Port fees and taxes

[cunnorl]

I always thought that port fees and taxes were refundable. I heard yesterday that this may no longer be true. Does anyone have any experience with this?  Questioning due to calculating the total cost for insurance. Thanks!

[klfrodo]

Please share a link to this reliable source that port fees and taxes are no longer refundable.

I was of the same opinion as you.

[cunnorl]

 I dont have a link. It was a conversation. Someone had said they did not receive the fees from the cruise line .  So I just wanted to make sure my original thoughts were correct.

[CDNPolar]

Never heard of this...

[crystalspin]

12 hours ago, cunnorl said:

 I dont have a link. It was a conversation. Someone had said they did not receive the fees from the cruise line .  So I just wanted to make sure my original thoughts were correct.

I saw that convo -- We cancelled a 35-day HAL cruise in February (two days before sailing). We had the standard Cancelation Protection Plan and received 80% of fare and 100% of taxes/fees as well as 100% of prepaid excursions and even a floral arrangement! Exact to the dollar of what I had calculated based on the assumption that taxes would be refunded.

 

Seems like it was NCL that was said did not refund? 

[iamtrustworthy]

On 5/15/2024 at 12:18 PM, klfrodo said:

Please share a link to this reliable source that port fees and taxes are no longer refundable.

I was of the same opinion as you.

Hi klfrodo,

 

I've had more than a few customers on world cruises who have had trip interruptions and neither Royal Caribbean and Holland America are refunding port fees and taxes to my customers who returned home early.

 

So far, no one has let me know if the cruise lines did anything different and all the claims are still being settled.

 

Steve Dasseos

Edited May 16 by iamtrustworthy
typo

[klfrodo]

6 hours ago, iamtrustworthy said:

Hi klfrodo,

 

I've had more than a few customers on world cruises who have had trip interruptions and neither Royal Caribbean and Holland America are refunding port fees and taxes to my customers who returned home early.

 

So far, no one has let me know if the cruise lines did anything different and all the claims are still being settled.

 

Steve Dasseos

Well, you are a reliable source. 🤣 Thanks for sharing.

 

is this limited to “World Cruises”? Or are you finding the same thing with the more standard cruises that are less than 14 days.

[CDNPolar]

10 hours ago, klfrodo said:

Well, you are a reliable source. 🤣 Thanks for sharing.

 

is this limited to “World Cruises”? Or are you finding the same thing with the more standard cruises that are less than 14 days.

 

May I suggest that a trip interrupted would not refund these fees, but a trip cancelled before departure would?

 

I can understand that once you are onboard and part of the ship's manifest that the ship would pay based on the number sailing, but if you never boarded, would this be different?

[iamtrustworthy]

On 5/16/2024 at 9:01 PM, klfrodo said:

Well, you are a reliable source. 🤣 Thanks for sharing.

 

is this limited to “World Cruises”? Or are you finding the same thing with the more standard cruises that are less than 14 days.

Hi klfrodo,

 

I haven't seen this on a shorter cruise, but if I do, I will write about it here.

 

Something else that's odd about these cases is that all their travel agents are still maintaining they will get their unused port fees and taxes refunded.

 

I'll update this thread if anyone does get these refunded.

 

Steve Dasseos

[iamtrustworthy]

16 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

May I suggest that a trip interrupted would not refund these fees, but a trip cancelled before departure would?

 

I can understand that once you are onboard and part of the ship's manifest that the ship would pay based on the number sailing, but if you never boarded, would this be different?

HI CDNPolar,

 

I've seen lots of claim settlements where the customers were refunded their unused port fees and taxes by the cruise lines. And, I've been on NCL and Royal Caribbean cruises that missed ports so the cruise lines refunded the port fees and taxes into my onboard account as a credit.

 

Steve Dasseos

[CDNPolar]

3 hours ago, iamtrustworthy said:

HI CDNPolar,

 

I've seen lots of claim settlements where the customers were refunded their unused port fees and taxes by the cruise lines. And, I've been on NCL and Royal Caribbean cruises that missed ports so the cruise lines refunded the port fees and taxes into my onboard account as a credit.

 

Steve Dasseos

 

Off topic, but when are you going to sell insurance to Canadians?