fuel surcharge really irks me

[Pam in CA]

But, they only apply to new reservations, not ones already paid for.

The fuel supplement ONLY applies to reservations that haven't been paid for so it's not as if people have made final payment and then are being slapped with a fuel charge after the fact. They know about the fuel charge before final payment and then have the option to pay in full or cancel and get 100% of their deposit back.

[bhopal21]

The fuel supplement ONLY applies to reservations that haven't been paid for so it's not as if people have made final payment and then are being slapped with a fuel charge after the fact. They know about the fuel charge before final payment and then have the option to pay in full or cancel and get 100% of their deposit back.

 

Sorry but the above is incorrect Pam. We paid in full for our upcoming (Feb 9th) cruise on the Golden over 11 months ago and then were called and told about the fuel surcharge. I don't really mind it; but it was not handled properly as far as pre-paid patrons.

 

Mike:)

[Pam in CA]

Sorry but the above is incorrect Pam. We paid in full for our upcoming (Feb 9th) cruise on the Golden over 11 months ago and then were called and told about the fuel surcharge. I don't really mind it; but it was not handled properly as far as pre-paid patrons.

Mike, I understand your frustration but it was your choice to pre-pay well before the final payment date. My comment referred to what most people do which is to make final payment when it's due. I agree that for those who pre-paid (which I would guess is unusual, particularly a year in advance) they should have made an exception.

[bhopal21]

They know about the fuel charge before final payment and then have the option to pay in full or cancel and get 100% of their deposit back.

 

This statement is correct for persons booking now but is incorrect for those that had booked pre fuel surcharge. Others in our party made final payment per the schedule (and had not prepaid as we had) and were still billed after the fact and their payment. Granted this is particular to our time frame and can't happen again but I do know what I am talking about and what actually happened.

 

Mike:)

[cruiserbryce]

Exactly Carnival Corporation needs the cash since their Net Income went up by only 6% this year to 2.4 billion from 2.2 billion last year

 

I see the sarcasm here and I realize the enormous profit being made by companies like Carnival Corp, but its not as if CC is sticking it to you and no other line is doing this as well...I think all the major lines other than Disney have implemented the same charge...bottom line is that when the cost of doing business goes up you will be paying more for the same experience.

 

The one thing that will interest me is if fuel costs level out a bit, will they reduce/remove the charge?

[Pam in CA]

This statement is correct for persons booking now but is incorrect for those that had booked pre fuel surcharge. Others in our party made final payment per the schedule (and had not prepaid as we had) and were still billed after the fact and their payment. Granted this is particular to our time frame and can't happen again but I do know what I am talking about and what actually happened.

Mike, I'm sorry that happened -- it shouldn't have and I agree with you there. The fuel charge should have only been applied to bookings that hadn't been paid in full.

[bhopal21]

Mike, I'm sorry that happened -- it shouldn't have and I agree with you there. The fuel charge should have only been applied to bookings that hadn't been paid in full.

 

Me too.

 

Like I said, it's no big deal to me and I am certainly not going to abandon ship over $70 but like a lot of things nowadays it just wasn't thought out fully before being implemented.

 

Believe me, I won't even give it a thought in 31 more days.:D

 

Mike:)

[daveco58]

Okay, I am paying a fuel surcharge, on a late booking. You paid before I did. But you are using the same fuel, on the same cruise. Where is that fair?

In other words, I don't like paying it either, but if it is to be done, it should be done to all passengers using that particular cruise, regardless of when they booked or paid.

And, the fact they are calling it a surcharge, and accounting for it separately from the Fare, rather than just bumping prices 70 bucks a week, leaves me with a LITTLE hope that it is temporary, and that if the price of fuel comes down, they will remove the surcharge.

 

See you in 31 days, and we will talk about something else. LOL. Cuz, it is still a cruise, and nothing else really matters.

 

oh, and by the way, I can verify that all the lines are charging existing PAID reservations. I have had some less than happy clients in the last month.

