Your Cruise Your Way Cruise Blog

Once again Carnival is leading the way, but this time its out of necessity rather than enhancing the cruise experience. The price of oil is finally affecting the cruise industry in a big way. Starting with all voyages sailing after February 1, 2008, you will now be assessed a $5 per day fuel surcharge, not to exceed $70 for the cruise per person. Carnival said that due to rapidly escalating fuel prices, their fuel costs have gone up over 140% over the last three years. In fairness to the Carnival, they will still be footing two thirds of the cost, with the supplement being used to offset the other third. You’ll have to agree, it could be a lot worse. At the gas pumps, no one is helping us with our rising fuel costs. We had a similar crunch back in the early 1990s that eventually went away. Hopefully this one will follow the same route.