Cost of Fuel Hitting Home with Carnival

Carnival Corporation has announced that they are going to implement a $5 per person per day fuel supplement for the first and second passenger booked per cabin, not to exceed $70 per person on all cruises from February 1, 2008 and beyond. Along with new bookings, the fee is to be added to all existing bookings for cruises after the 1st of February. The $70 cap basically means that only those on cruises of 15 days or longer are getting a break if any. This fee will be applied to all ships in the Carnival, Costa, Cunard, Holland America, Princess and Yachts of Seabourn brands While cruising is still one of the cheapest vacations going, an additional $70 for some families could be a make or break item when it comes to planing a vacation when on top of the price of the cruise they are expected to pay $10 per person per day in gratuities. It is understandable that the company has to take measures to keep up with the rising cost of fuel, but I personally do not believe that people that are currently booked should be asked to pay more. One of the reasons people book early is to save money just like cruise lines and airlines do when they buy forward when they purchase fuel. All this is going to do is upset many people. My personal opinion is that because the cost of a cruise changes based on demand that any cruise line can increase the cost by $5 per day within the scope of operations and not have to put it out as a slap in the face especially to those that have already booked and were not expecting to see this additional bill. I doubt the fee will have a major impact on the bottom line in the whole scope of things, but I can already see some people starting their vacation off unhappy in a few months.