11 dollar surcharge still justified?

[Tokaybean]

I agree that this business of surcharges is gouging. It's just another way of imposing a large tax without legislation. Not sure how to deal with it other than to boycott companies that do it BUT they know that we still will fly and cruise so we're sunk. lol no pun intended.

FYI....Hurricane Ike is wreaking havoc in Canada too. Our gas in Nanaimo, BC is now $5.68 per US gallon as of last night. Those oil companies are opportunists extraordinaire. They sure know how to make lemonaid out of lemons!! Sigh.

Now if only our governments would do something about this gouging act. Yeah, right!!

[Cammie]

I see no reason to continue with the fuel surcharges. Oil is now below $100 a barrel. They need to either do away with them or incorporate them into the cost of cruising. I just had my first all-inclusive land vacation and fell in love. If the surcharges don't go down with cruise lines, my two cruises this fall will be my last for quite some time.

[newmexicoNita]

Not in my opinion - but now all we have to do is convince NCL.

:( Then again, from reading the news today I see that for some reason (I think they're using IKE) gasoline has hiked up again by another .25 a litre.

Can you say "Consumer Gouging" :eek:

 

yes it has to do with IKE and is very legit. Let's just hope the refinaries are not damaged...

 

Nita

[newmexicoNita]

I see no reason to continue with the fuel surcharges. Oil is now below $100 a barrel. They need to either do away with them or incorporate them into the cost of cruising. I just had my first all-inclusive land vacation and fell in love. If the surcharges don't go down with cruise lines, my two cruises this fall will be my last for quite some time.

 

Incorporate them into the price of cruising? Then there would never be any hope of an adjsutment, this is like saying put the tips into the price of cruising. Oh my, I probably just opened up a can of worms. I think I will go watch some football.

 

Nita

[terrymtex01]

I think it is utterly amazing to use the words "price gouging" or "gouging" for NCL or any cruise line. Here is the definitation for price gouging according to www.dictionary.com: pricing above the market price when no alternative retailer is available

 

An example of price gouging is when you have people in an area where there has been some natrual disaster and they need clean water to drink and someone charges them an extremely high amount for the clean drinking water or whatever it may be. When you have the luxury of taking a cruise, you are not being gouged. That is an insult to people who have been a victim of gouging. NCL or any other cruise line can do or charge what they want.. You know why?? Because you have the choice of cruising or not. It is a LUXURY. I don't care if you have to count your pennys to be able to do it. I don't care if you scape by for every thing else in your life to be able to do it it is a LUXURY.

 

And to say the daily service charge is price gouging is even more of a joke since, to my knowledge, NCL is the only one that charges it. That leaves you a LOT of other cruise lines to choose.

[S4POPO]

I think it is utterly amazing to use the words "price gouging" or "gouging" for NCL or any cruise line. Here is the definitation for price gouging according to www.dictionary.com: pricing above the market price when no alternative retailer is available

 

An example of price gouging is when you have people in an area where there has been some natrual disaster and they need clean water to drink and someone charges them an extremely high amount for the clean drinking water or whatever it may be. When you have the luxury of taking a cruise, you are not being gouged. That is an insult to people who have been a victim of gouging. NCL or any other cruise line can do or charge what they want.. You know why?? Because you have the choice of cruising or not. It is a LUXURY. I don't care if you have to count your pennys to be able to do it. I don't care if you scape by for every thing else in your life to be able to do it it is a LUXURY.

 

And to say the daily service charge is price gouging is even more of a joke since, to my knowledge, NCL is the only one that charges it. That leaves you a LOT of other cruise lines to choose.

Finally, somebody that makes sense!

[lambs2]

call it gouging...call it supply and demand...call it because of Ike or any other hurricane.

The bottom line is always money.

If I'm not mistaken the oil industry have been reporting record profits (in the billions of dollars per quarter) over the past few years.

As long as we are willing to pay it- they will charge it.

 

Since the hotel industry would have a hard time expalining a "fuel surcharge" (since last I checked the hotels don't move) many of the hotel chains and other resorts have started charging a "resort fee". Just another way to boost profits.

