Island-Hopping? Watch Out for Higher ‘Head’ Taxes : Costs: The swiftly rising charges cruise lines pay for docking are being passed on to consumers.

It’s a relatively small part of what you’ll pay to take a cruise--and if you’re ponying up money for shore excursions, travel insurance and other added costs at the same time, you may not pay much attention to the column on your bill labeled “port fees” or “port charges and taxes.”

Better you should pay attention. Those fees, which cruise companies say are used principally to cover the cost of local “head” taxes on their passengers, have been rising rapidly in recent years. Though cruise companies don’t usually include the fees in the “all-inclusive” cruise prices they advertise, they typically add 10% or more on a $1,000 seven-day cruise.

“Five years ago, on the average seven-day Caribbean cruise, the port charges were in the area of $30,” says Larry Fishkin, president of the Cruise Line, a Miami-based agency that sells cruises to customers nationwide. “Now, I’d say the average is around $110. In five years, you’re talking about a 350% increase in port charges.”

An example: One of Holland America Line’s seven-day western Caribbean itineraries (calling in Tampa and Key West, Fla., Cozumel, Mexico; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; and Grand Cayman) last spring carried $94 in port fees. Next spring, that figure rises to $115.

These fees shouldn’t be a last-minute surprise. Cruise line representatives and travel agents are generally quick to disclose port charges to consumers before a sale is made, and the billing usually comes from the cruise line weeks before embarkation.

Cruise industry professionals say tax increases by foreign ports are the main reason for the increases and that the North American Free Trade Agreement--which added $6.50 per passenger in taxes on cruises beginning in the United States--also plays a role. But the industry’s broad definition of “port charges” allows cruise companies to include various expenses, not just taxes, in that category. That explains why rival cruise lines often set different port charges for identical itineraries, and it leads some travel industry skeptics to wonder just how many variables influence port charge fluctuations.

Industry officials say the most dramatic boosts in government taxes have come in Caribbean ports. In many cases, cash-strapped governments argue that thousands of cruise visitors are arriving and then leaving the island before they can be assessed the usual hotel “bed taxes” that traditionally help support the infrastructure that serves tourists.

In Jamaica, officials pushed their passenger taxes (levies paid by the cruise lines, based on the number of passengers they’re carrying) from $4 to $6 per head in 1990, then to $10 in 1992. After a confrontation with cruise lines--who threatened to avoid the island if officials followed through on a proposed increase to $15--the rates rose last January to $13.50 in Ocho Rios and $12.50 in Montego Bay. Another round of increases is expected early next year.

The money, says Fay Elliott, a marketing representative with the Jamaica Tourist Board, is vital to maintaining the area’s infrastructure and port facilities under the stress of hundreds of thousands of cruise visitors annually. At Montego Bay, she notes, tax revenues are helping pay for a multimillion-dollar upgrade, including a new terminal and piers, now in progress.

The Cruise Line’s Fishkin acknowledges the tax increases, but also sees another possible motive for cruise lines to keep the port-charge category loosely defined.

Say a cruise line wants to boost the price of a cruise that now costs $1,000 with an additional $100 in various port charges. If the company added $20 to the port charges instead of the advertised cruise price, it could claim to have held prices flat. It also saves a little money in commissions, because commissions paid to travel agencies like Fishkin’s usually exclude port charges. “If we were in a more regulated industry, like automobiles, this wouldn’t go,” Fishkin says. “But since we’re offshore, they can get away with it.”

Cruise line officials offer much more benign explanations. In the case of Royal Caribbean, spokesman Jim Lida notes that the line’s port charges include “all the associated costs of delivering a port of call,” which include head taxes levied by local governments and other expenses. “For example, depending on the port, you may need a tugboat standing by.”

One exception to the industry trend is Silversea Cruises, a Ft. Lauderdale-based luxury line that includes everything in one price--not only air fare and port charges, but alcoholic beverages.

For this simplicity, unfortunately, there is a hefty price to pay: For a seven-day Barbados to Ft. Lauderdale itinerary, prices begin at $3,495 per person, presuming double occupancy.

Reynolds travels anonymously at the newspaper’s expense, accepting no special discounts or subsidized trips. To reach him, write Travel Insider, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053.