Fuel Rebate Allowance

[bobbyleduck]

I am, and have always been, a person who is willing to "Just say not" to higher prices. I have been making that suggestion on these boards for many months, and I won't stop until the cruiselines, airlines and hotels get the message. "It's the economy, stupid!" We are experiencing a recession/depression, and until the travel and leisure industry understands that, they will just have to muddle through without some of us. Not all of us, of course, because there are still people who have so much money that it won't matter. If the travel and leisure industry, which has grown fatter and fatter, can survive with that small percentage of the population, then more power to it, but I'm rather certain that there is going to be some pain as some of those companies disappear. (See previous post.)

 

Happy cruising to all!

 

Bob

[iflyjets]

Brad,

 

I noticed under your future cruise list a reference to a $14.95 steak charge. What is this? I am assuming it has nothing to do with the surcharge for the specialty restaurant, but is instead some additional charge by RCCL.

 

So, what is it?

[jackdiamond]

Bob-I notice from your post that you have only cruised five times in seventeen years; and, only twice on Celebrity. Assuming the truth of the aforesaid, it would appear that your cruising endeavors will not be impacted by the cost factor to which you allude, but simply by your desires.

[BEAV]

All you have to do is look at the stock prices for the cruise companies and you can see how bad they are financially.

 

While I agree the cruise lines are facing some choppy waters due to the global financial crisis, a plunging stock price isn't necessarily indicitave of the financial stability or instability of a given company. There are tons of profitable and solid companies out there whose stock has been beaten to a pulp lately due to the global situation and panic selling.

[bobbyleduck]

Bob-I notice from your post that you have only cruised five times in seventeen years; and, only twice on Celebrity. Assuming the truth of the aforesaid, it would appear that your cruising endeavors will not be impacted by the cost factor to which you allude, but simply by your desires.

 

Not so, but thank you for taking the time to respond. No, I was hoping to take another Celebrity cruise this fall, but fuel surcharges, exhorbitant airfares with fuel surcharges and baggage fees have caused my wife and I to do a couple of Staycations. We wanted to be on the ocean, but settled for by the ocean in Newport, OR.

 

We are looking at the possibility of a two-week cruise aboard Mercury next March, but a lot of that will depend upon prices, availability and whether or not the rest of the family (eight others) can make up their minds. We are looking at something in Northern Europe or the Mediterranean if that doesn't workout, but prices (mostly airfare + add ons) are important.

 

As for the five cruises in 17 years, you are correct, but last year we decided that we would rather cruise than do the many other trips we've done in the past (such as: Hawaii - five trips and five islands, Ireland, France and Italy, as well as land trips to various places in the U.S.), and those two made four cruises in 10 years. And we really enjoyed those two trips aboard Infinity and Millennium, mostly because of the many friends we found on Cruise Critic. Our TA cruise, last December, was planned with four other couples we met aboard Infinity. Can't wait to join them, and the many other Cruise Critic friends we met aboard Millennium.

 

Happy cruising to all.

 

Bob

[jackdiamond]

Bob-We are fairly experienced cruisers, having cruised Princess, HAL, Celebrity and Royal. We are elite on Celebrity and Diamond on Royal. We always book CC on the M class ships; and, we are booked Aqua Class on the Equinox next year. We have already cruised three times this year; and, we would have booked the Solstice except that the two itineraries did not appeal to us. We live in SWFL and we are able to visit many of our beautiful beaches for one or two week vacations or for many day trips. Additionally, over the years, we have vacationed in the Bahamas, St. Thomas, Bonaire, Barbados, and other Caribbean islands.

It would appear that we have a philosophical difference of opinion. We are not rich, but we believe in our capitalistic system; and, we do not feel that the cruise lines, which we enjoy, are taking advantage of us. Simply stated, we enjoy our free market economy.

[GTJ]

This is the reply I received from my e-mail to Celebrity Cruises.

 

Thank you for your email.

 

We are happy to see the pullback in fuel prices, relative to their record high levels of the recent past. We are hopeful these lower prices will stay with us or come down further.

 

The dramatic spike in fuel prices over the recent past has been painful to us and our customers. We look forward to being in a position to pass on the benefits of lower fuel costs to our customers. However, we continue to see considerable volatility in fuel price movements around the world and believe it would be premature to lower the supplement at this time.

 

We will continue to closely monitor and assess the appropriateness of the fuel supplement we charge, in light of the fuel pricing environment and our fuel-related costs.

[jackdiamond]

GTJ-Thank you for sharing Celebrity's response; and, I believe that said response is reasonable. By the way, for those who may be interested, I own no stock in Celebrity.