It’s 2010 Will Fuel Surcharges Be Returning?
Back in October I wrote a blog entry about the return of the fuel surcharge, you can read it here. In that blog entry I speculated about whether or not cruise lines would once again begin charging their customers the fuel surcharge now that the price of oil has once again risen. You see, when the cruise lines decided to rescind the fuel surcharge they did it with the caveat that if the price of fuel once again reached a certain threshold those surcharges could once again be re-instituted. Back in October when oil rose past 75 dollars per barrel those escalators were triggered. However, the cruise lines (being that they are so pro-consumer) didn’t roll out those surcharges, as many including myself had expected.
Now the price of a barrel of oil has surpassed the 80 dollar mark and low and behold there are rumbles. You see, Disney cruise lines has once again begun charging its passengers to fill up the gas tank. As of now no other cruise lines have re-instituted the fuel surcharge however they do reserve the right to put them in place at any time.
Upon further investigation it is actually pretty clear that Disney has been having passengers chip-in on fuel for months. Let me explain what I mean. Back when fuel surcharges were first instituted, just like the other cruise lines Disney started requiring customers to help “fill up the tank”. In the fall of 2008 when the price of a barrel of oil dropped back down, cruise lines stopped collecting. Of course, Disney was among those who stopped collecting, on all newly booked cruises. However, those who had already booked were only entitled to a refund (in the form of an on-board credit) if the price of oil was below 70 dollars a barrel two weeks prior to the beginning of the calendar quarter of their sailing.
In June of 2009 the price of oil once again crept past the 70 dollar a barrel threshold, meaning Disney could stop issuing refunds. In other words, those who had booked cruises between May 28 and December 1 of 2008 have been paying the fuel surcharge since July of 2009 and will continue to do so until March 31, 2010 at the very least.
The question then becomes how, even though Disney has been collecting a fuel surcharge for 6 months how much longer will it be before the other cruise lines jump on board. Although Disney has done nothing but stick to their original plan as of now they are the only ones who are doing so. Is it just a matter of time before the major cruise lines (Royal Caribbean, Carnival and NCL) jump back on board? After all, they all had plans to re-institute the fuel surcharge if oil surpassed a certain threshold (which it has).
As of now those cruisers who choose to book with with the major cruise lines can do so without having to pay for fuel. Actually, Royal Caribbean has the right to not issue refunds to those passengers who booked doing the fuel surcharge time period but they have been. Currently, they have no no plans to reinstate the surcharge. The other major cruise lines (most notably Carnival and Norwegian) have also decided not to reinstall the fuel surcharge. However, all of the cruise lines vehemently state that they although they have not reinstated the fuel surcharge the situation is being closely monitored and the fuel surcharge can be re-instituted at any time. Is that time now? Tell us what you think about fuel surcharges.
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Comments
I agree that it should be on some sort of slope instead of them hitting us with the full amount immediately. I wouldn’t think it would be very hard to institute a gradual climb based on the price of oil. Then again what do I know? It could also be possible that the reason they haven’t re-instituted the surcharge yet is because they know that charging the $9 per day fee on a $75 dollar barrel would be a PR nightmare. However, if the price does hit $100 its likely that no one will question the move.
I am planning an Alaska cruise on Holland America. If they re-institute they fuel surcharge, it is at $9 per day per person. I find that very expensive. If they can get away with no help if oil is under $70 (or whatever the specific price is), why do they suddenly have to pull in $9 per day per person? I could see it being on a variable slope, where if it’s just a little over their limit, around $75, then they charge only, say, $1 per person per day, but if it’s much higher, around $100, then I could see them charging closer to the $9 per person amount. Seems too arbitrary. As of yet, it doesn’t seem that HAL is planning to re-instate the surcharge, but my cruise is still about 6 months away, and oil is currently hovering around the $75 mark as of today. And, of course, they always reserve the right to re-instate it.