ITS YOUR JOURNEY, MAKE IT COUNT!
Operating costs
It is important to note that the cruise program has to take into account that the cost of operating Raffles is contributed to equally by all apartment owners by way of a yearly service charge. This covers all operating costs, including the large ones of fuel and port charges, as well as the crew salaries, maintenance and repair, insurance, etc.
To keep these cost contributions under control, as planned Raffles will average 3 weeks stopped in port / at anchor and 1 week underway at sea each month. Except for trans ocean crossings the one week will normally be in voyages of 6 to 12 hours and not 7 days at sea.
The final proposed route / program will take into account what are essentially fuel and port charge allowances or budgeted amounts, plus where, each 3 to 6 months, fuel can be purchased at the lowest cost.
Note that at 9 knots fuel consumption is xx while at 6 knots it can be less than half this. It should also be considered that if owners vote to spend 4 weeks in Monaco the ship could easily use up one year worth of its port charges allowance!
A Panama Canal transit currently costs as much as Euro 300,000, so will also be avoided, with the route via Straits of Magellan, or Cape Horn the fantastic (in summer) alternative.
As such, the Captain with fixed allowances for fuel use and port / transit fees will continuously advise owners what the options are, and once Raffles is in operation will keep a running account that is normally not exceeded on say a yearly basis, but that if unused, can be carried over into the next year.
The Captain, as a servant of the owners, has in theory to defer to owners’ decisions on routing, but in practice, while always endeavouring to do so, for safety and insurance reasons the Captain’s advice on the actual route taken has to be followed.