Disney Cruise Line is still thinking about adding a fuel surcharge for cruisers.  However, they've apparently learned their lesson because they're not going to add it to folks that have already booked, as many other cruise lines have done.  At first blush this only makes sense.  My first thought is of course they shouldn't add it becuase folks have already agreed to a certain price for a certain cruise and to raise the rates after the fact is just not fair.  But now that I'm actually going to be going on a cruise in April and I've been learning a bit more about how it all operates, I can kind of see the other cruise line's point.  What I've learned recently is that you can not only book your cruise like a year in advance, but you can also move it back. That's one of the tips someone gave me about reserving another cruise.... book it as far out as you can and as the time gets nearer and more dates are announced, move it back so you'll have more time to save for it.  However, given this strategy it means that many of the cruisers (Disney ships report that about half their cruisers are returning cruisers)... many of them booked way long ago.  Do you know what fuel is going to cost in a year?  I don't even pretend to have an idea what it's going to be a few months from now.  That's got to be a huge hit for Disney - trying to guess what fuel is going to cost.  I'm sure they wrap some of this up in the cost of the cruise, but how high do you make the cost speculating what fuel's goinig to cost?  What do you do if the cost of fuel actually goes down (yeah right)?  Are you going to give folks a cut in price? 

I know Disney's not going to add a surcharge onto already booked cruisers.  They tried to do that a few months ago - I believe it was like $100 a head or maybe it was per cabin for fuel.  That didn't go over well at all and they got lots of letters about it.  So they won't add a fuel charge to those that have already booked.  That's probably fair.  But I think they should start right now telling folks that a charge of anywhere from $X to $Y will be added based upon the cost of fuel at the time of sailing.  I think if they warn folks up front about the charge, it'd be fair.  As much as we all love the pixie dust we all know it's a business and I don't mind them passing on the realistic costs of doing business -- like fuel.

What do you think?