Port Fees??

[magoo44]

Can someone tell me what the port fees are? Do you have to pay for them if you do not leave the ship that day? Are they per person or prepaid?

 

Thanks ;)

[CruiserBruce]

The fees are for port costs, like docking fees and similar. They are charged per person, and are part of your fare, but due to a lawsuit, are listed separately. No, you don't get them refunded if you don't leave the ship.

[paul929207]

These are charges imposed by the ports for ships visiting their ports. You do pay whether you stay on board or get off. They are part of the payment you make for the cruise.

 

If you cruise misses a port, you get a refund.

[cb at sea]

It should be part of your fare....no need to worry about them.

[Keith1010]

The port fees cover the expense of the ship docking in port. Fees go towards the maintenance of the ports and longer term for construction of new ports expansion of existing ones.

 

Keith

[cherylandtk]

Port fees are charged per ship, port and government taxes are charged per person.

 

The pro rata amount of the total port fee is estimated per person and included as part of your fare. It is not usually broken out as a separate line item, although many TA's will list it separately as NCF. Sometimes the cruise line gains a little, sometimes they lose a little, depending on the actual count of passengers vs. the estimated count used to figure the per person share.

 

Port/government taxes are per person and are charged whether you get off the ship or not. The amount may change slightly from final payment to actual cruise date and will show up on your onboard bill, as will any refund (usually if your ship misses that port).

[CruiserBruce]

Port/government taxes are per person and are charged whether you get off the ship or not. The amount may change slightly from final payment to actual cruise date and will show up on your onboard bill, as will any refund (usually if your ship misses that port).

 

 

In our experience port fees/taxes only show up on your onboard bill if they change after final payment- either additional fees or refunds. Otherwise they are in your total fare, paid prior to sailing. At least on the cruises we have been on.

[Lsimon]

They are taxes and you have to pay them - no escape if you want to take the cruise.

 

Have you ever booked a land based hotel that advertised a fee without any taxes and found the taxes add another 5% to 20% or more? Same thing with the cruise lines. Some web sites advertise the rate with all taxes and fees included and some don't. Bottom line is that you need to find out the bottom line price before you commit to a booking.

 

Oh - and while we're at it if you're booking through a travel agent ask them if they have any fees of their own they add on for booking, changing a booking (including cruise line price drops) and/or cancellations. Some agencies do and some don't.

[smeyer418]

port fees include all the charges for docking including pilot fees(the guy they pick up and brings the ship in and out of port), wharf-age(docking at the dock) standby fees for any tug(in some ports like Bermuda), passenger charges(some ports not all) etc(there is a lot of etc). Some are person, some are based on the tonnage of the ship, or the length of the ship etc. How a ship actually calculates what each person pays is also in some cases a trade secret...i.e. is it based on the lower two in each room(this is what 100% means when they say the ship sailed at 110% it means that the extra 10 percent came from more than two in some rooms). An estimate on how many people will be aboard i.e. the average sailing capacity---again most ships sail at about 110% some more some less. A ship is not really full/full until 125-130% of lower two capacity....and no you don't get any money back if you don't get off.

On a recent cruise to Bermuda we were refunded $3pp because the fees were lowered.

 

and some ports/States/countries actually do have a tax like Alaska where its $35? per person...(used to be $50)....