charges

[Tapi]

ok, now wait a minute.

{ I was completley behind you until that sentence}

Did the TA say they would be liable for the overdraft/NSF charges? Really, everytime I have booked a cruise (including the very first one when I too was a newbie) they have told me, or it has been in the fine print, that the final payment was due 30-60 days (depending on the length of the cruise) prior to the sail date. And that if you did not call with a different creditcard # that the balance would be atomaticly charged to the card that was used to book the resveration.

Buyer beware? (and Aware)

**Im not flaming or slamming you, JMO>

 

I would agree with you except for the thought that the OP might have been deceived.

[ray98]

Do you know if you TA quoted the cruise rate INCLUDING all of the miscellaneous charges?

 

$345 per person sounds awfully low for a 7 day cruise. However, $345 + $159 (miscellaneous charges) = $504 + 80.33 (federal tax and fuel supplement) = $584.33 looks more like a realistic total per person (still cheap in my opinion)

 

Some places will quote a cruise without the miscellaneous charges, giving you the impression that you're getting a total deal over other places. However, when you add all of the real taxes you realize that your'e paying exactly the same as other places if not more.

 

My PVP quotes me prices including these miscellanoeous charges thus avoiding this confusion....

 

Nah...plenty of 7 day cruises get down around the $500 mark for inside cabins.....I just booked one. Anyway, I think you figured out the riddle....the TA played a con game with the price. What you posted looks about right. No way a 7 day cruise was ever priced at $345.

[parrotthead]

I would agree with you except for the thought that the OP might have been deceived.

Right.

But look at what the OP put in his first post

We booked our cruise at $345 pp for interior. We had paid $550.00 on our card

even by the first transaction they shouldnt have thought they were paid in full.

345+345=690 (not 550)

Now' date=' I agree that there may well be some 'extra' charges that the TA 'accidently' or on purpose added. And that definatly needs to be checked very carefully. Im just saying that when making a 'big' purches one needs to read all the fine print. And ask what is the balance due and when it will be coming out, espically if its coming out of a checking account that may or may not have that much wiggle room. I have never heard of not getting a reciept when making a down payment on *anything*.[/size']

Thats all. Im just saying I dont think they were 'nailed with' the final payment.

--and to take into account that the cruise is now (and maybe then) priced over $500.--to be sure they got charged the original amount of 345 pp (at least as a base price)

** I always ask to be quoted the cruise price including taxes adn port charges (misc charges)

[colturn]

Once you have paid in full you can access your booking on the carnival site through my documents. Carnival shows a complete billing breakdown for you. You can then compare these to what your TA has told you. I'm still not sure why you never rec'd a statement from your TA. Good Luck

[parrotthead]

I just looked that cruise(Conquest 7nt 2/17/2008) up on a couple different websites. I never have used any of the ones I looked at just now. You know, I never really looked at the internet sites before (usually book directly with the cruise line or just recently for a group cruise used a great TA, who was recomended to me)

~~I digress~~

Anyway at the very bottom on most of the pages, it said in teenytiny print (I cut and pasted this)---> Cruise specials do not include port charges unless otherwise stated.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Still port charges that equal almost as much as the cruise seems a bit steep.

[beccadoby]

I'm still not sure why you never rec'd a statement from your TA. Good Luck

 

Yes, this is the best advice that I could give anyone - get a pre-booking invoice with all rates, fees, ports charges, taxes, fuel fees included UPFRONT before making a deposit.

 

After making the deposit, you should get an invoice stating what you have paid and when final payment is due.

[wentworth]

Our Federal Taxes and fees on our 7 day Legend Cruise are $135.86 for

two people plus an additional $70.00 for fuel charge for a total of $205.86. These were the only fees besides the cabin fee. We will

pay gratuties which will be added to the sail and sign card.

 

Sixgun, your fees and taxes sound Way Out of Line.:confused:

[sixgun8]

OK, first the reason we think the Ta is resposible is because we were not notified that they were taking a chunk like that out. Basically our entire billing on this has been completely random. 50 to reserve, 100 the next two months, 100 and 150 the next month, nothing the next, 100 the next. everytime without notice. Carnival told us as much that the TA called and told them to take the payment. The TA swears that she didn't, but she will check with everyone in here office. Sounds more like her home when you call?? She is definately fishy. Had we known that they were about to hit us, We'd have moved the money over from account to account.

 

I cant find the breakdown on Carnivals website. Since they made all the changes to the format of the site I am lost a bit.

 

Nice to know that others feel the port fees are still high.

 

 

I guess I just need to be happy that Carnival at least recognizes that we have tickets and that we will still be boarding when we get there. But we definately learned a hard lesson from this. This was a bad first experience with this sort of thing. But we will make the most of it.

[MamaParrotHead]

You got totally hosed on this by your TA. It's not that other people "feel" your port charges/taxes are high, she blatantly inflated them. That totally sucks.:cool:

[sixgun8]

Well Hey,

 

I truly appreciate everyone's input. At this point I just wanna concentrate on having fun on the cruise. I'll still pursue some recourse from the TA, but probably wont get anything. I'll have to chalk this one up to a lesson learned and go on from there.

 

Now, some one give me a beer and some caribbean jerk!

[GoinCruisin]

Our Federal Taxes and fees on our 7 day Legend Cruise are $135.86 for

two people plus an additional $70.00 for fuel charge for a total of $205.86. These were the only fees besides the cabin fee. We will

pay gratuties which will be added to the sail and sign card.

 

Sixgun, your fees and taxes sound Way Out of Line.:confused:

 

That sounds right for the taxes....but it sounds like this TA didn't include the "non commissionable fare" (used to be called port fees) in the original quote (this fee is much more than the fee for taxes)... Carnival and most reputable agencies include that amount in the cruise fare, so all you are left to add is the taxes and fuel surcharge. I think it is wrong for a TA not to advertise the full fare including the NCF, but there are still a few out there that don't and it IS deceiving... that is why as mentioned, you should always get a breakdown of all costs before booking...

[wentworth]

That sounds right for the taxes....but it sounds like this TA didn't include the "non commissionable fare" (used to be called port fees) in the original quote (this fee is much more than the fee for taxes)... Carnival and most reputable agencies include that amount in the cruise fare, so all you are left to add is the taxes and fuel surcharge. I think it is wrong for a TA not to advertise the full fare including the NCF, but there are still a few out there that don't and it IS deceiving... that is why as mentioned, you should always get a breakdown of all costs before booking...

 

Chris, I didn't realize that agencys gave out fares that didn't include

the NCF as you call it. Never heard of NCF........all of our cruises, thru

Carnival and other internet sites, must have had them in the cruise fare

as you said. It does seem deceiving and for people to get hit at the end

with final payment or even after is just wrong.

[GoinCruisin]

Chris, I didn't realize that agencys gave out fares that didn't include

the NCF as you call it. Never heard of NCF........all of our cruises, thru

Carnival and other internet sites, must have had them in the cruise fare

as you said. It does seem deceiving and for people to get hit at the end

with final payment or even after is just wrong.

 

Yeah, I have heard of very few doing this, but some do... it's generally somewhere in the very tiny itty bitty small print. Thankfully Carnival and most decent agencies provide the full fare amount without the taxes/fuel surcharge, but I can't imagine advertising without the NCF becuase once you add those in, the taxes and the surcharge, that could basically double what you are paying... I personally would cancel with this agency if I was not in a penalty phase... but an agency like this probably has an outrageous cancellation fee as well :rolleyes:

[cruisegrammy]

Mama

I really would like that black dress in your picture. I've been looking for a dress like that for a year. Can you tell me where you got it?