Your Contract is with Worldchoice Travel Ltd t/a The Cruise Club a member of the Travel Trust Association, part of The Travel Network Group.
Your Contract is with Worldchoice Travel Ltd t/a The Cruise Club (“The Cruise Club”, “we”, “us”), a member of the Travel Trust Association (under number Q3348/Q4726), part of The Travel Network Group. The following booking terms and conditions, our Privacy Policy and, where your holiday is booked via our website, our Website Terms of Use, together with any other written information we brought to your attention before we confirmed your booking, form the basis of your contract with The Cruise Club (“Contract”), whose registered office is Albion House, High Street, Woking, Surrey, GU21 6BD (Company registration number 01388377). When you make a booking the Contract is made between you and The Cruise Club and extends to any person travelling or intending to travel on a tour operated by The Cruise Club on the terms of these booking conditions and it includes all matters arising from it and is subject to English law and the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts. You may however choose the law and jurisdiction of Scotland and Northern Ireland if you wish to do so. No variation of these terms will be valid unless confirmed in writing by us. A Contract will exist as soon as we issue our Confirmation Invoice to you.
By making a booking, you (as the lead passenger) agrees on behalf of all persons detailed on the booking that:
We provide full financial protection for our package holidays.
We provide financial security for flight-inclusive packages and ATOL protected flights]by way of our Air Travel Organiser’s Licence number T7495, issued by the Civil Aviation Authority, Gatwick Airport South, West Sussex, RH6 0YR, UK, telephone 0333 103 6350, email: [email protected].
When you buy an ATOL protected product from us you will receive an ATOL Certificate. This lists what is financially protected, where you can get information on what this means for you and who to contact if things go wrong. For further information, visit the ATOL website at www.atol.org.uk. The price of our flight inclusive arrangements includes the amount of £2.50 per person as part of the ATOL Protection Contribution (APC) we pay to the CAA. This charge is included in our advertised prices. Not all holiday or travel services offered and sold by us will be protected by the ATOL Scheme. ATOL protection extends primarily to customers who book and pay in the United Kingdom and European Economic Area (EEA).
We, or the suppliers identified on your ATOL Certificate, will provide you with the services listed on the ATOL Certificate (or a suitable alternative). In some cases, where neither we nor the supplier are able to do so for reasons of insolvency, an alternative ATOL holder may provide you with the services you have bought (at no extra cost to you). You agree to accept that in those circumstances the alternative ATOL holder will perform those obligations and you agree to pay any money outstanding to be paid by you under your contract to that alternative ATOL holder. However, you also agree that in some cases it will not be possible to appoint an alternative ATOL holder, in which case you will be entitled to make a claim under the ATOL Scheme (or your credit card issuer where applicable).
If we, or the suppliers identified on your ATOL certificate, are unable to provide the services listed (or a suitable alternative, through an alternative ATOL holder or otherwise) for reasons of insolvency, the Trustees of the Air Travel Trust may make a payment to (or confer a benefit on) you under the ATOL scheme. You agree that in return for such a payment or benefit you assign absolutely to those Trustees any claims which you have or may have arising out of or relating to the non-provision of the services, including any claim against us, the travel agent (or your credit card issuer where applicable). You also agree that any such claims may be re-assigned to another body, if that other body has paid sums you have claimed under the ATOL scheme.
When you buy a package holiday that does not include a flight, protection of your monies paid is provided by way of payment of monies received from you into a trust account administered by the Trustees of the Travel Trust Association. This gives you reassurance that when booking with The Cruise Club that the monies you pay to The Cruise Club will be secure in the unlikely event of our insolvency.
If you book arrangements other than package holiday from us, your monies will not be financially protected. Please ask us for further details.
You will be advised of the current price of the holiday that you wish to book before your contract is confirmed. When you make your booking you must pay a minimum deposit per person which is confirmed at time of booking (excluding infants under two years of age at the date of return). Should your booking include budget or scheduled flights/ low cost airlines, cruises or other special arrangements the deposit required may vary up to the full ticket price. You will be advised of the required amount of the deposit at the time of booking. The balance of the price of your travel arrangements must be paid at least 14 weeks before your departure date. Balance due dates may vary where scheduled flights are included and where ticketing deadlines are unexpectedly brought forward this may result in a request for earlier payment. If the deposit and/or balance are not paid on time, we reserve the right to cancel your travel arrangements and retain your deposit.
