Travel News From Far Far Away Travels
Thanks to a new law, there are some big changes in the way cruise lines display their prices. Many travelers and most travel advisors are applauding the change in how cruise prices are advertised.
California Leads Changes in Cruise Prices
Cruise pricing has always been complicated at best. Between additional passenger fees, taxes, port fees, and packages, it’s hard to tell what you get for your money, or how much you’ll have to pay by the time you get home. However, there are big changes coming.
So, what do you need to know about cruise pricing? California has a new law coming into effect on July 1st, 2024. While not targeting cruise lines specifically, this law aims to get rid of hidden fees. This will mostly mean that your taxes and port fees won’t be hidden deep at the end of checkout for several cruise lines.
Which Cruise Lines are Changing Their Cruise Prices?
With the arrival of this new law, several cruise lines have already planned to change their policy nationally. Several lines owned by Royal Caribbean (Royal Caribbean and Celebrity) as well as those owned by Carnival (Carnival, Princess, and Cunard) are making these changes soon, so expect to see the advertised price go up, though the end price will still be the same.
Virgin Voyages has announced they will change their posted cruise prices as a result. Virgin is one of the few cruise companies to include crew gratuities in their posted prices; most lines do not. Viking is another line that already includes port fee and taxes in their cruise prices.
Several cruise lines, like Disney and Silversea, were already in compliance with this new law.
What’s Not Covered in the Law?
While this law helps improve hidden fees, it won’t remove them entirely. The law will only require unavoidable fees, like those of taxes and port fees, to be shown up front. If there are additional charges that can be avoided, they will not be required to show these.
Gratuities, for example, while cruise lines like Virgin Voyages include them up front in your fare, most other cruises consider them optional, and they can be removed. Similarly, add-on packages for drinks, internet, or early boarding do not need to be shown.
With this new change coming soon, be ready to see prices change with several of the largest cruise lines nationwide.
