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Booking Conditions
Once you have decided on the holiday you require, please carefully read the following conditions, plus the Documents & Health (page 67) and the Travel in Europe (page 64) sections as these form the basis of your relationship with Cox & Kings Travel Limited (`Cox & Kings' or `us') and with any supplier with whom you have a direct contract. 1) Your Contract a) If you book only one type of arrangement with Cox & Kings (for example a hotel only or cruise only,), Cox & Kings acts only as a booking agent for the supplier of that arrangement (for example the hotel or cruise provider). Your contract for that arrangement will be with that supplier (in these conditions referred to as the "Third Party Supplier") and not Cox & Kings. The Third Party Supplier's own terms and conditions (copies available on request) will apply to that contract in addition to the applicable parts of these conditions. (b) In all other cases your contract will be with Cox & Kings. 2) Payment and Confirmation (a) You must send us a fully completed booking form together with a deposit of £250 or 15% (whichever is greater) of your total holiday cost together with any applicable insurance premium (or evidence of alternative cover) (see clause 5) and any applicable visa fees (see clause 11(a)). If you book less than 8 weeks before departure, full payment should be sent with your booking form. Where we act only as agent (see clause 1(a)) you will be advised of the applicable deposit and payment timetable at the time of booking. (b) On receipt of your completed booking form and the applicable payment, Cox & Kings will issue a confirmation invoice, and it is at this stage that a binding contract comes into existence between you and Cox & Kings or between you and the Third Party Supplier, as applicable. Please note, though, that if you book a tailor-made itinerary or an extension to a brochure tour, your accommodation, flights etc. will only be requested by Cox & Kings once your booking form together with a deposit has been received. Your confirmation invoice, in this instance, will indicate your requested package cost and you will be advised of any accommodation, flights etc. which are still on request and not confirmed at the time the confirmation invoice is issued. (c) Once payment has been made, any subsequent request to have that payment refunded and to pay by an alternative means may require you to pay an administration fee. (d) It is your responsibility to check the confirmation invoice and any other documents we send you carefully and to let Cox & Kings or your travel agent know immediately in the event of any error or inaccuracy as it may not be possible to make changes later. Where we act only as agent for a Third Party Supplier we will have no responsibility for any errors in any documentation except where those errors were made by ourselves. (e) The balance of the cost of your arrangements is payable not less than 8 weeks prior to departure, unless you are informed otherwise. If all payments (including any surcharge where applicable) are not received on time, we (or we acting as agent for the Third Party Supplier where applicable) are entitled to assume that you wish to cancel your booking and will retain the deposit paid. If we do not cancel straightaway because you promise to make payment but you still fail to do so, you must pay the cancellation charges shown in clause 9 depending on the date we (or we acting as agent for the Third Party Supplier where applicable) reasonably treat your booking as cancelled by you. (f) (1) Travel documents will be sent approximately 2 weeks before departure (Third Party Suppliers' policies may vary) unless your booking is made within 6 weeks of departure, in which case final documents will be sent as soon as possible, made available for collection, or sent by courier upon the payment of a fee. Non-UK residents may incur an additional delivery charge. (2) For some countries you will be handed your internal flight/train/hotel vouchers by your tour manager/Cox & Kings representative on arrival at your destination. (g) Cox & Kings has included in the relevant prices all government taxes which do not have to be paid locally. Those that have to be paid locally by you are extra and for your account (such as international airport departure tax). 3) Special Requests / Medical Problems / Disabilities Where special requests for flight seats, room/cabin allocation, diet considerations etc. are required Cox & Kings must be made aware of these in writing at the time of booking. Whilst every effort will be made to pass these requests on to the suppliers concerned (or Third Party Suppliers where applicable), we cannot guarantee they will be met. Where special requests for flight seats are passed on by Cox & Kings to an airline, the confirmation of seat numbers is at the discretion of the airline. Confirmation that a special request has been noted or passed on to the supplier or the inclusion of the special request on your confirmation invoice or any other documentation is not confirmation that the request will be met. Unless and until specifically confirmed, all special requests are subject to availability. If you or any member of your party has any disability or medical condition which may affect your arrangements, please provide us with full details before booking so that we can advise as to the suitability of the chosen arrangements. In any event, we must be given full details in writing at the time of booking. If we / any supplier / any Third Party Supplier reasonably feel unable to properly accommodate the particular needs of the person concerned, we / they reserve the right to decline the booking or, if full details are not given at the time of booking and we / any supplier / any Third Party Supplier reasonably feel unable to properly accommodate the particular needs, cancel when we become aware of these details. 