Port taxes credit - why?

[rodndonna]

We just returned from a 7 day Canada NE cruise, and around the 5th or 6th day, a "credit" of about $35 per person applied to our (and everyone's) account as port taxes. 

 

Unexpected surprise 😃  - but just curious why as we have never had this happen? We went to all our ports. One was shorter than what was in the original itinerary by a couple of hours but that was it.

 

My original theory was that it was a final currency conversion adjustment - assuming that Canadian ports were in CAD$ and were originally priced by HAL in USD$ with safe margin for variation. However, then I thought we hit lots of non-US ports on other cruises and we have never had this happen (on HAL or any cruiseline)

 

[Florida_gal_50]

They over estimated the port tax amount.  For me, it happens on most cruises I take.

[CruiserBruce]

It happens occasionally... a couple of times in our cruising history. Perhaps the rates dropped. Perhaps services they had planned on from the port didn't actually get used.

 

Of course, the reverse has happened a couple times as well.

[Haljo1935]

Like others have said, I usually see a final credit of some amount on port fees, which usually happens when we leave early or maybe they didn't need as much service as 0lanned (which passengers wouldn't know about). But unless it's been a missed port, I've not gotten one that large.

Congrats!

Edited June 13, 2023 by Haljo1935
Typo

[BetsyS.]

Years ago after returning from a cruise on the Veendam, my bank statement had a credit of $18 from "Seattle." It did not say HAL. 

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

It happens occasionally... a couple of times in our cruising history. Perhaps the rates dropped. Perhaps services they had planned on from the port didn't actually get used.

 

Of course, the reverse has happened a couple times as well.

We have had a few of those credits, but never nearly that large.

 

As for the reverse, they underestimated the port charges, I have read on the cc boards that they do not pass it on. They end up eating the extra charges.

[CruiserBruce]

6 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

We have had a few of those credits, but never nearly that large.

 

As for the reverse, they underestimated the port charges, I have read on the cc boards that they do not pass it on. They end up eating the extra charges.

Not true. For and example, the fee for the Panama Canal increased after final payment. The additional $$$ was charged to our room.

[rodndonna]

11 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Not true. For and example, the fee for the Panama Canal increased after final payment. The additional $$$ was charged to our room.

 

just curious - how much was it?  I would have thought they might just eat the difference as well, but maybe past a certain amount they don't.

 

After reading these responses I am now thinking we have likely had credits  (and maybe debits) before, but they were small enough I didn't take note. Getting that approximately $70 added to our room towards the end of the cruise was kinda kinda noticeable this time 😄 

[Haljo1935]

51 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Not true. For and example, the fee for the Panama Canal increased after final payment. The additional $$$ was charged to our room.

Since you said "after final payment," do you mean before embarkation? That I would understand and ToS allows for that. 

I've never seen a charge for increased port fees once on board.

[POA1]

The taxes, fees and port expenses charged are based on what they're projected to be when the cruise is designed or booked. If the TFPE goes down, you get a refund. They are really just pass thru costs. If you look at two cruises on different lines, but with the same ports, the TFPE $ will be the same. We've occasionally gotten a small refund. Usually a couple of cocktails worth.

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, Haljo1935 said:

Since you said "after final payment," do you mean before embarkation? That I would understand and ToS allows for that. 

I've never seen a charge for increased port fees once on board.

Yes, after final payment, but before boarding. I would be surprised if a port fee would increase after you had actually sailed.

 

2 hours ago, rodndonna said:

 

just curious - how much was it?  I would have thought they might just eat the difference as well, but maybe past a certain amount they don't.

 

After reading these responses I am now thinking we have likely had credits  (and maybe debits) before, but they were small enough I didn't take note. Getting that approximately $70 added to our room towards the end of the cruise was kinda kinda noticeable this time 😄 

IIRC, it was about $37 for the cabin.

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, POA1 said:

The taxes, fees and port expenses charged are based on what they're projected to be when the cruise is designed or booked. If the TFPE goes down, you get a refund. They are really just pass thru costs. If you look at two cruises on different lines, but with the same ports, the TFPE $ will be the same. We've occasionally gotten a small refund. Usually a couple of cocktails worth.

In some cases cruise lines have different arrangements with the ports for services, so I wouldn't expect the fees to be the same cruise line to cruise line. For example, as Carnival Corp built Grand Turk's facilities, I think they are paying less to dock there.

[Haljo1935]

9 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Yes, after final payment, but before boarding. I would be surprised if a port fee would increase after you had actually sailed.

 

IIRC, it was about $37 for the cabin.

Correct, so our experiences and expectations are aligned. I thought someone mentioned the port fees and taxes went up after boarding, which baffled me.

[POA1]

55 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

In some cases cruise lines have different arrangements with the ports for services, so I wouldn't expect the fees to be the same cruise line to cruise line. For example, as Carnival Corp built Grand Turk's facilities, I think they are paying less to dock there.

Good point. You may be shocked to know that I don't typically price Carnival. Although there are the water slides to consider....

[decrepit old man]

I also got a port fee credit from my recent Alaska cruise

[sfaaa]

$75 pp refundable to cc on file . It was a nice unexpected bonus on last day of my Alaska cruise.

[Haljo1935]

34 minutes ago, sfaaa said:

$75 pp refundable to cc on file . It was a nice unexpected bonus on last day of my Alaska cruise.

That's really big - did you possibly have some unused OBC?

[Florida_gal_50]

16 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

That's really big - did you possibly have some unused OBC?

Mine was $27.56 so that’s not terribly out of line.  That was just for me so a couple would get more.  The cruise before that was $6.56 so their guess was better on that one.