Government tax on Panama cruise

I'm looking at a 15 day canal cruise from So-Cal to Florida. One of the fees is a Govt. tax of 500 dollars per person, I've paid tax on previous cruises but this seems a tad high.

It costs money to go through the canal.

The ship is going to pay $350,000 or more to transit the canal....guess who is going to pay for that?

No, it is not rolled into your daily cruise fare.

The fee for a ship transiting the canal can be up to $450,000. If I remember correctly, the fee for the Amsterdam last year was approximately $200,000 with about 1125 passengers aboard. That works out to be $177 per guest just for the canal plus all the other port charges. $500 sounds about right to me for the total cruise. If you call or eMail HAL they may be able to give you a itemized breakdown of the $500.

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I knew there was a fee to go through the canal I just wanted to make sure this was not additional, the travel agent did not seem to know. She said port fees were not part of the tax

On an NCL partial transit Panama Canal I am eyeing the fee is well over $700 for 2. :eek:

Don’t even want to know about a full transit.

Full transit Panama Canal cruise on the Volendam is $625 pp USD or $813 pp CND. Yikes!

I knew there was a fee to go through the canal I just wanted to make sure this was not additional, the travel agent did not seem to know. She said port fees were not part of the tax

You might want to use a TA who knows more about HAL/cruising or is willing to find out.

... the fee for the Amsterdam last year was approximately $200,000 with about 1125 passengers aboard. That works out to be $177 per guest just for the canal ...

This is from my blog for our 2012 transit (prices are probably higher now - this is to show how the cost is calculated):

... a reservation to go through the canal... costs $25,000... In addition to the reservation fee, the ship/line pays $134 per occupied berth (bed), $108 per unoccupied berth. That’s for everyone, passengers, crew, officers, staff. For this ship, that’s more than a quarter million dollars if every berth is occupied: 1260 passengers + 580 crew= 1840 * 138 = 253,920 + 25,000 reservation fee = $278,920. This amount is divided among the passengers.

We have done 2 full transits , When we did those full transits the fees were lower than todays fees , Seems to me that the full Panama Canal transit & Alaska fees are the highest we ever paid :confused:

On our trip we were told there is a calculation based on revenue areas. We were told the bridge engine room and crew areas were not based in the calculation so it is not just cabin space that counts to the charge.

They didn’t come out with our price but did say Norwegian Pearl was just under a half million to transit.

Reservations must be done some 18 - 24 months out and they pay a deposit around the 23% range. Can’t remember the exact number.

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I have to laugh. When the Vanal changed hands from the US to Panama control we happen to be on that cruise -- quite a few years ago.

Once we were on the ship, all passengers got a letter from the captain informing us of an hike in the canal taxes.

We just happened to be in the Neptune Lounge when a woman staying in a Neptune Suite across from the lounge came roaring into the lounge wearing a robe and curlers in hair complaining about the extra $11 per person we all had to pay.

We just rolled our eyes and walked out.

It is costly to go through the canal.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2259268

Here is a previous thread with some figures...EM

I would say the 500pp does seem a little high, of course not knowing the length of the cruise, number of ports that are included make it a little harder to be sure. Recently, to include the cruise through the Canal in November I just paid for the add-on fees came out a little over $300. What I have seen for the most part is a 14 day Canal cruise usually runs around $300-350 for all the taxes and fees. A typical 14 day Caribbean cruise usually comes in under $150.

All ship's tolls at the Canal are based on the amount of revenue generating space of the ship. Space for the engineering department, fuel, water, anything else needed to operate the ship are not included in the toll calculation. This also includes space for the crew, which are not included in the tolls. For larger passenger ships only passenger berths are used to calculate the base toll, that is total number of passenger berths, both occupied or not. Smaller passenger ship's tolls are calculated via the Panama Canal Universal Measurement System which is a volume measurement of the areas which are considered to be revenue producing areas.

So total number of passenger berths times $138 (the current toll for ships using the old locks) will give you the basic toll. Beyond that there is $35K reservation fee, $30K daylight transit guarantee, $12-14K for tug services (not optional), $4K wire charge for the locomotive cable, $4K for Canal seamen. There is also a laundry list of miscellaneous charges that could include $475 if the Canal provides a narrator for the transit. This does not include any fee the cruise line pays their agent at the Canal.

Canal fees are essentially the same for a full transit or a partial transit. A few less tugs are used in the partial transit, so there is a small reduction in the amount for tug services.

