Surely fuel is a requirement of all cruises?
Fred Olsen have in the last week announced that they are increasing their fuel surcharge for future cruises.
But surely those nice people at Fred Olsen were aware when pricing their cruises for 2011 and 2012 that fuel would be a large part of their costs.
I am not hugely into politics and I didn’t study economics at school but I do know that fuel seems to increase in cost every month and I anticipate that by this time next year I will be paying at least another 20p per litre for my diesel. I allowed for this when considering which car to buy last year and looked at my fuel consumption costs. Fred Olsen though don’t seem to be able to anticipate this aswell as me.
I think it is grossly unfair of Fred Olsen to add a surcharge, just because the cost of oil has increased. The price of wheat is particularly high at the moment, perhaps they will impose a surcharge for food soon too.
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I have worked in the travel industry for over 25 years now since beginning as a holiday rep on a campsite in France and I have a real passion for travel. I've worked in all aspects of the industry including sales, marketing and management and I've specialised in most products…
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Thankfully Fred Olsen is not a shipping company which transports food or wheat otherwise your prediction might happen.
In the above case , the shipping line would have built in a cost factor for shipping based on volume or weight or containers and suppliers would then decide to pass on to customers if required.
In Fred Olsen’s case they seem to have gone beyond by basing a percent on invoice price regardless of usage. Gone past a fixed price item surcharge.
Now I read seven more Cruise lines have announced fuel surcharges though I do not know yet if following same method.
When you consider recent noise from certain EU countries to impose a 20% VAT on cruise prices plus current Air Tax by UK plus increased gratuities rates by some cruise lines like RCL then something has to break.
In this case passenger volumes might shift to other lines, people will travel less and more will not pat recommended gratuities.
My thoughts… /Rob