TALLAHASSEE – Disney Cruise Line said Monday it will begin charging passengers to offset soaring fuel costs, joining every other major operator in the cruise industry.
Disney’s Celebration-based cruise company had for months resisted levying a fuel surcharge, which other cruise lines began adopting late last year. But Disney spokeswoman Christi Erwin Donnan said the charge has become a necessity with record oil prices showing no signs of abating.
“Fuel costs continue to affect many, and the impact on us has been no exception,” she said.
Beginning with bookings made as of May 28, Disney will charge the first and second passengers in a stateroom $8 a day, up to $112 a person per voyage. Any remaining travelers in a cabin will be charged $3 a day, up to $42 a person.
A family of four staying in one stateroom would pay an extra $154 for a seven-day cruise.
Disney’s fee matches the amount charged by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., the world’s second-biggest cruise operator. It is higher than the amount charged by the world’s largest cruise operator, Carnival Corp., which became the first company to enact a fuel surcharge in November 2007.
“It’s in alignment with the industry,” Erwin Donnan said.
Erwin Donnan said Disney intends to eliminate its fuel surcharge once oil spends 30 days trading below $70 a barrel. Oil closed at $118.75 a barrel Monday.
orlandosentinel.com
WHAT TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS ARTICLE:
- Beginning with bookings made as of May 28, Disney will charge the first and second passengers in a stateroom $8 a day, up to $112 a person per voyage.
- Any remaining travelers in a cabin will be charged $3 a day, up to $42 a person.
- A family of four staying in one stateroom would pay an extra $154 for a seven-day cruise.
