Oceania does not refund port taxes for skipped ports

[Sdancer]

On 3/1/2024 at 7:55 PM, ak1004 said:

 

All excellent points, and another thing that is often missed by the conspiracy theory advocates is all the revenue lost from shore excursions. This alone can account to tens of thousands of dollars per port.

 

Those repeated claims that O (or any other line) misses ports on purpose to save money really get old and tired. But if this is what some people believe, they should definitely look for another line. Good luck in finding the perfect line that never misses ports.

 

Never stops to amaze me how people pay thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars to cruise on a luxury line, but become so cheap when it comes to $10-20 in port charges. btw, SS also does not refund port charges, and I believe it's the same with SB. But if people prefer to sail with Princess, NCL or Carnival because those lines refund port charges, there is not much to discuss.

No one claimed that Oceania skipps ports to save money - it an absurd statement and is not based on any post here, really :).

BWY, Oceania does not lose money from cancelled excursions in skipped ports - I am not going to go into financial details here.

 

The reason I am posting today to let you Today that I received an email from Oceania that on the "second look" they decided to refund us for skipped Cozumel.

How about that? 🙂

Have a nice day!!!

[Vallesan]

We have never had taxes refunded for missed ports from Oceania but our travel insurance does give cover for missed ports. We have claimed several times.

Oceania do refund port taxes if you cancel a cruise.

[ak1004]

53 minutes ago, Sdancer said:

 

The reason I am posting today to let you Today that I received an email from Oceania that on the "second look" they decided to refund us for skipped Cozumel.

How about that? 🙂

Have a nice day!!!

 

Good for you! How much was it per person?

 

And yes, many people actually claim that O skips ports to save money. Just read some of the topics on this board.

[TRLD]

On 3/7/2024 at 10:19 AM, ak1004 said:

 

Thank you.

 

I read the review. Our experience with food on Riviera and Regatta was very different. But then again, it's matter of expectations. Is a couple hundred bucks for a 50 minute massage exorbitant? Of course it is, but those are the prices on all cruise lines. This is why we don't do massages on cruise ships. Some of the other points are equally ridiculous. But obviously everyone is entitled to their opinion.

I can sum up our views on our current Regatta cruise as being over curated. Basically resulting in little variation from one day to the next. Remove the grill to order steak and lobster from the Cafe and the larger than normal selection of steaks, and the food is not much better than on other lines, even some of the adult focused mass market lines like HAL or Celebrity.

 

We have been on the same size/model (Renaissance) ships on other lines and have not found them as sedate lacking in day to day variety in both food and entertainment.

 

Would be nice if they would have a Chefs corner in the Terrace Cafe where the Chef can present some of their favorite dishes outside of the corporate curated menu.  Do the same with the musicians and maybe on occasion have a session with more audience involvement and them selecting favorites outside of the curated list from corporate. 

 

While the quartet playing for tea, and the show band playing for happy hour is nice it tend to be more like repetitive background music.

 

We had to cancel one port Lahaina for obvious reasons. We did make it into port at Kauai when the Carnival ship that was supposed to get in port with us decided that conditions were too poor to make it into port.

 

Kind of the opposite of the what one would expect based upon the comments of those that say Oceania looks for reasons to cancel ports

Edited April 18 by TRLD

[TRLD]

1 hour ago, Sdancer said:

No one claimed that Oceania skipps ports to save money - it an absurd statement and is not based on any post here, really :).

BWY, Oceania does not lose money from cancelled excursions in skipped ports - I am not going to go into financial details here.

 

The reason I am posting today to let you Today that I received an email from Oceania that on the "second look" they decided to refund us for skipped Cozumel.

How about that? 🙂

Have a nice day!!!

Depends upon how one defines lose money. Under simply more much of the excursion money is collected in the fare. However with each cancelled port they lose the opportunity for people to use excursion credits as well as potential lost revenue from some that might book without using credit. With credits not being used, might result in potential lost revenue from other excursion sales in other ports. It's all in how one categorizes it.

[TRLD]

On 3/4/2024 at 7:23 AM, ak1004 said:

 

Imagine paying 50%+ more for SS cruise just to find out that they run out of Perrier, Pellegrino and most diet drinks around mid cruise. Not as a one time occurrence, but on a regular basis. Cruise after cruise.  

