extremely low tide.

 

We got ZERO port fees refunded despite 2 skipped ports. I would not hold by breath waiting for any refund of port fees.

[Barb Nahoumi]

7 hours ago, erisajd said:

Before I get my panties in a wad . . . NCL has canceled the Manzanillo Port stop on our 15 night Panama Canal voyage - will they reduce the port charges since they [and we] do not have to pay the local government for the port stop?  

They should.

[dexddd]

The couple I can recall, GSC and Scotland, nothing.

 

I've seen other reports of GSC getting small refund.

 

I'm guessing they don't have to estimate GSC.

[julig22]

1 hour ago, dexddd said:

The couple I can recall, GSC and Scotland, nothing.

 

I've seen other reports of GSC getting small refund.

 

I'm guessing they don't have to estimate GSC.

To repeat. It's not about any individual port. It's the overall amount paid in taxes and port fees by passengers vs the overall total amount the ship is charged for all ports on the trip.

[mking8288]

FWIW, we're on this Apri-May's Prima TA and due to weather, skip & cancel the port of call for Dockyard, Bermuda (as our last stop en route to NY) and ship was basically full with good # of solo cruisers but not anywhere near lifeboat maximum.  Passengers that went down to Guest Services and asked for, received a nominal refund of port charges/fees - those that did NOT got nothing, wasn't automatically issued.  It was not information given to all passengers, from what I know & heard, also checked with other CC'ers that're onboard.  

 

Those that booked & paid for NCL shorex were, however, given credits and/or refunds - posted the next day to onboard accounts accordingly - that was stated during the morning briefing by the CD/speaking for the bridge ...  

 

Nearly a month and a half or 6 weeks later ... fast forward to reviewing the monthly cc statement on our NCL credit card, we noticed a $38 refund x 2 - for a total of $76 to our NCL branded MC, no further details, info or explanation given as to what the credit or refund was for.  That's a fairly substantial amount and totally unexpected from NCL.  Could that be a refund in error for something else we've booked and/or a different reservations made, or, possibly from adjustments to deposits made/being transferred to a new & different booking ??  I just don't know and casual efforts to track down what & why, etc. proved fruitless.    Nothing changed with our applied and/or unused CN deposits in the accounts here, just baffled a little but since the refund or credit was / has not been reversed ... can I say, we are okay with this surprise "refund"

 

 

Odd & strange and didn't make this up - see screenshot (edited for privacy) for "details" - still puzzled

 

Edited August 16 by mking8288

[amypintx]

We were on the Dawn this summer. They cancelled a port the Tuesday before the ship sailed on Saturday. During the cruise we had a random on board credit posted to our account. I can't remember what it was called but I think it was about $10pp. I assumed it was refunded port fees but don't know for sure.

[schmoopie17]

On our November, 2022 TA we were unable to land in Horta in the Azores due to winds (at least that's what they said). A couple days later, I noticed a credit to our onboard account (can't remember the exact amount)...somewhere around $20.

 

Hey, $20 is $20...well, maybe not in this economy...but every little bit helps.

 

Now, it might be different if they cancel a port five months in advance, as they did in the OP's case (and ours for next February.) I guess we will see.

[mking8288]

Pulled another itemized Final NCL Cruise OBC summary/invoice from Epic TA where we missed Cadiz/Seville (Spain) last minute on May 3rd - $18.39 p/p in Refundable OBC issued & posted on May 4th ... the typically partial refund for skipped port, usually in the $17 to $20 p/p, some higher & some lower.  

 

 

 

[The Traveling Man]

We received $5.00 each when the Epic skipped Puerto Rico in 2016 and $15.00 each when the Escape skipped Bar Harbor in 2018.  We have missed several ports on other cruises but have received no refund of port fees on any cruises except the two I mentioned.

[BirdTravels]

On 8/15/2024 at 7:58 AM, erisajd said:

Before I get my panties in a wad . . . NCL has canceled the Manzanillo Port stop on our 15 night Panama Canal voyage - will they reduce the port charges since they [and we] do not have to pay the local government for the port stop?  

Before your panties waded up, you are talking about less than $10 per person. The world does not come to an end if not refunded.