Again, As long as most of us are willing to pay it- they will charge it.

Just putting in my 2 cents.

 

We paid an "energy surcharge" on timeshare accomodations in the UK four years ago, so this is nothing new.

[Globaliser]

with oil at $101 down 1/3 from its high, is there any justification of keeping the $11 pd surcharge?

Increases in fuel surcharges always lag the rising cost of fuel on the way up, and they always lag the falling cost of fuel on the way down. No surprises there.

 

As to whether or not any particular level of surcharge is justified, how on earth are any of us supposed to know? Pure guesswork based on no data at all? (Mind you, that's how we elect our governments, so maybe no surprises there, either.)

 

FWIW, airline fuel surcharges are now starting to come down. So much for the cynics!

[mbisson]

Price hikes would be due to Hurrican Ike approaching the Houston area and the refineries along the Gulf Coast having to shut down, plus danger to off-shore oil rigs. Also OPEC talking about cutting back on their production.

 

True, but I can never figure out why prices rise so dramatically (and almost immediately) because of what 'might' happen. When something good does happen it seems to be way after the fact before we see prices drop, and then the price drops slowly (compared to how fast they rise)

[VoyageVirgin]

True, but I can never figure out why prices rise so dramatically (and almost immediately) because of what 'might' happen. When something good does happen it seems to be way after the fact before we see prices drop, and then the price drops slowly (compared to how fast they rise)

 

Ah, Hit the nail on the head Monte.

 

I understand that NCL (and most cruise lines) pre purchase blocks - or futures, preferrably when the price is lower, so it may take the cruise line a little time to drop those surcharge prices - and hopefully they will.

 

PS glad to see you weren't blown away in Flordia this past week.

[mbisson]

Ah, Hit the nail on the head Monte.

 

I understand that NCL (and most cruise lines) pre purchase blocks - or futures, preferrably when the price is lower, so it may take the cruise line a little time to drop those surcharge prices - and hopefully they will.

 

PS glad to see you weren't blown away in Flordia this past week.

 

Thank you-everything is going great. Until, that is, we went to fill up the rental car prior to returning it just a while ago. Pulled into a station that had removed it's street price sign. $5.49 on their pump for unleaded regular :eek: no way would we pay that! Of course, by the definition I see earlier, they weren't gouging, just terribly expensive ;) (went a few blocks and it was $3.59)

 

flying home tomorrow

[14ersco]

There was a thread about the NCL price tiers last month:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=825942&highlight=fuel+charge

 

On 8/12/08 rpbcouple wrote:

 

"I googled NCL Fuel Surcharge and the word barrel. This is what I came up with. NCL is probably hoping no one remembers what the tiers were because then they would have to explain why they are no reducing the fuel surcharge. Maybe someone can come up with the original NCL tier table.

 

What is the Fuel Supplement?

 

You probably know how much fuel prices have fluctuated in recent years. Because of this price volatility, a Fuel

Supplement of up to $7 for the first two guests and $3 for each additional guest per cruise day, based on the

NYMEX futures prices for crude oil, is added as part of the Advertised Cruise Fare Price. The Fuel Supplement

is determined as follows:

 

NYMEX Price Tiers Fuel Supplement (1st 2 guests per cabin)

$75 to $100 per barrel $7 per pax per cruise day

Over $60 to $75 per barrel $6 per pax per cruise day

$50 to $60 per barrel $5 per pax per cruise day"

 

 

So at $95 a barrel today if the price remains there or lower NCL should lower the fuel supplement to $7. Maybe NCL would be willing to at least give $4 OBC for the cruises going out in the next month.

[lincslass64]

Wow your gasoline is cheap,its nearly $13 a gallon sometimes more here in the UK.

[mbisson]

Wow your gasoline is cheap,its nearly $13 a gallon sometimes more here in the UK.

 

 

Aw, but the distances between things in the UK are also a bit different than in the US, so it is a bit relative

 

I understand that gas in Venezuela is something like 12 cents a gallon, but there's no where there I'd want to go ;)

[A Sixth?]

