Cruise Line Settles Suit on Port Fees

Carnival Cruise Lines has settled a class-action lawsuit claiming the company inflated port charges to increase its profits, the Miami Herald has reported.

Port charges, usually $50 to $150 per passenger, are added to the price of cruises to cover docking fees that governments collect from cruise lines. Lawsuits filed in 1996 accused Carnival of collecting port charges that exceeded the docking fees they paid.

Carnival agreed to give vouchers worth $25 to $55 to 4.5 million people who sailed on its cruises between April 19, 1992, and June 4, 1997, the newspaper reported earlier this month.

The settlement is expected to be approved by the Miami-Dade Circuit Court in May.

The cruise line continued to deny wrongdoing, saying it never told customers that port charges were strictly reimbursement for docking fees.