4) Your Travel Agent (a) Any travel agent through whom you make a booking will relay information from you to us and vice versa. Cox & Kings is neither responsible for any failure by your travel agent to do this properly, or in good time, nor for any advice given to you by your travel agent that did not originate from Cox & Kings. (b) Any money you pay to one of our authorised travel agents for your booking will be held by the travel agent on behalf of Cox & Kings / the Third Party Supplier (as applicable) until it is paid to us. 5) Insurance It is a condition of booking with us that you take out insurance at the time of, or prior to, making your booking. If you do not purchase the policy we offer, details of which are set out on page 65 you must purchase an appropriate alternative, and let us have the details of this at the time of booking. If you purchase insurance through Cox & Kings you must notify us of relevant factors that may affect your particular requirements for cover such as pre-existing medical conditions / disabilities. If you do not purchase insurance through us it is your responsibility to ensure that you purchase a policy that provides cover equivalent to that which we offer. Cox & Kings cannot be held responsible if you purchase an inadequate insurance policy or if you fail to notify Cox & Kings of factors affecting your particular requirements for cover. Insurance premiums should be paid at the time of booking and are nonrefundable. Non-European Union residents should obtain equivalent insurance cover in their country of residence. Please read your policy details carefully and take them with you on holiday. It is your responsibility to ensure that the insurance cover you purchase is suitable and adequate for your particular needs. We do not check alternative insurance policies. 6) Alteration By You (a) If you wish to make any amendments to your holiday after the confirmation invoice has been issued, you must inform us in writing and we will do our best to help. Please note however that if you (i) change to a different departure date, cruise or destination or (ii) change your booking less than 8 weeks before departure, this will be treated as a cancellation and a new booking and you will be liable for the cancellation charges set out in clause 9 (except as set out in 6(c) below). In the event a change can be made, you must pay all costs and charges incurred or imposed by any of our suppliers (or Third Party Suppliers where applicable) together with an amendment fee of £35 per alteration per booking before the change can be made. (b) If you wish to change any aspect of your tour after it has commenced, Cox & Kings and/or their agents will do their best to assist, subject to you being responsible for any cancellation charges that may be levied for the arrangements originally booked, for the cost of your new arrangements and for any costs incurred by Cox & Kings and/or their agents in attempting to secure or securing any revised arrangements. All such charges and costs are payable locally. (c) If you wish to transfer your booking to another person, you may do so provided the reason for the transfer is personal illness, the death or serious illness of a close family member, jury service, redundancy or unavoidable work commitments. Requests for a transfer must be made in writing at least 30 days prior to departure and must be accompanied by documentary proof of the reason for the transfer (e.g. a doctor's certificate), full details of the person who will replace you, any outstanding balance due for the tour, a payment of £35 to cover our administration costs plus such amount as our suppliers (or Third Party Suppliers where applicable) will require to effect the change (if the transfer can be made). Please note that, in some cases, suppliers such as airlines treat name changes as a cancellation, levying cancellation charges and requiring payment for a new ticket. These charges must be paid by you before any change can be made. 7) Change or Cancellations to your Arrangements by us or your Third Party Supplier (a) This clause 7(a) applies only if your contract is with us. Occasionally, we have to make changes to and correct errors in brochure and other details both before and after bookings have been confirmed and cancel confirmed bookings which we reserve the right to do so. Most changes are minor. Occasionally, we have to make a "significant change". A significant change is a change made before departure which, taking account of the information you give us at the time of booking and which we can reasonably be expected to know as a tour operator, we can reasonably expect to have a major affect on your holiday. Significant changes include the following changes when made before departure; a change of accommodation to that of a lower official classification or standard for the whole or a major part of the time you are away, a change of outward departure time or overall length of time you are away of twelve or more hours, a change of UK departure point to one which is more inconvenient for you (except between airports serving the same city or resort) and, in the case of cruises a radical change of itinerary. If we have to make a significant change or cancel, we will tell you as soon as possible. If there is time to do so before departure, we will offer you the choice of the following options:(i) (for significant changes) accepting the changed arrangements or (ii) purchasing an alternative holiday from us (paying or receiving a refund in respect of any price difference) or (iii) cancelling or accepting the cancellation in