Taxes...

[Hate 2 W8t]

I have received two "emergency notifications" from Princess in the past week to inform me of increases to the government fees for Glacier Bay, Juneau, and Ketchikan. Is this normal on an annual basis? Should I expect another for Skagway and College Fjord? It's not a lot of money, $3.00 and change pp so far. Just a curiousity more than anything. The funny part is for the cost of mailing those notices, they probably could have just covered it. :p Also, I checked on the cruise personalizer and it indicates "no emergency notifications". Hmmm.

[catdancers]

We haven't received anything yet and we're on the Island Princess May 7. How about you?

 

Did you book directly through Pricess or did you have a travel agent?

[gprentice]

We received notice as well about our upcoming July cruise on the Island Princess regarding the 'extra' costs. Rising costs are a fact of life. Fortunately, it's a small rise. Enjoy your cruise!

Graham

[Italy52]

We are on the Sapphire May 22nd sailing to Alaska and have received NO notification of taxes. Perhaps it goes into effect later in the cruise season.

[jasl]

Our cruise on the DAWN starts June 6th and we too were notified of the increase. Suspect this went into effect beginning with the June sailings.

[wolfie11]

Both Juneau and Ketchikan increased their port fees by about $2 per person this year. Glacier Bay is a national park and they pay a per passenger fee for the rangers to board the ships, so they may be providing more rangers or more services this year. I'm not sure why Princess is sending out notices - if you already paid for your cruise, do you have to send them a check for the additional $3? The state of Alaska is considering a $50 per person tax on cruise ship passengers to help defray the cost of increasing demands on services, roads, trash removal, etc. which the cruise lines are strongly opposing and this might be a political ploy of some kind on the part of Princess.

[MichTraveler]

No notification for us on our May 23 to 30 cruise. Maybe June 1st is the cutoff?

I hope there is no increase for us. Seeing such low post-final payment "flash" prices is tough, but to then have an increase would add to the insult. But, booking in advance gives us the peace of mind that we will be going! Only a few more weeks to go :p

[cruiser2004]

If Alaska manages to pass the tourist tax, I am going to try and push a bill thru to charge each visitor from Alaska $50 to enter Ohio and send payment directly to me!

[travbee]

I don't know about individual bookings on internet, etc. but all travel agencies received notification of the increases. These fees will be applied to your onboard account.

 

Barbara

[catdancers]

travbee: What did your TA notice say? Is it June like some previous posters guessed? Thanks.

[Italy52]

I don't know about individual bookings on internet, etc. but all travel agencies received notification of the increases. These fees will be applied to your onboard account.

 

Barbara

 

 

I booked with local TA and have NOT been notified of any increase. We sail May 22nd.

[cruisebie]

Did these notifications come directly from Princess or from your TA? I checked my cruise personalizer last night and had no emergency notifications for our 6/11 cruise on the Island Princess. No e-mail as yet from my TA either? :confused: Sounds like the increases aren't too much, though, so we should be ok.

[jasl]

According to my travel agent, the cost will be charged to the shipboard account. The total now is $6.00 for both of us.

[ripleysmom]

I received an email about Ketchikan but not Juneau. My email came from my travel agent. The additional taxes will be charged to my shipboard account.

[dodge9]

This was included on our ticket letters for our upcoming cruise on the Dawn Princess May 16th:

 

**IMPORTANT NOTICE**

Princess Cruises has notified us that government taxes and fees for Juneau have increased $1 per person and that Princess will be charging this additional fee to our onboard accounts.

 

Princess Cruises has made a second notification to us… informing us now that government taxes and fees for Ketchikan have increased $2 per person and that Princess will be charging this additional fee to our onboard accounts as well as the additional Juneau fee.

[Italy52]

This was included on our ticket letters for our upcoming cruise on the Dawn Princess May 16th:

 

**IMPORTANT NOTICE**

Princess Cruises has notified us that government taxes and fees for Juneau have increased $1 per person and that Princess will be charging this additional fee to our onboard accounts.

 

Princess Cruises has made a second notification to us… informing us now that government taxes and fees for Ketchikan have increased $2 per person and that Princess will be charging this additional fee to our onboard accounts as well as the additional Juneau fee.

 

The notifications seem to be "hit and miss." We received our tickets for our Sapphire Princess May 22nd sailing and there was no mention of an increase. I looked on our cruise personalizer and nothing in the emergency notification section. Talked with my TA yesterday and still nothing. I guess I will just have to wait and see if the $$ appear on our onboard account.

[wcal]

We will be in Alaska on the Summit and have not been informed of any fee increase. Maybe Celebrity is absorbing the cost whereas Princess is passing them on to the customer. We booked through a local TA and have heard nothing so far but we still might.