Well on our current 21 day cruise on Regatta Oceania ran out of a noticeable percentage of their wine selections.

[Tranquility Base]

1 hour ago, Vallesan said:

Oceania do refund port taxes if you cancel a cruise.

Thanks.

 

So, just to clarify.

If you cancel whilst in the % penalty phase (ie: 25%), the fees & taxes will be refunded 100% and the 25% penalty will be applied to the remainder of the fare ? 

[1985rz1]

4 hours ago, Tranquility Base said:

Thanks.

 

So, just to clarify.

If you cancel whilst in the % penalty phase (ie: 25%), the fees & taxes will be refunded 100% and the 25% penalty will be applied to the remainder of the fare ? 

The fees and port taxes are bundled in the total fare, so they are not separated out at any level of cancellation.

[Tranquility Base]

5 hours ago, Vallesan said:

Oceania do refund port taxes if you cancel a cruise.

@Vallesan

Were you in the % penalty period when you cancelled ?

3 minutes ago, 1985rz1 said:

The fees and port taxes are bundled in the total fare, so they are not separated out at any level of cancellation.

OK, thanks @1985rz1

 

 

 

[ORV]

7 hours ago, Sdancer said:

No one claimed that Oceania skipps ports to save money - it an absurd statement and is not based on any post here, really :).

BWY, Oceania does not lose money from cancelled excursions in skipped ports - I am not going to go into financial details here.

As AK mentioned above, there are many people on this forum that claim exactly that. 

[edgee]

2 hours ago, 1985rz1 said:

The fees and port taxes are bundled in the total fare, so they are not separated out at any level of cancellation.

My understanding is that that port fees and taxes are separated out on the TA's copy of invoices along with the air fare portion, if applicable. According to my TA, this has to happen since O subtracts them out when calculating TA commissions.

[1985rz1]

20 minutes ago, edgee said:

My understanding is that that port fees and taxes are separated out on the TA's copy of invoices along with the air fare portion, if applicable. According to my TA, this has to happen since O subtracts them out when calculating TA commissions.

I don't know what applies to TA commissions, but on the passenger level we had to cancel in the 100% penalty level because of a medical emergency, and there was no compensation for port fees and taxes because we didn't pay for them separately.

[Vallesan]

3 hours ago, 1985rz1 said:

I don't know what applies to TA commissions, but on the passenger level we had to cancel in the 100% penalty level because of a medical emergency, and there was no compensation for port fees and taxes because we didn't pay for them separately.

Maybe it’s different in the UK but we didn’t pay for the port fees separately either. We were also in the 100% penalty level and they just ‘appeared’ as a refund on my credit card without any notification. I couldn’t even tell you if the amount was right or wrong as they were never specified!

 

I do know that Seabourn take out the port fees and refund on the  basis of the fare only but then they specify the port fees and taxes separately.

Edited April 19 by Vallesan

[Vallesan]

10 hours ago, Tranquility Base said:

Thanks.

 

So, just to clarify.

If you cancel whilst in the % penalty phase (ie: 25%), the fees & taxes will be refunded 100% and the 25% penalty will be applied to the remainder of the fare ? 

 I’ve never been in that position only 100% penalty so can’t answer that. I do know that’s what Seabourn do.

[Sdancer]

On 4/18/2024 at 11:02 AM, ak1004 said:

 

Good for you! How much was it per person?

 

And yes, many people actually claim that O skips ports to save money. Just read some of the topics on this board.

It was $50 for both of us for one port ($25 pp). It was posted to my cc a couple of days ago (took 3 weeks).

Oceania now has "simply more" higher fares to include an allowance for Oceania excursions. Let's say that Oceania skipped a port where you booked using an "excursion allowance" for an Oceania excursion. You get a refund but if it is not used for booking an another Oceania excursion, this refund is lost. So, Oceania does not lose any money from skipping a port and might even benefit when guests have to book any other available excursion to not lose a refund. If guests did not book an another Oceania excursion for some reason or another, Oceania keeps the money.

 

BWY, I was told that Oceania has the highest markup in the cruise industry for excursions.

