why is HAL's Taxes&Port Charges OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive?

[trinaM]

I looked into a Sept 2014 Pacific one day coastal from vancouver to seattle and then also a one day coastal from seattle to vancouver.

 

I never have heard of or seen the EXORBITANT taxes and fees they are charging for this ONE day pacific coastal cruise.

When I asked t they said "$114.00" for taxes and fees

 

Anyone have a Guess as to why?

 

 

Would you go on this cruise anyway and pay that HIGH port charge ??

[RJ2002]

I looked into a Sept 2014 Pacific one day coastal from vancouver to seattle and then also a one day coastal from seattle to vancouver.

 

I never have heard of or seen the EXORBITANT taxes and fees they are charging for this ONE day pacific coastal cruise.

When I asked t they said "$114.00" for taxes and fees

 

Anyone have a Guess as to why?

 

 

Would you go on this cruise anyway and pay that HIGH port charge ??

 

I am sure others will chime in, but HAL has nothing to do with the taxes and fees. They are set by the local authorities.

[CruiserBruce]

Agree. A couple of lawsuits a few years ago declared these taxes and fees must be identified and listed separately. They are what the ports charge.

Edited June 10, 2014 by CruiserBruce

[PathfinderEss]

Yes I would go on that cruise, I'm sure your cabin price is pretty resonable. Hal has nothing to do with port charges and taxes. Heck it cost $90 in taxes to fly out of Vancouver to California.

[sail7seas]

Only you can decide if the total price is worth it to you.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

They are not making any profit on that ..

[IRL_Joanie]

I looked into a Sept 2014 Pacific one day coastal from vancouver to seattle and then also a one day coastal from seattle to vancouver.

 

I never have heard of or seen the EXORBITANT taxes and fees they are charging for this ONE day pacific coastal cruise.

When I asked t they said "$114.00" for taxes and fees

 

Anyone have a Guess as to why?

 

 

Would you go on this cruise anyway and pay that HIGH port charge ??

HAL does not charge the Taxes and Port Fees. The Taxes are local, state and federal and the Port Fees are charged per person (Head Taxes) in each and every port for those of us coming to visit.

 

I have to agree that in some cases I find the charges to be exhorbitant, but it is not the cruise line charging us, it is the Gornments of thos e Countries, states, etc., who are doing their best to make us happy to come and visit them and not cost the locals and other residents more. Hope that makes sense.......

 

Basically let me put it this way. When we fly into Dallas/Ft Worth to go to a race and we rent a car, we always pay an exorbitant rate in Rental Car Fees/Taxes. The rental car itself might cost us $30.00 per day, but then you add all the taxes, local, state, federal and Arena (Yes, the last time we did this about 6 years ago it was called arena tax) we ended up paying more than $50.00 per day for the car...

 

If we want to go and visit, we gots to pay da price.......

 

Joanie

[Mary Ellen]

As the others have said, port taxes and fees are NOT set by the cruise lines.

Everyone - including the cruise lines - is confused by port charges and taxes. They are extremely complicated, differ greatly from port to port and country to country, and are constantly changing.

 

There are many different port taxes and fees charged to a cruise ship.

 

Many - but certainly not all - ports charge a fixed dollar amount for each paying passenger onboard the ship. But this number can go up or down with very little warning. Quite often, this amount as a part of the port taxes you paid several months ago when you booked the cruise has changed - up or down - by the time your ship goes to that particular port. When you board you then find a small refund - or a small additional charge - that reflects the change.

 

Some ports (not all) charge fixed wharfage and head taxes based on the size of the ship rather than the number of paying passengers onboard. Then the cruise line has to calculate the port taxes by dividing the overall port charges by number of paying passengers actually onboard the ship on the day of that particular port visit. If your cruise is very full you may pay lower fees and taxes than if it was not so full.

 

Many ports have several piers. Some piers carry higher port charges and taxes than other piers. It is often the case that a cruise ship Captain is not sure which pier he will be assigned to until just a day or even a few hours before he arrives in the port. In San Juan for example, the fees and taxes for a ship visiting for the day at the Old Town piers are far higher than the fees for a ship visiting or turning around at the Panamerican Piers across the harbor.

At Sydney harbor, we like to dock at "the Rocks", just across from the Opera House. We pay much higher fees, but the location is great for our passengers. But if a large ship that cannot fit under the Sydney Harbort Bridge happens to show up, they get priority and we are shifted to the new Sydney Terminal in Darling Harbor. We pay far less in fees and taxes at the new terminal, but it is not nearly as convenient.

 

Many ports charge by the hour or by a segment of hours. If a ship stays longer at a pier, it is charged more money. Those charges are passed on to the passengers.

 

In some countries, a ship pays higher - or lower - fees and taxes depending on which country the cruise originated in.

 

Two or three times every month (on average) I receive an email from the Head Office explaining how much more I need to charge - or refund - every new guest because one or more ports or countries has changed the tax or fee structure at one or more ports on our itinerary.

 

In some ports, the cruise line has a special deal with one pier owner or another, giving them lower port charges, which are passed on to the passengers. In St Thomas, for example, HAL, Princess, and Cunard ships normally go to the the Sub Base Pier and pay substantially lower fees than the other ships that go to the Havensight pier downtown.

At Key West, the smaller ships are allowed to dock right down town - and pay much higher fees than the bigger ships that are docked at the Navy Pier.

