I see on the Celebrity website that they are now charging the fuel surcharge too. I have paid in full - does this mean that I will not have to pay? Neither Celebrity or have travel agent have contacted me.

The surcharge has to be paid regardless if you have already paid for the cruise in full. But only for cruises that commence on or after 2/1/08...at least for now.

My cruise is march 31, 2008. Should someone not have contacted me?

It was just announced today for Royal Caribbean and Celebrity.

How can it be legal for them to charge you more once you have signed a contract agreeing to a price?

I was just looking at the press release and RCCL is not going to assess the surcharge to anyone who has paid for their cruise in full prior to the surcharge implementation date. So it looks like you are okay.

It is legal because it is a surcharge and not an increase in the cruise fare. Same thing would happen if you were going to Bermuda on your cruise and suddenly Bermuda decided to charge $100 per cruise passenger in order for the ship to stop there. That cost would be passed on to the consumer.

Here is the press release

Thanks Dave. If that is correct, I am doubly glad that I paid off my cruise last week when the Can $ was at it's peak.

I am going to pay off my cruise for next June before 2/1/08 too.

UPDATE: My agent just e-mailed me the following: "We got the announcement today from Royal Caribbean, but it said all bookings had to be paid 'yesterday' the 15th, in order to avoid the fuel charge. "

So it appears I am screwed but you aren't.

"Those guests who do not cancel their reservation and pay in full will receive one logo item per stateroom, onboard their cruise."

Too bad, Dave. It would have been nice if they had at least given people a few days to pay up before the new surcharge.

I guess that having paid last week I won't get my free logo item though.

Looks like NCL is charging the surcharge now too...but not to paid up customers...Just new bookings.....I think that's the way they all should have done it.....Just have a couple less drinks or don't buy a watch on board and you won't notice it....Happy cruising...


Bob E

I've now finished all my contact of clients affected by the fuel sur-charges. At least all the ones I've recieved to date, hope there are no more coming.

I went through Princess, HAL, Carnival, Cunard, Costa & RCCL without a single cancellation. Celebrity was my final group of clients on my list and I've had two cancellations and have 3 more threatening to do so, who said they'll get back to me on whether they still want their booking. I don't know what to make of Celebrity passengers being the only ones I have who became outraged and cancelled. Will be scratching my head for a while over this one.

Cheers, Neil

Dave my cruise is march 2nd and i paid my cruise off in july but i still had to pay the surcharge so you will have to for your june cruise also princess said didnt matter if you paid in full or not you still have to pay if your cruise is after february.

quote:

Originally posted by TrvlPro:
Celebrity was my final group of clients on my list and I've had two cancellations and have 3 more threatening to do so, who said they'll get back to me on whether they still want their booking.

I can just hear them now "Boy we'll show Celebrity! We'll just cancel our cruise and not go! We'll just stay home! That'll show them!"

How lame! I mean really, what is $5/day in the whole scheme of things? What % of the total per diem (including airfare, transfers, tips, and everything else we pay for on a cruise) is $5???

BUT, if that $5/day is going to break the bank, then maybe you need to reconsider going anywhere ever again!

With most people it is about the principal, not the money..