Disney Cruise Line Fuel Surcharge Decision

[Mozart]

One good point I'll give DCL is that they have not approached this like other cruise lines did.

At least they didn't say "This is retroactive to all cruises booked but not yet paid for" like another cruise line did. They also gave us one month to book another cruise before the surcharge goes into effect rather than increasing it instantly.

Looks like they learned from the Panama Canal fiasco.

 

[dursin]

One good point I'll give DCL is that they have not approached this like other cruise lines did.

At least they didn't say "This is retroactive to all cruises booked but not yet paid for" like another cruise line did. They also gave us one month to book another cruise before the surcharge goes into effect rather than increasing it instantly.

Looks like they learned from the Panama Canal fiasco.

Carnival was sued by the State of Florida and now has to refund $40 million in fuel surcharges that they illegally collected from people who had already booked. Pretty much the same thing happened to Royal Caribbean. So, DCL really deserves no credit for the way the implemented it. Looks like they learned from the mistakes the other cruise lines made.

 

[dutch_girl_scout]

Royal Caribbean is increasing theirs as of May 1st from $5 per person per night to $8 per person per night.

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/contentPage.do?pagename=fuel_supplement

 

[DCLLVR]

In this case, my choice might be to send a message by reducing the gratuities by an percentage proportional to the increased price I'll have to pay to take a Disney cruise and including a note stating why. I will also reduce spending at Shutters and in the gift shops and let them know why as well.

On the positive side, I already have a cruise booked for 2009 and don't plan on another until the first new ship is ready and I'm sure that oil will be down to $69.99 per barrel by then so none of this will matter to me.

Not sure how reducing gratuities to the employees would help, It's not their fault, it just seems to me that would be punishing them for something that is out of their control, but I certainly agree with not spending as much at Shutters or the gift shops.

Carnival was sued by the State of Florida and now has to refund $40 million in fuel surcharges that they illegally collected from people who had already booked. Pretty much the same thing happened to Royal Caribbean. So, DCL really deserves no credit for the way the implemented it. Looks like they learned from the mistakes the other cruise lines made.

Not sure why you are so down on DCL for this, pretty much any industry that uses oil in one way or another has had to raise its prices. Certainly Carnival did it the wrong way and is paying for it now ... overall, I think DCL held off as long as they possibly could before adding a fuel surcharge, I'm surprised they waited as long as they did, and the fact that they are only adding it for new bookings is smart. I guess this just doesn't bother me as much as it does some people, I guess I expect it, the higher price of any commodity always trickles down to the consumer (most times you are not as aware of it, they don't always call it a "surcharge", but it definately affects the bottom line price) ... especially something as expansive as fuel.

 

[allears]

In this case, my choice might be to send a message by reducing the gratuities by an percentage proportional to the increased price I'll have to pay to take a Disney cruise and including a note stating why. I will also reduce spending at Shutters and in the gift shops and let them know why as well.

On the positive side, I already have a cruise booked for 2009 and don't plan on another until the first new ship is ready and I'm sure that oil will be down to $69.99 per barrel by then so none of this will matter to me.

Oh yeah, cut the tips to the staff, that will teach the corporation. Why don't you get over the tipping thing and if you think DCL is such a rip off, sail else where.

 

[m4travel]

...and Royal Caribbean is going to $8/$3[pp, per day]. That still leaves DCL with the highest surcharges which seems a bit greedy on their part....

I think the opening post listed Disney as $8/pp for the first two guests in a cabin and $3/pp for additional guests - the same as the RCCL rates.

From stories in the Seattle Times and Orlando Business Journal: Carnival Lines (Carnival, Costa, Cunard, Holland American, Princess & Yachts of Seabourne) will charge $7/pp for the first two guests. Oceana will charge $7; Regent Seven Seas $7.50; Silversea $10; Cruise West $12 (not sure if the last four are per person or per cabin). NCL is also charging $9/pp for the first two guests and $3/pp for additional guests. Windstar and Majestic have fixed theirs at $8.50/pp/day. Some cruise lines will waive the surcharge but only if the reservation is paid in full before a particular date. Disney refers to 'new bookings'. [Updated from a current USA Today cruise blog entry.]

I would agree with Vossjemi -

If you can afford to cruise and pay thousands to do it, then DCL and other lines all probably think $154 isn't going to make you change your mind or your spending habits.

The combined surcharge my partner and I would spend is about 2% - 5% of the price of the cruise (depending upon category in which we sail) and that's not enough to keep us away. Would I rather not spend it? Oh my, yes, but it won't stop us from cruising Disney, especially since other cruise lines have similar charges. We'll spend more on our NCL cruise in October.

At least they haven't limited our luggage yet! That's when we start thinking seriously about cruising or not! Those pirate costumes take a great deal of space....

