Will your next cruise see a fuel supplement charge? And what exactly is the charge anyway? With oil prices at fresh highs, we dive into all the details below…
If you think that it costs a lot to fill up your gas tank these days, imagine the fuel bill for a cruise ship. Each year cruise lines spend hundreds of millions — if not billions — of dollars on keeping their ships fueled as they crisscross the world.
In fact, in 2025, Carnival Corporation spent more than $1.8 billion on fuel for its ships. That comes out to nearly $5 million per day across all its cruise lines. Royal Caribbean Group spent $1.1 billion on fuel, or around $3.1 million per day.
And that was when oil prices were relatively modest. However, strikes against Iran have led to rocketing oil costs, going from about $60 per barrel to $100 per barrel.
With that, you can expect fuel costs to rise too. While financial hedges put in place by the cruise companies do temper this price increase, there’s no escaping that higher fuel prices eventually hit the bottom line.
Royal Caribbean Group said in a recent financial filing that they estimate a “10% increase in our weighted-average fuel price from that experienced during the year ended December 31, 2025 would increase our forecasted 2026 fuel cost by approximately $55 million, net of the impact of fuel swap agreements.”
But the cruise lines aren’t powerless against higher prices. The most obvious way to offset the higher cost is with higher cruise fares to cover the increase. But there is another tool that is less well-known: fuel supplement charges.
If taking a cruise during a period of high oil prices, there is a possibility that this charge could come into play. Here’s everything you should know about fuel supplement charges on a cruise.
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What Is A Fuel Supplement Charge?
As the name implies, this charge is an extra fee tacked onto your cruise to offset the price of fuel for the trip. Most of the time there is no fuel supplement charge. In fact, we’ve sailed for nearly 15 years and never taken a cruise that included the charge.
But if you search through the terms and conditions of your ticket contract, you’ll often find a notice about a possible fuel charge should the price of oil rise above a certain threshold.
For instance, if the price of crude oil is above $70 per barrel (the “trigger price” varies with each line, and some don’t specifically mention a price), then a cruise line reserves the right to tack on this extra charge. This is even if you’ve already paid for your cruise.
Just because oil is higher than that level, however, doesn’t mean that the charge is automatically applied. It’s at the cruise line’s discretion.
Does Every Cruise Line Have A Possible Fuel Surcharge?
Not every cruise line lays out fuel supplement charges, but many do. You can search through the terms and conditions of your cruise line and/or the passenger ticket contract to see what is mentioned.
We searched a number of major cruise lines for their policies. Here are the details:
Carnival:
Carnival previously had a fuel supplement clause that allowed it to charge up to $9 per person, per day if the price of oil rose above $70 per barrel.
However, there is now no mention of fuel supplement’s in the line’s cruise ticket contract.
Norwegian Cruise Line:
Carrier reserves the right to charge a fuel supplement, without prior notice, should the closing price of West Texas Intermediate Fuel increase above $65.00 USD per barrel on the NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange Index). The amount of the fuel supplement will not exceed $10.00 USD per passenger per day. This charge may apply, at Carrier’s sole discretion, to existing and new reservations and Carrier may collect the fuel supplement at the time of sailing, even if the Fare has been paid in full.
Royal Caribbean:
If at any time after booking, the closing price of: (i) West Texas Intermediate Fuel exceeds US$65.00 per barrel; or (ii) Henry Hub Natural Gas Spot Price exceeds US$3.00 per Metric Million British Thermal Unit on the New York Mercantile Stock Exchange, Carrier may impose a Fuel Supplement of up to US$12.00 (or its equivalent in the currency of the booking) per Guest, per day.
MSC:
No change to the Cruise Package price will be made within the 20-day period before departure or once full
payment has been received by the Company, whichever comes first, unless otherwise indicated herein.
Prior to 20 days before departure or receipt of full payment, the Company reserves the right to modify the
Contract price to allow for variations of: (a) air transportation costs; (b) fuel costs for the propulsion of the
vessel; and (c) the exchange rates relevant to the Cruise Package. Variations may be upwards or downwards.
Celebrity:
If at any time after booking, the closing price of: (i) West Texas Intermediate Fuel exceeds US$65.00 per barrel; or (ii) Henry Hub Natural Gas Spot Price exceeds US$3.00 per Metric Million British Thermal Unit on the New York Mercantile Stock Exchange, Carrier may impose a Fuel Supplement of up to US$12.00 (or its equivalent in the currency of the booking) per Guest, per day.
What about other lines? They may or may not mention the fuel supplement.
For instance, Disney doesn’t spell it out in the ticket contract, but does mention the term as something not included in the cruise fare. Virgin Voyages says directly they do not charge a fuel supplement.
How Much Is The Fuel Supplement Charge?
If a fuel supplement charge is put in place for your cruise, the price varies by cruise line.
Of the terms we found that mention a price directly, it’s normally in the $10-12 per person, per day range. So on a 7-day cruise, it could be a charge of $70-84.
When Can The Charge Come Into Effect?
The implementation of the fuel charges are a little tricky.
Some cruise lines lay out a price per barrel of oil, above which the charge can be implemented. For example, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line both set a $65 per barrel mark.
But just because the price of oil is higher than that doesn’t automatically mean there is a charge applied. For instance, during 2022 oil prices spiked but we didn’t see any cruise lines announce they were implementing the charges.
Frankly, they seem like a “last resort” at this point.
I Already Paid For My Cruise. Can I Still Be Charged?
Yes. In the passenger contracts we’ve reviewed, each make it clear that the charge can be applied even if you’ve already paid in full for your cruise.
So you could have paid for your cruise months ago and see another charge to your account if the cruise line decides to implement the fuel supplement.
Can I Cancel Due To The Fuel Charge?
In our reading of ticket contracts, it’s not always clear if the implementation of a fuel charge after you’ve booked would give you an “out” you to cancel the trip and receive a refund.
Royal Caribbean is among the most forthcoming with the terms of any charge and they specifically state in the ticket contract that “Guest’s refusal or failure to prepay any Fuel Supplement may be deemed as a cancellation by Guest.”
Notice, however, that even this says “may” be considered a cancellation. If the fee is actually imposed, then we’d expect to also see more clarity on how it might impact cancellation policies.
Will I Know About The Fuel Supplement In Advance?
The official policies we’ve read regarding this charge have language about implementing the policy at the cruise line’s discretion, possibly “without prior notice.”
In our opinion, we find it unlikely that this would just be sprung on passengers with no warning. That would mean lots of upset guests. Instead, we’d expect that if these charges are put in place, then there would be ample notice.
For example, when gratuity prices are increased for a cruise line, there is usually several weeks or months notice before the change. Meanwhile, passengers that have already booked their trip are normally grandfathered in under the older rates.
While the language of the policies seems to give power to implement the fuel supplement charges on short notice — even if the passenger has already paid it full — it wouldn’t be surprising to see a more gradual approach.
Are Fuel Supplement Surcharges On The Horizon?
We can’t say for sure but given recent history they don’t seem likely just yet. Our checks on sample bookings on cruise line websites don’t show any mentions of these charges at this time, but the spike in oil prices is also fresh.
In our opinion, the longer that oil prices remain elevated — and the higher they go — the more likely this charge could come into play. But we haven’t started to see it yet.
In past years, such as 2022 when oil spiked above $100 a barrel, we didn’t see the charges implemented. Still, you should know that the potential is there should the cruise line decide to take advantage.
They can raise it all they want – I’ll just adjust the ‘crew appreciation’ to compensate.