Tax Drop After Final Payment

[Wine-O]

Thanks for the info. Do you recall what you were charged for taxes on your invoice?

 

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The taxes and cruise price was a combined figure with port charges separated out.

[4774Papa]

I know that we have been on cruises where we could not tender or missed a port due to weather. Celebrity gave us a $25 credit on our shipboard account, probably due to not paying port charges.

[TeaBag]

On our recent Eclipse cruise to the Baltics, we got a port tax credit of $5.81. We asked about it thinking it was a mistake but were told it was a reduction in the port tax we had paid. I applauded Celebrity for refunding this. They could have kept it and we would never have known the difference. Thank you Celebrity, one more reason to love you!

Edited June 24, 2015 by TeaBag

[MisterBill99]

I was wondering if docking fees would be refunded in the case of skipped ports that were NOT due to unforeseen circumstances ... such as the forty-three itineraries in the Caribbean that were changed AFTER bookings were accepted.

 

This would seem fair (fare?) since it had nothing to do with fluctuations in the actual price paid to governments, et al, for the original itinerary.

 

Could be an interesting decision to rebate $$$ to the over 100,000 cruisers affected by recent actions by X. Note that taxes and fees are listed separately, so they are not part of the cruise fare, per se.

You forget that those cruises are spending an extra day in different ports, so I would expect additional fees to offset the skipped port. It would be interesting if someone whose cruise was changed compared the taxes/fees currently being quoted vs. what their invoice says.

 

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[MisterBill99]

The taxes and cruise price was a combined figure with port charges separated out.

Fine, so what were the port charges on the invoice. That's what I meant, since it's what is being refunded and I'm trying to figure out if it was the same as I was charged ($205.14l). I thought on the invoice it was called taxes, but I don't have one in front of me at the moment. The website calls it "Taxes & Fees", not port charges.

 

Strangely, when look at the "5 Day Extra Sale" page on the Celebrity site right now, it shows "Taxes & Fees: $205.14 per person" for my Bermuda cruise on the main page, but when you do the actual booking, it's $199.44. $205.14 is what I was charged when I booked several weeks ago.

Edited June 24, 2015 by MisterBill99

[DinaS]

Fine, so what were the port charges on the invoice. That's what I meant, since it's what is being refunded and I'm trying to figure out if it was the same as I was charged ($205.14l). I thought on the invoice it was called taxes, but I don't have one in front of me at the moment. The website calls it "Taxes & Fees", not port charges.

 

Strangely, when look at the "5 Day Extra Sale" page on the Celebrity site right now, it shows "Taxes & Fees: $205.14 per person" for my Bermuda cruise on the main page, but when you do the actual booking, it's $199.44. $205.14 is what I was charged when I booked several weeks ago.

 

When our "taxes and fees" dropped, we were able to get our TA to credit the amount back to our credit card (it was at final payment time - I brought it up). They told us that if we didn't ask for the credit, it would have been refunded to our onboard account during the cruise.

 

Previously, on NCL, when our ports changed due to a hurricane, we were refunded the difference via OBC as well.

 

It makes sense to do it that way if it's after final payment.

 

I saw an ad on an online TA website, and it appears the "taxes and fees" may have gone down again - I saw that same figure of $199.44 somewhere else as well.

[CruisingChick]

WHAT? Why is everyone getting money back? We sailed on Summit to Bermuda on May 24th and I know we paid the $205.14 per person on our invoice for taxes. That stinks.

 

How could taxes go down on other's cruises and not ours? Anyone else on the May 24th Bermuda cruise get a credit?

Edited June 24, 2015 by CruisingChick

[DinaS]

WHAT? Why is everyone getting money back? We sailed on Summit to Bermuda on May 24th and I know we paid the $205.14 per person on our invoice for taxes. That stinks.

 

How could taxes go down on other's cruises and not ours? Anyone else on the May 24th Bermuda cruise get a credit?

 

Calm down. You paid the correct amount at the time you sailed. We sailed the week before and paid the same amount.

 

The "taxes and fees" were originally $230-ish when we reserved at the end of 2014. They then went down a few months later to $205.14.

 

They just recently (within the last couple of weeks, it seems) went down to $199 and change.

[Wine-O]

Fine, so what were the port charges on the invoice. That's what I meant, since it's what is being refunded and I'm trying to figure out if it was the same as I was charged ($205.14l). I thought on the invoice it was called taxes, but I don't have one in front of me at the moment. The website calls it "Taxes & Fees", not port charges.

 

Strangely, when look at the "5 Day Extra Sale" page on the Celebrity site right now, it shows "Taxes & Fees: $205.14 per person" for my Bermuda cruise on the main page, but when you do the actual booking, it's $199.44. $205.14 is what I was charged when I booked several weeks ago.

 

I don't have a copy of the original invoice, just the TA's invoice in which she broke out the taxes from the cruise fare to figure out the OBC she was going to pay us. For what it's worth, the taxes/fees/port charges came out to $400.30, but that figure should vary based upon how much your cruise fare was.

 

For some reason, the figure of $223 port charges sticks in my mind.

