roger b Posted April 13, 2019 #1 Share Posted April 13, 2019 (edited) Just wanted to check is this correct I am contemplating taking an Alaskan Cruise out of Seattle in August , this would be my Milestone free cruise with Oceania there are 10 ports of call including the start and finish. They are asking for $3000 P.P this seems expensive ?? Edited April 13, 2019 by roger b Miss Spelling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classiccruiser777 Posted April 13, 2019 #2 Share Posted April 13, 2019 We’ve booked a 14 day Regatta Alaska cruise for 2020. We don’t have included air and the port fees and taxes for both of us comes to $1,076. I believe the “free cruise” benefit doesn’t include port fees and taxes and air. If you are traveling with another person that isn’t eligible for the “free cruise” then their fare isn’t complimentary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roger b Posted April 13, 2019 Author #3 Share Posted April 13, 2019 11 minutes ago, Classiccruiser777 said: We’ve booked a 14 day Regatta Alaska cruise for 2020. We don’t have included air and the port fees and taxes for both of us comes to $1,076. I believe the “free cruise” benefit doesn’t include port fees and taxes and air. If you are traveling with another person that isn’t eligible for the “free cruise” then their fare isn’t complimentary. I am travelling with my wife and we both are entitled to a free cruise , Here is the extract from Oceania Email: However, in the meantime the approximate cost for the A3 grade would be in the region of £2175 per person cruise only to cover the port charges and taxes. Please be aware that this is only a guideline price and is subject to Oceania Club’s approval based upon their booking history, so may change. Hotel or transfer prices would normally be in addition to this. We will only be able to assess this once we have a confirmed booking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classiccruiser777 Posted April 13, 2019 #4 Share Posted April 13, 2019 I suggest contacting a UK TA for a breakdown of the pricing. Also, I believe passengers from the UK have cruise protection included in the fare which US passengers do not. Perhaps that affects the pricing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare pinotlover Posted April 13, 2019 #5 Share Posted April 13, 2019 Roger; As a question, what is the current list pice of an A3 on the cruise you are considering? It would be interesting to see what percentage of “ free” the cruise is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roger b Posted April 13, 2019 Author #6 Share Posted April 13, 2019 56 minutes ago, pinotlover said: Roger; As a question, what is the current list pice of an A3 on the cruise you are considering? It would be interesting to see what percentage of “ free” the cruise is! From what i can see this cruise is around £ 5900 so they have asked me for about % 40 of the costs as port charges and taxes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mura Posted April 13, 2019 #7 Share Posted April 13, 2019 Very interesting. I always assumed a "free cruise" meant just that! I was aware that they will give you a cabin that corresponds to what you usually have paid for, but not that they charge you for port charges and taxes. Mura Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KS&JW Posted April 14, 2019 #8 Share Posted April 14, 2019 Is this situation unique to Alaska itineraries? Would port fees/taxes be less on say a Caribbean or European cruise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare pinotlover Posted April 14, 2019 #9 Share Posted April 14, 2019 Oceania doesn’t post port fees. On a cruise they don’t charge for them nor reimburse them. They are whatever Oceania says they are. No way to verify anything. Even the term free is whatever Oceania chooses to define it as! Actually rather sad! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rallydave Posted April 14, 2019 #10 Share Posted April 14, 2019 18 hours ago, Mura said: Very interesting. I always assumed a "free cruise" meant just that! I was aware that they will give you a cabin that corresponds to what you usually have paid for, but not that they charge you for port charges and taxes. Mura Really nice when a company has its' cake and eats it too. Port charges and taxes are included in cruise fares so no refund for missed ports and when the cruise is a free perk, the port charges and taxes are not included and charged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ORV Posted April 14, 2019 #11 Share Posted April 14, 2019 (edited) Hi Roger, I don't know if Alaska is higher than others but for my free cruise, which was 14 days with 2 sea days, was $672 US dollars. This was for both of us on a cruise to Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark & Germany, cruised out of Amsterdam. Make sure that you requested the level of room that you have averaged on your other 19 cruises. If not they might be charging you extra for that. Yes, that amount seems really high. Edited April 14, 2019 by ORV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulchili Posted April 14, 2019 #12 Share Posted April 14, 2019 2 hours ago, ORV said: Yes, that amount seems really high. Agree - does seem very high. Can’t compare with ours as that was a 21 day cruise so we paid for 7 days but it seemed to be 1/3 of the fare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ORV Posted April 14, 2019 #13 Share Posted April 14, 2019 On 4/13/2019 at 10:30 AM, Classiccruiser777 said: We’ve booked a 14 day Regatta Alaska cruise for 2020. We don’t have included air and the port fees and taxes for both of us comes to $1,076. I believe the “free cruise” benefit doesn’t include port fees and taxes and air. If you are traveling with another person that isn’t eligible for the “free cruise” then their fare isn’t complimentary. Is this your free cruise? How do you know the port fees and taxes? Does your TA break them down for you? Are you a TA? Air is included on the Free Cruise BTW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulchili Posted April 14, 2019 #14 Share Posted April 14, 2019 31 minutes ago, ORV said: Air is included on the Free Cruise BTW. Then taxes and port fees should be as well. After all, they are included in the fare one pays for any other cruise on O. