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I knew this would not work and would have to change. In case you missed it Mexico, stupidly, chose to impose a $42 per passenger fee for cruise ship passengers visiting Mexican ports. Not just this but if they visited more than one Mexican port on a sailing the fee was to be imposed at each and every port. A cruise that included 3 Mexican stops would thus add $126 per passenger in a cabin.
Simply loco Señor!
I suggested that if this were to go into effect it would all but end cruise ship visits to Mexican ports. I would not ever pick a cruise that added that much tax to visit their ports and my guess was others would feel the same.
Well according to TravelandLeisure Mexico blinked and is not implementing this kind of crushing fee – at least for now. They say:
The [new $5 per passenger] fee begins on July 1, and will increase to $10 on August 1, 2026. It will subsequently increase to $15 on July 1, 2027, and then $21 on August 1, 2028. It was not revealed what will happen to the fee after the 2028 cruise season.
Swell…
Rather than sticking it to frequent floaters with a large crushing new tax they are going to place the frog in a pot and slowly turn up the heat. In three short years we will be paying 50% of the mega crushing tax first proposed.
Disgusting!
Returning to my 3 port stop example above we will still be adding, in 2028, $63 in new taxes just for the “privilege” of visiting Mexican ports during your sailing and it may go up even more in the years to follow.
In the USA the populace has reached a saturation point with tipping and how it has, over the years, gotten out of control. Port cities, and especially Mexico, is seeing this cash cow as ready to be harvested over the coming years and I am again just saying NO and will avoid booking cruises that stop at Mexican ports! You? – Rene
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I definitely would not go to Mexico, with the increasing port charges. I would also stay away, because of the increasing crime. It’s a definite No for me. I used to love the Mexican ports, but not anymore
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Note that Hawaii has recently passed legislation imposing a per passenger tax and additionally imposing their mammoth 11% transient accommodation tax on each passenger’s pro rata cruise fare for the days in Hawaii. Their logic for similar tourist tax increases, “they probably won’t notice”. Apparently that is their assessment of the intelligence of their guests.
Note that Hawaii has recently passed legislation imposing a per passenger tax and additionally imposing their mammoth 11% transient accommodation tax on each passenger’s pro rata cruise fare for the days in Hawaii. Their logic for similar tourist tax increases, “they probably won’t notice”. Apparently that is their assessment of the intelligence of their guests.
There’s been a lot of “noise” over Mexico’s plans to raise port fees – or to implement them where they were not charged before. It has been my experience that port fees have always been a part of cruising and honestly I’ve never focused on them all that much, mostly just paying more attention to the total cruise fare on any given cruise. Personally, even if Mexico institutes their new fees as planned, it won’t keep me from booking a cruise that stops in a Mexican port. Cozumel and Costa Maya remain two of my favorite port stops and hopefully cruise lines will continue to sail and stop there, and I will continue to book cruises that include those stops on the itinerary. I suppose my opinion is simply this…if a $42 port fee keeps you from cruising….then so be it. But it won’t stop me.