Losing Enthusiasm

[Pet Nit Noy]

Someone mentioned taxes and fees from London. If you take Oceania, do you have to pay these fees extra?

 

This is the second time the poster has complained about taxes on flights departing from London. The first time was on the British Ports of Call Board. At that time, a London resident challenged the poster to cite some specifics to support the claim that London was substantially more expensive than other departure cities. No specifics have yet shown up so I suggest you take his/her warnings with a grain of salt unless and until there is proof that the criticism is valid. And, frankly, London is such a marvelous city that I can't imagine anyone passing up an opportunity to visit it because of a detail like departure tax.

[rallydave]

Someone mentioned taxes and fees from London. If you take Oceania, do you have to pay these fees extra?

 

It really depends. If you are using Oceania Air without deviation and your cruise ends in England, the fees are included in your cruise fare as are the costs for your flights so you do pay them but, not broken out so you would never know.

 

Should you deviate the extra costs might or might not be included in any extra costs over and above the deviation fee, if there is such and if you were to deviate such that your return was from London rather than another location, the extra fees would more than likely be included again in extra costs over and above the deviation fee.

 

In all cases you wouldn't know by having the costs broken out but, one way or another you will pay those costs as sure Oceania won't eat them.

[rallydave]

This is the second time the poster has complained about taxes on flights departing from London. The first time was on the British Ports of Call Board. At that time, a London resident challenged the poster to cite some specifics to support the claim that London was substantially more expensive than other departure cities. No specifics have yet shown up so I suggest you take his/her warnings with a grain of salt unless and until there is proof that the criticism is valid. And, frankly, London is such a marvelous city that I can't imagine anyone passing up an opportunity to visit it because of a detail like departure tax.

 

Suggest you read the following thread http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1950967 and you will see all about the absurd taxes that are added to flights out of London to distant locations such as the US. These fees are even charged to "free" frequent flyer tickets. We are not talking minor departure taxes. For a "free" business class flight, the fee is over $300 pp.

[triplestar]

The tax from London Heathrow is only for departures.It isnot a standard rate,but charged according to miles & class of ticket ,therefore business class to LAX will be the highest, whilst an economy to Paris will be in the lowest range. It is only charged to your first stop , so we in NZ are charged the same as to LA & not the 12,000 miles to Auckland. The return airfare via Asia is always slightly cheaper than through USA probably due to this tax.

[LHT28]

Someone mentioned taxes and fees from London. If you take Oceania, do you have to pay these fees extra?

It is all rolled in the price you see for the cruise

Even if you deviate you only pay the deviation fee unless the flights you choose have an upcharge

 

You are spending thousands on a cruise & worrying over the departure taxes

Edited December 6, 2013 by LHT28

[Host Jazzbeau]

It is all rolled in the price you see for the cruise

Even if you deviate you only pay the deviation fee unless the flights you choose have an upcharge

 

You are spending thousands on a cruise & worrying over the departure taxes

 

Why pay an expense you don't need to? Any flight connecting through Heathrow will be hit by the high British take-off fees, and you have to pay them one way or the other. The way to avoid such charges (in general) is detailed here:

http://thepointsguy.com/2012/06/save-money-on-fuel-surcharges-and-fees-transfer-british-airways-avios-to-iberia/

[LHT28]

Why pay an expense you don't need to? Any flight connecting through Heathrow will be hit by the high British take-off fees, and you have to pay them one way or the other. The way to avoid such charges (in general) is detailed here:

It is not something I worry about

Have you looked at the added taxes flying out of Canada :confused:

 

No I am not about to drive 4 hrs to the USA & take the mail run flights to save a few $

Or take a train/ferry etc to Belgium from Dover to avoid the extra $ either

 

Convenience is more important to me

 

YMMV

 

Different stroke & all the other cliches

[Andromeda93]

We were on the same crossing and agree with you 100% Had a wonderful time and the 2 ports were no big deal. We got into Cork much earlier than we expected and we had extra hours to walk about the town and still take our tour. As to the missed ports, better safe than in trouble. :)

