A voyage of discovery of the world's best cruise lines.
Contents:
Best Cruise Lines Hike Fuel Surcharge
I barely had time to update the comprehensive listing of best cruise lines' fuel surcharges on our website, when another change was announced. After taking a massive hit on its bottom line last week through an agreement with the Florida’s Attorney General’s office, Carnival Corporation & plc will be increasing the fuel surcharges it collects on The Yachts of Seabourn, Cunard, Princess, Holland America, Costa and Carnival Cruises.
Today, April 7, Bill Harbor, director of corporate marketing at Carnival Corporation, announced that effective April 21, the fuel surcharge will increase to $7 per day for each of the first two passengers in a cabin, and a new fee of $2 per day will be assessed on each additional passenger in the same cabin.
The new fuel surcharge rates will not exceed $98 per voyage for each of the first two passengers in a cabin and $28 per voyage for any additional passengers. Bookings made on or before April 20 will not be assessed the new rates.
I’m sure it will not be long before Royal Caribbean Corporation’s lines – Azamara, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean Cruises – follow Carnival’s lead. As most of the best cruise lines have opened reservations through the 2008-9 season, booking cruises now for next year will save some money and guaranty the cost of your cruise trips. Thanks to the Florida Attorney General’s office, the cruise lines learned they cannot add these new fees retroactively.
Airlines’ impact on cruise trips This has been a trying week for everyone who booked flights for their cruise trips on a low-cost / alternative airline. Aloha Airlines ceased operations on Sunday after 61 years in operation; ATA Airlines, based in Indiana, followed on Wednesday; and this morning, Skybus Airlines shut its doors.
Aloha and ATA served the Hawaiian market, with flights typically priced much less than the larger commercial carriers.
Skybus, which began flying on May 22, 2007, served more out-of-the-way destinations but offered “no-frills, low-cost” flights, starting at $10 each way. With bases in Columbus, Ohio and Greensboro, NC, the company modeled its operations after the European carrier, Ryan Air.
Risk management is the primary advantage of booking flights for cruise trips through the cruise lines. If a flight is late or canceled, the cruise line’s responsibility for flights it books is to ensure its passengers board the ship at the next port. Typically, and excluding any special offers for “free” air, the cruise lines assume this risk with an accompanying hefty price tag.
To save on costs, many cruisers book their own flights. A word of caution considering this week’s events in the air line industry, the abysmal performance of U.S. airlines in recent months and announcements by airlines of cut-backs in schedules – if you purchase airfare independently of your cruise fare, first purchase travel protection insurance.
Don’t purchase this coverage through the cruise lines – their policies will offer little, if any, protection for any travel purchased independently of the cruise line – and most of the best cruise lines self-fund their policies, so there is no coverage if the cruise line should cease operation!
Many companies offer travel protection plans to cover all pre-paid and non-refundable costs for your cruise trips – read the policies and the exclusions carefully before purchasing the policy, then book your fights. If an airline or other supplier doesn’t perform, your vacation will be protected.
Passengers on Carnival Corporation & plc’s best cruise lines who booked their cruises before November 7, 2007 and were charged a fuel surcharge, will see a refund. Today the company announced a voluntary agreement, similar to that announced earlier this month by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., with the Florida Attorney General’s Office.
The refund applies to guests who booked their cruises prior to the fuel surcharge’s implementation and departed on or after February 1, 2008. The best cruise lines involved include the Cunard Line, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, The Yachts of Seabourn, Carnival Cruise Lines, and Costa Cruises.
Refunds will be processed based on the cruise departure date according to the following schedule:
For cruises departing on or before April 4, 2008, passengers will receive a refund in the same form they used to purchase their cruise;
For cruises departing from April 5, 2008 through June 23, 2008, passengers will receive an on-board credit in lieu of a refund;
For cruises departing on or after June 24, 2008, the fuel surcharge will be deleted from their account balance.
For bookings made on or after November 7, 2007 – the date Carnival Corporation & plc announced the fuel surcharge – the fee remains in effect.
All the lines, with the exception of Disney, followed Carnival and Royal Caribbean’s lead in implementing a surcharge. Will these best cruise lines now take the initiative to refund the charges assessed on bookings under deposit before their surcharges were announced? Or will they try to hold on to their excess profits?
Best Cruise Lines Fuel Surcharge Update
All passengers who booked a cruise on the best cruise lines owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCCL) prior to November 16 (the date the fuel surcharge was implemented) will see the increased charges for the fuel surcharge removed from their invoice.
On Monday, March 10, 2008, the company, after negotiations with the Florida Attorney General’s office, announced that it would eliminate the fuel surcharge (note: the Attorney General announced on Tuesday that the refunds could total $21 million dollars!) assessed on these passengers. This policy affects guests on Azamara Cruises, Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean International Cruises.
