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Carnival Corporation & Plc's North American Brands Eliminate Fuel Supplement For New 2010 Bookings and Establish Guidelines for Fuel Supplement Refunds
MIAMI, Oct. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Six brands of CarnivalCorporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK) -- Carnival Cruise Lines, CostaCruises, Cunard Line, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and The Yachts ofSeabourn -- have announced that effective October 31, 2008, the existing fuelsupplement will be eliminated for all new bookings on 2010 departures. Atthat same time, a price increase on 2010 sailings will become effective.Additionally, the company has established specific guidelines under which thecurrent fuel supplement may be reimbursed to consumers for 2008 and 2009voyages.
For 2008 and 2009 departures, if the price of light sweet crude oilaccording to the NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange Index) is $70 per barrelor less at the 2:30 p.m. close of business as reported by Reuters on each ofthe 25 consecutive trading days ending five trading days prior to the guest'scruise departure date, the fuel supplement will be refunded in the form of ashipboard credit. Guests who book a 2010 cruise prior to October 31, 2008,will be charged the current fuel supplement but will also be eligible for arefund of the fuel supplement in accordance with the same fuel priceconditions that are being implemented for the 2008 and 2009 departures.
Bill Harber, director of marketing for Carnival Corporation & plc, saidthe company was implementing these initiatives due to the recent trends indeclining fuel prices in an effort to migrate away from charging a separatefuel supplement. "If fuel prices stabilize below $70 a barrel, we will be ableto effectively eliminate a separate fuel supplement." However, he cautionedthat there is still a risk that fuel prices could move higher "which wouldrequire us to maintain or reinstate a fuel supplement but the company ishopeful that the goal of eliminating the fuel supplement can be achieved."Harber added that "these industry-leading initiatives demonstrate ourcommitment to our guests and travel agents to make our brands the mostattractive cruise vacations available."
The fuel supplement for five of the six Carnival Corporation & plc brandsis currently $9 per person per day for the first and second guest (not toexceed $126 per person per voyage) and $4 per person per day for third, fourthand fifth guests (not to exceed $56 per person per voyage). Seabourn's fuelsupplement is $15 per person per day for the first and second guest (not toexceed $210 per person per voyage) and $4 per person per day for third andfourth guests (not to exceed $56 per person per voyage).
Carnival Corporation & plc is the largest cruise vacation group in theworld, with a portfolio of cruise brands in North America, Europe andAustralia, comprised of Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, PrincessCruises, The Yachts of Seabourn, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line,Ibero Cruises, Ocean Village, P&O Cruises and P&O Cruises Australia.
Together, these brands operate 88 ships totaling more than 167,000 lowerberths with 18 new ships scheduled to be delivered between October 2008 andJune 2012. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates Holland America Tours andPrincess Tours, the leading tour companies in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon.Traded on both the New York and London Stock Exchanges, Carnival Corporation &plc is the only group in the world to be included in both the S&P 500 and theFTSE 100 indices.
SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc
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