Any money paid to an authorised agent of ours in respect of a booking covered by our ATOL is held by that agent on behalf of and for the benefit of the Trustees of the Air Travel Trust at all times, but subject to the agent’s obligation to pay it to us for so long as we do not fail financially. If we do fail financially, any money held at that time by the agent or subsequently accepted from the consumer by the agent, is and continues to be held by that agent on behalf of and for the benefit of the Trustees of the Air Travel Trust without any obligation to pay that money to us.
We reserve the right to amend the price of unsold holidays at any time and correct errors in the prices of confirmed holidays. We also reserve the right to increase the price of confirmed holidays solely to allow for increases which are a direct consequence of changes in:
Such variations could include but are not limited to airline cost changes which are part of our contracts with airlines (and their agents), cruise ship operators and any other transport providers.
However, if this means that you have to pay an increase of more than 8% of the price of your confirmed holiday (excluding any insurance premiums, amendment charges and/or additional services or travel arrangements), you will have the option of accepting a change to another holiday if we are able to offer one (if this is of equivalent or higher quality you will not have to pay more but if it is of lower quality you will be refunded the difference in price), or cancelling and receiving a full refund of all monies paid to us, except for any insurance premiums and any amendment charges and/or additional services or travel arrangements. Should you decide to cancel for this reason, you must exercise your right to do so within 7 days from the issue date printed on your final invoice. We will consider an appropriate refund of insurance premiums paid if you can show that you are unable to transfer or reuse your policy.
Should the price of your holiday go down due to the changes mentioned above, then any refund due will be paid to you less an administrative fee of £10. However, please note that travel arrangements are not always purchased in local currency and some apparent changes have no impact on the price of your travel due to contractual and other protection in place.
There will be no change made to the price of your confirmed holiday within 20 days of your departure nor will refunds be paid during this period.
If, after our Confirmation Invoice has been issued, you wish to change your travel arrangements in any way, for example your chosen date or accommodation, we will do our utmost to make these changes but it may not always be possible.
Any request for changes to be made must be made in writing from the person who made the booking to your travel agent.
You will be asked to pay an administration charge of £50 and any additional cost we incur in making this alteration. You should be aware that these costs could increase the closer to the departure date that changes are made and you should contact us as soon as possible.
Transfer of Booking:
If you or any member of your party is prevented from travelling, that person(s) may transfer their place to someone else, subject to the following conditions:
You and the transferee remain jointly and severally liable for payment of all sums. If you are unable to find a replacement, cancellation charges as set out in clause 6 will apply in order to cover our estimated costs. Otherwise, no refunds will be given for passengers not travelling or for unused services.
Note: Certain travel arrangements (e.g. Apex Tickets/Low Cost Flights) may not be changeable after a reservation has been made and any alteration request could incur a cancellation charge of up to 100% of that part of the arrangements.
Except for holidays including budget or scheduled flights if we receive notification of a name change within 8 weeks of departure The Cruise Club will apply a £50 per name change. Any changes outside of 8 weeks The Cruise Club will apply a charge of £30 per name change. There will be additional charges from the supplier and these will be confirmed at the time of change and all additional costs will be passed to you for payment.
For holidays including scheduled flights, please note that some scheduled airlines do not permit name changes for any reason. Such charges are likely to include the full costs of the flight and may be subject to space being available for a new reservation.
You, or any member of your party, may cancel your travel arrangements at any time. Written notification from the person who made the booking must be received at our offices.
Should one or more member of a party cancel, it may increase the per person holiday price of those still travelling and you will be liable to pay this increase.
Since we incur costs in cancelling your travel arrangements, you will have to pay the applicable cancellation charges up to the maximum shown in the table below:
|
Prior to Balance Due Date |
Deposit Amount |
|
After Balance Due Date |
60% of total holiday cost or supplier cost if greater |
|
30 days prior to Departure |
100% of total holiday cost |
Note: if the reason for cancellation is covered under the terms of an insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges.
Cancellation by you due to unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances
You have the right to cancel your confirmed holiday before departure without paying a cancellation charge in the event of “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances” occurring at your holiday destination or its immediate vicinity and significantly affecting the performance of the holiday or significantly affecting the transport arrangements to the destination. In these circumstances, we shall provide you with a full refund of the monies you have paid but we will not be liable to pay you any additional compensation. Please note that your right to cancel in these circumstances will only apply where the Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises against travel to your destination or its immediate vicinity. For the purposes of this clause, “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances” means warfare, acts of terrorism, and significant risks to human health such as the outbreak of serious disease at the travel destination or natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes or weather conditions which make it impossible to travel safely to the travel destination.
