Another take on fuel charge

[beth4652]

The following was in an online newletter. No flaming, please. I'm just passing it along fyi.

 

 

...there's trouble on the horizon.

 

The biggest, as far as passengers are concerned, is a pesky and probably illegal fuel surcharge on cruises. It's no secret that fuel prices have risen recently, but the cruise industry appears to have taken the Gordon Gekko approach to paying its energy bills. Many have retroactively charged customers who already paid for their cruises in full, offering a piece of the action to travel agents who helped them collect.

 

Forget, for a moment, that some cruise lines have hedged their fuel costs, which means they aren't really paying more for energy. And forget that those same cruise lines also agreed in 1997 to not charge any fees in addition to the advertised initial ticket price, except those actually passed on by the company to a government agency.

[Palm_trees]

I have been researching the whole issue of the fuel charges on other websites. I understand that there are already lawsuits against the cruiselines who charged people after the fact. It is illegal to charge the passengers after the fact for something that does not include taxes or port charges.

 

I suspect eventually the cruiseline industry will have to pay passengers and attorneys some type of fine. But they have alot of clout and understand that in the final analysis it will only be a slap of the hand and few people will even care in a few years.

[momofmeg]

I have been researching the whole issue of the fuel charges on other websites. I understand that there are already lawsuits against the cruiselines who charged people after the fact. It is illegal to charge the passengers after the fact for something that does not include taxes or port charges.

 

I suspect eventually the cruiseline industry will have to pay passengers and attorneys some type of fine. But they have alot of clout and understand that in the final analysis it will only be a slap of the hand and few people will even care in a few years.

 

Oh really, it is in the fine print of the contract that you accept by checking "I agree" that a fuel surecharge could be added.

 

Oil is over a $100 a barrel. We pay more for gas at home-we pay more for groceries because it costs more for them to be delivered. Everything costs more- and frivilous lawsuits are not going to change that.

[Palm_trees]

Oh really, it is in the fine print of the contract that you accept by checking "I agree" that a fuel surcharge could be added.

 

Oil is over a $100 a barrel. We pay more for gas at home-we pay more for groceries because it costs more for them to be delivered. Everything costs more- and frivolous lawsuits are not going to change that.

 

You are missing the point of the dispute. No one is against the cruiselines charging extra for fuel but it is a cost of doing business. The grocery store does not add a fuel surcharge for items already purchased, they raise the cost today and tommorrow on the cost of food. The price we pay for any consumer item may go up with the increased cost of fuel and labor but the cost increase is just added to the price, not snuck and added to something we already paid for.

[momofmeg]

You are missing the point of the dispute. No one is against the cruiselines charging extra for fuel but it is a cost of doing business. The grocery store does not add a fuel surcharge for items already purchased, they raise the cost today and tommorrow on the cost of food. The price we pay for any consumer item may go up with the increased cost of fuel and labor but the cost increase is just added to the price, not snuck and added to something we already paid for.

 

They do not have to they can up their prices at ANY time-cheese doubled in price this last month. Maybe I should take out a lawsuit against the cows.

 

Have you ever had a nice experience on a crusie? if You had I wish you would share it with us-I am sick of all your negative threads here.

[lvtotrvl1]

never mind...

[momofmeg]

One thing everyone keeps forgetting. Back in November we only had one cruise booked on the Carnival Glory for November 08. (we have since booked another cruise after the fuel surecharge was announced) within 2 days of the announcement our travel agent contacted us and said we could cancel the crusie with a full refund- normally she charges $50 per person for a cruise cancellation.

 

Now maybe not all travel agents did this? I would assume though this was offered to all who had booked crusies-even ones paid in full and I am almost sure this came from Carnival corp.

[okgirl]

You are missing the point of the dispute. No one is against the cruiselines charging extra for fuel but it is a cost of doing business. The grocery store does not add a fuel surcharge for items already purchased, they raise the cost today and tommorrow on the cost of food. The price we pay for any consumer item may go up with the increased cost of fuel and labor but the cost increase is just added to the price, not snuck and added to something we already paid for.

 

When you go to the grocery store and purchase something there is no way for them to charge you extra for the item once you leave the store. But you better believe that if the "future" price the grocer is going to have to pay for an item goes up, the he raises his price for all of the items currently in his store even though he purchased those items at a lower rate. Now why should he be able to build in double profit for himself???