When I cruised with Oceania to Alaska, Oceania had monopoly to some of  the excursions that we wanted to book. Tour operators in Alaska would not book us directly because their contract with Oceania restricted them to book only with Oceania. Oceania Alaska excursions were good but extremely expensive. If we would be able to book with the same operator, we would pay a fraction of the cost (I do not want to post the numbers, but I know them).

The Panama Canal cruise Oceania excursions did not go well.

We used our Oceania excursion allowance plus our Silver Level Club award to book Oceania excursions on our Panama Canal cruise. It was disappointing because 4 excursions were terrible, 1 fair and 1 good.

We have regretted not forgoing Oceania excursions allowance and booking our own excursions instead, like we did in Panama City.

 

 

Edited May 15 by Sdancer

[Sdancer]

28 minutes ago, Sdancer said:

It was $50 for both of us for one port ($25 pp). It was posted to my cc a couple of days ago (took 3 weeks).

Oceania now has "simply more" higher fares to include an allowance for Oceania excursions. Let's say that Oceania skipped a port where you booked using an "excursion allowance" for an Oceania excursion. You get a refund but if it is not used for booking an another Oceania excursion, this refund is lost. So, Oceania does not lose any money from skipping a port and might even benefit when guests have to book any other available excursion to not lose a refund. If guests did not book an another Oceania excursion for some reason or another, Oceania keeps the money.

 

BWY, I was told that Oceania has the highest markup in the cruise industry for excursions.

When I cruised with Oceania to Alaska, Oceania had monopoly to some of  the excursions that we wanted to book. Tour operators in Alaska would not book us directly because their contract with Oceania restricted them to book only with Oceania. Oceania Alaska excursions were good but extremely expensive. If we would be able to book with the same operator, we would pay a fraction of the cost (I do not want to post the numbers, but I know them).

The Panama Canal cruise Oceania excursions did not go well.

We used our Oceania excursion allowance plus our Silver Level Club award to book Oceania excursions on our Panama Canal cruise. It was disappointing because 4 excursions were terrible, 1 fair and 1 good.

We have regretted not forgoing Oceania excursions allowance and booking our own excursions instead, like we did in Panama City.

 

One more thing:

If guests used own money to book Oceania excursions in skipped port, then Oceania issues refunds and did not benefit from a markup on this excursion.

One more thing:

If guests used own money to book Oceania excursions in skipped port, then Oceania issues refunds and does not benefit from a markup on this excursion.

 

Edited May 15 by Sdancer

[AMHuntFerry]

3 hours ago, Sdancer said:

BWY, I was told that Oceania has the highest markup in the cruise industry for excursions.

When I cruised with Oceania to Alaska, Oceania had monopoly to some of  the excursions that we wanted to book. Tour operators in Alaska would not book us directly because their contract with Oceania restricted them to book only with Oceania. Oceania Alaska excursions were good but extremely expensive. If we would be able to book with the same operator, we would pay a fraction of the cost (I do not want to post the numbers, but I know them).

It is difficult for me to take your comments as generally true since I am also familiar with how things are when traveling via ferry. Days when cruise ships are in are expensive even if you aren't on a cruise. Most (all?) tour operators who do business with the cruise lines will not do business with individual cruise passengers (whether O or Princess or anyone else). Also, the shorex prices I have compared in Alaska sans-cruise have actually been comparable or lower (when the 25% discount applies) than the O prices (again, when cruise ships are in port). If you want to save money, take the ferry.

[QuestionEverything]

11 hours ago, Sdancer said:

It was $50 for both of us for one port ($25 pp). It was posted to my cc a couple of days ago (took 3 weeks).

Oceania now has "simply more" higher fares to include an allowance for Oceania excursions. Let's say that Oceania skipped a port where you booked using an "excursion allowance" for an Oceania excursion. You get a refund but if it is not used for booking an another Oceania excursion, this refund is lost. So, Oceania does not lose any money from skipping a port and might even benefit when guests have to book any other available excursion to not lose a refund. If guests did not book an another Oceania excursion for some reason or another, Oceania keeps the money.

 

BWY, I was told that Oceania has the highest markup in the cruise industry for excursions.