This clause 6 outlines the rights you have if you wish to cancel your booking. Please note that there is no automatic statutory right of cancellation under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (Directive 2011/83/EU).
As we plan your holiday arrangements many months in advance we may occasionally have to make changes or cancel your booking and we reserve the right to do so at any time.
Changes: If we make a minor change to your holiday, we will make reasonable efforts to inform you or your travel agent as soon as reasonably possible if there is time before your departure but we will have no liability to you. Examples of minor changes include alteration of your outward/return flights by less than 12 hours, changes to aircraft type, change of accommodation to another of the same or higher standard, changes of carriers. Please note that carriers such as airlines used in the brochure may be subject to change. For Cruises, examples of minor changes include: a change from one port of call to another; a change of one day’s port of call to one day’s sailing; a change in timings for any port(s) of call but the ship still calls at all confirmed ports; and a change in order of ports that are visited.
Occasionally we may have to make a significant change to your confirmed arrangements. Examples of “significant changes” include the following, when made before departure:
Cancellation: We will not cancel your travel arrangements less than 98 days before your departure date, except for reasons of force majeure or failure by you to pay the final balance. We may cancel your holiday before this date if, e.g., the minimum number of clients required for a particular travel arrangement is not reached.
If we have to make a significant change or cancel, we will tell you as soon as possible and if there is time to do so before departure, we will offer you the choice of:
You must notify us of your choice within 7 days of our offer. If we do not hear from you within 7 days, we will contact you again to request notification of your choice. If you fail to respond again, we will assume that you have chosen to accept the change or alternative booking arrangements.
Insurance: If we cancel or make a significant change and you accept a refund, we will provide a full refund of your travel insurance premiums if you paid them to us and can show that you are unable to transfer or reuse your policy.
Compensation: In addition to a full refund of all monies paid by you, we will pay you compensation as detailed below, in the following circumstances:
The compensation that we offer does not exclude you from claiming more if you are entitled to do so.
|
Period before departure within which a major change or cancellation is notified to you or your travel agent. |
Credit/compensation per full fare paying passengers (excluding infants)* |
|
More than 98 days |
Nil |
|
43-98 days |
£20 |
|
29-42 days |
£30 |
|
8-28 days |
£40 |
|
0-7 days |
£50 |
*IMPORTANT NOTE: We will not pay you compensation in the following circumstances:
If we become unable to provide a significant proportion of the arrangements that you have booked with us after you have departed, we will, if possible, make alternative arrangements for you at no extra charge and where those alternative arrangements are of a lower standard, provide you with an appropriate price reduction.
Except where otherwise expressly stated in these Booking Conditions we will not be liable or pay you compensation if our contractual obligations to you are affected by “Force Majeure”. For the purposes of these Booking Conditions, Force Majeure means any event beyond our or our supplier’s control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. Examples include warfare and acts of terrorism (and threat thereof), civil strife, significant risks to human health such as the outbreak of serious disease at the travel destination or natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes or weather conditions which make it impossible to travel safely to the travel destination or remain at the travel destination, the act of any government or other national or local authority including port or river authorities, industrial dispute, labour strikes, lock closure, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, chemical or biological disaster, unavoidable technical problems with transport and all similar events outside our or the supplier(s) concerned’s control.
Cruise Ships shall also be at liberty to deviate from the advertised route and to call (or omit to call) at any port or place to tow and assist vessels and to offer or render assistance to preserve life or property or for any other reason or purpose which in the judgment of the Master of the ship (whether alone or acting on advice from others) is reasonable including, but not limited to, weather conditions, operational matters, the medical condition of anyone on board or the safety, comfort or convenience of guests. Such deviation shall not give rise to any liability on our part and shall not represent a significant change to your package holiday.
Brexit Implications: please note that certain travel arrangements may be affected as a result of the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union. This could include an unavailability of certain flight routes, access to certain ports and airports and changes to the visa requirements of British citizens travelling to, within or through the EU. Please rest assured that this is something we will continue to monitor and will advise our customers as soon as possible if we become aware of any confirmed bookings that will be affected. However, since this is something which is completely unprecedented and outside our control, we would treat any such changes as Force Majeure, and whilst we will endeavour to provide suitable alternative arrangements or refunds where possible, we will not be liable to pay you any compensation.
If you have a problem during your holiday it is of the utmost importance that you immediately bring it to the attention of the relevant person (for example the resort representative, hotel manager or transport agent) who will do their best to put things right. If your complaint is not resolved locally, you should contact us on 01483 545781 to advise us of the problem so that we may endeavour to resolve it. It is strongly recommended that you communicate any complaint to the supplier of the services in question as well as any resort representative without delay and complete a report form whilst in resort. If you fail to follow this simple procedure we will have been deprived of the opportunity to investigate and rectify your complaint whilst you were in resort and this may affect your rights under this contract.
