Fuel Surcharges May Be Reinstated

Cruise Line Fuel Surcharges Coming Next?  That's My Prediction.

With the price of fuel rising (again) and cruise fares expected to remain low this winter, I would not be at all surprised to see the cruise lines reinstate fuel surcharges.  All of them have retained the right to do so, and have a disclaimer to that effect on existing reservations.  I'm not a financial genius (if I were I wouldn't be selling cruises), but I'm just waiting for the ball to drop.

$100-per-barrel oil could renew airline surcharges

Crude oil is nearing $100 a barrel, which could force major airlines to impose fuel surcharges or raise fares. "Every dollar that fuel rises erodes their earnings," said Jim Corridore, an equity analyst at Standard & Poor's. "It's not good news to see fuel prices back up. Once we start approaching $100 a barrel, you'll start to see fuel surcharges come back." Bloomberg (12/22) 

The Elf Keeps Going

Last night he gift wrapped the kid's bedroom doors, and then got a little tangled up in the paper and ribbon and left a mess in the living room.  Note: he's been drinking - see the beer bottle.

The Elf on the Shelf

My sister's kids have an Elf on the Shelf.  For those of you who are not well versed in Elves, the Elf on the Shelf shows up awhile before Christmas; an ambassador for Santa, if you will.  He keeps an eye on the girls and boys and reports directly back to Santa each day.  Every morning he is found in a different place in the house (because he needs to watch the kids from all around) and they have to find him.

Well, we're not sure what got into the Elf this year (maybe he ate some bad fairy dust), but he's turned quite mischievous.   No longer a quiet observer, he's taken Christmas into his own hands. So far he has

Held a snowball fight in the family room with the Grinch

 

Eaten my sister's Milano cookies (something no sane person would attempt)

Led all the animals on safari

 Ziplined across the living room (he saw pictures of Dorothy doing this on the Allure of the Seas and wanted to try it himself)

 

Used my sister for target practice  (really bad elf)

And done a little cross-dressing (an elf of questionable taste), stealing clothes from my niece's doll and make-up from my sister:

Fortunately, when he decided to go fishing it was only for pretzel gold-fish.

The elf needs an attitude adjustment, but there's not much time before Christmas.  I've suggested he be handcuffed and returned to Santa (express mail), but he's a wily one and hasn't yet been caught. 

Am thinking he needs a one way cruise to the North Pole.  Wonder what he'll do tonight?

Anybody have any ideas what to do with this reprobate?  I should think my sister would be afraid to go to sleep at night.  What could be worse than an elf gone over to the dark side?

Too Many Ships? Bah Humbug!

Too many ships in Florida bringing down pricing?  Bring it on!!!

From an article in Travel Mole (www.travelmole.com)

South Florida: too many ships?

More and more cruise ships sailing out of Port Everglades may create a problem, at least for owners but certainly not for travelers. “The abundance of berths will mean more choices aboard top-rated ships -- and often at surprisingly low prices,” concludes The Miami Herald. Three more new ships -- from Holland America, Celebrity and Seabourn – are arriving in South Florida. This winter, there could be as many as three dozen ships carrying 90,000 passengers at any given time. That’s driven prices down for cruisers. Even on upscale lines, prices sometimes fall below US$100 per person per day, double occupancy. Accidents such as an engine fire that disabled the Carnival Splendor are not expected to impact prices, say cruise officials who think most would-be cruisers think such problems are rare. By David Wilkening

Royal Caribbean More Than Fair to Brilliance Passengers

From a report this morning in Travel Pulse - an online newsletter for the travel industry: "Royal Caribbean International will refund cruise fares to passengers onboard Brilliance of the Seas, which listed during a severe storm Dec. 12 as it approached Alexandria, Egypt. The company is also giving them an onboard credit of $200 per stateroom and $400 per suite." 

Now I think that's more than fair.  When was the last time you saw an airline offer to refund passengers for an unpleasant incident, much less offer them credit (so they could pay for pillows and blankets?) on a future trip.  I think they've done the right thing.  I've never heard of Amtrak giving credits for future trips.  Does Greyhound do that? 