When I cruised with Oceania to Alaska, Oceania had monopoly to some of  the excursions that we wanted to book. Tour operators in Alaska would not book us directly because their contract with Oceania restricted them to book only with Oceania. Oceania Alaska excursions were good but extremely expensive. If we would be able to book with the same operator, we would pay a fraction of the cost (I do not want to post the numbers, but I know them).

The Panama Canal cruise Oceania excursions did not go well.

We used our Oceania excursion allowance plus our Silver Level Club award to book Oceania excursions on our Panama Canal cruise. It was disappointing because 4 excursions were terrible, 1 fair and 1 good.

We have regretted not forgoing Oceania excursions allowance and booking our own excursions instead, like we did in Panama City.

 

 

Sdancer, thank you for taking the time to post.

Over beverages aboard O, I have been told the same thing by numerous guests.

The Simply More imposition is not consumer friendly.

I travel only for the ports of call, and usually arrange a private tour or tour with other guests - customized so I see what I want.

Because of the SM, have no further cruises booked with O as I simply do not trust them anymore. Add in O's 1hr + reduction in time in port, that is enough.

Thanks for posting this information, many guests do not realize this.

 

[njhorseman]

12 hours ago, Sdancer said:

BWY, I was told that Oceania has the highest markup in the cruise industry for excursions.

When I cruised with Oceania to Alaska, Oceania had monopoly to some of  the excursions that we wanted to book. Tour operators in Alaska would not book us directly because their contract with Oceania restricted them to book only with Oceania

I can't say whether Oceania has the highest mark up on excursions, and probably you don't have actual facts to substantiate "what you were told". Told by whom? I can say that all cruise lines substantially mark up excursion prices...shore excursions are a major  cruise line profit center.

It's not just Oceania that has exclusivity clauses in its contracts with shore excursion operators, and it's not just in Alaska where this happens. It's a common practice throughout the cruise industry worldwide.

 

[Sdancer]

3 hours ago, QuestionEverything said:

Sdancer, thank you for taking the time to post.

Over beverages aboard O, I have been told the same thing by numerous guests.

The Simply More imposition is not consumer friendly.

I travel only for the ports of call, and usually arrange a private tour or tour with other guests - customized so I see what I want.

Because of the SM, have no further cruises booked with O as I simply do not trust them anymore. Add in O's 1hr + reduction in time in port, that is enough.

Thanks for posting this information, many guests do not realize this.

 

Yes! Simply More imposition is not consumer friendly. There used to be O'Life and Cruise Only options.

I always took Cruise Only option and booked my own private excursions, like you did. Simply More (SM) replaced O'Life.  Now instead of non-refundable OBC in O'Life, SM has non-refundable Shore Excursion Credit. The Cruise Only option is gone.

It is funny that Oceania claims that this Shore Excursion Credit is Free when it is actually added to a fare cost. 

 

Your reply was the only one about Simply More - others saw only my "markup" comment which is irrelevant to Simply More being unfriendly to consumers.

Also, as you mentioned about reduction of time in ports, times in our two ports were also reduced by hours after the final payment. 

Oceania used to pride itself on their "finest" cuisine at sea, longer times in ports and overnights. It was not the case on our last cruise. After 10 cruises with Oceania we will not book Oceania anymore. 

 

Thanks again about Simply More comment.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 15 by Sdancer

[basor]

I can only comment on Alaska excursions where I can compare directly the cost of excursions on O and Princess - sailed both within a 1 year period and the cost of the same excursions on both cruise lines were exactly the sane,  Also, as others have stated, excursion companies in Alaska have NCC so if you are arriving via cruise ship, they will not book with you direct,.  You may be able to find a company that does not do business with the various cruise lines that will book direct but they are few and far between.  In Skagway, the cost of the White Horse train trip was exactly the same on their website or booking with O or Princess..,.

[QuestionEverything]

2 hours ago, Sdancer said:

Yes! Simply More imposition is not consumer friendly. There used to be O'Life and Cruise Only options.

I always took Cruise Only option and booked my own private excursions, like you did. Simply More (SM) replaced O'Life.  Now instead of non-refundable OBC in O'Life, SM has non-refundable Shore Excursion Credit. The Cruise Only option is gone.