However, should a problem remain unresolved, a complaint should be made in writing within 28 days of your return home to : Customer Relations, The Cruise Club, C/O The Travel Network Group, Albion House, High Street, Woking, Surrey, GU21 6BD giving your booking reference and all other relevant information. Please keep your letter concise and to the point. This will assist us to quickly identify your concerns and speed up our response to you.
You can also access the European Commission Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform at https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/. This ODR platform is a means of registering your complaint with us; it will not determine how your complaint should be resolved.
You can ask for copies of the transport companies' contractual terms, or the international conventions, from our offices: The Cruise Club, CIO The Travel Network Group, Albion House, High Street, Woking, Surrey, GU21 6BD
If, whilst you are on holiday, you find yourself in difficulty for any reason, we will offer you such prompt assistance as is appropriate in the circumstances. In particular, we will provide you with appropriate information on health services, local authorities and consular assistance, and assistance with distance communications and finding alternative travel arrangements. Where you require assistance which is not owing to any failure by us, our employees or sub-contractors we will not be liable for the costs of any alternative travel arrangements or other such assistance you require. Any supplier, airline or other transport supplier may however pay for or provide refreshments and/or appropriate accommodation and you should make a claim directly to them. Subject to the other terms of these Booking Conditions, we will not be liable for any costs, fees or charges you incur in the above circumstances, if you fail to obtain our prior authorisation before making your own travel arrangements. Furthermore, we reserve the right to charge you a fee for our assistance in the event that the difficulty is caused intentionally by you or a member of your party, or otherwise through your or your party’s negligence.
Adequate travel insurance is a condition of your contract with us. You must be satisfied that your insurance fully covers all your personal requirements including pre-existing medical conditions, cancellation charges, medical expenses and repatriation in the event of accident or illness. If you choose to travel without adequate insurance cover, we will not be liable for any losses howsoever arising, in respect of which insurance cover would otherwise have been available. It should also be noted that it is possible the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) is likely to be withdrawn by the European Commission
Any special requests must be advised to us at the time of booking e.g. diet, room location, a particular facility at a hotel etc. You should then confirm your requests in writing. Whilst every effort will be made by us to try and arrange your reasonable special requests, we cannot guarantee that they will be fulfilled. The fact that a special request has been noted on your confirmation invoice or any other documentation or that it has been passed on to the supplier is not confirmation that the request will be met. Failure to meet any special request will not be a breach of contract on our part unless the request has been specifically confirmed by us. We do not accept bookings that are conditional upon any special request being met.
It is your responsibility to check and fulfill the passport, visa, health and immigration requirements applicable to your itinerary. We can only provide general information about this. You must check requirements for your own specific circumstances with the relevant Embassies and/or Consulates and your own doctor as applicable. Requirements do change and you must check the up to date position in good time before departure.
Most countries now require passports to be valid for at least 6 months after your return date. If your passport is in its final year, you should check with the Embassy of the country you are visiting. For further information contact the Passport Office on 0870 5210410 or visit https://www.gov.uk/browse/citizenship/passports.
Special conditions apply for travel to the USA, and all passengers must have individual machine readable passports. Please check https://uk.usembassy.gov. For European holidays you should obtain a completed and issued form EHIC prior to departure.
Up to date travel advice can be obtained from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, visit https://www.gov.uk/travelaware.
Non British passport holders, including other EU nationals, should obtain up to date advice on passport and visa requirements from the Embassy, High Commission or Consulate of your destination or country(ies) through which you are travelling.
We do not accept any responsibility if you cannot travel, or incur any other loss because you have not complied with any passport, visa, immigration requirements or health formalities. You agree to reimburse us in relation to any fines or other losses which we incur as a result of your failure to comply with any passport, visa, immigration requirements or health formalities.
Excursions or other tours that you may choose to book or pay for whilst you are on holiday are not part of your package holiday provided by us. For any excursion or other tour that you book, your contract will be with the operator of the excursion or tour and not with us. We are not responsible for the provision of the excursion or tour or for anything that happens during the course of its provision by the operator.
It is your responsibility to ensure that you arrive in good time to board all flights or other methods of transportation. To assist you, we will notify you of the time by which you should arrive at all points of departure. If you miss a flight or other transportation we will try to arrange alternative transportation, but reserve the right to recover from you any costs we incur in making such arrangements.
