Carnival Fees / Travel Agent Fees question

[sandymon]

So I see an agent and book a quad at $830 for first two passengers and $310 for 3rd and 4th. This was cheaper than I had seen online. Each of the four had taxes / fees of $279.15 added for a total of $3396.60. Two months later I go to Carnival site to see if prices had dropped. The cruise rate for the four is now $3216.00 but the fees, taxes, and fuel are only $410.60 total (instead of $279.15 each). This is still more than agent at 3626.60, but why are the taxes showing different? Was this done to mislead me or am I being overcharged of the taxes / fees?

 

Thanks

[cruisergrandma]

It is hard to answer with this amount of information. Fees and taxes do not change unless a port is changed. The exception to this is the fuel supplement. It can change but, normally does not once you have made your deposit. $410.60 for 4 passengers does not sound like all of the fees and fuel supplments are included. Something is missing. The $279.15 each sounds more like they should be. Again, hard to give an accurate answer without total information.

[Ken076]

The Taxes & Fees should be exactly the same from TA or Carnival and don't usually vary with time; did the itinerary change between the time you booked and when you checked? I'd be checking the itemized Booking Confirmation that you should have received, against Carnival's pricing (you can go thru Carnival site and do a booking up to the point of having to provide a Credit Card, and print out the itemized charges). Ken

[lvtotrvl1]

It would help if we knew the ship and date.

[bumbles]

Did the travel agent's amount include pre-paid gratuities? If so, they might have shown up as taxes & fees.

[G'ma]

Port taxes remain the same. The fuel surcharge could increase, of course.

 

Most likely, your travel agent is charging you a fee to handle your reservation. That would account for the difference in price. Many, if not most, agencies charge a handling fee for the privilege of taking your money and handling your travel plans.

 

Ask you travel agent what his/her fee is........

[oceanseagle12]

With the limited information we have, my guess is that we are simply looking at the difference in how CCL breaks it down vs. a TA. The TA will list just the fare separately (minus all port charges, fees, etc) because that is the part they get commissioned on, and the only part of the charges that they can discount.

 

I think the "fare" that Carnival list includes port charges (and maybe other things).

[DD]

Taxes/Government fees, and even NCFs (which some refer to as port charges) are subject to change. It's in the fine print. In reality, it's very rare that NCFs change; however, taxes/government fees can, and do, change on some sailings. Every year, I have a number of sailings on which they change. I will say that, from my perspective, Carnival seems to pass along tax changes much less frequently than some other lines. Princess has tax changes frequently -- sometimes they go up, sometimes they go down.

 

That doesn't, however, explain the drastic difference in taxes that you are seeing. I'm thinking that you may not be comparing apples to apples. The TA may be breaking them apart differently than Carnival. Basically there are 4 component to your cruise price: Cruise base fare, NCFs, fuel surcharge, and government taxes/fees. Ask your TA to give you a break down of those 4 items. If he/she says he/she doesn't know how to break them down, tell him/her to call Carnival and ask for the complete breakdown (Carnival doesn't offer a breakdown of NCFs, government taxes/fees, and fuel to the agent unless the agent asks for it. If you ask, they're very willing to give it to you).

 

As a client, when you call a cruise line for a price, your price is only broken down 3 ways. Your NCFs are lumped in with your base fare. The fuel surcharge is added and the government taxes/fees is added.

 

It may be that your TA is just expressing the same number differently on your invoice than Carnival expresses it. Ask for a breakdown so that you can compare apples to apples.

[lorriv20]

Taxes/Government fees, and even NCFs (which some refer to as port charges) are subject to change. It's in the fine print. In reality, it's very rare that NCFs change; however, taxes/government fees can, and do, change on some sailings. Every year, I have a number of sailings on which they change. I will say that, from my perspective, Carnival seems to pass along tax changes much less frequently than some other lines. Princess has tax changes frequently -- sometimes they go up, sometimes they go down.

 

That doesn't, however, explain the drastic difference in taxes that you are seeing. I'm thinking that you may not be comparing apples to apples. The TA may be breaking them apart differently than Carnival. Basically there are 4 component to your cruise price: Cruise base fare, NCFs, fuel surcharge, and government taxes/fees. Ask your TA to give you a break down of those 4 items. If he/she says he/she doesn't know how to break them down, tell him/her to call Carnival and ask for the complete breakdown (Carnival doesn't offer a breakdown of NCFs, government taxes/fees, and fuel to the agent unless the agent asks for it. If you ask, they're very willing to give it to you).

 

As a client, when you call a cruise line for a price, your price is only broken down 3 ways. Your NCFs are lumped in with your base fare. The fuel surcharge is added and the government taxes/fees is added.

 

It may be that your TA is just expressing the same number differently on your invoice than Carnival expresses it. Ask for a breakdown so that you can compare apples to apples.

 

 

You hit the nail on the head. The TA is most likely using a "standard form" that they use for all of their bookings. Carnival's way of listing charges is different from most other lines. They lump several charges under government fees, and it is hardto reconcile it to look correct if as a TA you are using a standard form. I agree that the solution is to just ask your TA to explain all of the charges to you.

 

As for TA's adding service charges, I know that some do. However, many do not. Our agency allows us the option to nto charge the service fee, and most cruise specialists that I am affiliated with, choose not to charge the fee.

[sandymon]

Its an 8D balcony on the 4/24/10 Carnival Dream. I booked it early in July before I saw the Dream Team going. Looks like it will be the Dream Team and my family. No room for anyone else.:D

I now understand about the NCFs and that makes it much clearer. I do know the travel agent said it covered the fuel, but Carnival has the 3rd and 4th at a cheaper fuel charge. I'm going to ask my TA just in case, but I think I am good. Thanks for helping. I was feeling like I was being cheated.