No refund of port fees and taxes for no-show?

[soremekun]

My wife did not sail on my most recent Carnival cruise.  Instead, she was a no-show and I sailed solo.  A few weeks later, I noticed the taxes and port fees haven't been refunded yet.  I contacted my travel agent and after contacting Carnival, she was informed that my wife's no-show was considered a cancelation and therefore, there will not be a return of the port fees and taxes because the cancelation fee of $250 was greater than the port fees and taxes.  Has it always been this way on Carnival?

Edited March 17 by soremekun

[luv2kroooz]

No. That would be something new. Not sure  they have a legal right to keep port taxes for a port you never visited, especially if the taxes are assessed on a per passenger basis. Carnival either needs to turn the funds over to the ports or refund them to you.

Edited March 17 by luv2kroooz

[Pyxie]

24 minutes ago, luv2kroooz said:

No. That would be something new. Not sure  they have a legal right to keep port taxes for a port you never visited, especially if the taxes are assessed on a per passenger basis. Carnival either needs to turn the funds over to the ports or refund them to you.

 

But if you are assessed penalties that are greater than or equal to the port fees and taxes, they do have a right to keep that.

 

I'm wondering if Carnival has figured out the no show "loophole" and is cracking down on it.

[Elaine5715]

Those would have been refunded to original payment so if the TA sent in the funds, their account was most likely refunded.  

[shof515]

4 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

Those would have been refunded to original payment so if the TA sent in the funds, their account was most likely refunded.  

All TA is required to make payments on your behalf. on your credit card statement, the charges will say Carnival

 

if the ta used thier agency card, sometimes they are bad things that can happen due to that

[n6uqqq]

Port fee and taxes are not part of the cruise fare per the cruise ticket contract. They have been refunded to me for no shows a few times. Always came back to me the way I paid which was either credit card or gift cards. If your billing was to your travel agent and not Carnival then the money is sent to them. I book through a big box agent but my payments are directly to Carnival from my credit card or gift card so it is refunded directly to me. 

[mz-s]

2 hours ago, n6uqqq said:

Port fee and taxes are not part of the cruise fare per the cruise ticket contract. They have been refunded to me for no shows a few times. Always came back to me the way I paid which was either credit card or gift cards. If your billing was to your travel agent and not Carnival then the money is sent to them. I book through a big box agent but my payments are directly to Carnival from my credit card or gift card so it is refunded directly to me. 

 

Travel agents just take your payment details and forwards it on to Carnival. You do not pay the TA and the TA then pays Carnival.

[n6uqqq]

Just now, mz-s said:

 

Travel agents just take your payment details and forwards it on to Carnival. You do not pay the TA and the TA then pays Carnival.

In a normal circumstance I agree. But if something shady is going on then all bets are off. There is nothing in the cruise contract that I could see that provides for confiscation of port fees and taxes save for pack and go which states the entire amount is non refundable.

[mz-s]

There are reports on here of folks who tell the port employees that their companion is not coming, that is enough to trigger the cancellation (and penalties assessed) vs. no-show.

 

The proper way to play it is to lie and tell them they are arriving later. If you tell them the truth that they are not coming, then it is considered a cancellation.

 

At least that's what I've heard from here. No first-hand experience.

[n6uqqq]

3 minutes ago, mz-s said:

There are reports on here of folks who tell the port employees that their companion is not coming, that is enough to trigger the cancellation (and penalties assessed) vs. no-show.

 

The proper way to play it is to lie and tell them they are arriving later. If you tell them the truth that they are not coming, then it is considered a cancellation.

 

At least that's what I've heard from here. No first-hand experience.

We are arriving separately works for me........... and that isn't technically even a lie 😉 

[mz-s]

2 minutes ago, n6uqqq said:

We are arriving separately works for me........... and that isn't technically even a lie 😉 

 

It's a lie in my book, but whatever works for you!

[WhaleTailFlCruiser]

Isn't it technically just a cancelation? There for if the Fees for canceling the day of more or less are going to be more then the Port fees and taxes means you really aren't going to get anything back and shouldn't expect to either. 

[Elaine5715]

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

 

Travel agents just take your payment details and forwards it on to Carnival. You do not pay the TA and the TA then pays Carnival.

