Great Stirrup Cay - Is it really free?

[DaCruiseBug]

I was looking at a sailing today on the Pearl out of Miami and ran across a good deal on a 3 day out of Miami on January 17th.

 

When I was going thru the steps for booking the cruise and of course the additional expense comes up for "port taxes and fees".

 

This sailing has $177 per person in port taxes and fees. This sailing sails out of Miami, then heads to Key West, and GSC before returning to Miami. That's 2 ports in addition to Miami.

 

Doesn't $177 sound pretty steep?

 

So I did some research of other cruise lines.

 

Carnival - Sails out of Miami, goes to Key West, and then stops in Cozumel before returning to Miami. Cost of the taxes and port fees? $108. That's $69 less than the Pearl. The only difference is that it goes to Cozumel instead of Great Stirrup Cay. Wow! NCL owns GSC so that means NCL charges it's customer $69 more per person to stop at GSC compared to the cost of a regular port like Cozumel.

 

Let's do another comparison...

 

Disney Magic - Sailing out of Miami, goes to Key West, Castaway Cay (private island), and Nassau before returning to Miami. Cost of the taxes and port fees? $117. That's $60 less than the Pearl. This sailing actually stops at one additional port and stops at Castaway Cay instead of GSC. More ports...less taxes and fees.

 

Here's the thing. NCL charges $69 more per person to stop at GSC than Cozumel. They pass this on as a "tax" when they should be up front with things and say they're tacking on fees that go towards their profit.

 

At $69 per person, if a ship such as the Getaway or Escape stop at GSC with 4,000 passengers that's at least $276,000 that NCL is pocketing...just from 1 ship...1 stop. 

 

Why is NCL the master of deceitful business practices?

 

Same goes with charging for "Taxes" on drinks while you're still in port. Left Miami on the Escape and were charged almost $1 in "taxes" per drink. Yet, we sailed on MSC out of Miami and weren't charged a penny. Sailed on Celebrity out of Port Everglades and weren't charged a penny. Sailed on Royal Caribbean out of Port Everglades and also weren't charged a penny. Hmmm...quite interesting don't you think?

[Sauer-kraut]

NCL has their own tender boats Little Norway 1 & 2 so the increase in port charges probably covers the upkeep, maintenance and fuel for those tenders.

[shof515]

what about the cruise fare?..sometimes there is a small portion of the cruise fare included in the port taxes. It is sometimes better, a bit false advertising to promote low prices but then jack up the port taxes to a high price to equal out the pricing.

 

What sounds like a better deal, advertise a cruise that is only 100 dollars person person with 75 dollars port taxes and fees or advertise  a cruise that is only 50 dollars per person with 125 dollars port taxes and fees. overall, both cruises still cost the same amount of money. almost all promotion material will only show the per person rate

 

it is all about marketing and advertising the cruises

Edited November 27, 2019 by shof515

[havanadaydreaming]

We have 2 stops next week, nassau and GSC. 

 

$153.40 port fees. 

[Two Wheels Only]

Every cruise ship pays taxes while in Miami. Some lines add the cost to each individual drink. Some lines bake the cost into the cruise fare and everyone pay whether they drink or not. Either way, the guests pay whatever is owed in taxes.

Edited November 27, 2019 by Two Wheels Only

[Love my butler]

Welcome to (N)ickel and dime (C)ruise (L)ine.  They never miss a chance to charge you extra fees.  For your convenience of course.

[SouthLyonCruiser]

7 hours ago, Love my butler said:

Welcome to (N)ickel and dime (C)ruise (L)ine.  They never miss a chance to charge you extra fees.  For your convenience of course.

Check out the truly all inclusive cruise line prices and you will find that, even with the 'nickel and diming' NCL is not such a bad deal.

[erdoran]

Overcharging port fees and taxes is a dumb business practice for a couple of reasons, apart from being deceptive.  If you cancel after final payment, these are still refundable to you, right?  So $$ out of cruise line’s pocket.  Second, if you miss a port there WILL be expectations of those to be refunded and a stink can legitimately be made if they aren’t. 

 

Yeah, I agree the above sounds relatively fishy....

[tsahall01]

52 minutes ago, erdoran said:

Overcharging port fees and taxes is a dumb business practice for a couple of reasons, apart from being deceptive.  If you cancel after final payment, these are still refundable to you, right?  So $$ out of cruise line’s pocket.  Second, if you miss a port there WILL be expectations of those to be refunded and a stink can legitimately be made if they aren’t. 

 

Yeah, I agree the above sounds relatively fishy....

We missed a port on my recent TA--got refunded a whopping $9/person for port fees!!

[dexddd]

Who knows.  Saw same thing years ago with several ships doing exact same Alaska to LA repo and ports.  NCL was the highest.  At the time plenty of cheerleaders defending it and coming up with reasons why.  Most of them have disappeared from the board or on ignore list.

[robsmom]

Even though it is a private Island it is legally still Bahama territory isn’t it.   Perhaps there are taxes to the Government.   If I was the Bahamas, I would be taxing  visitors to these private islands.  It is tax revenue not paid by the residents which all politicians love.  I don’t know this for a fact, just a guess. 

 

[mugtech]

20 hours ago, havanadaydreaming said:

We have 2 stops next week, nassau and GSC. 

 

$153.40 port fees. 

So if you miss Nassau you will get a $140 refund?

[StolidCruiser]

If OP's example has $177 in fees/taxes and determines GSC pulls in $69 of that, the other $108 goes to Key West.

 

Food for thought.  Don't get indigestion.

[Shidah]

12 hours ago, dexddd said:

Who knows.  Saw same thing years ago with several ships doing exact same Alaska to LA repo and ports.  NCL was the highest.  At the time plenty of cheerleaders defending it and coming up with reasons why.  Most of them have disappeared from the board or on ignore list.

How do I put people on the ignore list?  I tried to do this the other day but couldn’t figure out how.  I know I did it in the past, but couldn’t figure where to do it again.    There are several posters I would prefer not to see. Thanks

[shof515]

4 minutes ago, Shidah said:

How do I put people on the ignore list?  I tried to do this the other day but couldn’t figure out how.  I know I did it in the past, but couldn’t figure where to do it again.    There are several posters I would prefer not to see. Thanks

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/ignore/

[Shidah]

Thanks

[adam_s_allen]

 

1 hour ago, StolidCruiser said:

If OP's example has $177 in fees/taxes and determines GSC pulls in $69 of that, the other $108 goes to Key West.

 

Food for thought.  Don't get indigestion.

I’m assuming part of the port fees and taxes go towards things at embarkation port too. Security, customs, baggage handlers, pilot boats.

[DaCruiseBug]

4 hours ago, StolidCruiser said:

If OP's example has $177 in fees/taxes and determines GSC pulls in $69 of that, the other $108 goes to Key West.

 

Food for thought.  Don't get indigestion.

 

Not exactly.

 

First off, you have embarkation and debarcation fees in Miami (customs etc). Second, on top of the $69 you’d add in the cost for the fees paid at Castaway Cay on that Disney Cruise.

 

So the cost of GSC is Castaway Cay + $69. That’s close to $100 for GSC alone. 

 

Also, someone said they skipped GSC on one cruise and they refunded $9 which is what the actual Bahamas taxes are...the rest are all “fees” NCL charges passengers and puts in their pocket. 

 

So each passenger on a GSC itinerary pays around $90 in hidden fees to NCL that go into their profits. 

[erdoran]

Fees for GSC that aren’t refunded if you don’t go to gsc?  Something not right here....