 

We were also on the NY-LON cruise with RJB and triplestar this past May-June. Although we ended up with a 4-day crossing because the last port in Canada was canceled, we still ran out of time to do everything we wanted before landing in Ireland. It was so very relaxing - sleep in, breakfast in room, work out, attend a lecture, wine tasting, watch a movie, take a culinary class, get a spa treatment, go to tea in Horizons, read a book or mag - it was always time for a pre-dinner glass of Champagne before we knew it! Also we went to hear the string quartet every chance we got as they were wonderful. We thought the lecturers on our cruise were both great. And we met the most amazing, interesting fellow passengers on this trip - one even in the laundry room!

 

Yes, it was disappointing to have missed two ports, and the weather on the crossing was so foggy we couldn't use the balcony as it was constantly wet and misty. But traveling across the Atlantic by ship, in 21st century luxury, delivered a magic I hadn't anticipated and can't really describe.

 

BTW we met a group on our sailing who solved the London airline tax 'problem' by staying on Marina for the next leg, which ended in Stockholm I think. They mentally discounted the cost of that extra 7- or 10-night cruise by the amount of the London airline tax and decided it was a bargain! :)

Edited December 6, 2013 by Andromeda93

[Hawaiidan]

This is the second time the poster has complained about taxes on flights departing from London. The first time was on the British Ports of Call Board. At that time, a London resident challenged the poster to cite some specifics to support the claim that London was substantially more expensive than other departure cities. No specifics have yet shown up so I suggest you take his/her warnings with a grain of salt unless and until there is proof that the criticism is valid. And, frankly, London is such a marvelous city that I can't imagine anyone passing up an opportunity to visit it because of a detail like departure tax.

 

 

London may be such a wonderful city... no arguments...but the British Govt has taken taxation to the extreme

You can take a fast train to Paris for about and $60 and then ir is 149 departure tax...so train and airport $210. This is still $120 pp cheaper than London Then add the $40 pp each way into London.

Departure tax to Hong kong...$6.50. from LAX. .

The grain of salt the British use is to rub into the open wounds of visitors.

London in the 70's vs London today is a totally different world

 

I cite if you fly form London to the US in Business , even on a free ticket from miles..better pony up $320+ pp departure tax That chum is hard cold fact

 

Fly into London..... never ever fly out.

[ChatKat in Ca.]

 

My biggest complaint on events would be with the casino. 14 day TA cruise and we had 2 Texas Hold em tourneys, that's it, no lessons, no BJ tourneys, no slot tourneys. I've never seen this before on any cruise line, including the Oceania cruises I've been on before.

 

Too bad I never saw you in the Casino; I asked Michael the casino manager three times to hold a BlackJack Tournament. I told him I had never cruised without some tournaments and he said because of the demographic on this crossing - that it was too quiet to do any tournament. He told me no one plays blackjack any more - although that was the only table with consistent players every night. Go figure. At least I left with some (not a lot) of their money.

[JimandStan]

Too bad I never saw you in the Casino; I asked Michael the casino manager three times to hold a BlackJack Tournament. I told him I had never cruised without some tournaments and he said because of the demographic on this crossing - that it was too quiet to do any tournament. He told me no one plays blackjack any more - although that was the only table with consistent players every night. Go figure. At least I left with some (not a lot) of their money.

 

As I understand it, the Casino Managers have to skate a very thin line between the hard core/deep pockets brigade of serious gamblers who hate the noise and distractions of the Tournaments , and the rest of us, for whom they represent an evenings distraction.

Given the, shall we say "intimate size" of the Gaming Rooms, it can't be easy to schedule even the Tournaments that they do.

[ChatKat in Ca.]

They had them on the Regatta on a sea day. They had unused tables all the time and tournaments are usually held in the day. A tournament is one table for blackjack. A round of 7 players gets a fixed amount of chips and each gets one round. Winner moved to a final round

[pacheco18]

I think the way to look at this issue of "disappointment" is rather simple IMO

 

Every cruise line does some things really well and other things not so well.

