Welcome to Koh Chang and the Land of Smiles - that will be 320,000 baht please

[pattayahenry]

i checked the itinerary of the cruise liner, normally they go to the more beautiful island ko kut, propably because of raining they switched to ko chang, (not chang noi, as someone suggested) and the officers there wanted to make the most of this 1-time-chance,
normally nobody has to pay a nationalpark fee at ko chang, they charge it only, if  you visit the waterfalls, not anywhere else.
08 Aug 09:00 - 18:00            Sihanoukville, Cambodia
09 Aug 08:00 - 17:00            Ko Kut Island,Thailand
10 Aug 08:00 - 18:00            Laem Chabang, Bangkok, Thailand
11 Aug 08:00 - 17:00            Ko Samui Island, Thailand

 

[mgb]

The fee for sailing in the waters of the national park is 200 Baht per person per day. If you charter a sailing boat on Koh Chang you have to pay it.
It guess bigger ships cannot enter the waters for free.

[LomSak27]

Maybe the cruise liner staff should have done it's job an asked.They pay every other port they land at.

 

So in your mind Cruise liners stop in any port they want and shout " Hey free time: Woohoo!". Deflecting again, are we?!. The Cruise Line has already contacted the country and the city and worked out details. If this this was an unexpected fee then blame falls squarely on the thai governement for not telling them. End of story. Now you know more deflecting Trollster.

[cloghead]

On 8/11/2016 at 11:12 PM, Maestro said:

This map of shows the area covered by the the Mu Ko Chang Marine National Park. There is no legend, but obviously the very light grey areas framed with orange outlines are those that are not part of the national park area.

 

if this map is accurate the developers of Siam Royal View are in deep sh*t

[farcanell]

1 hour ago, cloghead said:

if this map is accurate the developers of Siam Royal View are in deep sh*t

 

Lmao..... Thailand...

 

So , also, if your right, you must needs pass thru the national park to get to koh chang island,  Occurring a fee (as prescribed and easily verified on many websites).... Then, to get back out ( should you have been in an orange framed out area), you must once again pass thru the national park and pay another fee (esp if MGB, above is correct)

[farcanell]

5 hours ago, LomSak27 said:

Maybe the cruise liner staff should have done it's job an asked.They pay every other port they land at.

 

So in your mind Cruise liners stop in any port they want and shout " Hey free time: Woohoo!". Deflecting again, are we?!. The Cruise Line has already contacted the country and the city and worked out details. If this this was an unexpected fee then blame falls squarely on the thai governement for not telling them. End of story. Now you know more deflecting Trollster.

 

Any ( every) ships master should know of the required port (or berthing) fee, for every stopover.... Anywhere in the world

 

You can't just expect to use a ports service for free.... Never have been, throughout the millennia of history of ports.... You gotta pay to play.

 

pattayahenry has gone to the trouble to research his post, which indicates that koh chang was an unexpected stop over ( good job there).... And the liner would have had internet, so the existence of the fee could easily have been found by the ships bursar, when they decided to change port destinations

 

logically, any prepaid fees to Ko Kut, may be reimbursable, offsetting the koh Chang charge... But this is the responsibility of the cruise company to sort out, not the tourist him/herself

 

that said, a small tourist port, may well waive the fee, to attract a cruise liner, or such like... This would be a local municipality arrangement.... Verses a deal with the Thai government, as fee collections are the municipalities responsibility (usually)

 

as a younger bloke, the mates and I would regularly get together and go to Rottnest island, just offshore Perth, Australia.... Even back then, a port official boat would be cruising around and extracting fees for berthing, or anchoring in the waters there

 

end of story.... Now you know more about port fees.... ?

[cumgranosalum]

4 hours ago, cloghead said:

if this map is accurate the developers of Siam Royal View are in deep sh*t

 

looks like half the resorts on KC are encroaching on NP land - could stir up a bit of a kerfuffle!

[cumgranosalum]

2 hours ago, farcanell said:

 

Any ( every) ships master should know of the required port (or berthing) fee, for every stopover.... Anywhere in the world

 

You can't just expect to use a ports service for free.... Never have been, throughout the millennia of history of ports.... You gotta pay to play.