As for the captain putting the passengers, crew and ship in danger ... I just don't believe that.  According to the reports the rough seas lasted for 10 minutes (TEN minutes).  I'm not a certified cruise ship captain, but I've been out in a few boats and I know squalls can develop.  I know you have to expect the unexpected at sea.  I know that the sea is very big and my ship (whatever ship I'm on, even the Allure of the Seas) is very small.  I respect that.   I was on a huge cruise ship coming out of port in Amsterdam when the ship took a roll and every bottle in the bar fell and smashed.  It gave us all a jolt, but at no point were we in danger.  Let's not exaggerate.  "The ship laid over on its side"? I don't think so, but I'm willing to believe a 15 degree tilt.  Many people voluntarily take a 15 degree tilt (or further) on cruise ships after a couple of hours at the bar. 

It's not that I don't have sympathy for the two passengers with broken bones, but when a sudden jolt hits, people can fall and people are breakable.  Even on vacation.

So what's with all the fuss lately about ships in storms, ships losing power, ships rocking and rolling?  "The wave of bad news for the cruise lines is due to a combination of factors, experts say -- poor winter weather, simple coincidence and the increased availability of cell phone cameras and laptops that spread dramatic pictures quickly. "(ABC News) "People ran to their computers to report this," said John Deiner, managing editor of CruiseCritic.com. "They didn't wait until they got into port, they wanted people to know right away."  Of course headlines like ABC's "Horror on the High Seas" don't help. 

And I think that's largely the case.  Whether the news bureaus decide to focus on the cruise lines also depends on what else is going on in the world.  Today poor weather is a highlight and this event increases the  thrill factor.  That's what sells newspapers - if anything sells newspapers these days, I hear subscriptions are down substantially. There's a headline for you "Newspaper Subscription Take Headlong Slide" or how about "Newspapers Facing Their Final Demise"?

I heard also that there was a pile-up on I-40 due to the storm conditions in the mid-west.  But I don't see anybody selling their cars or canceling their Christmas trips over the river and through the woods.  Anybody turning in their season tickets for their favorite football team because the Metrodome roof caved in?

For centuries men (and women) have gone down to the sea in ships.  That's why there are shipwrecks.  There wouldn't be car wrecks without cars.  No train wrecks without trains.  There hasn't been a shipwreck of disastrous proportions that I can think of offhand since the Windjammer ship "Fantome" sank off of Belize in 1998. That's a whole 'nother story, give me a call and we can go through it.

The news media nearly destroyed tourism to Miami in the 1980's - to the point that some hotels blocked news broadcasts from the more sensationalist networks.  We live in an era where everything is supposed to be padded, protected, coddled and preserved.  Don't ride your bicycle without a helmet, send your child to school with a peanut butter sandwich or drink hot coffee from McDonalds.

Yes the ocean can be a dangerous place, it's also fascinating, alluring, mysterious, beautiful, soothing, timeless, tempting and exciting.  Save me a cabin - I'll go!

The above is an opinion, feel free to disagree; opinions are like belly buttons - everyone has one.

Stupid Passenger Tricks - The First in an Intermittent Series

I've decided to write a series on dumb passenger tricks.  The series will appear intermittently as these episodes are reported .  Most stupid events that occur on ships are directly related to quantities of alcohol consumed. The following was inspired by the report I read this morning on Travel Weekly Daily Bulletin, which I am quoting verbatim:

Drunk passenger drops anchor

(Cruise)

A drunk passenger aboard Holland America Line’s Ryndam released the vessel’s stern anchor as the cruise ship was returning to Tampa from Costa Maya, Mexico, on a weeklong western Caribbean itinerary last weekend.

Although deploying the anchor could have caused significant damage, the Ryndam was unharmed.
The FBI has charged Rick Ehlert, 44, of Thousand Oaks, Calif., with attempting to "damage, destroy, disable or wreck a vessel." That’s a felony charge.

The ship was in motion with about 1,950 passengers and crew onboard at the time of the incident.
A subsequent review of the ship’s surveillance video showed Ehlert entering a restricted work area, donning work gloves and releasing the anchor at 5:30 a.m. on Nov. 27 while still dressed in his formal attire from the previous evening. Ehlert was traveling with his girlfriend.

Once the ship docked in Tampa, he was met by agents of the FBI and the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service and admitted to being drunk, throwing a life buoy overboard and disabling the anchor.
He claimed to own a 50-foot boat that had a similar anchor system.

Holland America confirmed that the details in the FBI affidavit "accurately reflect what happened, to the best of our knowledge."

Wonder what Ehlert’s bar tab was for that night?

— Gay Nagle Myers

And was it worth being carted off by the FBI and having your actions made public for all the world to see?