There is no perfect cruise line (although there are a few posters on this board who can never file fault with Oceania -- so be it).

 

Oceania does an amazing job with food, service, quality of fellow passengers and creating a marvelous on board ambiance. They DO NOT get high marks IMO for entertainment, variety of on board activities or shore excursions.

 

You can look at any cruise line and find its strengths and weaknesses. The key is finding the one whose strengths matter to you and whose weaknesses do not. That's what some call "a good fit."

 

These CC boards can be a good resource for determining strengths and weaknesses of any line. Cancel out the extremes (the line is perfect, the line is awful) and you will get close to the truth.

 

If the stated or perceived weaknesses of a cruise line really matter to you and will affect your enjoyment of your cruise, you WILL be disappointed, and you should choose a cruise line whose weaknesses will have no impact. The decision will be different for every one of us.

Edited December 6, 2013 by pacheco18

[Pet Nit Noy]

London may be such a wonderful city... no arguments...but the British Govt has taken taxation to the extreme

You can take a fast train to Paris for about and $60 and then ir is 149 departure tax...so train and airport $210. This is still $120 pp cheaper than London Then add the $40 pp each way into London.

 

Your suggestion does save $120 but it also fails to take into account the cost in terms of time, effort, and frustration of getting to Paris from London for that saving. After all, you aren't even proposing visiting Paris -- only the Paris airport.

 

I can think of lots more appealing ways to save a bit of money while traveling if I truly needed to whittle down some of the $320 Heathrow departure taxes. Definitely a case of different strokes...

[Toranut97]

Allow me to counter this entire thread from a slightly different standpoint.

 

We once booked a Regent cruise. A quick glance at the signature line below reveals that we have never cruised on Regent. Why?

 

Cruise Critic.

 

I read and researched via the Cruise Critic forum. As I always do, I should note. And the information I found was useful. However, the posts revealed something else: the attitudes and demands of the prospective cruisers were off-putting (to say the least). Finally, because of the arrogance and nit-picking I perceived there, we cancelled the trip.These were simply NOT people I wanted to hang around with, ever. It seemed so snooty.

 

Every time we have cruised with Oceania I have read this forum.. And every time my DH ends up saying, "Just stop reading that. We will have a great time, we always do. Just ignore it!" And he is right. Thanks to my personal experiences I can let it go around here, but I just couldn't with Regent.

 

I love the Roll Call forums; I love the Meet-and-Greets -- but I truly feel that you have to just give up on the forums at some point, and just decide for yourself, as Paulchili has suggested, what is required for you to have fun and get your money's worth from your cruise. People do not realize what ugly attitudes they unwittingly reveal sometimes on these boards.Yeah it is just "conversation among friends," and "banter," but there are folks here who get their greatest initial impression of O from what they read here. Like it or not, that is just how it is. Our words, even here, have power.

 

I am not royalty, nor am I wealthy by CC standards (my issues are all "first world problems.") I feel that going on a cruise is a huge blessing and bonus in life. If we can swing one in a year I am thrilled beyond measure I am thankful for whatever I get. And I just cannot comprehend some of the things I read about the cruises on which I sailed. I think it all comes down to attitude and expectations, and those are inexpressibly personal and unique. So I respect what others feel, but that grain of salt with which I take things is growing larger and larger.

 

So I hope the OP sticks to her guns, sets her own expectations, and finds them met or exceeded on her cruise.

[nana541]

Sorry you decided not to cruise with Regent, I think you missed a wonderful experience!

The folks on board are some of the nicest group people i have had the pleasure to travel with.

 

Glad you found your perfect match with Oceania!

Edited December 6, 2013 by nana541

[Hawaiidan]

Your suggestion does save $120 but it also fails to take into account the cost in terms of time, effort, and frustration of getting to Paris from London for that saving. After all, you aren't even proposing visiting Paris -- only the Paris airport.

 

I can think of lots more appealing ways to save a bit of money while traveling if I truly needed to whittle down some of the $320 Heathrow departure taxes. Definitely a case of different strokes...

