Fuel surcharge on Carnival Cruises?

Question

We have a cruise already booked and deposit down for April 08. We just received an email saying they have added on a fuel surcharge of $70. Did anyone else get this?

Answer 1

Yes, this fuel surcharge applies to all cruises beginning in February 2008.

Answer 2

Effective November 7, 2007



Due to rapidly escalating fuel prices, Carnival Corporation & plc’s six North American brands, including Carnival Cruise Lines, have implemented a fuel supplement of $5 per person, per day.  The fuel supplement, which applies to the first and second guests in a stateroom is effective on all bookings for cruises departing on, or after February 1, 2008.

All existing booking(s) for cruises departing on or after February 1, 2008 are currently outside of the period where cancellation fees apply.  Please refer to our standard cancellation terms available at www.carnival.com/cms/cancel.aspx or in our brochure to determine when penalties for cancellation would apply.

The fuel supplement is necessitated by significant rises in fuel prices which have dramatically increased Carnival Corporation & plc’s operating costs. In fact, over the past three years, the price the company pays for fuel has increased by 140 percent, with a 50 percent increase occurring in just the last seven months.

Until now, the company has been absorbing this significant increase in fuel costs. Unfortunately, we cannot continue to shoulder this huge cost burden and now find it necessary to implement a supplement to partially offset a portion of soaring fuel costs. The implementation of the fuel supplement beginning February 1, 2008 for our North American brands will result in consumers paying approximately one-third of our year-over-year fuel cost increases over the first sixth months of the fiscal year.

Implementing this fuel supplement was a difficult decision and we hope that our guests will understand that this is a necessary step in today’s challenging economic environment.