July 1 changes implemented for dining and fare display

[cruisepest]

Come On Princess!! 

 

You need to fire your entire IT deparment and who ever is in charge of them. I hope the third time is the charm for the dinning to be fixed on the app. My guess is August 1st now.

[azbirdmom]

They seem to be splitting the port fees and putting part on the Cruise Fare line and the rest on the Government Taxes and Fees line.  I get casino comps so when I search for a cruise it used to show $0 on the first line, now there's an amount there.  And this is the caveat on the Cruise Fare line:

 

 

Here's an example of a cruise where we were getting a comped inside but paid to upgrade to a full suite.  This was the original cost breakdown per person:

 

 

And this is what it shows now (virtually the same, just different buckets):

 

 

 

Edited July 1 by azbirdmom

[Ken the cruiser]

 

6 hours ago, FLAlaska said:

Was just taking a look at the new pricing structure with mock bookings. Its really weird. MY booked TA was $140 port fees and now is listed at $58 taxes.  Another cruise . My Jan cruise,  was listed with $153 in fees and now shows $72.  The only thing I can think of is that port fees aren't listed separately anymore and its only taxes? And yet another was $140 and not its $145.94

 

Anyone understand what the new rates are supposed to itemize?

48 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

They seem to be splitting the port fees and putting part on the Cruise Fare line and the rest on the Government Taxes and Fees line.  I get casino comps so when I search for a cruise it used to show $0 on the first line, now there's an amount there.  And this is the caveat on the Cruise Fare line:

 

 

Here's an example of a cruise where we were getting a comped inside but paid to upgrade to a full suite.  This was the original cost breakdown per person:

 

 

And this is what it shows now (virtually the same, just different buckets):

 

 

 

We saw a similar example on our Jan 2025 Brazil cruise on the Majestic. Here's what's listed on the website after doing a mock booking:

 

 

But then on our confirmation, it listed the taxes, fees and port charges which came to a total of $400. Maybe CA law only stipulated they had to include the taxes and fees in the advertised fare rather than also having to include port costs?

 

 

In any event, it's going to make things a little interesting when trying to determine if a cruise fare has dropped in price, especially when "port costs" are not included when doing a fake booking online. At least that's how I'm seeing this. 

 

Update: It appears Princess might now be including the Port Expenses as part of the base cruise fare, which would explain the increased base fare rates I'm seeing, as I check pretty much every day. This might also be a perk for Princess, as they would not be required to offer a refund if a port was missed if the Port Expenses were included in the base fare. 🤔

Edited July 1 by Ken the cruiser

[negn]

I got 1 night reserved, then”can not load”.  I’ve never seen such inept IT

[that]

All dining reservations made easily today.  👍🏻 Princess.  Now what will happen on the ship?  🫢

[Cruise till you drop]

20 minutes ago, that said:

All dining reservations made easily today.  👍🏻 Princess.  Now what will happen on the ship?  🫢

Did you make MDR or Specialty dining reservations ?

[that]

MDR

[kb4683]

32 minutes ago, that said:

All dining reservations made easily today.  👍🏻 Princess.  Now what will happen on the ship?  🫢

What ship and date, please.  Just tried Island Princess departing 12/4/24 - can’t do it 🤬

[azbirdmom]

UPDATE:  I was finally able to see my previously made reservations for our cruise on the Discovery in 11 days.  And I was able to make reservations for the same time on all days in the aft Palm dining room on the Caribbean Princess for our December cruise.  The two other dining rooms did not show availability.  And I got lots of errors pop up but it did save the reservations which I confirmed by logging back in and clicking on the red heart in the upper right corner on the dining screen.

[that]

@kb4683

Discovery Princess

Oct 5, 2024

[kb4683]

Updated the app and can see all reservations made for our August Emerald Princess cruise; however, not able to book for December Island Princess.  Oh well, will keep trying, December is a ways off.