 

pattayahenry has gone to the trouble to research his post, which indicates that koh chang was an unexpected stop over ( good job there).... And the liner would have had internet, so the existence of the fee could easily have been found by the ships bursar, when they decided to change port destinations

 

logically, any prepaid fees to Ko Kut, may be reimbursable, offsetting the koh Chang charge... But this is the responsibility of the cruise company to sort out, not the tourist him/herself

 

that said, a small tourist port, may well waive the fee, to attract a cruise liner, or such like... This would be a local municipality arrangement.... Verses a deal with the Thai government, as fee collections are the municipalities responsibility (usually)

 

as a younger bloke, the mates and I would regularly get together and go to Rottnest island, just offshore Perth, Australia.... Even back then, a port official boat would be cruising around and extracting fees for berthing, or anchoring in the waters there

 

end of story.... Now you know more about port fees.... ?

You seem to be talking about port chrages/fees - but this was a fee paid to the DNP - quite different.

 

BTW - anyone who has sailed around Thailand will know that the situation regards mooring fees is quite absurd.

[farcanell]

30 minutes ago, cumgranosalum said:

You seem to be talking about port chrages/fees - but this was a fee paid to the DNP - quite different.

 

BTW - anyone who has sailed around Thailand will know that the situation regards mooring fees is quite absurd.

 

Your correct... My mistake... I was distracted by the repeated use of the word "port" in the post I was replying to

 

that said, the fees to enter the national park are well gazetted, (which I have previously mentioned) so enforcing them, when on such a grand scale, should not surprise anyone ( let a couple slip thru... Miss out on a few hundred baht.... But 320,000.... To big a chunk of change to not pursue)

 

basically, it seems to me that the issue is simply in the indiscriminate way the fees are applied,  and as one eff-off big cruise ship is a far easier target than stopping a couple of hundred minivans... Yahtzee.

 

but then, if nothing else, Thailand is notorious for its inconsistencies.... Next time it may be free.... But what a precedent to set, hey?

[nemofound]

9 hours ago, mgb said:

The fee for sailing in the waters of the national park is 200 Baht per person per day. If you charter a sailing boat on Koh Chang you have to pay it.
It guess bigger ships cannot enter the waters for free.

I can't believe the amount of false info in this thread. There are NO entry fees on Koh Chang EXCEPT Khlong Plu waterfall and Koh Rang national park (snorkeling/diving site). I have a boat there so believe me I know. This was just a rip off by the officials. If you have chartered a boat and been asked a park fee without enetring Koh Rang national park you have been scammed.

[cumgranosalum]

22 minutes ago, farcanell said:

 

Your correct... My mistake... I was distracted by the repeated use of the word "port" in the post I was replying to

 

that said, the fees to enter the national park are well gazetted, (which I have previously mentioned) so enforcing them, when on such a grand scale, should not surprise anyone ( let a couple slip thru... Miss out on a few hundred baht.... But 320,000.... To big a chunk of change to not pursue)

 

basically, it seems to me that the issue is simply in the indiscriminate way the fees are applied,  and as one eff-off big cruise ship is a far easier target than stopping a couple of hundred minivans... Yahtzee.

 

but then, if nothing else, Thailand is notorious for its inconsistencies.... Next time it may be free.... But what a precedent to set, hey?

no-one entering KC by the ferry is EVER asked to pay the NP fee - 

[farcanell]

12 minutes ago, cumgranosalum said:

no-one entering KC by the ferry is EVER asked to pay the NP fee - 

 

How much is a ferry fee?

 

Could the cost be hidden in the ferry fee, perhaps? Or could the ferry company be paying a fee to operate that route, direct to the DNP, removing the burden from both the individual traveler, and the DNP fee collectors

 

[cumgranosalum]

2 hours ago, farcanell said:

 

How much is a ferry fee?