which case you will receive a full and quick refund of all monies you have paid to us. Please note, the above options are not available where any change made is a minor one. If we have to make a significant change or cancel, we will, where compensation is due, pay you the compensation payments set out in the table below depending on the circumstances and when the significant change or cancellation is notified to you subject to the following exceptions. Compensation will not be payable and no liability beyond offering the above mentioned choices can be accepted where we are forced to make a change or cancel as a result of unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which we could not have avoided even with all due care, or where we have to cancel because the minimum number of persons required to operate your holiday has not been reached prior to the balance due date. No compensation will be payable and the above options will not be available if we cancel as a result of your failure to comply with any requirement of these booking conditions entitling us to cancel (such as paying on time) or if the change made is a minor one. A minor change is any change that does not come within the definition of a significant change set out above. Although Cox & Kings will try to notify you of minor changes, it is not obliged to do so. Minor changes include (but are not limited to) the following: (1) Changes to the scheduled destinations but not all of them; (2) Changes in the scheduled date and hour of arrival or departure provided that, where necessary, hotel accommodation and reasonable sustenance during any delay is provided to you at no additional charge; (3) Substitution of a named Lecturer and or Leader for another knowledgeable expert in the same field. All group holidays with Cox & Kings require a minimum number of bookings before they will operate. If an insufficient number of people have booked to make your holiday arrangements financially viable so that we have to cancel, we will inform you no later than 8 weeks before your departure date. In this case, you will be offered the options set out above but no compensation will be payable. Period before departure a significant change Compensation or cancellation is notified to you per person More than 56 days £10.00 43-56 days £15.00 42-29 days £20.00 28-15 days £30.00 14-0 days £40.00 If, after you depart, it becomes apparent that a significant proportion of the arrangements you have booked cannot be provided, Cox & Kings will make suitable alternative arrangements for the continuation of the package at no extra cost to you and will, where appropriate and provided the change in your arrangements has not been caused by force majeure (see cl 8), compensate you for the difference in value between the arrangements you should have received and the alternative arrangements made. In particular, because Cox & Kings neither owns, manages nor controls the accommodation / transportation that it uses, it is possible that Cox & Kings may be advised that your reserved accommodation is not available when you arrive at your destination. In this event Cox & Kings will endeavour to secure accommodation of at least the same standard in that destination. If only accommodation of a lower standard is available Cox & Kings will refund the difference between the prices of the accommodation booked and that received, and will pay £30 per person for any inconvenience caused. This amount will be paid on your return from holiday. (b) This clause 7(b) applies if your contract is with a Third Party Supplier. If the Third Party Supplier changes or cancels your booking we will pass on the new details to you together with any compensation that the Third Party Supplier may offer. As agent only for the Third Party Supplier we cannot accept any liability for any changes or cancellations made to these bookings. 8) Force Majeure Except where otherwise expressly stated in these booking conditions, neither we nor any Third Party Supplier can accept liability or pay any compensation where the performance or prompt performance of our the Third Party Supplier's contractual obligations is prevented or affected by or you otherwise suffer any damage or loss (as more fully described in clause 12(a)(1) below) as a result of "force majeure". In these booking conditions, "force majeure" means any event which we / the supplier of the service(s) in question / the Third Party Supplier could not, even with all due care, foresee or avoid. Such events may include war or threat of war, riot, civil strife, actual or threatened terrorist activity, industrial dispute, natural or nuclear disaster, adverse weather conditions, fire and all similar events outside the control of the party concerned. 9) Cancellation By You Should you wish to cancel your booking you must notify Cox & Kings or your Travel Agent (as applicable) in writing. Such notification will only be deemed to have been given on receipt of your letter, since we can only act on receipt. Please state the reason for your cancellation as you may be covered by your insurance policy. The following cancellation charges will apply. Where the cancellation charge is shown as a percentage, this is calculated on the basis of the total cost payable by the person(s) cancelling excluding insurance premiums and amendment charges. Insurance premiums and amendment charges are not refundable. Days before departure Amount of cancellation charges notification received. as a % of total tour cost More than 56 days Deposit 56 to 29 40% 28 to 15 60% 14 to 08 75% 07 to 04 90% 03 to day of departure or later 100% For the Trans-Siberan Express (page 44) the following cancellation charges will apply: Days before departure Amount of cancellation charges notification received. as