 

[orlandothebeagle]

If you want to moan about fuel come to Scotland at the moment
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4685213.stm

And NOTE litres NOT gallons!!

The fuel surcharge has been happening on airlines for ever!
Does not suprise me disney is doing it!

 

[orlandothebeagle]

Yes, thats 9 dollars a gallon!!!!

 

[aan1701]

I am going to chime in here and if you want to flame me go ahead I can take it. Welcome to the world we live in now. It is a fact of life now that oil prices are at record highs and there is no end in sight. The worst part is the government could not care less so we just have to deal with it as our elected reps. don't care. So if you want to make a statement, do it with your vote next time your congress or house member comes up for re election. Do not make some pour guy or girl serving you, or cleaning your room while you are on vacation pay the price. It is not their fault. I read that someone was not going to tip because of that. Great idea dude, if you a mean sprited person. The way I see it the choices are: You could give less to DCL by buying less on the ship which they will notice that on board sales have droped, or you can simply not go. In my case I am not going to have to worry about this till 2010, as I will be rebooking while I am on the Repo. for late 2009. I was not planing on booking a dummy dated anyways, so I am in luck. The way I look at it is, I will have plenty of time to budget for this so I can take my trip. One thing I will not be doing is, I will not reduce/not give tips because DCL is also feeling the crunch due to fuel prices.

 

[mwrogers]

We all new this was comming because "poor" oil barron George has to make $$$ before he leaves office.

Scott

Aww now don't go blamin' ol dubya. In order to keep the gas prices down, we would have had to go into the area very quickly and secure the oil fields before they were set on fire like the first gulf war........oh, wait, we did that........hmmmmmmm

Gas companies are public - if you don't like the way you think gas prices are going to head, you have the right to buy stock in them and offset your costs to some degree.

If your biggest complaint about "dubya" is that your gas is $3.50 per gallon and your Disney cruise may cost you an extra $200, maybe you should take a step back. Take a minute and think about what you'd be paying for gas if we weren't involved in stabalizing the middle east. And don't forget, if you had stopped to fill up your Prius in London this morning instead of New York, you'd have paid about $8.21 per gallon. Yeah, we have it rough over here, don't we!

As for CEO pay, only 2 oil companies had CEOs in the top 25 pay last year - and neither of them have production in the middle east!

Who was the #1 in CEO pay last year? Apple's Steve Jobs. Go blame him for your problems.

 

[dursin]

Oh yeah, cut the tips to the staff, that will teach the corporation. Why don't you get over the tipping thing and if you think DCL is such a rip off, sail else where.

 

[dursin]

Not sure how reducing gratuities to the employees would help, It's not their fault, it just seems to me that would be punishing them for something that is out of their control, but I certainly agree with not spending as much at Shutters or the gift shops.

I probably wouldn't reduce the gratuity, but would limit them to the exact suggested amounts (I usually go over) and include a note saying why I couldn't afford to give them more. That seems like a better option than penalizing them by going under the guidelines.

Not sure why you are so down on DCL for this, pretty much any industry that uses oil in one way or another has had to raise its prices. Certainly Carnival did it the wrong way and is paying for it now ... overall, I think DCL held off as long as they possibly could before adding a fuel surcharge, I'm surprised they waited as long as they did, and the fact that they are only adding it for new bookings is smart. I guess this just doesn't bother me as much as it does some people, I guess I expect it, the higher price of any commodity always trickles down to the consumer (most times you are not as aware of it, they don't always call it a "surcharge", but it definately affects the bottom line price) ... especially something as expansive as fuel.

I was just saying that DCL didn't deserve 'points' or credit for not making the surcharge retroactive as they most certainly would have been sued by Florida if they had. My main issue here really is them separating it out as a surcharge when fuel is part of the cost of doing business for them and should be factored into the pricing of their product.

 

[dursin]

Gas companies are public - if you don't like the way you think gas prices are going to head, you have the right to buy stock in them and offset your costs to some degree.

If your biggest complaint about "dubya" is that your gas is $3.50 per gallon and your Disney cruise may cost you an extra $200, maybe you should take a step back. Take a minute and think about what you'd be paying for gas if we weren't involved in stabalizing the middle east. And don't forget, if you had stopped to fill up your Prius in London this morning instead of New York, you'd have paid about $8.21 per gallon. Yeah, we have it rough over here, don't we!

Last time I checked we were de-stablizing the middle east, but whatever....

As for CEO pay, only 2 oil companies had CEOs in the top 25 pay last year - and neither of them have production in the middle east!

Who was the #1 in CEO pay last year? Apple's Steve Jobs. Go blame him for your problems.

Steve Jobs?!? Thank you....that comment certainly puts the rest of your post in proper perspective.

