Is the price of my Cruise fixed?

Over the last week or so we have seen a change in the way that Fred Olsen are to charge for fuel supplements on their Cruise 2011 and beyond programmes, and that has generated a number of people asking whether the price we agree is fixed.

So here we go.


Over the last few months there has been a significant rise in the cost of Crude Oil, which is a key purchase for all Cruise lines. Although I am sure that they have contracts in place for their supply so they can fix this overhead cost recent price increases will be impacting on their anticipated cost of fuel and depressing their profit margin.

Hence we have seen first the addition of Fuel Supplements again, and now Fred Olsen's change to a % based system, in line with the EU Package Directive and ABTA guidelines for levying fuel surcharges.

So is that the end of the story, and once you and me have paid for our cruise, including the appropriate supplement are the Cruise lines going to come cap in hand for more money?

Well, when you book you 'are subject to the terms and conditions of the cruise line', as you can see it a phrase I know well, but hidden in those words are conditions that allow the cruise lines to come back for more money in the form of a fuel surcharge in certain conditions.

Not seen it happen just yet, but I bet it is not long before we start getting advices that costs have increased in this way and contacting customers for the additional payment.

As we are not paid commission on the fuel surcharge this goes direct to the cruise line, so as a travel agent in the middle we could have some fraught conversations when this starts.

There is some good news though, if the price of crude falls then Fred Olsen at least will refund the supplement to the passenger:-

“In the event that the price of Brent cruise oil falls back to £45 ($71) per barrel or below, averaged across the month prior to the date of departure, the fuel cost supplement will be refunded back to the passenger in the form of an on board spending credit.”

On Friday, Brent crude was trading at about $97 per barrel, so there does not look like any refunds in the immediate future!