 

When my ship was in Shanghai last week, we were small enough to fit under the bridge and tie up at the end of the Bund in the center of town. We paid a substantial premium for that. Our Royal Caribbean competitors could not fit their ship in the Huang Pu river and instead had to go to the Container Terminal quite a way out of town. Even though they are much bigger than us, they paid lower fees.

 

Are you confused yet? We usually are. And I have only scratched the surface of the myriad of factors that cause the confusion that surrounds port charges, fees, and taxes.

 

How is this all controlled?

Several years ago, a few cruise lines were caught inflating taxes and fees for passengers.

The State of Florida brought major lawsuits against those lines, won the lawsuits, and the lines had to pay many millions in penalties.

From that point on, several US Government Organisations monitor and audit fees and taxes charged by all the cruise lines calling at US ports, keeping everyone honest.

 

When I've looked into similar cruises to the ones you mentioned this past spring, I found it interesting that the port taxes/fees were different for the Seattle>Vancouver than for the Vancouver>Seattle runs. My guess is that the ports also charge different fees if you are embarking rather than disembarking.

 

You need to blame the port cities, not the cruise lines for what you deem "EXORBITANT" port taxes and fees.

[taxmantoo]

If you try to book from different online TA's, you will find that their prices as well as taxes and fess are likely to all be different. One will have lower prices but higher fees while the other might have higher prices but lower taxes and fees.

 

In the end, I really don't care how they calculate the total price as that is the only amount that really matters to us.

[Linda&Vern]

If you try to book from different online TA's, you will find that their prices as well as taxes and fess are likely to all be different. One will have lower prices but higher fees while the other might have higher prices but lower taxes and fees.

 

In the end, I really don't care how they calculate the total price as that is the only amount that really matters to us.

I can't say that I have ever seen port fees/taxes to be different on any website when pricing cruises. That does not mean that some on-line TA's haven't added on "service fees."

[igraf]

You did not know that taxes are set by governments and not by private corporations?

 

igraf

 

 

 

 

I looked into a Sept 2014 Pacific one day coastal from vancouver to seattle and then also a one day coastal from seattle to vancouver.

 

I never have heard of or seen the EXORBITANT taxes and fees they are charging for this ONE day pacific coastal cruise.

When I asked t they said "$114.00" for taxes and fees

 

Anyone have a Guess as to why?

 

 

Would you go on this cruise anyway and pay that HIGH port charge ??

[iancal]

No idea, but sometimes I think there is more than port taxes in there.

 

HAL, and all Carnival Corp. ships actually get a rebate on a good portion of the port taxes by agreeing to deliver X numbers of cruisers per season to certain Caribbean ports. So, they may charge us $10 but 7-8 gets rebated back when they hit the agreed volume.

 

Not certain if they have this arrangement in other geographies.

 

We never really pay attention to the port taxes, the OBC's, the gimmes. We only care about the bottom line, net of all taxes and net of any cruise line OBC's. That is what we pay-the rest is noise level to us.

[Watson's aunt]

Hi

 

I remember a couple of yr=ears ago Alaska raised thier taxes and port fees; make ship drop a port or two and threating not to have as many ships going up there. They dropped the fees

 

Mary

[serendipity1499]

Hi

 

I remember a couple of yr=ears ago Alaska raised thier taxes and port fees; make ship drop a port or two and threating not to have as many ships going up there. They dropped the fees

 

Mary

I remember that too! Every one on this board was up in arms & the cruise lines threatened to pull out of Alaska..

 

TrinaM' date=' By the way LindaM posted the explanation from Bruce Muzz above..

 

Just so you know that, he is a long-time Officer on another cruise Line, not on HAL & he has been an officer on several cruise lines.. IMO his explanations are accurate..

 

We too have had very high taxes & fees on some of our cruises as well as some of our air tickets & hotels in various parts of the world...That's the price we have to pay, like it or not./SIZE']

 

In 2010 Phillip another long time cruise line officer explained about an increase in taxes on another thread:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1275544

Post No. 15

 

Quote Not so long ago, countries/islands outside the USA often preferred to receive their head taxes, port charges, and docking fees from the cruise lines in US Dollars.

 

In recent years, as the US dollar slides lower and lower against other currencies, they have changed their story. They now prefer to receive the charges in local currency.That presents a problem for the cruise line - and for the passengers.

 

As the dollar continues to lose value against the local currencies, it takes more dollars to pay the head taxes, port charges, and docking fees.

 

And the cruise lines pass those increases on to you.

 

The crew have it far worse. We all get paid and tipped in US dollars, and then have to convert them when we go home. My net salary (after conversion) has decreased by 40% in the past 5 years, just because I am paid in US Dollars. Unquote

[serendipity1499]

It was not LindM who quoted Bruce Muzz above....

 

My apologies, it was Mary Ellen who quoted Bruce Muzz..

 

BTW I did a search of this board & found many questions about taxes & port charges being increased way back in 2010..

 

In one case the port charges went up $100 per person for the Panama Canal & it was too late to advise all the Psgrs..They were told when they arrived on-board & the $100 per person was added to their accounts.. Can you imagine what a shock it would have been for a family of four to have a $400 added expense their cruise..:eek::eek:

 

This argument has been going on for years! LOL :):)

Edited June 11, 2014 by serendipity1499

[catl331]

Maybe they don't sail with a full ship on these cruises so they have to pay more. It is between two countries so that might increase. If you want to go, they you must pay. No way around it.

[Typhoon1]

HAL has no control over port fees and taxes.

 

They are determined by the local governments.