Aw, but the distances between things in the UK are also a bit different than in the US, so it is a bit relative

 

I understand that gas in Venezuela is something like 12 cents a gallon, but there's no where there I'd want to go ;)

 

 

You have got to be kidding. The price of gas in Canada is 50% more than the USA and the distances are greater....

 

High prices for gas are high taxes and gouging. The price of gas went up 40% for hurricane Ike in Montreal, where the refineries are, yet in Vermont, 60 miles away, they remained unchanged at less than 2/3 the price.

 

If you want to compare prices as crazy a Chavez is, he sure keeps the people happy fixing the price of gas outside of the WTO so the poor people can still buy it. If ability to pay ever entered the picture gas in the USA and most of the west would be $5.00 a litre not a gallon.

 

The Big oil is Ripping us off . Line their executives up and shoot them.:eek:

[JohnIreland]

oil just a tad over $90 today

[lincslass64]

You have got to be kidding. The price of gas in Canada is 50% more than the USA and the distances are greater....

 

High prices for gas are high taxes and gouging. The price of gas went up 40% for hurricane Ike in Montreal, where the refineries are, yet in Vermont, 60 miles away, they remained unchanged at less than 2/3 the price.

 

If you want to compare prices as crazy a Chavez is, he sure keeps the people happy fixing the price of gas outside of the WTO so the poor people can still buy it. If ability to pay ever entered the picture gas in the USA and most of the west would be $5.00 a litre not a gallon.

 

The Big oil is Ripping us off . Line their executives up and shoot them.:eek:

 

I agree totally its stupid for the amount they get us to pay.

[mbisson]

You have got to be kidding.

 

Actually, no I'm not (but you are preaching to the choir). Taxes, as you mention, are a big part of the problem (and OPEC & big oil seem to have decided to make every cent off of us that they can also)

Take a chill pill b4 you have a stroke ;). I just try not to get myself worked up over that which is somewhat out of my control (even though I dislike what they're doing also)

[Antioch Cruiser]

The one thing that get my pantys in a wod is that on our cruise is 11 days to the Mexican Rivera, even though we are docked in Acapulco for 2 days we are still getting charged for 11 days of fuel charge. I think we should get only charged 10 days. I don't see why we would be getting charged for 11 days when we are only at sea for 10 days. My 2 cents.

With gas prices going down it should be back down to $7.00 per day.

[MrLee]

The one thing that get my pantys in a wod is that on our cruise is 11 days to the Mexican Rivera, even though we are docked in Acapulco for 2 days we are still getting charged for 11 days of fuel charge. I think we should get only charged 10 days. I don't see why we would be getting charged for 11 days when we are only at sea for 10 days. My 2 cents.

With gas prices going down it should be back down to $7.00 per day.

 

 

Do you really think they'll turn off everything in the ship? :rolleyes:

[A Sixth?]

Actually, no I'm not (but you are preaching to the choir). Taxes, as you mention, are a big part of the problem (and OPEC & big oil seem to have decided to make every cent off of us that they can also)

Take a chill pill b4 you have a stroke ;). I just try not to get myself worked up over that which is somewhat out of my control (even though I dislike what they're doing also)

 

Grrrrr Want to kill the Oil execs...... grrrrrrrr :rolleyes: :p

[Antioch Cruiser]

Do you really think they'll turn off everything in the ship? :rolleyes:

 

They should turn things off! :D

 

I like your Avatar MrLee. I took this when we were in Paris on one of the river boats.

 

[MrLee]

Grrrrr Want to kill the Oil execs...... grrrrrrrr :rolleyes: :p

 

To stay appropriate to the board...Let's keelhaul them (or make them walk the plank). :D

[MrLee]

They should turn things off! :D

 

I like your Avatar MrLee. I took this when we were in Paris on one of the river boats.

 

 

 

That's where I took it too. :D

[mbisson]

Grrrrr Want to kill the Oil execs...... grrrrrrrr :rolleyes: :p

 

Not me, but I bet it would make some of us would feel better ;)