From time to time fuel costs for our ship the World Odyssey may spike in price for any number of reasons beyond Semester at Sea’s control.  We of course 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 levee to all revenue-paying passenger to help defray excess costs when such spikes appear imminent for an upcoming Semester Voyage.

Therefore, no later than 30 days in advance of each Semester Voyage, Semester at Sea will assess the pricing outlook for the two types of maritime fuel required for our Vessel: IFO 380 (so-called “heavy fuel”) and MGO (“marine gas-oil”).  If the blended/weighted pricing of these two types is expected to exceed $381 per metric ton for the upcoming Semester Voyage, then a fuel surcharge will be properly noticed and billed to all participants on a pro-rata basis to help defray these expected excess costs.  We base our pricing outlooks primarily on the Rotterdam and Singapore markets for IFO380 and MGO maritime fuels, which are the markets most closely resembling the majority of our fuel acquisition needs.