[judbusluc]

No one is forcing you to cruise. You are free to cancel and chose another vacation where you do not have to pay the fuel surcharge.

[judbusluc]

No one is forcing you to cruise. You are free to cancel and chose another vacation where you do not have to pay the fuel surcharge.

[newmexicoNita]

i know this was already discussed and i apologize for starting a new thread, but i figured i need to vent a bit here. i booked my july 2008 cruise on CB back in June 2007. i received what i thought was a good price, albeit an inflated one due to my desire for a balcony and cruising at a very popular time.

my parents and my wife's parents are also going with us.

some months after booking, i started hearing rumblings of the fuel surcharge and read numerous posts about it. i resisted the urge to vent then because i had yet to receive confirmation from my TA that i would be assessed the extra fee. finally last week, she confirmed it when i called to discuss adding traveler's insurance in the next few weeks.

i recognize fuel prices are high and i recognize that at some point that expense is passed on to other passengers, but i am really angry that princess is passing it along to me after i made my reservation. my price should be fixed and i should not be required to pay an extra 90 bucks for my wife and i. is $90 the end of the world? no, but it is the nickel and diming that gets to be annoying after awhile. had i been charged this from the beginning, ie if i were to book today for july, then i would not be as upset. but the fact that i already booked and am then being re-assessed, i think that is just plain wrong.

you may be frustrated but you can't be serious about this. Of course with the increase in fuel something had to happen. I think the cruise lines have done a great job of not passing the fuel costs onto us for 2 years.

 

Nita

[NAS-KARR]

Everyone is jerk'n up the price...........even UPS & FED-X,

stop ur bitch'n...thats life in 2008 !

 

 

CIAO,

[bdjam]

Sorry that you do not like my opinions, however you really do not have much to say against the points that I raise and the cruise industry is big enough and can take some pressure to change the way they do things.

Your point that the profit from the cruise lines is enough to absorb the rising cost of fuel? I did address that - I don't know what that profit is used for. Is it all going to the stockholders? Is it being used for infrastructure or new ships? Before I can say anything more against your points, you need to sort of give us that information.

More to the point, what actually is the point of an added surcharge when they have every right to raise the basic price of the service that they offer? I know, could it be because they cannot raise a price after it has been sold, so this way they get to charge it to everyone, not just new bookers, no, that would be cynical wouldn't it.

They also get to identify that the increase in cost is due to fuel - not because they are greedy.

They say they need to add this surcharge because fuel costs have skyrocketed, okay, well they still seem to have a nice healthy rise in profits, so it is not like they needed to do it in this way, now did they?

This is the problem with corporate America - the stockholders come first - and the dividends paid to the stockholders is what is important to the stockholders. And if the corporate executives don't pay the dividends, the stockholders throw them out. So the corporate executives have an obligation to put the money where they need to in order to secure their jobs.

As to rock bottom prices for cruises, well I don't know about that, I am not one of those that see a $5 price drop and get right onto calling my TA to get that adjustment, which booking in the UK I cannot do anyway. In any event it is way more expensive to book here in the first place, and having Princess, along with others, decide that free markets should not be so free, so yep, I am all for those low prices, NOT.

Fire sale on Dawn Princess in November - people were sailing for seven days for $285 US - including the fuel surcharge. That's not rock bottom? Granted not everyone was on the ship for that price, but the prices on that cruise dropped a number of times. Why is it that customers think they should get everything without paying anything?

I would actually like to see them raise them so that the crew gets paid a fair wage, the food goes back as it used to be, no extra charges for inconsequential items like coffee, room service pizza, alternate dining venues, Sanctuarys and the myriad of nickle and diming opportunitists they have become, from flea markets in the atria selling crap watches and junk jewelry.

For once I agree with you - I wouldn't mind an increase in prices so that Princess could go back to the premium line that it was. But it's a mass market line now and that's not going to happen.

