How are port charges calculated

[sandbag7]

this came up today on a very old thread but I suspect it will not elicit a response there. I was looking at a cruise in the Australia/New Zealand area and noticed that port charges on the Regatta, whether compared on a per person, per ton or by any other variable were quoted significantly higher than a HAL ship for similar ports and dates. Can anyone shed some light on how port charges are calculated? Is the answer that HAL is eating the excess port charges?

[LHT28]

Not sure where you see port charges on my cruise invoices it is always just rolled into the fare

 

In any case this is what I have heard

port charges a guesstimate until they actual arrive there they are based on size of ship number of bodies onboard at the time tonnage, what services they need when docking/tender

many variables in the calculations

[sandbag7]

Not sure where you see port charges on my cruise invoices it is always just rolled into the fare

 

In any case this is what I have heard

port charges a guesstimate until they actual arrive there they are based on size of ship number of bodies onboard at the time tonnage, what services they need when docking/tender

many variables in the calculations

 

The port charges were broken out by a TA and also I believe on an Oceania website; this was probably 4 months or so ago; as I recall the Regatta port charges were well more than twice those of Noordam (HAL's port charges are also broken out from the rest of the fare). I did not pursue it at the time because of more significant fare differential issues.

[LHT28]

The port charges were broken out by a TA and also I believe on an Oceania website; this was probably 4 months or so ago; as I recall the Regatta port charges were well more than twice those of Noordam (HAL's port charges are also broken out from the rest of the fare). I did not pursue it at the time because of more significant fare differential issues.

On the website it shows all in fare I thought this was now the law

 

Any case taxes & fees port charges can be listed by different TA's in different ways but all adds up to the same bottome line

 

Some TA's may say $300 for port fees & $200 for other taxes

 

another TA will say $240 for port fees & $260 for other taxes ..it all comes out to the same NCF of $500

[StanandJim]

noticed that port charges on the Regatta, whether compared on a per person, per ton or by any other variable were quoted significantly higher than a HAL ship for similar ports and dates. Can anyone shed some light on how port charges are calculated? Is the answer that HAL is eating the excess port charges?

The cost of the required berth or anchorage is divided by the number of passengers.

Therefore, a HAL ship, carrying hundreds more passengers, will need to charge each passenger less.

Post Carnivalization, HAL never willingly eats ANY costs. :loudcry:

 

FYI lower per capita port charges are one part of the "economy of scale" which continuously pushes Cruise Lines to build larger and larger ships.

QUOTE

Edited June 27, 2017 by StanandJim
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[Jancruz]

this came up today on a very old thread but I suspect it will not elicit a response there. I was looking at a cruise in the Australia/New Zealand area and noticed that port charges on the Regatta, whether compared on a per person, per ton or by any other variable were quoted significantly higher than a HAL ship for similar ports and dates. Can anyone shed some light on how port charges are calculated? Is the answer that HAL is eating the excess port charges?

 

I personally cant see what difference it makes if the price of the cruise is within you budget..

Jancruz1

[rallydave]

I personally cant see what difference it makes if the price of the cruise is within you budget..

Jancruz1

 

Well Jan, the big difference is how port charges for missed ports are refunded or not refunded. Several years ago there was an agreement signed by all cruise lines Florida based that port charges and any other charges paid to a government entity would be reimbursed to the customers if they were separately shown. Most cruise lines kept the separately shown port fees and taxes on their websites and invoices and have abided by that signed agreement and reimbursed customers when ports are missed. A few cruise lines decided to include the port fees and taxes in the basic cruise fare which allows those cruise lines to keep that money as additional profit and not reimburse customers when ports are missed.

 

While this is a relatively small amount of money to the individual passengers, in the aggregate, this represents millions of dollars of extra profit to those cruise lines who don't reimburse their customers.

 

While Jim and Stan are partially correct in their response, the calculation is complex and not just because of the number of passengers on board. Charges are in most, if not all cases based on the size of the ship as well as the number of passengers so the larger ships do pay much more for the fixed dockage charges than a smaller ship which somewhat reduces the number of passengers decrease in cost.

 

Also, the different costs show on an invoice oftentimes relate to the commission the TA receives. There are several pieces of the cruise fare including, but, not limited to port fees and taxes, air, and other costs that TA's don't get paid commissions on so the TA's who rebate to their customers a certain percentage of their commissions remove those non-commissionable costs when calculating the rebates, if any. So, if a passenger is privy to those calculations, it may appear that the port charges and taxes are different from another cruise line's for the same ports however, that would not be correct as there is more than port fees and taxes included in those numbers. It is possible that the larger ships costs because of size will closely relate to the amount charged to each passenger. It is a formula only known to the cruise line and not something that we can actually calculate.

 

In other words, if a customer has seen this breakout, there are more dollars than port fees and taxes in the amount shown. Very complex and extremely difficult to compare one cruise line to another without knowing the formula for the calculation.

[Jancruz]

Wow Dave..that was a great answer..but personally I look at the price of a cruise and if I want to go I pay for it..I really dont care what the taxes are, as I guess most people dont..I really have more in life to keep me occupied than thinking about cruise taxes..home taxes, income tax, California gas tax going up again etc..I really have learned at my age to try and keep my life simple..

So I will leave you all to try and figure this out..

Everyone have a safe 4th of July..and I will see you on Oceania!

Jancruz1