The first cruise I booked, we paid the travel agency

[lostsoulcruiser]

16 hours ago, soremekun said:

My wife did not sail on my most recent Carnival cruise.  Instead, she was a no-show and I sailed solo.  A few weeks later, I noticed the taxes and port fees haven't been refunded yet.  I contacted my travel agent and after contacting Carnival, she was informed that my wife's no-show was considered a cancelation and therefore, there will not be a return of the port fees and taxes because the cancelation fee of $250 was greater than the port fees and taxes.  Has it always been this way on Carnival?

 

I had a similar experience on my last cruise.  

My wife was considered a no-show. I received a credit for the port fees and taxes associated with her portion of the fare.  It showed up as a statement credit on the credit card I used to pay for the trip.

[ontheweb]

12 hours ago, n6uqqq said:

We are arriving separately works for me........... and that isn't technically even a lie 😉 

How is not a lie if the other person is not showing up?

[mz-s]

11 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

The first cruise I booked, we paid the travel agency

 

I'm talking about in the last few years. My TA has an internal portal that they go to pay our Carnival cruises off.

[StephPS79]

I do think this is a policy that has always been there that is now being more heavily enforced.  The last time I no-showed a guest I was charged a fee, which was deducted from the refund of port fees and taxes.

[firefly333]

18 hours ago, luv2kroooz said:

No. That would be something new. Not sure  they have a legal right to keep port taxes for a port you never visited, especially if the taxes are assessed on a per passenger basis. Carnival either needs to turn the funds over to the ports or refund them to you.

I dont know this is true. Royal also has not refunded port fees when I missed a port or fees and taxes dropped. I wrote to the vp there and got a email saying it was up to each ship if they wanted to refund fees and taxes for a missed port or taxes dropped. 

 

Carnival on the other hand has always refunded a small overage unlike royal. I feel the same way you do that if you dont go to a port .. in OPs case someone no showed, there should be a refund legally. I'm betting there is something in the agreement you click on that gets them out if it. 

[StephPS79]

10 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

in OPs case someone no showed, there should be a refund legally. I'm betting there is something in the agreement you click on that gets them out if it. 

 

There was a refund of port fees and taxes.  There was also a cancellation fee assessed, which is deducted from the refund of port fees and taxes.  The agreement is cancellation fees will be assessed.  We can use whatever semantics we want, a no-show is technically a cancellation.

[n6uqqq]

This is directly from the horse's mouth regarding port fee and gratuity refunds.

 

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3401/related/1

[scottasp]

We have been on 22 Carnival cruises and fortunately have never had to cancel. My question is if a person either cancels or no shows and Carnival gets to keep your entire fare why would you have to pay more, I understand they will be missing monies spent on booze, food upgrades and such but they are still paid in full and not guaranteed any extra will be spent. I thought I had read a chart that said at certain dates you would lose percentages that raise to 100% once past final payment. I can't find where it says you have to pay extra but I am good at overlooking things.

[n6uqqq]

3 minutes ago, scottasp said:

We have been on 22 Carnival cruises and fortunately have never had to cancel. My question is if a person either cancels or no shows and Carnival gets to keep your entire fare why would you have to pay more, I understand they will be missing monies spent on booze, food upgrades and such but they are still paid in full and not guaranteed any extra will be spent. I thought I had read a chart that said at certain dates you would lose percentages that raise to 100% once past final payment. I can't find where it says you have to pay extra but I am good at overlooking things.

I have never seen a cruise fare where the penalty  is more than the total fare. Carnival's cruise ticket contract spells it out clearly. So for a penalty to dip into your port fees refund would actually require a penalty more than the cost of the cruise fare.

[Are.we.there.yet?]

 

We had the same experience as StephPS79.  Our no show was charged a $100 cancellation fee that came out of the refund of port charges.  We sail on casino deals and this may be the reason.

[scottasp]

Just now, n6uqqq said:

I have never seen a cruise fare where the penalty  is more than the total fare. Carnival's cruise ticket contract spells it out clearly. So for a penalty to dip into your port fees refund would actually require a penalty more than the cost of the cruise fare.

That's what I am trying to wrap my hard around. Doesn't seem right.

[scottasp]

Just now, scottasp said:

That's what I am trying to wrap my hard around. Doesn't seem right.

head not hard