[Pam in CA]

Everyone is jerk'n up the price...........even UPS & FED-X,

Absolutely. It cost me over $27 last week to send an envelope from CA to NH via UPS 2-day air guaranteed for delivery on Friday. Guess what? It wasn't delivered until Monday. Not so guaranteed. Even when you get soaked, they provide poor Customer Service. When I called Friday afternoon to find out why it hadn't been delivered, I was told that it would be delivered Monday. Say what? What happened to the guarantee. Oh, it was left off the truck. That happens. Nothing we can do; no more trucks until Monday.

[daveco58]

It seems to me, given that gas prices have been high for two years, and keep going up (sorry I don't know the price of bunker crude or whatever they are burning, but I am sure it tracks with gasoline), the cruise lines waited as long as they could before passing this on. I am sure they were fully aware it would upset people, but eventually something has to give. As a previous poster said, I would rather have them charge me upfront for a fuel surcharge, than further reduce the food budget, or cut back on staff.

And I can't think of a fairer way than saying "starting with cruises on this date, all passengers pay this amount of surcharge" Can't for the life of me think how it matters when you paid them for the rest of the cruise. Again, this is not an increase in your 'cruise fare'. That should be honored, it is a SURcharge.

[Colo Cruiser]

Absolutely. It cost me over $27 last week to send an envelope from CA to NH via UPS 2-day air guaranteed for delivery on Friday. Guess what? It wasn't delivered until Monday. Not so guaranteed. Even when you get soaked, they provide poor Customer Service. When I called Friday afternoon to find out why it hadn't been delivered, I was told that it would be delivered Monday. Say what? What happened to the guarantee. Oh, it was left off the truck. That happens. Nothing we can do; no more trucks until Monday.

 

They still should refund though. :cool:

[coombs2]

as the OP, i wanted to respond to a few things some ppl have said. i am ot going to reference specific posters so i apologize in advance if i misquote or my ideas are borrowed from others.

when i posted this, yes i was serious that the fuel surcharge irked me. not enough to cancel a cruise as some have suggested but i feel that this is a poor customer service policy. some have said fuell rises so we had to expect this to come. in my mind, in thew same way that cruise costs rise as the time gets closer to the actual cruise, so too should this have been handled. i booked over a year in advance and expect my prices to be frozen and not to have additional surcharges.

some have said it is not fair for other cruisers to pay a different rate and to this i say, it is. supply vs demand and the ability of you or your TA to get the best possible price. i was originally booked for the june 2008 cruise out of NY but had to re-schedule for the more popular july sailing. as a result, i had to pay about 150 bucks extra for the same cruise with the same itinerary- supply vs demand. i was told upfront that my costs were changing and i agreed to book. not so with the fuel surcharge. $90 isnt going to break me, but for some it might mean 1 less excursion or a few less drinks, or skipping a specialty restaurant. not everyone who cruises has an unlimited budget and what might feel like a bargain to some is actually a luxury vacation they cannot do more than a few times in a lifetime.

princess was wrong to add this charge to cruisers who already booked. am i mad? yes. will it ruin my cruise experience, no.

let me use one small analogy then i am done... i commute to work each morning. my commute has not changed in about 2 years. because of the rise in fuel costs, i have had to eat that as part of my take-home income. you dont see me passing those costs on to my employer simply because i had to pay. after all, i am providing a service to my employer by coming to work each day. the added costs though are simply a part of doing business. it was on me to absorb the costs and deal with it in much the same way that i would expect cruiselines to absorb it.

[Host CJSKIDS]

Pam: Me thinks that you have hit the nail precisely on the head. If it was applied only to new bookings, then only a small percentage of the pax would be paying the fuel surcharge. Before I left Princess in September, we were already well booked into the 2009 cruises that had been released for sale, and that was not at all unusual.

 

In order to make it fair for everyone, EVERYONE needs to pay. I've paid my surcharge fees for my September cruise.

