<p>Royal Caribbean says it will keep its $10-a-passenger daily fuel surcharge in place for the time being, despite the recent plunge in oil prices.</p><p>&quot;We are happy to see the pullback in fuel prices, relative to their record high levels of the recent past, (and) we are hopeful these lower prices will stay with us or come down further,&quot; the company says in a statement issued in response to a question from USA TODAY. &quot;However, we continue to see considerable volatility in fuel price movements around the world and believe it would be premature to lower the supplement at this time.&quot; </p><p>As we noted Monday in a story on fuel surcharges, the price of oil is now far below the level at which it stood back in June when cruise lines pushed through their latest round of fuel surcharge hikes. </p><p>The last announcement of a fuel surcharge increase by a major line came on June 17 when Royal Caribbean said it would raise its daily fuel surcharge by $2 to $10 per person. At the time oil was trading at nearly $140 a barrel -- more than 40% higher than it is today.</p><p>Indeed, the current price of oil -- $91.15 a barrel as of late Tuesday -- is far below the $120 level where it traded in April when lines such as Royal Caribbean pushed through an earlier round of fuel surcharge increases. The price of oil has dropped more than $50 a barrel since July. </p><p>Cruise lines began adding fuel surcharges last November as oil prices first approached $100 a barrel. </p><p>Royal Caribbean, the parent company of Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Azamara Cruises, isn't saying how low oil prices would have to go for the line to slash its fuel surcharge.</p><p>&quot;We look forward to being in a position to pass on the benefits of lower fuel costs to our customers,&quot; the line notes in the statement. &quot;We will continue to closely monitor and assess the appropriateness of the fuel supplement we charge, in light of the fuel pricing environment and our fuel-related costs.&quot;</p><p>Royal Caribbean's statement echoes comments made to USA TODAY Monday by a spokesman for Carnival Corp., the parent company of Carnival, Princess, Holland America and Cunard. Together the two companies control a majority of the cruise business.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p>