Bermuda $40 Fee is Taking Advantage

[moposh]

Government defends cruise ship Covid policy in wake of cancellations - The Royal Gazette | Bermuda News, Business, Sports, Events, & Community |

 

 “It’s a challenging decision from every angle and the Government has stated that the Travel Authorisation will remain in place until March 2023.”

[kristi195]

On 6/20/2022 at 8:48 AM, 1025cruise said:

You must not have searched hard. There is plenty of screaming.

However, please remember, the $40 fee is to ANYONE entering Bermuda by ANY means. It's not limited to just cruisers.

At least cruisers no longer need to submit their vaccination results. Bermuda is relying on the cruise lines to validate results prior to boarding.

Yes but we have to pay it even though we refuse to leave the ship. $40x 4 is quite a high fee to pay just to stay on the ship! It's outrageous! 

[kristi195]

On 6/21/2022 at 7:02 PM, njhorseman said:

If Bermuda had raised their port taxes by $40 per person you would have never known the difference. If the cruise line's fares were $40 per person higher you would have still booked the cruise. If an airline raises its fare $40per person you would still book a flight to somewhere you wanted to go.

I visited 8 countries last fall by cruise, car and plane. I have never once been charged a fee just to sit on a ship and not even get off! I resent it!

[kristi195]

On 6/22/2022 at 8:45 AM, moposh said:

I do think it's ridiculous.  I was just complaining about it to my daughter.  Isn't the cruise ship paying Bermuda money per person to dock a the pier?  Then cruisers are spending money in Bermuda.  

 

I don't like it, but I don't have an option, unless I stay on board.  I was limited in the cruises I could choose from.

You have to pay it even if you stay onboard.

[princeton123211]

11 minutes ago, kristi195 said:

I visited 8 countries last fall by cruise, car and plane. I have never once been charged a fee just to sit on a ship and not even get off! I resent it!

Then pick a different country to visit. You did in fact pay a fee to enter those 8 countries-- it just may not have been a separate line item like this-- just baked into your port fees or airfare taxes. 

[Charles4515]

23 minutes ago, kristi195 said:

Yes but we have to pay it even though we refuse to leave the ship. $40x 4 is quite a high fee to pay just to stay on the ship! It's outrageous! 

The ship is still in Bermuda if you don't get off.  Your choice. Not getting off in beautiful Bermuda makes no sense but it takes all kinds.....

[njhorseman]

10 minutes ago, kristi195 said:

I visited 8 countries last fall by cruise, car and plane. I have never once been charged a fee just to sit on a ship and not even get off! I resent it!

 

 

2 minutes ago, princeton123211 said:

Then pick a different country to visit. You did in fact pay a fee to enter those 8 countries-- it just may not have been a separate line item like this-- just baked into your port fees or airfare taxes. 

Not to mention that there are countries that require you to obtain and pay for a tourist visa even if you don't plan to disembark the ship.

[kristi195]

On 9/3/2022 at 6:39 AM, schmoopie17 said:

Our November 1st TA just changed the itinerary, dropping Bermuda for an additional stop in the Azores.

 

A number of people from our Roll Call page (as well as the site that cannot be named) conducted an email campaign to the CEO of NCL asking that Bermuda be dropped, due to their inane rules.

 

Bermuda was the final stop on a 16 day cruise, one which would have been only seven hours, and would have required a lot of hoop-jumping. It was an afterthought to most of us, as we booked this cruise to see Italy, Spain, France and Portugal. Bermuda was just someplace to break up the sea days.

 

Now we have no testing requirements for our entire cruise (we would have been required to be tested before embarking in Rome, three weeks before landing in Bermuda). That was followed by an additional test (at $95 per person) to be done two days before landing there. Not to mention the ridiculous $40 money grab.

 

We are breathing a sigh of relief. Christmas has come early. 

Can you share the email you used? I am on one Dec 7 and they still haven't dropped Bermuda from the Epic.

