Fuel Surcharges

[Scotty1]

Crystal Cruises has announced a $5 per passenger per day surcharge for all 2007 voyages booked after July 17th. This is up from the $4 per passenger per day surcharge for 2006 cruises.

 

Costa has instituted a 10 euro per berth surcharge for cruises of seven days or less, and a 15 euro per berth fee for cruises longer than seven days.

 

Given that Costa is Carnival wonder when the rest of the fleet will follow.

[PeaSea8ch]

Scotty1, I agree with you that this will reverberate througout the industry. The following text is an excerpt of what I posted in another thread herein:

 

Continued high oil prices will have an effect on cruise fares, IMHO. I remember during the Arab Oil Embargo in 1973 – 74 and we had gasoline rationing in the US, the cruise lines were assessing fuel cost surcharges even after final payment because fuel costs were so volatile at the time. However, airfare increases during that period were more inflation induced that fuel cost induced and tours with air travel included were not surcharged. Jet fuel is at the low molecular weight “high octane” end of the crude oil spectrum. Jet fuel is primarily kerosene and is distilled as part of the crude oil refining process. It has to be separated and removed to manufacture the higher molecular weight products like gasoline, diesel (for the ship’s engines), lubricating oils (to keep things running smoothly) and finally the bunker oil for firing the boilers to generate steam for electrical and mechanical power generation. Rule of thumb: the crude oil products with higher molecular weights are more costly to produce. Hence, in times of high crude oil prices, jet fuel costs tend to be flat while the other products tend to fluctuate upward.