 

The cruiseline on the other hand, is saying that the price of fuel HAS gone up and they are going to start passing along some of that expense to people who are going to be using that more expensive fuel in the future. It doesn't make any difference when you paid in full for your cruise, the fact is that now the cost to the cruise company is going to be more.

 

And frankly I just don't get what all this macking is about anyway. It's $70 bucks per cabin, that's less than 14 drinks spread out over the whole week, it's a lot less than I pay for most shore excursions, less than my daily gambling allowance so it means that sis and I have to spend $5 less per day in the casino or forgo one drink a day. Bottom line for me is this is way less than 2% of the total cost of my vacation and I just can't get too worried about that kind of pocket change.

[klfrodo]

And frankly I just don't get what all this macking is about anyway. It's $70 bucks per cabin, that's less than 14 drinks spread out over the whole week, it's a lot less than I pay for most shore excursions, less than my daily gambling allowance so it means that sis and I have to spend $5 less per day in the casino or forgo one drink a day. Bottom line for me is this is way less than 2% of the total cost of my vacation and I just can't get too worried about that kind of pocket change.

 

 

Amen sister :D

[momofmeg]

When you go to the grocery store and purchase something there is no way for them to charge you extra for the item once you leave the store. But you better believe that if the "future" price the grocer is going to have to pay for an item goes up, the he raises his price for all of the items currently in his store even though he purchased those items at a lower rate. Now why should he be able to build in double profit for himself???

 

The cruiseline on the other hand, is saying that the price of fuel HAS gone up and they are going to start passing along some of that expense to people who are going to be using that more expensive fuel in the future. It doesn't make any difference when you paid in full for your cruise, the fact is that now the cost to the cruise company is going to be more.

 

And frankly I just don't get what all this macking is about anyway. It's $70 bucks per cabin, that's less than 14 drinks spread out over the whole week, it's a lot less than I pay for most shore excursions, less than my daily gambling allowance so it means that sis and I have to spend $5 less per day in the casino or forgo one drink a day. Bottom line for me is this is way less than 2% of the total cost of my vacation and I just can't get too worried about that kind of pocket change.

 

As I said, we had booked a cruise (back in August) for November 08 and when this was first announced-two days later our TA called us and said we could cancel our reservation with no cancellation charge-although her agency normally charged for cancelling a cruise. (she gave us 7 days to decide)

 

so I am pretty sure people could have canceled their cruise-even those who had paid infull before and receive a full refund. At least with Carnival corp. this was announced in early Nov. and did not take effect until February-so actually -it ws BEFORE people would have made their finial payment.

 

Now for RCI and the other lines I don't know how they handled it but I do know Carnival corp handled it this way-since I was booked on one of their lines.

[zqvol]

The following was in an online newletter. No flaming, please. I'm just passing it along fyi.

 

 

...there's trouble on the horizon.

 

The biggest, as far as passengers are concerned, is a pesky and probably illegal fuel surcharge on cruises. It's no secret that fuel prices have risen recently, but the cruise industry appears to have taken the Gordon Gekko approach to paying its energy bills. Many have retroactively charged customers who already paid for their cruises in full, offering a piece of the action to travel agents who helped them collect.

 

Forget, for a moment, that some cruise lines have hedged their fuel costs, which means they aren't really paying more for energy. And forget that those same cruise lines also agreed in 1997 to not charge any fees in addition to the advertised initial ticket price, except those actually passed on by the company to a government agency.

 

So what is the point. The surcharges can go away, then the fares will all rise to make up for it and since they can't charge already booked people more they will charge double or triple what they need to make it up. If you don't like it don't cruise, and don't fill up your gas tank, or using heating oil, then we will not worry about oil prices.

[zqvol]

I have been researching the whole issue of the fuel charges on other websites. I understand that there are already lawsuits against the cruiselines who charged people after the fact. It is illegal to charge the passengers after the fact for something that does not include taxes or port charges.

 

I suspect eventually the cruiseline industry will have to pay passengers and attorneys some type of fine. But they have alot of clout and understand that in the final analysis it will only be a slap of the hand and few people will even care in a few years.

 

You need to get your facts straight. If the surcharges go away fares will rise to make up for it and cruise lines will simply change their contracts to specify that a fuel surcharge will be added to all cruise fares and will be determined on the day of sailing and will not exceed a certain number of dollars per day.

 

Trolls just don't get it. the cruises lines sail ships to make money. No profit no cruises. Either pay the cruise lines or stay home.