1. YOUR CONTRACT
Your contract is with Hurtigruten Ltd., a company wholly owned by Hurtigruten ASA, on the basis of these conditions and the information contained in the brochure, and shall be governed by English law and the jurisdiction of the English Courts. You may however choose the law and jurisdiction of Scotland or Northern Ireland if you wish to do so. When you book an air package holiday or sailing with us the contract between us will exist as soon as you or your travel agent asks us to confirm your booking. We then become responsible to provide you with the voyage arrangements or air package holiday you have booked and you become responsible to pay for them, in each case subject to these terms and conditions. You will also become responsible to pay for any additional arrangements made by us on your behalf including International Flights not included in any air package, optional excursions, travel insurance or other arrangements requested by you and booked.
When you make a booking you guarantee you have the authority to accept and do accept on behalf of your party the terms of these booking conditions and accept responsibility for making all payments to us for all members of the party.
We are unable to accept provisional or conditional bookings. We will send all documents and other information to you and you will be responsible for ensuring that all other members of the party are kept fully informed. A confirmation invoice which you should check as soon as you receive it will be sent on receipt of your deposit. If you wish tochange or cancel any arrangements later you may have to pay an amendment or cancellation charge and additional costs (see below) which may be as much as the whole of the original price of your arrangements. Only one invoice and one set of documents will be issued. No verbal amendments may be made by either party to these written booking conditions; any change must be in writing signed by the Chief Executive of Hurtigruten ASA.
If you book your holiday through a travel agent all communication must be through that agent. Please quote your booking reference number in all communications. All monies you pay to the travel agent are held by the travel agent on our behalf at all times.
You are responsible for complying with any Visa or other entry requirements for you or any of your party who are not full European Union Passport Holders.
2. PAYMENT
Once you have asked us to confirm your booking the total price of the arrangements you have booked is due and is payable as follows:
(i) If you book more than 60 days before your scheduled departure date a non-refundable deposit of 20%.
The balance is due 60 days before your scheduled departure date. No second invoice will be sent. Travel documents will be issued 7 to 14 days prior to departure.
(ii) If you book less than 60 days before your scheduled departure date the full price is payable when you book. Our preferred method of deposit payment is by bank debit card or credit card. Balance payment may be made by cash, bank debit card, credit card or cheque (providing there is time to clear it to meet the payment schedule shown above – you should allow 5 working days for clearance from the time we receive it).
Online Bookings
Bookings made online that cost less than €950 or made within 60 days of departure require full payment at the time of booking and no refund is made if cancelled.
Credit Card Charges
In line with The Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012, we will make a charge of 1.50% for deposits and balances paid by credit card. Your booking may be cancelled if we do not receive payment by the due date (we will not normally send reminders) and cancellation charges as set out under “If You Cancel” (see below) will be payable by you.
3.A PRICES
All Voyage prices shown in this brochure are in pounds sterling and are per person based on full occupancy of the cabin accommodation unless otherwise stated. Single/Sole occupancy of cabins with more than one berth is at our discretion as single/sole use of multiple berth cabins will be limited. The price of your voyage or air package holiday arrangements was calculated using exchange rates quoted in the Financial Times Guide to World Currencies on 25.04.2012, Norwegian Kroner (NOK) 9.24; Euros 1.22 and USD 1.61. We reserve the right to change any of the prices quoted in this brochure although there will be no change within 30 days of your departure date. You will be advised of the current price of the voyage or air package holiday you wish to book before your contract is confirmed. We reserve the right to increase or decrease prices in line with any change in VAT, local and UK taxes, embarkation/disembarkation fees, fuel surcharges, exchange rates, security charges or any fees chargeable for the services included in the cost of your holiday.
Should it be necessary to make any surcharges we will notify you of the relevant adjustments by issuing a new invoice. In any event we will absorb all such increases where they form less than 2% of the total cost of your voyage or air package holiday (excluding any cancellation or amendment charges). Only amounts in excess of 2% will be invoiced to you, together with an administration charge of €1.00 per person together with an amount to cover agent’s commission.
In the event that any surcharge means you paying in excess of 10% more on the original cost of your voyage or air package holiday, you will be entitled to cancel your trip with a full refund of all monies paid (except amendment fees). Should you wish to cancel under these circumstances you must exercise your right to do so within 14 days from the date of the invoice we send you showing the increase. Should the price of your voyage or air package holiday go down due to changes above by more than 2% of your holiday cost then any refund due will be paid to you. 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 or other protection in place.
3.B Voyage and Air Package Holiday Prices
Do Not Include
• Travel Insurance
• Luggage Handling
• International Flights except where included in the Air Package Holiday Price
• Optional Excursions
• Gratuities
Optional Excursions booked before you travel or local excursions or other activities that you may choose to book and pay for whilst on holiday are not part of your voyage or air package holiday arrangements provided by us nor are we agents for the provider of the service. For any excursion or other activity you book before departure or with which you are assisted in arranging whilst on holiday, your contract will solely be with the supplier of the excursion or activity and not with Hurtigruten. We are not responsible for the provision of your excursion or activity or for anything that happens during the ourse of its provision by the supplier.
4. IF YOU CHANGE YOUR BOOKING
If you wish to change your travel arrangements after they have been confirmed we will do our utmost to help but it may not always be possible. Any request for changes to be made must be in writing by the person who made the booking or your travel agent. You will be asked to pay an administration charge of €70 per person and any further cost we incur in making this alteration. NB: most airlines will charge a fee for ticket changes. Costs may increase the closer to the departure date that changes are made. For example, the transfer within 60 days of departure of arrangements involving a scheduled flight will mean the cancellation and re-booking of this flight and a significant additional charge.
If you change the number of people in your party, the price of the arrangements will be recalculated for the new party size e.g. this may mean that accommodation is under-occupied and each member of the party may have to pay an increased price.
Any increase in price caused by changes you have requested is not a cancellation charge even though it may arise because a member of your party has cancelled. Any change by you to your confirmed arrangements after departure is in all cases subject to availability and any relevant costs.