Gutenberg

I'm not sure why you find re-payment of any pretty small overcharges by way of OBC is problematic. :confused:

Yes, stuff on ships is generally over-priced, but for instance do you drink nothing but tea, coffee & tap water?

 

JB :)

It's not that I find re-payment problematic. I thought once you booked and paid the taxes and fees, I assumed they were written in stone for that cruise. Apparently there are many, many variables. Thank you to everyone, especially BruceMuzz, for trying to shed some sunlight on the system. I am glad to hear that oversight is in place and tries to keep an eye on the industry.

And, John Bull, we don't just drink "tea, coffee and tap water", we just drink hot tea, iced tea, lemonade, tap water and the Pepsi we bring with us. DH and I find coffee and alcohol very distasteful and we save the bar money for our next cruise, an excursion or shopping. Different strokes for different folks. I can sit all day with someone at the bar, enjoy my Pepsi and have just as much fun. I may even feel better in the morning. :)

We have taken about 20 cruises and have searched 100's before booking one and the biggest question we have is: How are the government taxes and fees calculated and who determines them? We have found similar itineraries with different companies have different taxes and fees attached to them. This is the biggest mystery we have found in the cruise industry. We have found that one cruise line is notoriously higher on their taxes and fees and have been told so by travel agents who are booking for many different lines and see the inequality.

Then, we have been charged a certain price for taxes and fees at booking and then received OBC for the overcharge on the ship. It isn't much, but multiply the $13 or $14 by the number of rooms on the ship, the cruise line is getting our cash and in return we are given OBC (which is not real money) to purchase an overpriced item. We would prefer to keep our cash. Something about that system seems a bit slimy, yet no one can tell me how those mysterious numbers are cooked up.

I wish there was a formula that we can calculate, such as "Sailing from port A is $$, stopping at port B is $$, stopping at port C is $$ and ending up back at Port A is $$ multiplied by a % = the government taxes and fees." (...or something like that.) Can anyone help me out by solving this mystery? I am suspicious that some of that money ends up in the pockets of the cruise lines.

Currency conversion charts. A cruise can take you to 4-6 different countries within a week or two time period and understanding the money and how to convert it in each country can be mind-boggling. My favorite site is http://www.gocurrency.com to create a handy pocket-sized converter chart to tuck in my pocket before we go ashore. Buy souvenirs with confidence knowing the value of such an item in your own currency. I put US dollars/to the new country on one side and the new country/to US dollars on the other and then laminate it, which would not be necessary. These charts were so handy on our South American cruise and so many people were borrowing ours in helping them to make purchases.

Calling cards. We purchased 250 business/calling cards with our basic information - names, address, email, phone # to give to those people we want to stay in touch with after the cruise. (Vistaprint.com has a great selection). As a result we have wonderful friends all over the country. Before a cruise I also put our room number on about 10 of them to give to people so that can contact us in our room during the cruise as well. Calling cards save so much time looking for paper and pen and then writing out the basic info. The backs of the cards can also be used for people to write their information on as well to give to us.