higher taxes/fees

[ladybiker4life]

I have book a Ncl cruise with a big online ta. I didnt notice the price of the taxes/fees until later. I started checking on their site and NCL's site and what I am paying and what it is, there is a big bifferance. They are charging me 603.21 and now when I price the same booking its only 303.21. :confused:

 

When I called my Rep about it, she got one the phone with NCL and when over the prices. She kept saying, "our prices are the same if not lower." Well they were lower on the price per person, by guess how much? Yep 300.00. :eek:

 

What should I do about it? I asked how much would I lose it I cancelled, but never got a straight answer.

[fishywood]

That TA is simply breaking out the "port charges" (translation: the non-commissionable portion of the fare) and erroneously calling those charges "taxes and fees." The cruiselines are required by law to incorporate all charges--except for the genuine taxes and fees--into the fare they quote you. Online TAs get away with quoting lowball prices and adding the non-commissionable part back in at the end because of their lack of a brick-and-mortar office; no physical address, no state or local agency to enforce the rules.

 

What can you do about it? Just chalk it up to lesson learned; you are not paying more, just not paying less as you were led to believe--but are getting stuck with additional change/cancellation fees and will have to rely on them to communicate any needs/request to NCL if any come up.

Edited December 17, 2013 by fishywood

[sjbdtz]

What can you do about it? .

 

You can always request that the TA transfer the booking to NCL direct....or to another TA.

 

 

 

.

[mizLORInj]

I use a big online TA and they do not charge cancellation fees. The price I pay is the same as NCL is showing (with additional OBC from the TA! :)).

If you are paying more in total, something is amiss. You should be paying the same (or less) using a TA. Go with the totals--not the breakdown. They break things down differently.

[nyc12345]

It's like comparing apples and oranges. These port charges are non-commissionable, so will include that with government taxes and fees, others will follow the same breakdown as the cruise line. You have to compare total price to see if they are the same.

 

My TA also offers OBC on top of what NCL is charging w/o cancellation fees. Hopefully you can find better TA next time...