The port_charges field is a field available in each fare_set of a cruise.
It provides any port charges and miscellaneous taxes applicable to this cruise, though it is not populated for all cruise integrations.
The question we get often is how this field should be used in relation to the rest of the pricing we provide. Is it included in the price or should it be added on top to get the full booking amount?
To answer this, we need to clarify what our logic is behind the pricing we're featuring:
Our primary aim is to be provide the same pricing as is listed on the cruise line's website. The 'advertised' price. By their website, we mean the price provided when people see search results/go on a specific cruise's page, not the end price the customer will pay after the booking process is complete.
This is to make sure the pricing you advertise matches theirs and isn't too expensive (otherwise, your price wouldn't be competitive).
So, should you add it or not?
The simple answer is it depends on the integration and what your aim is.
- If you want to provide the same pricing as the cruise line's results, then no. You do not need to add them to the price advertised on your website. Just be sure to include them once the customer goes through the booking, if applicable*
- If you want to provide the actual booking pricing, then yes.*
* However, to make things more complicated, some of the cruise lines providing that data in their feed already do include it in the price they're providing for a passenger, which means it doesn't actually need to be added into the price for any of the above situations.
So for example:
- The price we provide for Australis does not include port charges, and these will be added to the bill once the booking process is complete
- The price we provide for SeaDream cruises does include port charges, however they do not on the search results of their website (they are only listed as text on the cruise page itself). This is because SeaDream have specifically requested for us to add them in.
- The price provided for AmaWaterways cruises already does include the port charges, so it will not be added on top of that price during the booking process
Our reasoning behind providing that data even though it is included in the price is that we want to provide as much data about pricing as is available to us. You might want to, for example, set up an offer where you give your customers 10% off of the taxes.
It's the same reasoning as to why we provide the flights separately when we can, so you're able to:
- Apply an offer on flights if you wish to
- Package that cruise up, and see the price of the cruise itself, without having to account for the price of the flight, since you'd have to book them separately to fit around the package you will have built.
Because the inclusion depends on the integration, we have included a FAQ section for each of the integrations where the port_charges is populated, so you know whether to include it or not on a case by case basis.
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