[tothemall&beyond]

3 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

 

We saw a similar example on our Jan 2025 Brazil cruise on the Majestic. Here's what's listed on the website after doing a mock booking:

 

 

But then on our confirmation, it listed the taxes, fees and port charges which came to a total of $400. Maybe CA law only stipulated they had to include the taxes and fees in the advertised fare rather than also having to include port costs?

 

 

In any event, it's going to make things a little interesting when trying to determine if a cruise fare has dropped in price, especially when "port costs" are not included when doing a fake booking online. At least that's how I'm seeing this. 

 

Update: It appears Princess might now be including the Port Expenses as part of the base cruise fare, which would explain the increased base fare rates I'm seeing, as I check pretty much every day. This might also be a perk for Princess, as they would not be required to offer a refund if a port was missed if the Port Expenses were included in the base fare. 🤔

I agree 100% with everything you are pointed out. And I have a few more thoughts to add:

First, because you pay 9% of base fare for Princess Vacation Protection premium, having the port charges now included in the base fare means they will extract an extra 9% for the port charges included in the fare. Slimy.

Second, for those who sail solo and in the past only had to pay one set of port charges, they now will actually have to pay both sets because it's buried into the solo supplement (double) fare. Again, slimy.

 

When I first read about the new California law, I suspected (well, expected) that cruise lines, airlines and hotels would play games with base rates to still bury fees and still not fully disclose all costs. It just remained to be seen how they would do it. Now we know (sort of) how Princess is doing it, as revealed during my several conversations earlier today with Princess. Here's what happened...

 

For one of our upcoming cruises, we saw that the itemized "Gov't Taxes and Fees" went down by $71 pp (from $184 to $113), but the base fare went up by $258 pp.  I took screen shots and called Princess to inquire about the discrepancy in the fees, eventually speaking with 3 different reps.

 

The first rep (in Reservations) said that the itemized "Gov't Taxes and Fees" were tied to a promo rate and that we could get the lower fees if we re-fared. Sounded sketchy to me so I declined, told him that government charges and port fees are never tied to fares, and asked for a Supervisor. He gave me a telephone number that was allegedly to "Guest Relations". It was not. Just "Reservations Support".

 

Then the rep with whom I spoke on the second call said the explanation was a "second set" of "Required Fees" included in the base fare. OK, maybe. But that would seem to not be in compliance with the new California law.

 

Eventually, my call finally got escalated to a true Supervisor (still off-shore). After we spoke, she communicated directly with US-based Guest Relations and called me back, quoting to me what they told her: that the itemized "Gov't Taxes and Fees" were lower because they were tied to a promo rate and that we could get the lower fees if we re-fared. 

I responded to the Supervisor (as I had to the first rep) that this was utter nonsense as government fees, taxes and port charges have never been, and cannot ever be, tied in any way to fares as everyone on the ship, regardless of fare or type of cabin, always pays the exact same port charges, taxes and fees. She was very kind and certainly got my point. She tried to reach out to US shoreside again, but they did not respond, so she is going to follow-up with me again tomorrow. Watch this space.

Meanwhile, we should all prepare to start calling and writing the Attorney General of California because what Princess is doing here would seem to violate both the spirit and the letter of the new law. 

[Tedferg]

After the weekend sale ended, I thought prices had jumped, but I see they now include TXES and Fees

[latserrof]

Celebrity too, and my major internet TA for all lines.  Others?

[WisCruiser2]

There is another thread about this - has to do with the change in laws to include added fees and taxes up front for hotels, resorts, etc. I like knowing what the total cost will be right away, as I do when I book an airline ticket.

[wallyj]

38 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

After the weekend sale ended, I thought prices had jumped, but I see they now include TXES and Fees

CA instituted a law effective July 1 2024, requiring Companies to show ‘total’ cost, so the cruise companies decided to implement this across the board, instead of having pricing for CA residents and all others. Some cruise lines were already showing total cost upfront. 
 

There is a previous thread regarding this issue.