 

In essence, you are paying surcharges when you pay $3.00+ per gallon for gas for your car--have any of you stopped driving in protest? Same thing, in my mind (though I don't drive, I walk to work, and don't even own a car....)

 

The problem is not everyone is paying. Anyone from the UK isn't paying and evidently anyone who already had a booking from Canada also doesn't have to pay. If Princess was going to do this then it should have been across the board.

 

I understand the reasoning behind the fuel surcharge and the thought of canceling my cruise never entered my mind. Would have preferred to have spent the money on my bar tab, but hey, whatever it takes to cruise is fine with me.

[chrysalis]

The problem is not everyone is paying. Anyone from the UK isn't paying and evidently anyone who already had a booking from Canada also doesn't have to pay. If Princess was going to do this then it should have been across the board.

 

I understand the reasoning behind the fuel surcharge and the thought of canceling my cruise never entered my mind. Would have preferred to have spent the money on my bar tab, but hey, whatever it takes to cruise is fine with me.

 

not totally accurate....only Canadians who booked thru a Canadian TA do not have to pay.....if you booked thru a US agent, you have to pay.

[newmexicoNita]

Absolutely. It cost me over $27 last week to send an envelope from CA to NH via UPS 2-day air guaranteed for delivery on Friday. Guess what? It wasn't delivered until Monday. Not so guaranteed. Even when you get soaked, they provide poor Customer Service. When I called Friday afternoon to find out why it hadn't been delivered, I was told that it would be delivered Monday. Say what? What happened to the guarantee. Oh, it was left off the truck. That happens. Nothing we can do; no more trucks until Monday.

Boy, would that piss me off, but you are right service isn't what it once was, never will be again I fear. AS for cost going up: how bout groceries? EVerytime I walk into the store I shutter. The worst is produce.... add the cost of fuel to the time of year and it seems we can barely afford to eat. Well, I should say we can hardly eat and cruise. No wonder the quality of cruising has decreased in the past few years.

 

Nita

[daveco58]

The problem is not everyone is paying. Anyone from the UK isn't paying and evidently anyone who already had a booking from Canada also doesn't have to pay. If Princess was going to do this then it should have been across the board.

 

I understand the reasoning behind the fuel surcharge and the thought of canceling my cruise never entered my mind. Would have preferred to have spent the money on my bar tab, but hey, whatever it takes to cruise is fine with me.

 

The UK has some pretty strict laws about these things - as a result UK passengers typically pay more all the time, as the lines pad the fares. I will stick with what I have here, personally.

[Cruise Junky]

not totally accurate....only Canadians who booked thru a Canadian TA do not have to pay.....if you booked thru a US agent, you have to pay.

 

That's not accurate either, both of mine have been booked through a US TA and both fuel charges have been dropped.

[chrysalis]

That's not accurate either, both of mine have been booked through a US TA and both fuel charges have been dropped.

 

thanks for that info...I just talked to my agent in the US yesterday, and Princess had told them, that it only applied as I posted. I will pursue further. She has a client with a B2B2B and it represents alot of money and she has been unsuccessful getting Princess to change. We are going on a B2B for 20 days, so it is a goodly sum, also.

[Cruise Junky]

thanks for that info...I just talked to my agent in the US yesterday, and Princess had told them, that it only applied as I posted. I will pursue further. She has a client with a B2B2B and it represents alot of money and she has been unsuccessful getting Princess to change. We are going on a B2B for 20 days, so it is a goodly sum, also.

 

Well they did drop it from my invoices, but hell, doesn't mean they won't put it back on again ;)

[Pam in CA]

thanks for that info...I just talked to my agent in the US yesterday, and Princess had told them, that it only applied as I posted. I will pursue further. She has a client with a B2B2B and it represents alot of money and she has been unsuccessful getting Princess to change. We are going on a B2B for 20 days, so it is a goodly sum, also.

I believe the maximum, regardless of the number of days, is $70/pp.