Port Fees & Taxes

Cruise ships are undeniably good value. We wouldn’t be here and you wouldn’t be reading this if they weren’t. However, there are additional fees and extras added to the price that can be a bit of a sting if you weren’t expecting them.

Tucked away in the small print of your cruise contract, two of the many cheeky charges levied by cruise lines come in the form of port fees and taxes, and they can mean you’ll soon be paying more than you might’ve first thought. So, what exactly are cruise tax and port fees, and how much are they? Let’s take a look at them in more detail below.

What are port charges?

Port charges, also known as port fees, apply whenever a cruise ship docks at a port of call. Local authorities require a fee (that’s right, no ship gets to dock for free!), and so the cruise line collects all the port charges from the ports they’ll be heading to on an itinerary and, yep, the guests are the ones who’ll foot the bill. Otherwise, there’s a chance they might not make any money at all!

Different ports of call charge cruise lines varying amounts, with the total port charges dependent on the destinations you visit and how many stops are included in the itinerary. Simply put, the more places on your cruise, the pricier the port charges.

Port fees consist of the following elements:

Docking tolls
Ship inspection costs
Harbour pilot payments
Security services
Baggage handling costs

Do you pay taxes on cruise ships?

You do – that’s the next thing you’ll be charged on. As well as paying a fee to local authorities for docking at a port of call, cruise lines also have to pay taxes to the local government. And as with port charges, the amount of tax varies greatly from place to place, and once again, these taxes are passed on to cruise passengers.

How much are port charges and taxes?

For the most part, port charges and taxes tend to be around 10-20% of the base cruise fare. But that isn’t always the case. In fact, you might find that your port charges and taxes total almost half of the base cruise fare!

Any travel provider worth their salt will include port charges and taxes in the quoted price for the cruise. They should also advertise cruise prices as including these two extra charges. If you’re unsure, then always double-check exactly what’s included in the price listed on site. You might find that the port charges and taxes are only added once you’ve created an account, select a stateroom or carried out certain stages of the booking process.

Some lines, on the other hand, will include port charges and taxes in the price listed on their website, clearly stating that the listed price includes them.

Like we said up top, these costs can vary depending on where your ship docks. Generally, Alaska commands the highest fees, while Europe tends to be on the cheaper side. Ports across the Caribbean, as well as those in the rest of the world, can change depending on where you are.

Likewise, the size of the ship can dictate how much you pay too. So, assume that the bigger the ship, the pricier it will be. And although some fees are split between the passengers onboard, this won’t mean you’ll have to pay less; the fees are higher because the larger ship size means higher fees.

So, let’s take a look at the specifics and break down some cruise fee costs a little further.

Harbour pilot

Every time a cruise ship docks, a local harbour pilot boards it so it can be directed to the right place – and that costs money. Even if the captain of the ship has been into this particular port time and time again, the ship is outbound or it’s going from one dock to another in the same harbour, a harbour pilot is still required. A ship can be fined $5000 if it operates without a harbour pilot onboard.

The fee these pilots charge varies by port, but it’s typically based on the ship’s length, width, weight and draft per foot (draft is the term for how far the ship is underneath the waterline).

Docking toll

After the above has been dealt with, the cruise company then has to pay for the space they’re taking up on the dock, the line handlers and the use of any facilities at the pier. Any workers at the pier will most probably be part of a union, so the hourly rate is going to be on the higher side.

And while it will vary by port, the average docking toll will look like the following:

Dockage fee: $0.393 per gross registered ton
Head tax: $12.49 per guest – this is a per-passenger fee covering costs associated with passengers using the local infrastructure
Port labour rates, per hour: whatever the going rate dictated by the union is

Ship inspection

Any ship sailing to a US port will be privy to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)’s vessel sanitation program.

These unannounced twice-yearly inspections are designed to manage and control the spread of any illnesses on US-bound ships. As such, every time an inspection takes place, the cruise line has to pay a fee based on the ship’s gross registered tonnage.

These amounts, dictated by the CDC themselves, would incur the following inspection costs:

Vessel Size (gross registered tonnage)	Inspection fee (US dollars)
Extra small (<3000 GRT)	1495
Small (3001 – 15,000 GRT)	2990
Medium (15001 – 30000 GRT)	5980
Large (30001 – 60000 GRT)	8970
Extra Large (60001 – 120,000 GRT)	11960
Mega (120,001 – 140,000 GRT)	17490
Super Mega (>140,001 GRT)	23290

Cruise ships tend to be in the Mega or Super Mega vessel size range, so they’d be charged inspection costs of $17,940 and $23,920 respectively.

How can I avoid cruise taxes?

You can’t, unfortunately. Whether you’ve opted for an interior room or splashed out on a two-bedroom suite, these charges are mandatory for everyone – even if you remain on the ship when it’s docked at a port of call. Additionally, unlike gratuities which can be adjusted and paid for onboard, all port fees are payable as part of your final payment.