My sister lives in England and they have a house in Spain (nice), I spoke with her yesterday and they got caught up in the gas price protests while they were over in Spain last week. They are wondering if they should drive the next time they go over or fly due to the airfare.
I realize I am a little off topic bringing airfare into the equation however I too have to wonder if in a couple of years how many of us will be cruising as often as we do now.
I just got a cruise quote and the Gas surcharge total for both the ship and the plane was $113 per person....Holy Moly...but I will bite the bullet and GO:-).....
The fuel surcharges are not unreasonable. Both CCL and RCL earnings projections have been trimmed dispite higher bookings for the their cruises. NCL's move to raise the fuel surcharge in not out of line. Any person visiting this site can refer to Bloomberg or Yahoo Finance, insert the stock symbol of CCL and RCL and read how market analysts are trimming earnings guidence all due to higher fuel charges. Should the bubble in the commodities pits and for oil futures specifically continue to go higher, than expect even higher fuel charges from the cruise line companies, & airlines. Food prices at the local grocery store and other consumer prices are all trending higher due to fuel surcharges that the trucking industry must pass on to the consumer to cover added costs. Get used to it, this situation may become a way of life for the American consumer and cruise line customer. Diesel fuel is over $4.89 per gallon here in the southwest USA already.
While I don't like the fuel surcharges also, if I want to cruise, I have to pay for it. We just booked our 13 day Panama Canal cruise on NCL for 2009, and if the trends continue we will have to pay more for the cruise. As Berick 123 stated, cruising is still a good value.
Bob....you are right, it's only money. Amazing how many people complain about a few extra bucks, and throw the money away elsewhere in day to day life. Can't take it with us when we die, so enjoy everyday you can.
Our next NCL cruise is back on the Star for a Mexican Riveria cruise with friends that we met on the Pearl a few years ago. That is scheduled for Novemeber 2008. Sure is nice to meet strangers who then become friends and then cruise together again.
After that we booked a 13 day Panama Canal cruise on NCL of course for late 2009. Hopefully we can get another cruise in sometime in between.
I am busy with my racing schedule in the fall, but the cruising is always fun and a break from the job.
We booked a short Mexican Riviera cruise on the Star in November 2008,- never been on the Star, same ship in November 2009 a 13 day Panama canal ending up in Miami. I agree NCL is fair value for money and present a good product
Small world.......Mary and I are booked on the same two cruises, on the Star both Nov 8th to 15th,2008 (Mexican Riveria) and Panama Canal, L.A. to Miami (Star)on Nov 23rd to Dec 6th, 2009. We were on the Star in 2005 and had a great time. We are looking forward to Freestyle 2.0
Close, we sail November 11th - 15th 2008 and Nov 23rd - Dec 6th 2009. We have booked a holiday in England for mid March 2009, will be cold but we have family over there.
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