Royal Carib. and NCL have announced that extra fuel costs included in paid bookings will be refunded via ships' credits for sailings after Jan. 1st. 2009. Will Regent copy ?

Regent has already issued a policy on this subject and it is relevant to the price of oil the quarter before sailing. The refunds will be in the form of a shipboard credit. I went to link you to my LATEST NEWS part of my web for full details but do not see that it is posted. I will get that updated on Monday.

Carnival Corp is doing the same thing, giving a shipboard credit for fully paid bookings, and dropping and re invoicing for bookings under deposit. Carnival Corp owns HAL, Princess, Seabourn, Cunard, Costa, Windstar.

Neville, Ngaire told us about the fuel rebates in this post.

December 5th it closed at under $41 and they're predicting it to go even lower, so I bet all of us who are cruising in the 1st quarter 2009 will get the shipboard credit.....Yippee that'll cover two more rounds of golf :app:

PRESTIGE CRUISE HOLDINGS ANNOUNCES ELIMINATION OF FUEL SUPPLEMENT CHARGES Fuel Supplement Charges to be Removed From All 2009 Voyages for Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises.
MIAMI, December 8, 2008 – Prestige Cruise Holdings, parent company of Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, has announced that fuel supplement charges will be eliminated from all voyages departing in 2009. PCH had previously announced that fuel supplement charges for 2010 voyages would be eliminated effective November 10, 2008.

Frank Del Rio, chairman of Prestige Cruise Holdings, stated that the company was eliminating these charges due to the dramatic decrease in the price of crude oil. "As the price of oil has tumbled into the low $40 range, we can now eliminate the fuel surcharge on all 2009 voyages and as long as the price remains below $65 per barrel, we are confident that we will not require a surcharge in the future," he added.

The fuel supplement charge will be removed from reservations for all 2009 voyages at the time of final payment. Guests who have already paid in full for their 2009 voyage will be issued a shipboard credit equal to the fuel supplement charge they were assessed.

Prestige Cruise Holdings will continue to monitor the price of fuel and retains the right to reinstate the fuel supplement charge at any time should market conditions warrant.

About Prestige Cruise Holdings:

Prestige Cruise Holdings (PCH) is a subsidiary of Apollo Management L.P. and the parent corporation of Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Oceania Cruises. Formed in 2007 to manage select assets in Apollo Management’s cruise investment portfolio, PCH is led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Frank J. Del Rio, the founder of Oceania Cruises. PCH is the market leader in the Upper Premium and Luxury segments of the cruise industry with more than 4,450 berths between the Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Oceania Cruises brands, a number the company expects will grow to more than 6,700 berths by 2011.

About Oceania Cruises:

Oceania Cruises® is the world’s only upper-premium cruise line and offers a unique combination of the finest cuisine at sea, luxurious accommodations, exceptional personalized service and extraordinary value. As the leader in destination cruising, Oceania Cruises sails to more than 180 ports in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, South America, and the Caribbean. Featuring three intimate and elegant mid-sized ships, Regatta, Insignia and Nautica, the line will introduce the new mid-size Marina to its award-winning fleet in 2010 along with an identical sister-ship in 2011. For additional information, to make a reservation, or to order a brochure, please contact your Travel Agent or Oceania Cruises at 800-531-5658. Visit us at www.OceaniaCruises.com.

About Regent Seven Seas Cruises: Regent Seven Seas Cruises operates a fleet of medium-sized luxury cruise ships that visit over 300 ports on all seven continents, including Antarctica. RSSC is consistently rated among the world’s top three cruise lines by readers of luxury travel magazines. Travel professionals worldwide voted RSSC the "World’s Best Luxury Cruise Line" for the fourth consecutive year as part of the 2007 Travel Weekly Awards and readers of Condé Nast Traveler magazine voted RSSC "World’s Best Small-Ship Cruise Line" in 2007. For further information, contact Regent Seven Seas Cruises, 1000 Corporate Drive, Suite 500, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 33334. For brochures, call toll-free (866) 284-4079; for reservation information call toll-free (800) 285-1835; or visit www.rssc.com

SOURCE:

Prestige Cruise Holdings, Inc.

CONTACTS: Prestige Cruise Holdings, Inc. Media Contact

Tim Rubacky, +1-786-223-3846

My daughter and I are on the Voyager - Dec. 29-Jan. 12. Does anybody know if there will be any shipboard credits for this cruise since most of it is in 2009?

Happy to hear that Regent is eliminating the fuel charge. Now, if Delta will reduce the amount of miles required for our flight we'd be all set. judy & John

Or how about the baggage charges. :mad:

Spot on Jim!!!!

Nancy

I asked that same question in an email to Mark Conroy last night. We'll see if he replies. By announcing that the fuel surcharges have been eliminated from all cruises after 1 January and given that those who have already sailed are past history, the Regent policy (as opposed to that announced by Holland America, etc.--effective for all cruise that haven't sailed) creates a small annoyed class of those of us who will still sail in 2008 knowing that the fees are gone days later (we are on the 29 Dec Voyager cruise, as well).

I just got this email from Regent:


IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING CRUISE FUEL SUPPLEMENT CHARGES


Dear Guest:

Regent Seven Seas Cruises is pleased to announce that, with immediate effect, fuel supplement charges that had been in effect for cruises departing in 2009 will be eliminated.

If you have already booked and made full payment on your 2009 voyage, you will be issued a Shipboard Credit equal to the fuel supplement charge on your reservation.

With the price of crude oil currently in the low $40 per barrel range, we are confident that we will not require a surcharge in the near future. However, we do of course reserve the right to reinstate the supplement should there be another dramatic increase in these costs.

We would like to thank you for your continued support of Regent Seven Seas Cruises, and we look forward to welcoming you aboard.

Kind regards,

Mark S. Conroy
President

I would guess that they won't give credit for the balance of 2008 b/c they have either already purchased or have committed to purchase their fuel at a set rate which was probably higher than that which will be used after January 1

Regent - and all the other lines I assume - commit to purchase fuel way in advance at whatever the prevailing rate is at the time.

We ran into that issue just before the crossing back to FtL at the end of the 2008WC - the fuel we were supposed to get was sold out from under us - for a higher price than Regent had contracted for - and Dag had to scramble to find a place to buy what we needed. He did in Gibraltar. At a higher cost than the original contract.

Peggy

It ultimately has very little to do with the actual purchase costs for fuel as it is averaged over time. The point in my request to Mark Conroy is to not make the 6 (7?) yet-to-sail Regent cruises this year the only ones that will sail after knowing the surcharges have gone away...in some cases very early in the cruise. This appears to be what Carnival Corp. did since their 17 December effective date cancels all surcharges for their cruises that haven't yet sailed. In my second round of messages to Mark (he replied to the first message with a promise to look into it and see how/why the date was chosen), I suggested that Regent match Carnival (with includes Seabourn...so it isn't just about matching a LCC).