It is funny that Oceania claims that this Shore Excursion Credit is Free when it is actually added to a fare cost. 

 

Your reply was the only one about Simply More - others saw only my "markup" comment which is irrelevant to Simply More being unfriendly to consumers.

Also, as you mentioned about reduction of time in ports, times in our two ports were also reduced by hours after the final payment. 

Oceania used to pride itself on their "finest" cuisine at sea, longer times in ports and overnights. It was not the case on our last cruise. After 10 cruises with Oceania we will not book Oceania anymore. 

 

Thanks again about Simply More comment.

 

 

 

 

We are both one of many long time O cruisers that I personally know that no longer book O. My TA in San Diego indicates there is a significant booking reduction since Simply More (ie Simply Less) arrived.

Everyone I know books premium and luxury because of better, more detailed itineraries allowable by the smaller ships and more time.

With NCL and O increasing port cancellations as well reported on the O, NCL and Regent sites, these cruise lines are Cancelled.

O used to have a competitive advantage - customers could customize their cruise experience - now it is forced everything, rather like the luxury lines.

Sdancer - I am tired of all the cruise bull, my $ has moved to luxury land tours with private guides and fabulous driving trips in North America with my new sport vehicle (I am into car racing).

I will monitor how things go via CC, but putting $ down on a cruise is not happening until I see the consumer being put first.

[basor]

O did lose those that booked Cruise Only but, unfortunately, there are few other options in cruising that do not include most or all (except Windstar).  Your solution is to book land tours which works for you but not everyone wants/can book those.  We find a combination of land and cruises (mostly on O) work for us.

My TA, who also books a lot of O, has said the exact opposite that O bookings have increased with the SM and the number of cruises with high waitlist seem to bear that out,

It is great that we all have choices and they do not need/have to be the same.

[QuestionEverything]

6 minutes ago, basor said:

O did lose those that booked Cruise Only but, unfortunately, there are few other options in cruising that do not include most or all (except Windstar).  Your solution is to book land tours which works for you but not everyone wants/can book those.  We find a combination of land and cruises (mostly on O) work for us.

My TA, who also books a lot of O, has said the exact opposite that O bookings have increased with the SM and the number of cruises with high waitlist seem to bear that out,

It is great that we all have choices and they do not need/have to be the same.

basor, great post. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to do so.

Goodness knows the truth these days - my TA or your TA - who knows. What I do know is that there is an incentive (image, $) for a TA and or cruise line to maintain positive karma whether that is true or not. 

I totally agree with you - there are few options that do not force you to buy everything. We do not drink alcohol and we prefer our own excursions - so I am not interested in purchasing O product or the premium or luxury lines. Cunard works for me and their ships are not too big at this point.

It is the increasing cancellation/shortening of ports that is my Biggest concern about cruising - I travel only for the ports, hence I love land tours. 

As Hiltner posted on another similar thread, O has very poor communication, frankly arrogant communication to guests based on my reads of many posts over the years. 

You are 100% correct that we are fortunate to have choices.

We are ALL on CC fortunate we have personal circumstances to be able to cruise and rant on CC - most folks do not.

Safe travels indeed.

 

[rbtan]

On 3/1/2024 at 6:28 PM, Sdancer said:

Oceania Sirena skipped the port of Cozumel and refused to refund port taxes to the passengers. It means that Oceania financially benefits by skipping ports since Oceania keeps port taxes for skipped ports paid by passengers for themselves. It is very wrong!

Princess and Carnival automatically refund port taxes for skipped ports to their passengers.

 

Oceania Ticket Contract pdf has 29 port tax mentions but nothing about keeping (not refunding) skipped ports taxes.

 

It might be a small number per passenger but multiplying by the number of passengers and number of Cruises it is a substantial amount.

 

P.S. I just got back from our 10th cruise on Oceania Sirena with no intention of coming back to Oceania for a few significant reasons.

We had 2 ports skipped on our Jan cruiseCosa Maya & Cozumel. Rain in Costa maya that cleared off 30 min. after we skipped the port. Cozumel due to wind though several ships were visible. Never got a refund either. We have a 10 night cruise in late Jan. If we skip ports next cruise, we'll be going back to Princess in Reserve class, Which offers more perks(though the food is not as good)