Fuel Fee & Surcharge Policy

We make every reasonable effort to control fuel pricing, including efficient itinerary management and annual port bunker planning.

However, Semester at Sea may regrettably be required to assess an additional fuel surcharge to all revenue-paying passengers to defray excess costs when such spikes appear imminent for an upcoming Semester Voyage.

But to assist in long-term planning, Semester at Sea will identify and bill a “fuel fee,” which shall be Semester at Sea’s best estimate for voyage fuel costs.

And then, no later than 30 days in advance of each Semester Voyage, Semester at Sea will assess the near-term pricing outlook for the two types of maritime fuel required by the International Maritime Organization beginning on January 1, 2020 for our vessel: VLSO (“very-low sulphur”) and MGO (“marine gas-oil”), or any substitute such as ULSD (“ultra-low sulfur diesel”). If the blended/weighted pricing of these two types is still expected to exceed $381 per metric ton for the upcoming Semester Voyage, then a fuel surcharge may be properly noticed (net of the pre-billed “fuel fee” previously invoiced and collected) to all participants on a pro-rata basis to defray these expected excess costs. We base our pricing outlooks primarily on the Rotterdam and Singapore markets for VLSO and MGO (and other substitute fuels such as ULSD) maritime fuels, which are the markets most closely resembling the majority of our fuel acquisition needs.