 

Could the cost be hidden in the ferry fee, perhaps? Or could the ferry company be paying a fee to operate that route, direct to the DNP, removing the burden from both the individual traveler, and the DNP fee collectors

 

No - i've crossed as cars, foot passenger and bus crossings and most are less than the 200 baht required for entry to the NP

[farcanell]

1 hour ago, cumgranosalum said:

No - i've crossed as cars, foot passenger and bus crossings and most are less than the 200 baht required for entry to the NP

 

Saw that after I asked the question... 80 baht ferry ride I think I noted (?)

 

so.... It seems that the DNP enforced a fee that is usually ignored, probably because of the huge captive audience that appeared on their jetty/ island ($$$$$)

 

if (gazetted) fees are not equally applied, then posters using terms like scams, unfair, discriminative, thievery, greed, corruption etc etc... Are perhaps justified.

 

but... As expats... It's probably best to ignore the whole issue, and hope it goes away, vs some kind of greater effort at enforcing park collection fees.

[nemofound]

5 hours ago, cumgranosalum said:

No - i've crossed as cars, foot passenger and bus crossings and most are less than the 200 baht required for entry to the NP

No the ferry fee was 100 baht last season I recall. Conditions vary though, when I took my boat there on trailer I was charged just the normal fee for the trailer. When I left I was charged 1500 baht. That led to a very heated argument but what can you do if you have to get the trailer out of the island. Pay.

[farcanell]

38 minutes ago, laislica said:

 

but how much is too much?

 

 

LMAO.... You had to go there.

 

next will be an upswing in public indecency arrests

[hawker9000]

On ‎8‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 0:09 AM, Brer Fox said:

This tidbit of Thailand's anti-tourism gossip will spread around the world and TAT will be left scratching their collective heads as to why cruise ships won't go there again. Cruise ship operators will not want to embarrass themselves or lose their reputations because of such blatant greed.

Whose pockets did the fees go into?

 

Remember how all the big airlines USED to have regular flights into Clark (incl flights direct fm BKK)?  Then Clark got greedy with its landing fees...   Too bad Thailand has to learn the same hard lesson for itself, but it was predictable.

 

"Hey, Gringo Farang!" 

 

 

[Bucko]

On 11/08/2016 at 7:26 PM, cumgranosalum said:

Koh Samed is a National Park and you pay to go on the island - as far as I'm aware the National Park on KC doesn't cover all the island and the PUBLIC ARE NOT ADMITTED - so tell me I'm wrong but at present I can only conclude that this is a barefaced scam.

Have'nt been to Koh Samed for some time  --there was no charge at the main pier--has that changed ??

 

[cumgranosalum]

3 hours ago, Bucko said:

Have'nt been to Koh Samed for some time  --there was no charge at the main pier--has that changed ??

 

I haven't been for ages - the situation with Samet was that the whole island was a National Park, so everyone had to pay the fee.

Of course the development on the island makes a joke of the whole NP thing.

 

 

according to wiki...

"Most of Ko Samet, including all the good parts, is part of Khao Laem Ya-Mu Ko Samet National Park and thus has an entry fee. Thais pay 40 baht for adults, 20 baht for children (current as of October 2015); foreigners pay 200 baht for adults, 100 baht for children (current as of October 2015). This two-tier pricing policy is applicable to all national parks"

 

"PARK ENTRANCE FEE
Koh Samed being a national park, all visitors must pay a "ONCE ONLY" park entrance fee on arrival of 200 Baht per adult
Thai National adults pay 40 Baht per person. Children under 3 years are free - children between 3 - 14 Thai pay 40 Baht - others pay 100 Baht
Adults over 60 years are free."

kohsamed.net

Edited August 23, 2016 by cumgranosalum

[Rimmer]

A troll post has been removed

[cumgranosalum]

6 hours ago, Bucko said:

Have'nt been to Koh Samed for some time  --there was no charge at the main pier--has that changed ??

 

PS - that is where the charge was levied - normally as part of the Ferry crossing....

[Bucko]

2 hours ago, cumgranosalum said:

PS - that is where the charge was levied - normally as part of the Ferry crossing....

 

Maybe it wasn't the main pier ??   certainly never paid the Longtail Boat Driver a fee for landing --nor on the Island--

 We had to climb over all the waiting Boats to the last one on the rank I remember