Any rail, road and other departure times are supplied by the carriers. They are subject to inter alia, air traffic control restrictions, weather conditions, the need for constant maintenance and the ability of passengers to check in on time. There is no guarantee that departures will take place at the times shown on your tickets. The timings are estimates only. The Cruise Club does not have any liability to you for any delays that may arise. Further, your dealings with all carriers are subject to the conditions of the carrier, some of which may limit or exclude liability. Where we are in a position to do so, we will give you information before you book concerning the airline on which you will fly, your airport of destination and type of aircraft on which you will travel. However if any of these details change subsequently, and you choose to cancel as a result, our normal cancellation charges will apply. Any arrangements in the event of a delay will be at the sole discretion of the airline or other carrier involved.
If you or any member of your party misses your flight or other transport arrangement, it is cancelled or you are subject to a delay of over 3 hours for any reason, you must contact us and the airline or other transport supplier concerned immediately.
Under EU Law, you have rights in some circumstances to refunds and/or compensation from the airline in cases of denied boarding, cancellation or delay to flights. Full details of these rights will be publicised at EU airports and will also be available from airlines. If the airline does not comply with these rules you should complain to the Civil Aviation Authority at www.caa.co.uk/passengers. Reimbursement in such cases is the responsibility of the airline and will not automatically entitle you to a refund of your holiday price from us. If, for any reason, you do not claim against the airline and make a claim for compensation from us, you must, at the time of payment of any compensation to you, make a complete assignment to us of the rights you have against the airline in relation to the claim that gives rise to that compensation payment. A delay or cancellation to your flight does not automatically entitle you to cancel any other arrangements even where those arrangements have been made in conjunction with your flight.
We cannot accept liability for any delay which is due to any of the reasons set out in clause 8 of these Booking Conditions (which includes the behaviour of any passenger(s) on any flight who, for example, fails to check in or board on time).
The carrier(s), flight timings and types of aircraft shown in this brochure or on our website and detailed on your confirmation invoice are for guidance only and are subject to alteration and confirmation. We shall inform you of the identity of the actual carrier(s) as soon as we become aware of it. The latest flight timings will be shown on your tickets which will be despatched to you approximately two weeks before departure. You should check your tickets very carefully immediately on receipt to ensure you have the correct flight times. If flight times change after tickets have been dispatched we will contact you as soon as we can to let you know.
Please note the existence of a “Community list” (available for inspection at https://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/air/safety/air-ban_en) detailing air carriers that are subject to an operating ban with the EU Community.
Conditions of Travel: We reserve the right to require any passenger to produce medical evidence of their fitness to travel. Passengers with a disability, which may require special treatment or assistance, must advise The Cruise Club in writing of the condition so that appropriate advice and assistance can be given. NB Passengers may be refused passage where as a result of failing to notify The Cruise Club appropriate arrangements cannot be made.
The Cruise Club has no control over the allocation of airline seats and cannot guarantee any seat requests. Baggage allowance will vary by destination-please check (with the airline used) for details. Passengers are advised that most airlines operate a non-smoking policy. We reserve the right to determine the hotel, air carrier, flight routing (flights will not necessarily be direct or non-stop) and airport, for all holidays advertised.
Behaviour: You must not behave in a way that may cause distress or annoyance to others or may create the risk of danger or damage to property. If you are subject to arrest or prevented from travelling at the discretion of an airline or other transport providers, or if you are evicted from your accommodation at the discretion of the accommodation management, The Cruise Club will not refund any portion of the cost of your holiday and, if The Cruise Club incurs any expense because of your behaviour, you will be obliged to compensate The Cruise Club for that expenses.
It is the customer's responsibility to settle all of their on board accounts whilst on the cruise.
Children under the age of 18 will not be carried unless accompanied by an adult over the age of 21 at time of boarding who accepts responsibility for their welfare conduct and behaviour. Infants younger than 6 months at point of boarding may not be accepted on some ships, full detail is provided at booking stage and we accept no liability for incorrect information that may have been provided by you.
You must declare any pregnancy to us at the earliest opportunity as on certain cruise ships carriage of advanced pregnant women is not permitted, typically if the pregnancy is more than 24 weeks at the anticipated return date. We reserve the right to refuse passage onboard to any person who appears to be in advanced stages of pregnancy.
These booking conditions are our responsibility, as your tour operator. They are not issued on behalf of and do not commit any airline whose services are used in the course of your travel arrangements. Please note that in accordance with Air Navigation Orders in order to qualify for infant status, a child must be under 2 years of age on the date of its return flight.