a % of total tour cost More than 61 days Deposit 61 to day of departure 100% For the Hurtigruten Cruises (pages 26-27) the following cancellation charges will apply: Days before departure Amount of cancellation charges notification received. as a % of total tour cost More than 56 days Deposit 55 to 42 30% or deposit if greater 41 to 28 60% or deposit if greater 27 to 14 90% or deposit if greater 14 to day of departure 100% For the River Barging (pages 46-47) the following cancellation charges will apply: Days before departure Amount of cancellation charges notification received. as a % of total tour cost More than 91 days Deposit 90 days to departure 100% Please note that this varies for charter bookings. No allowance or refund can be made for meals, rooms, excursions etc., included in the price of your tour but not taken, nor can any refund be made for lost, mislaid or destroyed travel tickets or vouchers. 10) Prices Prices are based upon then known costs and exchange rates of GBP£1 = US Dollar 2.02 and Euro 1.48 (as quoted in the Financial Times world value of the pound table on 3 September 2007. For all exchange rates not mentioned, the rate of exchange of the US dollar applies. Where your contract is with Cox & Kings then once the price of your chosen holiday has been confirmed at the time of booking, we will only change it in the following circumstances. A surcharge or refund (as applicable) will be payable, subject to the conditions set out in this clause, if our transportation costs (e.g. fuel, scheduled airfares and any other airline surcharges which are part of the contract between airlines (and their agents) and the tour operator) or dues, taxes or fees payable for services such as landing taxes or embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports or airports increase or decrease or our costs increase or decrease as a result of changes in the exchange rates which have been used to calculate the cost of your holiday. Even in the above cases, only if the amount of the increase in our costs exceeds 2% of the total cost of your holiday (excluding insurance premiums and any amendment charges), will we levy a surcharge. If any surcharge is greater than 10% of the cost of your holiday (excluding insurance premiums and any amendment charges), you will be entitled to cancel your booking and receive a full refund of all monies you have paid to us (except for any amendment charges) or alternatively purchase another holiday from us as referred to in clause 7(a). In either case there will be an administration charge of £1 per person together with an amount to cover any travel agent's commission. Although insurance (where purchased through us) does not form part of your contract with us or of any "package", we will consider an appropriate refund of any insurance premiums you have paid us if you can show you are unable to use/reuse or transfer your policy in the event of cancellation or purchase of an alternative holiday. 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. A refund will only be payable if the decrease in our costs exceeds 2% as set out above. Where a refund is due, we will pay you the full amount of the decrease in our costs. You have 14 days from the issue date printed on the surcharge invoice to tell us if you want to cancel or purchase another holiday. If you do not tell us that you wish to do so within this period of time, we are entitled to assume that you will pay the surcharge. Any surcharge must be paid with the balance of the cost of the holiday or within 14 days of the issue date printed on the surcharge invoice, whichever is the later. We promise not to levy a surcharge within 30 days of the start of your holiday. No refunds will be payable within this period either. Where your contract is with a Third Party Supplier, as we act only as agent, we reserve the right to pass on to you in full all additional costs and charges of whatever nature imposed by the Third Party Supplier in accordance with its own terms and conditions. Please note, changes and errors occasionally occur. You must check the price of your chosen holiday at the time of booking. We reserve the right to make changes to and correct errors in advertised prices at any time before your holiday is confirmed. Occasionally our holiday prices are discounted for a limited period for promotional purposes. Discounts cannot be applied retrospectively to reduce the price of a confirmed booking. 11) Your Responsibilities (a) Visas: General information concerning visa requirements applicable to British Citizens is set out in our Documents & Health section. We will notify you of any changes to visa requirements applicable to British Citizens who hold a full British passport which occur before your confirmation invoice is issued but please note that further changes could take place before you travel. You must check the up to date requirements in good time before departure. Cox & Kings will be happy to make any necessary visa applications on behalf of British Citizens, provided applications are lodged at our offices at least 6 weeks prior to departure. We cannot however guarantee the granting of any visas, as this is a matter outside our control. If, through no fault of Cox & Kings, a visa is not granted then we cannot accept any liability for the consequences and reserve the right to pass on to you any costs incurred as a result, including cancellation charges. Non-British citizens / holders of non British passports should check with their nearest consulate or embassy for visa requirements. (b) Passports: British Citizens require a full British passport (valid for at least 6 months beyond the end of your holiday) for the holidays we offer. Please see our Travellers
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