If you booked your cruise on one of these best cruise lines before November 16, paid the increased cost and have already cruised, you will receive a refund for the additional charge. If you have paid in full and will be cruising in the future, you will receive an onboard credit for the amount of the fuel surcharge.
Passengers, who booked before November 16 and were charged the additional amount but have not paid in full, will have the surcharge removed from their invoice.
Here’s hoping more of the best cruise lines will follow RCCL’s lead, treat their passengers fairly, and remove the fuel surcharge for guests who booked their cruise trips before the surcharge was implemented.
Best Cruise Lines for Families
Are you thinking of a family cruise vacation and want one with the best programs for your kids and a good range of standard cruise amenities – pool, spa, good dining, evening shows and a range of destination – for all family members? Following are my suggestions for the best cruise lines programs for kids:
Disney Cruise Line
Disney Cruise Line remains my number one choice for best cruise lines for families, especially for those with children – or adults – who love the Disney characters. An experience on a Disney cruise is total immersion into the world of Mickey and Donald and Minnie and all the other family favorites. The Disney Wonder and Magic are top-rated cruise ships with luxurious features and a full-range of amenities for every age (including adults’ only areas for those who need a break from the excitement).
Offering 7-night cruises through the Caribbean and 3 or 4-night cruises with an optional stay at DisneyWorld, Disney is a premium family cruise vacation experience.
Royal Caribbean
For families with active, older children – those for whom the Disney characters have disappeared into depths of overfilled closets – who are eager for extreme experiences, I suggest Royal Caribbean’s fleet. Featuring rock-climbing walls, ice skating rinks – even wave /surf simulators on the newer ships – plus the Adventure Ocean program for ages 3 through 17, a cruise with Royal Caribbean provides a great setting for an active family cruise vacation.
Families can join together while learning to scuba dive in the pool; kids can join Adventure Ocean’s daily activities or join their new friends in the teen-only nightclub in the evenings; adult family members can explore the daily onboard activities, lounge at the pool, indulge in the spa or just relax with a good book.
Each evening, the mini-golf course provides a place for families to unwind after the meal. And whilst mentioning meals, I learned at the Boston Travel Show last week a fleet-wide priority is to improve the food. This is good news and promises increased quality and diversity for dining.
Carnival Cruises
Carnival has been working hard to change its image from the “Party Animal” cruise line to one that is family-oriented. As part of this initiative, Carnival offers a diverse kids program that is especially beneficial for families with children in different age groups.
Camp Carnival offers activities for kids between the ages of 2 and 11 years old in three separate age groupings. A range of fun activities are scheduled so kids can join others their age or take a “day off” to be with their family.
A separate program – Circle "C" – offered for kids ages 12 to 14, features daytime activities designed for teens. Every night, Circle “C” members get together in their “private” club to dance and mingle with new friends.
Club O2 is designed for teens from ages 15 to 17 and features group sports activities (basketball, volleyball) with a mix of movies, pool parties and on some ships, a special lounge only for Club O2 members. Carnival also offers a choice of teen-only shore excursions that teens can enjoy with their friends.
To celebrate its 36th anniversary, Carnival announced earlier this week its “Funtennial Celebration” -- special promotions and savings on all cruises booked during March. Each week offers different special – including cabin upgrades and onboard credits. Every guest who books a cruise will be entered into a weekly contest with a grand prize of a free cruise for two in the Owners Suite aboard either the Imagination or the Inspiration.
If you’re planning a family getaway for later this year or next, March is a good time to choose Carnival. The details are “highly confidential” and each week’s offerings will be announced on the preceding Saturday. Give me a call toll-free at 1-888-825-4529 or send an email to learn about the special of the week.
Small Cruise Ships
The best large cruise lines provide a wide range of activities for family cruise vacations. If, however, you’re looking for a more personalized family vacation experience that combines on-the-ground adventure in different ports with educational exploration, come back for my next posting on the best family cruise vacations on small cruise ships.
Choosing the Best Cruise Lines for your Cruise Trips
Gala awards, traveler’s surveys and readers polls on the best cruise lines are more common than snow-free days in New Hampshire in February. Recently I read that the Europa, one of the Hapag-Lloyd (a relatively little-known-to-the-US-market European line) cruise ships was proclaimed the very best in every area – service, itineraries, cabins, cuisine, on-board programs and so forth – but does this make it the best cruise line for you? Maybe not….
If you’re a seasoned traveler with ample resources (special pricing for a 15-day Polynesian adventure on the Europa’s sister ship, the 164 passenger Bremen, is $6,500 per person -- originally priced at $10,140 per person -- based on double occupancy) and a true appreciation for stimulating lectures, incredibly creative on-board activities and an “expedition of knowledge” plus exquisite cuisine, my answer is “yes.”
