Decreased Port Fees and credit for changed itinerary

[son3cruisers]

We sail on the “ enhanced” Southern Caribbean cruise in a few weeks. This was the Panama sailing including Costa Rica that was cancelled and changed to Aruba/ Curaçao. Royal referred to it as an “ enhanced” change. 

Our port fees for the original sailing was $634 ( Can ) for two passengers.  Now that we are not going through the Panama Canal I emailed Royal before final payment and asked when we would see a reduction in the port fee since we are no longer passing through the canal. Their response was “ if you are eligible it would be on your credit card before sailing or as stateroom credit. “ 

I just did a mock booking and the current port fees for the new sailing is $205 ( Can).  That’s a big difference. 
For those of you that have ever received a reduction  in port fees maybe due to a change in itinerary, did you receive it as stateroom credit? If it was a credit on your credit card when did it appear? I feel like the port fee should have been adjusted before final payment but Royal wasn’t budging. And if I don’t see any credit at all, any advice as to next steps? 

[firefly333]

I had two changes and got nothing. I wrote and was told they leave it up to each ship if they want to refund port fees. Evidently my ship didnt choose to refund port fees.

 

When grand Cayman was closed. I had booked grand Cayman and jamaica. Without grand Cayman both were cancelled and we were changed to cheaper roatan and costa maya (and cozumel). They dont allow you to get the lower port fees back before you sail per my TA.  And after you sail it's up to the ship. 

 

This happened to me twice, changed to lower cost ports.. and the 2nd time we missed costa maya. We got back 0. No recourse. It's not a rcl policy to refund overage of port fees and taxes. The letter went on to say since if port fees go up we dont charge you the extra, if they go down, we dont refund the difference ... though now they added new Bahamas tax, contradicting their own letter. 

 

Not sure this is a battle you can win. Might or might not get a obc onboard. Some have some have not.

[son3cruisers]

Interesting. Did these changes in itinerary happen before you sailed? We’re you given advanced notice Or during your sailing? Maybe because a change from port to port to can happen anytime during a sailing they didn’t want to refund? Because it can go up or decrease, I get that. But going through the canal is a big change in fee. Over $400.
I have taken a screen shot of the reduced price on the new current sailing and will send another email, I guess. Not sure what else I can do. 

[firefly333]

12 minutes ago, son3cruisers said:

Interesting. Did these changes in itinerary happen before you sailed? We’re you given advanced notice Or during your sailing? Maybe because a change from port to port to can happen anytime during a sailing they didn’t want to refund? Because it can go up or decrease, I get that. But going through the canal is a big change in fee. Over $400.
I have taken a screen shot of the reduced price on the new current sailing and will send another email, I guess. Not sure what else I can do. 

Before I sailed. As I said above grand Cayman was late opening after covid. So two different dates like 6 months apart had itinerary changes before we sailed. I know carnival gives obc if port fees are down at time of sailing. Per mbayley@rccl.com office it's on a case by case basis and up to each ship to decide if they want to give obc for lower port fees, or even missing a port.

 

You will also read 10 other people who got obc. Its random. Sometimes they give obc, sometimes not. I've seen plenty who did get obc. I didnt. 

[smokeybandit]

Mine canal cruise was outright canceled, not simply changed.  I'm still bummed about it.

Edited February 24 by smokeybandit

[son3cruisers]

4 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Before I sailed. As I said above grand Cayman was late opening after covid. So two different dates like 6 months apart had itinerary changes before we sailed. I know carnival gives obc if port fees are down at time of sailing. Per mbayley@rccl.com office it's on a case by case basis and up to each ship to decide if they want to give obc for lower port fees, or even missing a port.

 

You will also read 10 other people who got obc. Its random. Sometimes they give obc, sometimes not. I've seen plenty who did get obc. I didnt. 

Ok thanks! 

[son3cruisers]

1 minute ago, smokeybandit said:

Mine cancel cruise was outright canceled, not simply changed.  I'm still bummed about it.

That’s disappointing for sure. Many on this sailing cancelled and rebooked a different sailing. We unfortunately had booked flights and any other cruise that week was double the price ( we are limited to our vacation days and this was the only week we were able to go) .Still looking forward to getting away somewhere warm.
Disappointing as well to hear Royal decides if or when they will credit money on a case per case basis. 

[smokeybandit]

1 minute ago, son3cruisers said:

That’s disappointing for sure. Many on this sailing cancelled and rebooked a different sailing. We unfortunately had booked flights and any other cruise that week was double the price ( we are limited to our vacation days and this was the only week we were able to go) .Still looking forward to getting away somewhere warm.
Disappointing as well to hear Royal decides if or when they will credit money on a case per case basis. 

Yeah rebooking a new cruise was quite the pain in the wallet. Though with the cost of flights to Panama vs. flights to Orlando, it balanced out.

[Tlbecker1]

13 hours ago, son3cruisers said:

We sail on the “ enhanced” Southern Caribbean cruise in a few weeks. This was the Panama sailing including Costa Rica that was cancelled and changed to Aruba/ Curaçao. Royal referred to it as an “ enhanced” change. 

Our port fees for the original sailing was $634 ( Can ) for two passengers.  Now that we are not going through the Panama Canal I emailed Royal before final payment and asked when we would see a reduction in the port fee since we are no longer passing through the canal. Their response was “ if you are eligible it would be on your credit card before sailing or as stateroom credit. “ 

I just did a mock booking and the current port fees for the new sailing is $205 ( Can).  That’s a big difference. 
For those of you that have ever received a reduction  in port fees maybe due to a change in itinerary, did you receive it as stateroom credit? If it was a credit on your credit card when did it appear? I feel like the port fee should have been adjusted before final payment but Royal wasn’t budging. And if I don’t see any credit at all, any advice as to next steps? 

We had this happen during a TA last year.  The port fees were credited to our onboard account around $90/pp.  I just made sure to take the money out at the casino, but it did state that we would receive the money back on our credit card.

[son3cruisers]

I wanted to come back and post that YES the $400 extra port fee was returned to my stateroom account as credit on day 6 of our 7 day cruise. 
I did email CS before sailing ( nothing they could do on their end they said- need to ask onboard) 

Onboard also said nothing they could do - if it was to be refunded it would be done shoreside and could possibly show up as stateroom credit or a refund to my credit card. So, mixed messages for sure. The CS agent onboard wrote down my room number and also entered it into the computer which makes me think that only those who asked for the refund were given a refund. I met another couple who did not realize their port fee was reduced, had not asked and it wasn’t posted on their account - at least not on the cruise. 

[Coralc]

@son3cruisers That is a wonderful outcome. Thanks for letting us know!