 

[HiddenMickeys]

Gas companies are public - if you don't like the way you think gas prices are going to head, you have the right to buy stock in them and offset your costs to some degree.

If your biggest complaint about "dubya" is that your gas is $3.50 per gallon and your Disney cruise may cost you an extra $200, maybe you should take a step back. Take a minute and think about what you'd be paying for gas if we weren't involved in stabalizing the middle east. And don't forget, if you had stopped to fill up your Prius in London this morning instead of New York, you'd have paid about $8.21 per gallon. Yeah, we have it rough over here, don't we!

As for CEO pay, only 2 oil companies had CEOs in the top 25 pay last year - and neither of them have production in the middle east!

Who was the #1 in CEO pay last year? Apple's Steve Jobs. Go blame him for your problems.

on contraire mon frere, gas is FAR from my biggest complaint about dubya. But, in regards to this topic, it is, since we are discussing gas and all. But I digress. Yes, we do have it rough. As does my coworker, who's son is an MP in the marines and is currently GUARDING an oil field in Iraq, while gas is $4/gallon. "Stabilizing" is a subjective term in the eye of the beholder, and if you bothered to read ALL of my posts instead of quoting just one, you would see that what Disney does with surcharges isn't really going to change much of WHAT I do in terms of vacationing, just HOW I do it. If I have to downgrade my cabin, or spend less on board, I will because I do only have a certain amount of money to spend, and contrary to popular belief, yes I do have it rough as do many others. If you do not, more power to you my friend.

 

[orlandothebeagle]

I am going away to google steve jobs!!

 

[JoiseyMom]

I am going to chime in here and if you want to flame me go ahead I can take it. Welcome to the world we live in now. It is a fact of life now that oil prices are at record highs and there is no end in sight. The worst part is the government could not care less so we just have to deal with it as our elected reps. don't care. So if you want to make a statement, do it with your vote next time your congress or house member comes up for re election. Do not make some pour guy or girl serving you, or cleaning your room while you are on vacation pay the price. It is not their fault. I read that someone was not going to tip because of that. Great idea dude, if you a mean sprited person. The way I see it the choices are: You could give less to DCL by buying less on the ship which they will notice that on board sales have droped, or you can simply not go. In my case I am not going to have to worry about this till 2010, as I will be rebooking while I am on the Repo. for late 2009. I was not planing on booking a dummy dated anyways, so I am in luck. The way I look at it is, I will have plenty of time to budget for this so I can take my trip. One thing I will not be doing is, I will not reduce/not give tips because DCL is also feeling the crunch due to fuel prices.

Thank you so much for posting this. ITA!!!

Don't ***** to DCL, complain to your elected officials, write them. Tell them that THEY have to do something to control the oil/gas prices in our country.

DCL is reacting to higher costs. They have a bottom line, as do we all. They have to answer to their stock holders and they need to do this.

As prices go up everywhere I cut back, I don't drive as often, I stopped buying certain items at the grocery store. We eat out less. Everything is going up. When my tank is at 3/4 or 1/2, I will top off before they rise again. Unfortunately for me, my "customer" is my family and I can't charge them more! So we cut back, just like everyone else in the good ole USA!!

 

[aan1701]

I am going away to google steve jobs!!

Steve Jobs is the CEO of the best computer company in the world Apple. ( can you tell I hate Windows based computers) He is also the largest Share holder in Disney. That happened after disney bought Pixar with stock.

 

[orlandothebeagle]

Ah, thanks !!
The stuff you learn on this board.

 

[HiddenMickeys]

As prices go up everywhere I cut back, I don't drive as often, I stopped buying certain items at the grocery store. We eat out less. Everything is going up. When my tank is at 3/4 or 1/2, I will top off before they rise again. Unfortunately for me, my "customer" is my family and I can't charge them more! So we cut back, just like everyone else in the good ole USA!!

Exactly. Thank you for putting it so well. People will "deal" with the increase, but again will cut back where/when they have to. Will disney feel the pinch of less on board spending? maybe. But as prices continue to rise for fuel, or cruises in general, some of us will need to cut back, somewhere.

 

[mwrogers]

I am going away to google steve jobs!!

Steve Jobs proper noun: - CEO of Apple, largest share holder of Disney. Often conveniently overlooked by liberals complaining about the pay of CEO's. Embraces competition in the marketplace until it cuts into his bottom line.

"Stabilizing" is a subjective term in the eye of the beholder...

If you can state that you truly believe the middle east would be better off if we weren't there, and keep a strait face, you should run for office. You'd make a great politician.

... and if you bothered to read ALL of my posts instead of quoting just one...

Haven't the time nor the inclination.

...you would see that what Disney does with surcharges isn't really going to change much of WHAT I do in terms of vacationing, just HOW I do it.

Well put.