On a Zuiderdam partial transit, we were told the fees were the same as the full transit. You are using the same set of locks twice as opposed to using each set once.

When Panama took over control of the Canal they dramatically increased the fees charged. Those fees are a huge chunk of the government of Panama operating budget.

One of the regular lecturers on Crystal Panama Canal cruises is the former administrator of the US Panama Canal Commission. One of the points he regularly makes is that under the US charter the canal was not allowed to make a profit. The tolls had to just pay for the expenses of the canal.

The new Panama Canal Authority has no such restriction and the canal is a major profit center for the country.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the toll is just a starting point for what the cruise line pays. In addition to that base fee just about everything the canal does is extra--a reservation fee to avoid being one of those ships sitting at anchor waiting for an opportunity to enter the canal, pilots, tugs, mules, even the narrator who comes on board. Every one of those required extras adds to the total bill.

Roy

I think the fee is per berth, whether occupied or not, so you would divide by 1380, not 1125. The latest figures I can find say $148 pp for the new locks, $138 pp for the old.

I think the length of the ship is a factor for the canal transit fee. and seem to recall being told they measure the ship if any structural work is done on i it since Canal Authority last measured it.

I think the length of the ship is a factor for the canal transit fee. and seem to recall being told they measure the ship if any structural work is done on i it since Canal Authority last measured it.

The tolls for the Canal are calculated on the revenue generating areas of the ship, it is the Panama Canal Universal Measurement System or PC/UMS. This measurement is similar to GRT, (gross registered tons) and basically it is a volume measurement of the cargo carrying areas which generate the revenue for the ship. When it comes to passenger ships over 30,000grt, the maximum passenger capacity is divided into the PC/UMS tonnage figure. That figure will determine if the vessel's tolls are calculated by the PC/UMS tonnage or whether it is calculated by the number of passenger berths. Most of the cruise ships that are making transits are large enough that the tolls are calculated by the number of passenger berths. The smaller boutique cruise lines with ships around 400' would pay via PC/UMS calculation and not per berth.

Container ships are handled slightly differently, but their tolls are calculated the number of containers they can carry and then by the number of loaded containers they are carrying. For example if the container ship can carry 5000 containers (even if they don't have 5K containers on board), they are charged ($$) x 5000 and then charged ($$) x number of loaded containers that they are carrying.

So while the length and beam of the ship are not directly used in calculating the toll, the longer and wider the ship, there will be more space on the ship that can be considered revenue generating. As I said in the earlier post areas for the operation and crewing of the ship are not used in calculating the toll.

Great explanation,

Thank you

It costs money to go through the canal.

And the government is Panama..

With the new Canal open watch the rates go up. [emoji23]

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The tolls for the Canal are calculated on the revenue generating areas of the ship, it is the Panama Canal Universal Measurement System or PC/UMS. This measurement is similar to GRT, (gross registered tons) and basically it is a volume measurement of the cargo carrying areas which generate the revenue for the ship.

Bill, normally I don't disagree with anything you say about the Canal management, as your experience there is greater than mine, but when you say that the PC/UMS is a "volume measurement of the cargo carrying areas", that is similar to Net Tonnage, not Gross Tonnage (and "GRT" is no longer used).

Bill, normally I don't disagree with anything you say about the Canal management, as your experience there is greater than mine, but when you say that the PC/UMS is a "volume measurement of the cargo carrying areas", that is similar to Net Tonnage, not Gross Tonnage (and "GRT" is no longer used).

I remembered that from reading some of the other posts... don't know if I posted in any of those or not. Didn't want to wander off too far in my own words, so I was just borrowing the verbiage from the Canal's tolls pages. Here is their explanation of whether or not they will use the berths in the calculation.

Note: Vessels above 30,000 gross tons (GRT) and whose PC/UMS tonnage

divided by maximum passenger capacity (PAX-ITC) ratio is less than or equal to

33, shall pay tolls on a per berth basis. If such ratio is greater than 33, tolls shall

be paid on the basis of PC/UMS tonnage. Vessels below or equal to 30,000 GRT

shall also pay on the basis of PC/UMS tonnage

I'll blame it on them!;)

Edit: I cheat and always read the English side of the house, so I went over to the Spanish tolls since that is the controlling document to see what that passage says and this is the key part... toneladas de resgistro bruto... Sounds to me like they are still using GRT.

All their fault!!:D