Finally some good economic news:  Carnival Corporation has announced that it will suspend fuel supplements for its six brands — Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America, Princess Cruises, Cunard Line, the Yachts of Seabourn and Costa Cruises — for all voyages departing on or after December 17, 2008.

Those who have booked cruises aboard one of the six Carnival companies departing post-December 17 will get refunds for the supplement in the form of shipboard credit.  Bookings made outside the final payment period will have be adjusted to remove the supplement. 

Since the price of oil has dropped to $46 per barrel, Carnival Corp. is passing along the savings to passengers.   However, executives say that the surcharge could be re-instated if oil prices increase significantly.

According to Bill Harber, director of marketing for Carnival Corp., “The company reserves the right to re-instate the fuel supplement for all guests at up to $9 per person per day (except Seabourn, which would be up to $15 per person per day) should the price of light sweet crude oil according to the NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange Index) increase above $70 per barrel.” 

While Royal Caribbean (which owns Celebrity Cruises & Azamara Cruises), Norwegian Cruise Line and luxury cruise lines still have fuel supplements, look for them to follow suit within a few days.