[kristi195]

12 minutes ago, princeton123211 said:

Then pick a different country to visit. You did in fact pay a fee to enter those 8 countries-- it just may not have been a separate line item like this-- just baked into your port fees or airfare taxes. 

I like an upfront fee. I in fact leased a car, no hidden fees, and drove around Europe for 2 months. No hidden port fees on my cruise home either, or no hoops at any port, which there were many.  

[kristi195]

13 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

The ship is still in Bermuda if you don't get off.  Your choice. Not getting off in beautiful Bermuda makes no sense but it takes all kinds.....

I'll survive without seeing Bermuda.  I'm just using my cruise as a way home from a month in Europe.

[njhorseman]

2 minutes ago, kristi195 said:

No hidden port fees on my cruise home either

Really. I don't know of a cruise line that identifies what portion of the port taxes and fees are paid to any particular port, and there are some cruise lines that don't even have a separate line item in their fare for port fees. They  lump everything into the fare.

In fact you don't know how much if anything was paid to any port on your itinerary.

[princeton123211]

12 minutes ago, kristi195 said:

I'll survive without seeing Bermuda.  I'm just using my cruise as a way home from a month in Europe.

You could just take the guess work out and switch over to the Queen Mary 2 for the transat-- get to New York in half the time and no stop in Bermuda (irony being that she's a Bermuda registered ship). 

[moposh]

1 hour ago, kristi195 said:

You have to pay it even if you stay onboard.

I posted that two months ago.  Already been and had a great time.

[kristi195]

53 minutes ago, princeton123211 said:

You could just take the guess work out and switch over to the Queen Mary 2 for the transat-- get to New York in half the time and no stop in Bermuda (irony being that she's a Bermuda registered ship). 

I could but this is a quick cruise. Only 9 days on the Epic, and 2 ports, one being Bermuda so we're fine there. Thanks though

[Charles4515]

18 minutes ago, kristi195 said:

I could but this is a quick cruise. Only 9 days on the Epic, and 2 ports, one being Bermuda so we're fine there. Thanks though

I just looked at your itinerary and I suspect that this is will be much ado about nothing for you. Bermuda is on day 8 so it will probably be canceled like the other NCL transatlantics unless Bermuda drops their testing requirement. 

[kristi195]

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

I just looked at your itinerary and I suspect that this is will be much ado about nothing for you. Bermuda is on day 8 so it will probably be canceled like the other NCL transatlantics unless Bermuda drops their testing requirement. 

That's what I am hoping.  

[adolfo2]

On 9/21/2022 at 2:02 PM, njhorseman said:

Really. I don't know of a cruise line that identifies what portion of the port taxes and fees are paid to any particular port, and there are some cruise lines that don't even have a separate line item in their fare for port fees. They  lump everything into the fare.

In fact you don't know how much if anything was paid to any port on your itinerary.

Correct... there is no break-down of taxes/port-fees BUT you can always tell you're going to Bermuda as the taxes/port-fees are typically ~33% HIGHER in that situation. Bermuda thinks very highly of itself 😉

[cellfree]

Just noticed someone posted that Bermuda plans to keep “testing necessity” in place until March 2023. Well that’s ugly. I suppose no point in me hoping it will be discontinued in October! 

[princeton123211]

7 hours ago, adolfo2 said:

Bermuda thinks very highly of itself 😉

I would if I were them-- its a much nicer place than most other islands you find further south in the Caribbean save maybe St Barts, Anguilla, or Mustique which are significantly more expensive overall. 

 

I'm not trying to justify them continuing what has become something of an arduous and unnecessary process, but what I think is lost on this thread quite often is that the main Bermuda economy is around insurance, reinsurance, and banking. Think about this-- Bermuda has the fourth highest per capita income in the entire world. Only 28% of the island's revenue is from tourism. 

 

Unlike a lot of other islands that cruise ships call on, Bermuda does not rely on tourism revenue to keep the island going. And and as such they treat tourism as a secondary revenue stream. 

Edited September 23, 2022 by princeton123211