Cruise lines thinking of Fuel Surcharges

[5waldos]

One thing about fuel charges and their timing- apparently a percentage of cruise fuel is bought or reserved in advance at good prices. So it is not like ships pull up to a ship gas station and pay the daily going rate. Apparently it is far more complicated- they already have some of the fuel needed for this season. Rather like stocking up during a sale- you buy as much as you are allowed or can afford when the prices are low to ease things when the prices go up or shortages happen. 

[BklynBorn47]

1 minute ago, 5waldos said:

One thing about fuel charges and their timing- apparently a percentage of cruise fuel is bought or reserved in advance at good prices. So it is not like ships pull up to a ship gas station and pay the daily going rate. Apparently it is far more complicated- they already have some of the fuel needed for this season. Rather like stocking up during a sale- you buy as much as you are allowed or can afford when the prices are low to ease things when the prices go up or shortages happen. 

That makes sense.  We will just have to wait and see.

We've been doing a lot of "wait and see" in the last 2 years.  This is just one more thing

[kearney]

2 minutes ago, 5waldos said:

One thing about fuel charges and their timing- apparently a percentage of cruise fuel is bought or reserved in advance at good prices. So it is not like ships pull up to a ship gas station and pay the daily going rate. Apparently it is far more complicated- they already have some of the fuel needed for this season. Rather like stocking up during a sale- you buy as much as you are allowed or can afford when the prices are low to ease things when the prices go up or shortages happen. 

I would hate to be the person negotiating for fuel for say..next year...locking in $120 might look pretty good if it goes up the $150... but if it were to stabilize much lower...  well there goes your bonus...

[LGW59]

16 minutes ago, BklynBorn47 said:

Neither did I.  I just made the mistake of replying to the guy who did.  I won't do that again.  Lesson learned.

Now back to the topic at hand.

Now that you don't want to discuss it, no one else should?  You may want to apply for a moderator position.  🙄

[5waldos]

2 minutes ago, kearney said:

I would hate to be the person negotiating for fuel for say..next year...locking in $120 might look pretty good if it goes up the $150... but if it were to stabilize much lower...  well there goes your bonus...

I am pretty sure that they make very good money to figure out these things. Although it does seem like a crap shoot to me. 

[BklynBorn47]

Just now, LGW59 said:

Now that you don't want to discuss it, no one else should?  You may want to apply for a moderator position.  🙄

Have at it.  I've just seen threads shut down when things veer into arguments like this.
Didn't want it to happen here.  Enjoy!

[zitsky]

38 minutes ago, 5waldos said:

https://www.celebritycruises.com/faqs/cruise-ticket-contract

Hey I appreciate this.  Never guessed there might be a section for frequently asked questions………

[zitsky]

37 minutes ago, kearney said:

I located this in the contract for our last cruise in Dec.. (pg 16)

The issue I have with that is, there is no limit.  To paraphrase Austin Powers, what stops the cruise line from charging a surcharge of a bazillion gajillion dollars?

 

Before anyone says “they would never do that” can you point to the place in the contract that shows a limit?

[5waldos]

4 minutes ago, zitsky said:

The issue I have with that is, there is no limit.  To paraphrase Austin Powers, what stops the cruise line from charging a surcharge of a bazillion gajillion dollars?

 

Before anyone says “they would never do that” can you point to the place in the contract that shows a limit?

Celebrity does not have a limit. Some cruise lines do- and they range from $6.50 to about $15.00 in the ones I have checked. So in theory, they could charge whatever they wanted. If you read the contract, there are a lot of unpleasant things they COULD do- change all the ports, for example. Reading the small print is something some people do very carefully, others of us figure that if we want to cruise, we have to accept the small print. And keep our fingers crossed. It is unlikely that an individual would be able to negotiate an exception or clarification on anything in the contract. 

[kearney]

20 minutes ago, zitsky said:

The issue I have with that is, there is no limit.  To paraphrase Austin Powers, what stops the cruise line from charging a surcharge of a bazillion gajillion dollars?

 

Before anyone says “they would never do that” can you point to the place in the contract that shows a limit?

You do have a point, but they are still a business and if they were out of step with competition..that would have repercussions..on future cruises. They likely didn't put a dollar figure in there because they had no idea how high it could go. It is a risk for those of us sailing... we are driving and I am not looking forward to high gas prices on the way down.

[mfs2k]

1 hour ago, zitsky said:

The issue I have with that is, there is no limit.  To paraphrase Austin Powers, what stops the cruise line from charging a surcharge of a bazillion gajillion dollars?

 

Before anyone says “they would never do that” can you point to the place in the contract that shows a limit?

The limit is people like you and me, and 100,000 others who would become outraged on social media and would destroy their business.