Are port fees and taxes refundable if cancelling cruise??

[cujosmom]

Approx 15 years ago, we had to cancel a cruise (RCL) due to husband having to have emergency surgery 3 days before embarkation. We had 3rd party travel insurance and all costs were reimbursed.   

 

I am currently in the process of purchasing 3rd party travel insurance and you have to add up all your NON-REFUNDABLE costs to come up with the total amount of coverage you need. The first time around, RCL automatically refunded the taxes and port fees back to our credit card (to our surprise) as those were considered refundable.

 

I called Princess customer service tonight and the woman I spoke with said taxes and port fees were NEVER refundable. Is this a Princess rule or was she wrong in her answer? 

 

The reason we are not using Princess Insurance is we have airfare and other costs that Princess does not cover (ex: we are using award miles, not EZ air). 

[Astro Flyer]

About 6 months ago we had to cancel a cruise which included EZair flights a week before departure for a covered reason using Princess insurance.

 

The “Taxes, Fees & Port Expenses” were refundable & immediately refunded by Princess.  Those were not part of our trip cancellation claim which included the non-refundable costs minus the cost of insurance.  We also had paid for transportation to the airport after the cruise which was also immediately refunded.  As I recall other Princess purchased items such as tours are also refundable.

 

Unfortunately you had an inexperienced Princess CSR who provided incorrect information.

Edited January 17, 2019 by Astro Flyer

[Coral]

7 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

About 6 months ago we had to cancel a cruise which included EZair flights a week before departure for a covered reason using Princess insurance.

 

The “Taxes, Fees & Port Expenses” were refundable & immediately refunded by Princess.  Those were not part of our trip cancellation claim which included the non-refundable costs minus the cost of insurance.

 

Unfortunately you had an inexperienced Princess CSR who provided incorrect information.

This is my experience also.

 

My TA then immediately provided an invoice of what was refunded and what wasn't to help me and to give to the insurance company. I would assume Princess would do this also.

Edited January 17, 2019 by Coral

[Astro Flyer]

3 minutes ago, Coral said:

This is my experience also.

 

My TA then immediately provided an invoice of what was refunded and what wasn't to help me and to give to the insurance company. I would assume Princess would do this for you also.

My TA immediately emailed the Princess “Cancellation Notification” that showed all of the costs and cancellation fees which were refunded (minus cost of insurance) about 30 days after filing my insurance claim.  All of the refundable costs were immediately credited back to my chargecard.

[Coral]

18 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

My TA immediately emailed the Princess “Cancellation Notification” that showed all of the costs and cancellation fees which were refunded (minus cost of insurance) about 30 days after filing my insurance claim.  All of the refundable costs were immediately credited back to my chargecard.

I probably had that also. It has been a few years since I have cancelled. I just remember that my TA immediately sent me a bunch of documents that I submitted to insurance. 

 

Still sad you had to cancel that cruise! We will be on the same ship together sometime! I am sure of it.

[Astro Flyer]

5 minutes ago, Coral said:

I probably had that also. It has been a few years since I have cancelled. I just remember that my TA immediately sent me a bunch of documents that I submitted to insurance. 

 

Still sad you had to cancel that cruise! We will be on the same ship together sometime! I am sure of it.

Canceling a cruise was a subject that I had hoped to never learn so much about.  Hopefully we’ll get to meet you sometime in the future on another cruise.

Edited January 17, 2019 by Astro Flyer

[Coral]

2 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

Canceling a cruise was a subject that I had hoped to never learn so much about.  Hopefully we’ll get to meet you sometime in the future on another cruise.

I had to cancel several when my Mom was alive. Never fun. 

[cujosmom]

Thanks everyone for your quick responses. I thought that port fees and taxes were refundable, so I'm glad to have it confirmed here and not to have to include them in the total vacation costs as we were just below the next increase in premium rate. So happy we have cruise critic members that know more than the CS reps  😉

 

We are now at the age where we never cruise without travel insurance. 

[paul929207]

Port charges and fees were refunded when we canceled a Princess cruise about 4 weeks before sailing.

[AryMay]

I have struggled trying to get an accurate answer to this question on more than just Princess. When I called my personal cruise consultant at HAL he couldn't come up with an answer and it took him over a week to finally track down the information. I wanted the information in WRITING...not just a verbal response over the phone. I did finally get an email stating that the fees would be refunded.

[memphocruiser]

We were on the Caribbean Princess in December and the Cayman Islands docking was scrapped due to high water.  We were supposed to receive a refund of the port tax ($16 pp).  I don't remember it appearing on my final folio print out and I am trying to get to Princess to get it straight, but it's not easy.  Figure $16 × 3,000= $48,000.  I wonder why.