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ORV Posted April 14, 2019 #15 Share Posted April 14, 2019 Not that it matters probably but I mistakenly put Finland in as one of the countries we stopped at. That was another cruise to that area on Nautica. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classiccruiser777 Posted April 14, 2019 #16 Share Posted April 14, 2019 1 hour ago, ORV said: Is this your free cruise? How do you know the port fees and taxes? Does your TA break them down for you? Are you a TA? Air is included on the Free Cruise BTW. No, not our 'free' cruise. Our TA breaks down the total cost which is where the port fees and taxes are listed as a separate line item. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rallydave Posted April 14, 2019 #17 Share Posted April 14, 2019 9 minutes ago, Classiccruiser777 said: No, not our 'free' cruise. Our TA breaks down the total cost which is where the port fees and taxes are listed as a separate line item. Our TA does this as well. This is so she can calculate our rebate because the rebate is based on a percentage of our TA’s commission and air and port fees/ taxes don’t generate commissions even when they are included in the cruise fare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare pinotlover Posted April 15, 2019 #18 Share Posted April 15, 2019 (edited) Actual port fees are charged primarily based upon a ship’s size ( tonnage and length) and the length of time in port. Other factors such as whether tugs are required come into effect also. If the Marina docks at X port for 8 hours , it costs Y amount. It costs Y regardless of whether she’s carrying 800 passengers that cruise or is full at 1280+. If one is getting precharged port fees, what assumptions goes into what rate is charged? The charging of port fees, on an individual cruiser basis, is mostly a hoax and merely a revenue enhancement for the cruise line which may actually not reflect anything more than the line’s attempt to enhance revenue. Our TA, when discussing commissions rates, has never mentioned port fees with Oceania. The Agency, thus her, percentage payout doesn’t change because one cruise may encounter higher port fees than the next cruise. Edited April 15, 2019 by pinotlover Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redtravel Posted April 18, 2019 #19 Share Posted April 18, 2019 Oceania does not list port charges or taxes separately. The fare is the total that it costs. Each port has a fee depending upon size of ship, length of stay, and number of possible guests. Some ports are very expensive. Unfortunately, ports in the United States are very high. Alaska charges huge amounts. The fewer guests, the higher the tax per guest. We are taking an Alaskan cruise this summer on Azamara. 10 day cruise with 7 port days. Same size as Regatta. Our port charges were close to $500 pp. if we had gone on a big ship with 2000+ guests, the port charges would be about $200 pp. we also looked at Windstar. Their ship has 210 passengers. Port charges were about $1000 pp. on some cruise lines, not Oceania, if you skip a port, you get a refund for your share of the port charges. Oceania does not refund. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare DOJO466 Posted April 20, 2019 #20 Share Posted April 20, 2019 We are taking our "free cruise" in Sept on Marina 12 ports. Out total out of pocket was a little over $1000. Air is included. You do not get Olife but you still get your other amenities. This cruise is from Amsterdam to Lisbon. I think this is a great deal. We are in a B1. See you in Sept ORV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulchili Posted April 20, 2019 #21 Share Posted April 20, 2019 9 minutes ago, DOJO466 said: We are taking our "free cruise" in Sept on Marina 12 ports. Out total out of pocket was a little over $1000. Air is included. You do not get Olife but you still get your other amenities. This cruise is from Amsterdam to Lisbon. I think this is a great deal. We are in a B1. See you in Sept ORV. Enjoy Deb - you've earned it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roger b Posted April 21, 2019 Author #22 Share Posted April 21, 2019 On 4/14/2019 at 5:34 PM, ORV said: Hi Roger, I don't know if Alaska is higher than others but for my free cruise, which was 14 days with 2 sea days, was $672 US dollars. This was for both of us on a cruise to Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark & Germany, cruised out of Amsterdam. Make sure that you requested the level of room that you have averaged on your other 19 cruises. If not they might be charging you extra for that. Yes, that amount seems really high. Hi Orville, Further to the port taxes on the cruise I was enquireing about for my milestone free cruise , I afraid that Oceania have not given me an explanation as to why they asked for £2175 P.P for the port taxes. So I have decided not to take that Alaska cruise and will try again later to book a cruise for November. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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