taxes higher on NCL?

[chongkwang]

I booked my first NCL cruise and it seemed to be much more expensive after taxes and gratuities than a similar base priced Carnival cruise... now I know NCL charges $12/day gratuities instead of $10.. thats good for the employees but I found the Taxes were $40/room more than a similar carnival cruise leaving same port for 7 nights and most same ports.... Is there a way to find out where the taxes are calculated? I want to know if the CEO is padding his bonuses by slipping 20% CEO fees inside the taxes.

 

Carnival Valor - $144 tax/room

29NOV09 - Miami, Sea, Grand Cayman, Isla Roatan, Belize; Cozumel, Sea; Miami

 

NCL Jewel - $184 tax/room

29NOV09 - Miami, Sea, Isla Roatan, Belize; Costa Maya, Sea; NCL great stirrup cay, Miami

 

(the NCL customer services said it depends where the ship is flagged... Valor is Panama, Jewel is Bahamas (but Carnival Triumph is Bahamas and I saw it charged only $108 tax/room for a 7 night out of galviston)

 

Any advice on how to calculate the taxes would be greatly appreciated.

[njhorseman]

I booked my first NCL cruise and it seemed to be much more expensive after taxes and gratuities than a similar base priced Carnival cruise... now I know NCL charges $12/day gratuities instead of $10.. thats good for the employees but I found the Taxes were $40/room more than a similar carnival cruise leaving same port for 7 nights and most same ports.... Is there a way to find out where the taxes are calculated? I want to know if the CEO is padding his bonuses by slipping 20% CEO fees inside the taxes.

 

Carnival Valor - $144 tax/room

29NOV09 - Miami, Sea, Grand Cayman, Isla Roatan, Belize; Cozumel, Sea; Miami

 

NCL Jewel - $184 tax/room

29NOV09 - Miami, Sea, Isla Roatan, Belize; Costa Maya, Sea; NCL great stirrup cay, Miami

 

(the NCL customer services said it depends where the ship is flagged... Valor is Panama, Jewel is Bahamas (but Carnival Triumph is Bahamas and I saw it charged only $108 tax/room for a 7 night out of galviston)

 

Any advice on how to calculate the taxes would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

The first explanation is what you've called "most same ports". "Most same" is not identical. Costa Maya is not Grand Cayman, Great Stirrup Cay is not Cozumel, Miami is not Galveston.

 

No cruise line reveals its precise formula for allocating port charges/taxes to its passengers. They estimate what they will be paying (and it is an estimate because part of the taxes paid by the cruise line are based on how many passengers are on board the ship, something that is not actually known until the ship sails and part of the taxes are per ship), and divide same by the estimated number of passengers.

[chongkwang]

The first explanation is what you've called "most same ports". "Most same" is not identical. Costa Maya is not Grand Cayman, Great Stirrup Cay is not Cozumel, Miami is not Galveston.

 

No cruise line reveals its precise formula for allocating port charges/taxes to its passengers. They estimate what they will be paying (and it is an estimate because part of the taxes paid by the cruise line are based on how many passengers are on board the ship, something that is not actually known until the ship sails and part of the taxes are per ship), and divide same by the estimated number of passengers.

The NCL Jewel cruise above is going to one less porT (tax-wise) than the Carnival Valor because NCL owns the island of great stirrup cay which would make me think the NCL taxes would be less than the Carnival, not more. My first 7 cruises I just assumed the taxes were a fixed percent and would be the same no matter what company. I'm sharing my experience incase others had the same perception as me. I am now going to check the added taxes as another option in the deciding factor for which cruise to go on.

[njhorseman]

The NCL Jewel cruise above is going to one less porT (tax-wise) than the Carnival Valor because NCL owns the island of great stirrup cay which would make me think the NCL taxes would be less than the Carnival, not more. My first 7 cruises I just assumed the taxes were a fixed percent and would be the same no matter what company. I'm sharing my experience incase others had the same perception as me. I am now going to check the added taxes as another option in the deciding factor for which cruise to go on.

 

 

While NCL owns the property it uses on Great Stirrup Cay, the island is still part of the Bahamas, and that country still collects taxes for a ship landing in their country. Think of it this way...I own the land I live on in the State of New Jersey, but I still have to pay taxes for using the property I own.

 

Port charges and fees have a number of components, including charges for anchoring or docking as the case may be, use of a harbor pilot if necessary, a per passenger head tax, etc.

 

People's perceptions aren't necessarily fact. People used to think the world was flat. Their perception was wrong.

[smeyer418]

"it depends where the ship is flagged" now that is an inventive answer. It depends on how the cruise line configures the answer, and to a large extext is irrelevant except to a TA. Look at the whole price and ignore how its broken down. Cruise lines just calculate the amount differently. Why does it matter to the TA? because no one pays commission on taxes and fees.

 

also in the fare is something called NCL(non commission-able fare). The cruise lines just break this out differently and even on the same exact cruise on different cruise lines these numbers may vary and if its not exactly the same why would it be the same? You can worry about this if you want but it won't change what the cruise lines do...

 

BTW why would it vary here is an example. Most cruise lines include in taxes and fees the charge for the pilot. Normally this is a fixed fee based on the tonnage of the ship. The cruise lines use a "normal passenger load" to calculate what they will charge each passenger(lets says its based on 102% of the lower two passenger load)....so that if the ships tonnage are different and the load factor the ship uses are different the amount per passenger will not be the same.