But if you’re seeking a venue for a family reunion, or a close-up encounter with wildlife in a remote jungle, or non-stop activities to occupy your children and give you a chance to relax and bask in the sun, Hapag-Lloyd is not the best cruise line for you.
My suggestions, before you begin to search for your ideal cruise trips among an overwhelming number of options, are to consider each of these three key factors:
Destination – where would you like to travel? Are there any regions in the world you would like to see? And when do you plan to cruise?
Price /value – how much do you plan to spend? The transportation costs to arrive at the embarkation and disembarkation ports and the costs of having a good time on board should be added to your budget.
Amenities – what do you and the people traveling with you really enjoy doing? Cruising is the ideal time to try something different while enjoying activities you like.
Matching the features of the ship and destinations, within any price constraints, with your interests and desires is key to ensuring you’ll choose the best cruise lines for your cruise trips.
Cruise lines fuel surcharge heads to court
As predicted, outraged cruisers have turned to court to fight the “fuel surcharges” implemented late last year by the cruise lines (check out the updated and complete list of all these surcharges on my website).
Earlier this week, Florida attorney Harley Tropin filed a class action suit in Miami court on behalf of a New York client alleging that several of the best cruise lines "agreed to act in concert with one another by imposing these fuel surcharges based on purported increased fuel costs. In doing so, defendants sought to opportunistically leverage their cartel power to charge their customers higher fuel surcharges." Notice of the lawsuit was published in the Tampa Bay Business Journal on February 14.
More details on the suit can be found in Chris Elliott’s blog.
The suit seems to apply only to those who purchased tickets after January 1. Whether this also will affect those who were notified after booking their cruises they owed additional money is unclear.
While the suit names only the Carnival Corporation & PLC, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd, Norwegian Cruise Line, Ambassadors International (Windstar and Majestic America), Silversea Cruises, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises in addition to the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA), it also mentions several unnamed co-conspirators – “On information and belief, certain cruise line operators, trade groups and/or other entities, unnamed herein…”
As the case evolves, it will be interesting to learn whether these unnamed co-conspirators are additional cruise lines, or perhaps the travel agents who sent out letters announcing the increase to their already-booked clients and collected the additional funds in exchange for a $10 “administrative fee.”
Best Cruise Lines offer Secret Bonus
Beneath the waves of the cruise line’s fuel surcharges is a little known secret, buried deeply in the financial statements of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd and Carnival Corporation & plc. – onboard credits for shareholders.
These major corporations own several of the best cruise lines: the newly launched Azamara line and Celebrity are among Royal Caribbean’s fleet; Holland America, Princess, Cunard, Costa and the Yachts of Seabourn are owned by Carnival.
If you are a shareholder of at least 100 shares of Carnival Corporation & plc stock, you are entitled to an onboard credit of $250 on sailings of 14 days or longer, $100 on sailings of 7 to 13 days and $50 on sailings of 6 days or less. Of course there are conditions: your cruise must be booked by February 28, 2008, you must sail by July 31, 2008 and only one shareholder offer can be applied to a stateroom.
If you own the required shares and you’ve already booked your cruise, but haven’t sailed, you will receive this credit after submitting the required paperwork. Application for the onboard credit must be made before your cruise departure date. The credit is also good for any sailings aboard one of Carnival’s Fun Ships.
Royal Caribbean’s offer is similar but may be less restrictive – I could not find mention of a date when the offer ends. Shareholders with at least 100 shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd stock at the time of sailing are entitled to a $250 onboard credit for cruises of 14 nights or more; a $200 onboard credit for cruises of 9 to 13 nights; a $100 onboard credit for cruises of 6 to 8 nights and a $50 credit for cruises of 5 nights or less.
Sailings on Celebrity’s Xpedition to the Galapagos are excluded from this offer and only one credit can apply to a stateroom, but you can receive this benefit every time you cruise – as long as you own at least 100 shares of stock.
Ride the wave of onboard credits if you’re a stockholder in one of these corporations and enjoy an added bonus on your next vacation aboard one of the best cruise lines.
Fuel Surcharges Final Comments
Now that the holiday season has ended and the arctic weather in New Hampshire has subsided for a day or so, the thought of heading southward for a relaxing week or so in warmth and sunshine is very appealing. As much as I would love to get away from the snow and ice, I’m still too outraged at the best cruise lines’ fuel surcharges to make plans for a brief escape-away.
During the latter part of December, several more of the best cruise lines hopped aboard the fuel surcharge express and announced assessments for 2008. For anyone
Three Cheers for Disney Cruise Lines!
who is planning a cruise in 2008 but has not booked it, be sure the quoted price includes the surcharge as it can add a significant cost to your vacation.