 

I have taken the Chunnel several times... fast and only a few hours , faster than flying in fact over all.. What frustration?

To be hit by a tax for 2 that is the better part of $700 is obscene Saving almost $300 by flying out of Paris is worth my time... If you found 240 in the gutter would you bend down to pick it up or is that not worth it......

[Hawaiidan]

I did further poking around and came up with the departure tax from London

To NY it is $200 in economy and $312 in Business 3600 miles

London to Paris... 350 miles coach $96 and Business $117

 

Other airports in Europe all flying to NY

Brussels: $60

Amsterdam: $63

Zurich:$68

Frankfurt:132$

[canuck.qc]

I think the way to look at this issue of "disappointment" is rather simple IMO

 

Every cruise line does some things really well and other things not so well.

There is no perfect cruise line (although there are a few posters on this board who can never file fault with Oceania -- so be it).

 

Oceania does an amazing job with food, service, quality of fellow passengers and creating a marvelous on board ambiance. They DO NOT get high marks IMO for entertainment, variety of on board activities or shore excursions.

 

You can look at any cruise line and find its strengths and weaknesses. The key is finding the one whose strengths matter to you and whose weaknesses do not. That's what some call "a good fit."

 

These CC boards can be a good resource for determining strengths and weaknesses of any line. Cancel out the extremes (the line is perfect, the line is awful) and you will get close to the truth.

 

If the stated or perceived weaknesses of a cruise line really matter to you and will affect your enjoyment of your cruise, you WILL be disappointed, and you should choose a cruise line whose weaknesses will have no impact. The decision will be different for every one of us.

Very well said.

[RJB]

I did further poking around and came up with the departure tax from London

To NY it is $200 in economy and $312 in Business 3600 miles

London to Paris... 350 miles coach $96 and Business $117

 

Other airports in Europe all flying to NY

Brussels: $60

Amsterdam: $63

Zurich:$68

Frankfurt:132$

And London to Miami is A LOT more in Business. A NO GO for us until these taxea come way down.

[Pet Nit Noy]

I have taken the Chunnel several times... fast and only a few hours , faster than flying in fact over all.. What frustration?

 

The frustration of traveling to CDG or Orly airport and skipping a visit to Paris itself. I simply would not skip Paris -- or a quick trip somewhere else in France -- once there. Different strokes....

 

To be hit by a tax for 2 that is the better part of $700 is obscene Saving almost $300 by flying out of Paris is worth my time... If you found 240 in the gutter would you bend down to pick it up or is that not worth it......

 

I can save the same amount of money with less impact on my trip by...

... booking a cabin on the lowest balcony deck rather than a the SAME type cabin on a higher deck.

... booking a balcony cabin on any deck cabin rather than a concierge cabin.

... taking privately arranged small-group excursions rather than taking ship's-sponsored tours

 

I think none of these three things has as much negative impact as adding travel from England to France because of a departure tax. (And the small group excursion option is arguably a much more desirable choice regardless of price.) I'm sure others can offer more suggestions.

 

As for your comment about money found in the gutter, you reveal the weakness of your argument if you have to resort to reductio ad absurdum.

[Hawaiidan]

If, there are many ways you can save on a cruise in order pay extreme taxes,

then why not just save on stuff anyway and save on taxes too?

Robbing Peter to pay Paul.

 

As for Paris, as well as many other cities... been there enough ...in fact too much.

[JMBobB]

I haven't seen a posting about the Country Fair held on Riviera's pool deck between Funchal and King's Port. The crew put on a real show, giving a great effort both to entertain the passengers and enjoy themselves during the best weather day of the crossing. I didn't hear a single negative word from anyone who took part. :D

 

Just a small attaboy for Riviera and Ocenaia. :)

 

JMBobB

 

B.S. Just one further comment: we had the good fortune to meet two other wonderful couples on our second night out of Barcelona at La Reserve. Things just got better and better after that. Oh, and the Georgia couple the next night made life a real ball.

 

B.B.S. Georgia - check. Alabama - check, Missouri - check WAR EAGLE! :eek: