can taxes change and if they do can I apply for the lower taxes ?

just wonder, booked 2 cruises and seeing taxes/fees were lower ( 150 usd ) then when I booked my cruise Can I apply for the lower taxes/fees ? I called my agent and she tells me she can only apply for lower rates until final payment day not for lowering the taxes/fees

I do not understand why I need to pay higher taxes and fees when I booked my cruise 6 months ago as when I should have booked it now

please help me clear this one

thanks

all the best

We have gotten a credit on our final bill when taxes or port charges go down for how much they dropped. You don't say what ship you'll be on so can't say what will happen on it.

I do thank you for your reply it is RCI the Legend of the seas

( april Panama Canal )

thanks again for your time to answer

We have gotten a credit on our final bill when taxes or port charges go down for how much they dropped. You don't say what ship you'll be on so can't say what will happen on it.

It may make a difference which country's contract law applies. Did you book it in Belgium or the USA?

If the taxes go down before final payment, the lower amount was shown on final payment. After final payment we got a credit to our on board account. The opposite happens if the taxes go up after booking..

we booked our cruise in the US and our agent tells us that she can only adjust our price if the price of cruise goes down not the taxes

I am doubting that but she said to contact RCI myself if I do not believe that

and that the information I collected from cruise critic or any other forum is not always true

what should I do as it is 150 usd which are not peanuts for us

thanks again

Frie

I do thank you for your reply it is RCI the Legend of the seas

( april Panama Canal )

thanks again for your time to answer

If your cruise is in April then you've already made your final payment. As others have said, if port taxes have decreased, the difference will be applied as a credit to your on-board charges. You can call RCI and ask them how much it will be, though they may not know yet. I'd be surprised if it's as much as $150 unless the ports have changed.

that is just the point, no final payment yet as my agent has put on my invoice the date 3/3/2015 and now I got a mail that our cruise is in danger as date is expired ( but it isn't so I think they made a mistake )

I did answer them yesterday that it is not my mistake, I did not put the date on the invoice....

I applied for the difference in price already more then a month ago and they said they could not adjust the price as it was about taxes and fees not cruise fare

but I doubted that, they never answered back until I received an urgent mail yesterday about final payment is overdue etc etc

difference in price on website of RCI it says Taxes, fees and port expenses 659 usd ( 2p ) if I take my invoice from my agent it says taxes and fees 1325.34 usd ( also 2 p ) I am not sure how they build up their invoice that is why I always take the total amount I find on the website and compare that with the total amount of my agent and difference I have now is 156 usd

confused very confused as I have booked already 7 cruises with this agent and this is the first time I have all these problems

thanks again for your help

You should be asking this on the Royal Caribbean board here at CC. But I believe the cruise line is right, your final payment is late. Final payment is due at least six weeks before sailing, and usually at least 60 day, or 75 days out depending on the length of the cruise. Taxes will not be adjusted by the TA. If they go down, it will be refunded to you onboard. EM

final payment is late, I know, was out of my control

will put this question on CC RCI board

taxes need to be clear for once and for all

thanks

You should be asking this on the Royal Caribbean board here at CC. But I believe the cruise line is right, your final payment is late. Final payment is due at least six weeks before sailing, and usually at least 60 day, or 75 days out depending on the length of the cruise. Taxes will not be adjusted by the TA. If they go down, it will be refunded to you onboard. EM

One of the battles you are trying to fight is the difference between Consumer Protection Laws in Europe VS. the Consumer Protection Laws in the US.

If you had booked your cruise from a Travel Agent in Europe,,, you would be correct in all of your thoughts.

However, since you booked your cruise through a US based travel agent, you are confused and misguided.

As a US based booking,,, taxes and fees can fluctuate up and down during the whole time the cruise line is accepting reservations.

If you booked when the reservations first opened and you paid $XXX in taxes and fees and then the taxes and fees go up,,, the cruise line does not expect more money from you. If the taxes and fees go down,,,, then the cruise line will automatically refund you the difference once on the ship in the form of an On Board Credit.

If, THE PRICE OF YOU CRUISE DROPS after your original booking, some cruise lines may refund you the difference, but will take into account any increases or decreases in taxes and fees.

YOU CANNOT APPLY FOR A PRICE DROP FOR TAXES AND FEES ALONE

On top of that, as a US based purchase,,, since you have missed final payment,,,, your reservation may have already been cancelled.

Once again,,, differences between EU Consumer Protection Laws and US based Consumer Protection Laws. When you purchased your cruise from a US based travel agent, you voided any protection you are normally accustomed to.

fvandewouwer ~ On a recent cruise with Celebrity (Royal Caribbean's sister company), we received a credit for port fees that were reduced on our shipboard account. I don't know if the fees went down before or after final payment. But if you pay more in port fees than is actually due, you should receive that refund on your shipboard account. Stop a the Guest Relations desk when you board and ask this question. If you have paperwork that shows the original fees and something that shows the fees were reduced but you didn't get the reduction, take that with you.

Merci beaucoup for participating in Cruise Critic. Enjoy your cruise!

klfrodo reservation is still in the system, thank God I just checked, also booked our airfare through them and booked following this cruise another one from San Diego to Vancouver ( that one has been paid completely )

so they better not cancel my reservation

Host Anne it is a good idea to take the invoice with me and I will also print out the price of today with the lower taxes and fees hope to get a clear answer onboard

we did book several cruises with this us agent (8) and we also did book some cruises in our country (6 ) , it depends on what we receive extra

normally I do not have any problem with the agent but this time I believe it was not up to me to check if the final date was correct ..... was it ??

thanks everyone

 

normally I do not have any problem with the agent but this time I believe it was not up to me to check if the final date was correct ..... was it ??

 

thanks everyone

Always up to you.

You would not have had any legal recourse just because the TA may or may not have given you an improper final due date.

yes I know so I do hope they will pay our balance today as I mailed them yesterday with my agreement

fingers crossed

Just an FYI: We took a 5-day Princess cruise in November 2014. There was a credit of $4.11 per person .... with no explanation given. I overheard another passenger make a comment, and realized that the taxes had been decreased.

that is just the point, no final payment yet as my agent has put on my invoice the date 3/3/2015 and now I got a mail that our cruise is in danger as date is expired ( but it isn't so I think they made a mistake )

I did answer them yesterday that it is not my mistake, I did not put the date on the invoice....

I applied for the difference in price already more then a month ago and they said they could not adjust the price as it was about taxes and fees not cruise fare

but I doubted that, they never answered back until I received an urgent mail yesterday about final payment is overdue etc etc

difference in price on website of RCI it says Taxes, fees and port expenses 659 usd ( 2p ) if I take my invoice from my agent it says taxes and fees 1325.34 usd ( also 2 p ) I am not sure how they build up their invoice that is why I always take the total amount I find on the website and compare that with the total amount of my agent and difference I have now is 156 usd

confused very confused as I have booked already 7 cruises with this agent and this is the first time I have all these problems

thanks again for your help

The agent is correct that they can only adjust fares not taxes.

As others here have explained, the difference in lower taxes will be credited to your SHIPBOARD account. That has been our experience in the past.

There have been times when we booked far in advance, fees went down and HAL credited us the difference. We didn't even ask and didn't know. They did it automatically.

ok will see what will happen

cruise has been paid although one month too late as date was not correct gladly there was no problem with RCI

thanks everyone