Sometimes, cruise lines can negotiate better deals for their passengers when it comes to the fees various countries charge for port visits. That’s because the cruise line will be bringing so many people to that destination, that it has some leverage because it could opt to visit that port less often.
That’s currently impacting the proposed $42 fee that Mexico wants to add per passenger for any ship stopping in the country. If that happens, Mexico would become the most expensive port on the Caribbean and both Royal Caribbean and Carnival could reconsider how often they stop there.
Related: Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean fix huge passenger problem
Royal Caribbean may also rethink its investments in building a private beach club in Cozumel and a second Perfect Day in Costa Maya.
It’s impractical to think cruise ships would skip Mexico entirely, but they could schedule fewer ships to stop there, which would quickly make the new tax a money loser not a revenue driver.
In other cases, however, new rules, taxes, and fees are well beyond what cruise line’s can impact. Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald recently talked about this in a video he posted to his popular Facebook page.
Heald explained some changes for visitors to the United Kingdom and the European Union.
Image source: John Heald/Facebook
Carnival warns of two new fees you have to plan for
Transcript:
So, those of you talking about Legend, we’re cruising in Europe this year, this last year, 2024. And I hope you had a brilliant time. Carnival Miracle is going to be doing the European season in this year, 2025 and legend will return to Europe in 26.
Plus we have a couple of ships doing transatlantic cruises pre-dry dock. So they’re heading to Barcelona. So this will apply to you.
Now we will be sending you Chris, our chief communications officer and his team will be sending out notifications to you in the coming days. But we’ve also already added this onto the website. Now, for those of you coming to the UK this year, there is now something called an ETA that you have to complete an electronic travel authorization.
When I come as a, as a Brit to the United States, I have to do something called Esther. And this is now the other way around. It’s kind of payback, I guess.
I don’t know why we’re doing it, but we are anyway. So very basically, if you’re coming to the UK to sail out of Dover, all travelers as of January the 8th. So we’re already a little bit behind who do not have, I’m behind telling you, I should say who do not hold a passport of the United Kingdom or Ireland must obtain an electronic visa known as the UK travel authorization.
Now, this is all on our website. You go to the www.gov.uk and you can apply for it there. It takes about three days to obtain.
It’s an electronic visa. It lasts for two years and all guests traveling, including children and infants need to apply for this ETA. It’s very easy.
I do it every year. There is a small charge when I do it. I think it’s about $15 to do an Esther and I think it’s roughly the same for the UK electronic travel authorization for that.
So those of you going to Dover, but if you’re cruising from Dover or if you’re cruising from you’re cruising from Rome, you will also need the European version of this, which is called the European travel information and authorization system, which means if you do not have a passport from see if I can do this in one breath, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Switzerland, Sweden and Cleveland, Ohio. You will also need to go on to the website travel Europa, blah, blah, blah. And this is all on our website now.
So you’re basically going to need this. If you’re going to cruise to from Dover to the European ports, you need to do both. If you’re cruising from Dover and you’re just doing British Isles, you need to do just the British visa.
If you’re selling from Barcelona or from city from Rome, you will need to do the European visa. And it’s all right there. It’s simple.
It takes a couple of days and you can go ahead and put that right there for you. OK. And I hope that you will enjoy a wonderful European season.
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Cabins are selling quickly like they are, as I said, on every ship. Many of the cruises are sold out. But don’t forget this year.
It’s your chance to explore the British Isles, Europe, the Mediterranean, Turkey, Ireland, Greece, Italy, France, Holland, Germany, Scotland, etc., etc., all the way through. And it’s going to be another brilliant European season. Now, that’s some of the things that are applicable to the ships sailing from Europe this year and from the United Kingdom.
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