Fuel Surcharges UPDATE as of Oct 24th

MIAMI, Oct. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. today announced that the company's fuel supplement will no longer apply to new Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Cruises bookings made on or after November 10, 2008, anywhere in the world, for sailings that depart on or after January 1, 2010.

This decision takes into consideration the recent reductions in global fuel prices. The company has also established specific guidelines that will determine whether fuel supplement refunds will be provided for sailings that begin in 2009 and later, which were booked prior to November 10, 2008, if fuel prices remain below a specific price threshold.

For 2009 sailings and 2010 sailings booked before November 10, 2008, the company will determine on a quarterly basis whether fuel supplements will be refunded. Refunds, in the form of an onboard credit, will be provided if the closing price of West Texas Intermediate fuel is $65 or less, at the closing time of the New York Mercantile Exchange, two weeks prior to the beginning of the upcoming calendar quarter. When those conditions are met, an onboard credit will be provided to all guests on sailings that begin during the upcoming calendar quarter.

The dates on which the price of West Texas Intermediate fuel will be measured, and the quarters during which refunds could apply are:

Fuel Price Determination Date Quarter of Possible Fuel Supplement Refunds

December 18, 2008 First quarter 2009

March 18, 2009 Second quarter 2009

June 17, 2009 Third quarter 2009

September 17, 2009 Fourth quarter 2009

December 18, 2009 First quarter 2010

March 18, 2010 Second quarter 2010

June 17, 2010 Third quarter 2010

September 17, 2010 Fourth quarter 2010

The company will continue to closely monitor the movement of global fuel prices and recognize that an upturn in those prices could necessitate the reinstatement of a fuel supplement.

Here is the RCL announcement (update as of 10/24) regarding Fuel surcharges. in essence

Our fuel supplement will no longer apply to new Royal Caribbean International bookings made on or after November 10, 2008, anywhere in the world, for sailings that depart on or after January 1, 2010. Here is teh entire statement.

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/contentPage.do;jsessionid=0000GNTneRdO8xJUCB7ah0i6tbL:12hdhubrs?pagename=fuel_supplement

Headline sounds good but.........and...........if..........

Will need a tax accountant to figure it out.

Spin it all you want, you will be paying this supplement one way or the other (Carnival)

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/081024/clf056.html?.v=101

Headline sounds good but.........and...........if..........

Will need a tax accountant to figure it out.

Spin it all you want, you will be paying this supplement one way or the other (Carnival)

 

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/081024/clf056.html?.v=101

I think Carnivals is more clear and at least has set the benchmark to monitor higher ($70.00) :eek:

OK, you are booked and had paid in full for a cruise for 12/01/2008 do you receive an onboard credit from Celebrity.?

OK, you are booked and had paid in full for a cruise for 12/01/2008 do you receive an onboard credit from Celebrity.?

Nope.

MIAMI, bookings made on or after November 10, 2008, anywhere in the world, for sailings that depart on or after January 1, 2010.quote]

 

Looks like I may need to cancel and re-book my April 2010 cruise. It's a 14 night cruise so this would really be just like having the price drop for 2 people.

Wow, they really do a good job of making this complicated.

So, if December 18th rolls around and the price is lower than $65/barrel (hence no fuel surcharge), what happens to new bookings for cruises departing prior to March 2009? Will they pay the surcharge but automatically have it applied as OBC, or will they not be charged the surcharge at all?

Inquiring minds.

Should we cancel & re-book our Jan 2010 cruise to guarantee we won't get a fuel surcharge--not sure I am reading this correctly..

It's a 14 day cruise for 2 so that could be a nice reduction..I think I will call them before fiddling around with the res... we have a nice cabin but if price is the same & there are many others available at this point..why not ditch the surcharge when we can--of course it could always be re-imposed-

-I am confused!

I think it is likely the fuel surcharge will be back in before anyone can enjoy the advantage of this "headline". Sounds good, but in reality, its just corporate flap, hoping to positively influence the stock prices that have dropped. As they state, the fuel surcharge can be reinstated at anytime. Will oil stay low - not if the governments can help it! Don't lose any sleep over rebooking after Nov 10.

Just my humble opinion!

We may be better off keeping our present fuel surcharge--we booked our Jan 2010 cruise when it was $5 pp per day & they have not raised it-it was a set price if you booked before a certain date..

. Once we change to a new res. then we could get the prevailing rate for a surcharge(right now double at $10 pp) ...why do they make this so confusing? I predict billing errors & issues!