[richsea]

WHAT? Why is everyone getting money back? We sailed on Summit to Bermuda on May 24th and I know we paid the $205.14 per person on our invoice for taxes. That stinks.

 

How could taxes go down on other's cruises and not ours? Anyone else on the May 24th Bermuda cruise get a credit?

 

They must have it in for you!:eek:

[CruisingChick]

They must have it in for you!:eek:

 

It just seems strange that all of a sudden taxes are $25+ per person lower than 3 to 4 weeks ago.

 

Don't they know ahead of time what these costs are for a season?

[richsea]

It just seems strange that all of a sudden taxes are $25+ per person lower than 3 to 4 weeks ago.

 

Don't they know ahead of time what these costs are for a season?

 

You would think so. I really don't know what the charges are based on,but I have seen the fees fluctuate on sailings that I may be tracking. It must be something that changes on the port end. But I don't see Celebrity keeping charges intentionally. We've gotten fees returned for missed ports (Grand Cayman), & have seen mysterious small credits either on our bill, or credit card after returning home, but never gave it much thought.

[MisterBill99]

I don't have a copy of the original invoice, just the TA's invoice in which she broke out the taxes from the cruise fare to figure out the OBC she was going to pay us. For what it's worth, the taxes/fees/port charges came out to $400.30, but that figure should vary based upon how much your cruise fare was.

 

For some reason, the figure of $223 port charges sticks in my mind.

There are actually *3* fare components. The regular fare actually contains a non-commissionable piece but it is not broken out on most invoices. Presumably that is the piece that was broken out so you could see what your TA was actually getting a commission on.

 

Related story: With RCI's 30 for 30 promotion going on, they list the percent off discount in 2 separate pieces on the invoice you get from them, and it turns out the 2nd piece is the discount on the non-commissionable portion of the fare. You never see any indication of the split on a normal invoice from them.

[DinaS]

It just seems strange that all of a sudden taxes are $25+ per person lower than 3 to 4 weeks ago.

 

Don't they know ahead of time what these costs are for a season?

 

The taxes are NOT $25 per person lower than 3-4 weeks ago. It is more like 4-5 MONTHS ago that the price came down the first time.

 

The price just recently (within the last couple of weeks) went down again approximately $6 per person.

 

I believe the fluctuations are due to the PORT fees - so none of the cruise lines have ANY control over when and how often they change. They are completely under the control of each port.

 

I don't know ANYONE who was ever overcharged when the price went down after final payment, and they didn't get their money back in some fashion.

[Nanatravel]

We have had the small amount credited to our On Board account. Every little bit helps.

[Iamcruzin]

It just seems strange that all of a sudden taxes are $25+ per person lower than 3 to 4 weeks ago.

 

Don't they know ahead of time what these costs are for a season?

 

It happens all of the time. On Princess once I was charged an increase in tax around $6pp. Taxes went up between final payment and actual sailing date. I was also refunded $35 when we did the Summit reposition cruise from San Juan to Cape Liberty I don't know what port it was for but Bermuda was on that itinerary.

[Iamcruzin]

On our recent Eclipse cruise to the Baltics, we got a port tax credit of $5.81. We asked about it thinking it was a mistake but were told it was a reduction in the port tax we had paid. I applauded Celebrity for refunding this. They could have kept it and we would never have known the difference. Thank you Celebrity, one more reason to love you!

 

Celebrity collects tax and pays it to the port of call. It's not a fee paid to them. They don't profit from it. They are obligated to refund the overage as well as collecting any increases

Edited June 24, 2015 by Iamcruzin

[Iamcruzin]

It just seems strange that all of a sudden taxes are $25+ per person lower than 3 to 4 weeks ago.

 

Don't they know ahead of time what these costs are for a season?

 

It's like any Government agency prices are subject to change at anytime. I'm booked at the $205 port charge/ tax price for Bermuda in 2016. Who knows what it will be by the time the ship actually docks.

[jveevers]

I have no idea how much taxes etc are in the total that I pay. The total is what matters, dont sweat the small stuff, not worth worrying about a few $ . Swings and roundabouts.

[stpointer]

Cruising Chick .....I paid $126...perhaps that's why I received the $25+ credit and you didn't

[stpointer]

My apologies...I meant to say $225

[CruisingChick]

My apologies...I meant to say $225

 

Okay, thanks I got it. Seems depending on when people booked their cruises the taxes/fees were all different.

 

I see if you book a Bermuda cruise today they are charging $199.44 for the taxes/fees.

 

Didn't realize this could change so much.

[Fogfog]

Our taxes/fees change a good bit...Our TA put in a refund request with X. The total was over $100

Edited June 25, 2015 by Fogfog

[quicklabs]

It was an onboard credit--when we didn't use it all, the remainder was automatically applied to our credit card. This was from our 31 May sailing on the Summit. Celebrity applied the credits without any prompting needed from us.

[MisterBill99]

Our taxes/fees change a good bit...Our TA put in a refund request with X. The total was over $100

Wow! What cruise was that?

 

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