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Fred Olsen Cruise Lines has announced a new fuel supplement increase - the fifth hike since December last year.

The latest surcharge of £6 per person per night for the first two people in a cabin is valid on all new bookings on cruises departing up to and including April 16th 2009.

There will be a maximum charge of £120 per person per cruise for the first two people in a cabin. Third and fourth passengers in the same stateroon will be required to pay £2.50 each per night, with a maximum charge of £50 per person per cruise.

The charges for U.S. customers will be $12.00 per person per night with a maximum charge of $240 per cruise. Third and fourth passengers will pay $5.00 per person per night and a maximum of $100 per cruise.

The latest charges are effective for all bookings made from July 11th.

Fred Olsen first introduced a £2.50 fuel supplement in December last year across all its cruises. This was later increased to £3.50 on May 1st 2008, to £5 for 2008/2009 third-edition brochure cruises on June 10th, and most recently, to £4 to all new bookings from July 1st for cruises in its new 2009/2010 first-edition Worldwide brochure.

Other cruise companies to recently announce a fuel surcharge increase include Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Carnival Corporation and Crystal Cruises.