Fort Young Hotel & Dive Resort, the “Nature Island’s” landmark, waterfront “All-Inclusive, Island-Included” resort in Dominica’s capital, Roseau, has announced an historic USD$18 million (£14 million) reimagination. Now accepting reservations and due to be unveiled November 2023, the updates, which include 60 new rooms and several new amenities, modernise and expand the hotel while going to great lengths architecturally to not only preserve elements of the 17th century fort, but also showcase the iconic heritage features from the original structure. Having evolved from a military fort to a central police station and, presently, a hotel, the site, which dates back to 1699, has an undeniable sense of character; and a colourful and cultural vibrancy that defines Fort Young Hotel.
Could you soon have to pay a fuel surcharge to cruise?
05.10.2023 - 15:01 / thepointsguy.com / Josh Weinstein
Are fuel surcharges about to make a comeback in the cruise world?
The head of the world's biggest cruise company on Friday said the answer was "no" for now. But with oil prices on the rise, that might not always be the case, he suggested.
"It's certainly not off the table. We wouldn't take anything off the table," Carnival Corporation president and CEO Josh Weinstein told Wall Street analysts Friday during a conference call to discuss the company's quarterly earnings.
"It's not something we're planning to implement in the near term, although that could certainly change," he said.
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Fuel is one of the biggest expenses for any cruise line, and with oil prices spiking of late — the cost per barrel of West Texas Intermediate, a crude oil benchmark, has soared nearly $20 in the past three months to around $90 — the income statements of cruise lines are getting squeezed.
That has Wall Street analysts asking cruise companies if they might be willing to add fuel surcharges to customer bills. This is something major cruise lines last did when oil prices spiked more than $100 a barrel in late 2007 into 2008.
During Friday's conference call with Wall Street analysts, Weinstein said the recent spike in oil prices, along with some currency fluctuations, was a $130 million drag on the company's profitability over the past three months — a significant amount. It was enough to negate much of the company's profitability gains during the quarter due to rising fares and shipboard occupancy.
Related: Cruise bookings are so hot that some lines are running out of inventory
Carnival Corporation is the parent company of nine of the world's biggest cruise lines, including four based in North America: Carnival, Princess Cruises, Holland America and Seabourn. Its five other brands include Europe-based Costa Cruises, U.K.-based P&O Cruises and Australia's P&O Cruises Australia.
"We continue to work aggressively to manage fuel costs the best way possible, by consuming less," Weinstein added.
He said changes the company already made to its operations had resulted in its using nearly 16% less fuel on a per-berth basis this year than in 2019.
"I know this is stating the obvious, but not only is this effort benefiting our bottom line by hundreds of millions of dollars, it's also better for the environment and something we'll keep pushing on for 2024 and beyond," he said.
Still, Weinstein noted that the company had only seen fuel costs spike so rapidly once before in the last 15 years.
Carnival Corporation uses what many might consider an astounding amount of fuel in any given year — so much that it records its fuel use on its financial statements by the
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