BTW There are three fuel surcharge threads--perhaps they can be merged,,,

My cruise is Jan 10 on Celebrity_if i read this right if the price of oil is less than 65.00 on dec 18 we would get a 70.00 onboard credit --Is this right __i hope i have the numbers right or boy am i in trouble at work-lol

And if oil goes back up? Does that mean that they will reuninstate them? This is a bit lame. Why not do it immediately? I know, because they've got my $$ already.

dammit. i am booked for december 14th. could definitely use on board credit (that i was supposed to get in the first place and was later screwed out of :( ).

We just made final payment for our Jan '08 cruise--the balance on the bill was $70 less than anticipated--the X rep had no idea why & we could not figure it out..Could it have been the fuel charge-- $5 pp per day x 7 days????

I'm not sure I understand all this. We have 9 people for our June 09 cruise and the fuel surcharge was $10pp/day. Should I really consider cancelling and rebooking? That is $560 total. Yes there is a chance they could reinstate it but I feel like it is better to have it removed up front.

I'm not sure I understand all this. We have 9 people for our June 09 cruise and the fuel surcharge was $10pp/day. Should I really consider cancelling and rebooking? That is $560 total. Yes there is a chance they could reinstate it but I feel like it is better to have it removed up front.

Having read this thread and an RCL article post on Chas. Schwab, my interpretation is this. They say: supplement will no longer apply to new Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Cruises bookings made on or after November 10, 2008. This would seem to say that if you cancelled now and rebooked on or after November 10, you would not have a fuel supplement.

If you want to keep your current cabins, you can guarantee doing so by keeping your present booking. Then, if the price of oil, as RCL defines it, is $65 or less on March 18 ,2009 Second quarter 2009 cruises will have on board credits applied to their shipboard accounts in the amounts you have now paid for fuel supplements. Your June cruise is in the second quarter.

The only thing I see of some concern is that RCL says new bookings made on or after after November 10. The only caveat which comes to mind is that RCL might try to claim that your rebooking is not a new booking, should you cancel and rebook. I am not an attorney, but it seems to me that if they do that, they should specifically define "new bookings" now.

Someone else may add or interpret all this differently.

Bob :rolleyes:

I had a nice chat with Celebrity, and, as it states in the opening post had I read it more carefully, they are only eliminating the fuel surcharge for cruises leaving 2010 and beyond. None of this applies to 08 & 09 cruises, there is still a fuel surcharge for those cruises booked previously or booked after Nov 10th.

On the bright side, since I was on the phone with X, I inquired about open cabins and moved to a much nicer cabin, so I'm still very very glad I took the time to call them today!

OK, I'm reading 2009 and 2010 in the opening post (by chachabell). Or are we talking about two different posts? I'm confused! :confused:

I had a nice chat with Celebrity, and, as it states in the opening post had I read it more carefully, they are only eliminating the fuel surcharge for cruises leaving 2010 and beyond. None of this applies to 08 & 09 cruises, there is still a fuel surcharge for those cruises booked previously or booked after Nov 10th.

I see that now. They seem to have a propensity for doublespeak. The first and second paragraphs are a bit contradictory and ambiguous when taken together.

Bob :rolleyes:

I see that now. They seem to have a propensity for doublespeak. The first and second paragraphs are a bit contradictory and ambiguous when taken together.

 

Bob :rolleyes:

Hi Bob, confusing to say the least:eek: :confused:

But hopefully the one paragraph is correct for the previous

bookings. I booked a cruise for January 2009 quite a few

months ago. Hoping that on board credit will come through

while I am on the ship but I won't hold my breath.

interesting since they told me that if the price of oil was 65 or less on dec 18 that all first quarter 2009 cruises would get an onboard credit-hmm--guess their customer service reps are not on the same page-

I tried looking for info about West Texas oil price. Is this the right website??

http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=crude-oil-west-texas-intermediate

According to that site:

Crude Oil (petroleum); West Texas Intermediate Monthly Price the Sep 2008 103.94. That price seems a lot higher than the world spot market price we hear on TV. Can anyone clarify this?

I tried looking for info about West Texas oil price. Is this the right website??

http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=crude-oil-west-texas-intermediate

According to that site:

Crude Oil (petroleum); West Texas Intermediate Monthly Price the Sep 2008 103.94. That price seems a lot higher than the world spot market price we hear on TV. Can anyone clarify this?

I just checked & the price for WTI is 64.23 I use this website http://www.bloomberg.com/energy & the third listing is WTI.

I just checked & the price for WTI is 64.23 I use this website http://www.bloomberg.com/energy & the third listing is WTI.

Thanks, that is a lot better!:)