Fuel Charge Increase

[LeGerri]

Anyone see the new charges on the carnival website today?

[big_duck]

Weeks ago.

[pyrateslife4me84]

old news

[Mikel1733]

The price of oil per barrel has increased in the neigborhood of $10 barrel since they announced it. The ink is barely dry and they will up it again.

[Name game]

Anyone see the new charges on the carnival website today?

 

You mean from $5 to $7 per day? That took me a bit by surprise.

[Georgiagolfer]

Weeks ago.

Now, Now

old news

Be nice

At least it is only going up to $7pp and not $10pp like NCL:eek: I just don't understand why they don't raise the cruise price instead, same thing isn't it?

[big_duck]

I just don't understand why they don't raise the cruise price instead, same thing isn't it?

 

Nope. Cruise prices are commodity like and go up and down with demand. The surcharge remains a constant.

[littleone9699]

So will any future surcharges be only for cruises booked from that point forward, or will the cruise we booked last month for Jan. 2009 be affected? Sorry, not sure how it works . . .

[cherylandtk]

In general, fuel surcharges will apply from what is in effect at the time of booking. Retroactive increases will not be allowed, at least that's the way it working out so far after court challenges.

[halos]

Paying more for stuff stinks, no doubt. But I feel that I can't blame the cruiselines for implementing this surcharge. Oil is out of control and the cost of it is affecting EVERYTHING.

 

I've seen a few threads with discussions on people that are cutting back on their vacationing because the economy has knocked their socks off. The cruiselines have all these MASSIVE ships either in the planning stage or already started construction on them.....I wonder how smart this is?????

 

I know not everyone is affected by this downslide in the economy as badly as others might be...but I'm curious to see how big an effect this is going to make on the cruise industry.

[LeGerri]

Sorry must of been snoozing if any posts were mentioned before on the increase.

thanks for being nice Georgiagolfer

I agree, should be build into the price

[halos]

I must be the only one who likes the cost broken down.

I like to see the actual fare, the port fees and the tax all seperate and having the fuel charge on it's own doesn't bother me at all.

[pyrateslife4me84]

I must be the only one who likes the cost broken down.

I like to see the actual fare, the port fees and the tax all seperate and having the fuel charge on it's own doesn't bother me at all.

you separate the fuel surcharge so that your guests know why their fare is higher. If prices just go up, people complain at the cruise line's greed, but if we see a fuel surcharge, and we all know gas prices are out of control, we are more likely to blame our government or greedy oil companies, etc--not Carnival.

[maxamuus]

Dont be suprised if it goes up again since fuel costs have risen probably 20% since they first announced the fuel surcharges.

[Jsme]

I have not read all the rules on the surcharge but we booked a cruise last week and we were only charged the $5 per day per person.

[Mikel1733]

I must be the only one who likes the cost broken down.

I like to see the actual fare, the port fees and the tax all seperate and having the fuel charge on it's own doesn't bother me at all.

 

I agree that way if oil ever does back off we can see if the cruiselines follow suit and back the surcharges down.

[big_duck]

In general, fuel surcharges will apply from what is in effect at the time of booking. Retroactive increases will not be allowed, at least that's the way it working out so far after court challenges.

 

There never has been a court challenge, there have on the other hand been negotiated settlements.

[pyrateslife4me84]

There never has been a court challenge, there have on the other hand been negotiated settlements.

no court challenges but it's been insinuated that if the cruiselines did not back down, they might end up with class action lawsuits. I would imagine the bigger risk was ticking off your guests, though, by adding surcharges that did not exist at the time of booking. With the economy the way it is, the last thing a cruiseline wants to do is alienate its frequent guests, who are the ones most likely to even take note of the fuel surcharge issue.

[cathyz]

I have not read all the rules on the surcharge but we booked a cruise last week and we were only charged the $5 per day per person.

The new fuel surcharge of $7 took affect yesterday, 4/21/08.

[halos]

I know nothing about ships...I do know that having a large car means burning more fuel than having a small one. I assume that having a larger ship means burning excessively more fuel. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

I saw a link on the RCI boards yesterday about a Princess ship in the works that is 450,000 gross tons. :rolleyes:

 

I don't get it.

(here is the link )

http://www.princesskaguya.com/

 

 

I don't blame the cruiselines for implementing a fuel surcharge given todays' economy...but I have to wonder what idiots are comign up with these out-of-control sized ships during this time of economical disaster.

[Duncarob]

old news

 

Well, if you consider yesterday old news. I booked last week and paid only $5.00 per day. My booking on CCL's website still shows $5.00 per day so I guess they aren't going to apply this increase to existing bookings.

[pyrateslife4me84]

you have to balance the extra fuel use with the number of guests that the ships hold. I don't know any numbers, but they may still make more money on the larger ships despite the extra fuel. Cruiselines are also beginning to change itineraries so there are more port days and fewer at sea days, further saving money on fuel. Further, they try to place ports closer together, so the ships can travel slower and save more on fuel (thus the new interest in having ships depart directly from islands in the Caribbean--ships don't have to travel from FL to the Caribbean, which typically takes a full day, and you can tell your guests that if they are on these itineraries, their Caribbean vacation has begun the moment they get off the plane. I would imagine we will see fewer and fewer of the cruises from NYC to the Caribbean, and we have already seen huge increases in the fares to depart from NYC.

[pyrateslife4me84]

Well, if you consider yesterday old news. I booked last week and paid only $5.00 per day. My booking on CCL's website still shows $5.00 per day so I guess they aren't going to apply this increase to existing bookings.

if you read the press release, it was released April 7, 2008. That is when it was being discussed here, two weeks ago.

[halos]

you have to balance the extra fuel use with the number of guests that the ships hold. I don't know any numbers, but they may still make more money on the larger ships despite the extra fuel. Cruiselines are also beginning to change itineraries so there are more port days and fewer at sea days, further saving money on fuel. Further, they try to place ports closer together, so the ships can travel slower and save more on fuel (thus the new interest in having ships depart directly from islands in the Caribbean--ships don't have to travel from FL to the Caribbean, which typically takes a full day, and you can tell your guests that if they are on these itineraries, their Caribbean vacation has begun the moment they get off the plane. I would imagine we will see fewer and fewer of the cruises from NYC to the Caribbean, and we have already seen huge increases in the fares to depart from NYC.

 

That makes sense 'on paper' for the cruiselines ONLY if people will still sail. Cost of flights to the Caribbean may dissuade people from booking cruises that leave from there. Many people have already stated that they will only be able to cruise if they can now drive to the port of embark, because air, especially for families is just costing way too much.

Unless the lines are planning on filling the ships with native islanders, they may be making a mistake.

[Duncarob]

I was looking for the press release but unable to find it on either CCL or Carnival Corp's websites. I wanted to confirm/verify that the increase was not going to be applied to existing bookings. If anyone has a link to the press release, please post so we will have the most accurate information.