Terms and Conditions

Imagine Cruising - Terms and Conditions

This agreement is made between You and Hays Travel Ltd trading as Imagine Cruising (“The Tour Company”). Hays Travel Ltd (Head Office), 25 Vine Place, Sunderland, SR1 3NA.

Agency Terms of Business

The below terms and conditions apply for all cruise bookings where Imagine Cruising act as a retail agent for your cruise line.

Contract

These are the terms on which we will make a booking for your travel or holiday requirements. When making your booking we will arrange for you to enter into a contract with the principal(s) or other supplier(s) (e.g. tour operator/airline/cruise company/accommodation company) named on your receipt(s). We can book you a package holiday, in which case you will have one contract with the principal, or we can book the services that make up your holiday with different principals or suppliers, in which case you will have separate contracts with each of them. As agent we accept no responsibility for the acts or omissions of the principal(s) or supplier(s) or for the services provided by them. The principal’s(s’) or supplier’s (s’) Terms & Conditions will apply to your booking and we advise you to read these carefully as they do contain important information about your booking. Please ask us for copies of these if you do not have them. Our Terms of Business are 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. All travel arrangements which we provide or which are sold through us are not an offer by us to sell any travel arrangements, but an invitation to you to make an offer to the suppliers of the arrangements. We are free to accept that offer on behalf of those suppliers or to reject it.

Booking Details

When a booking is made all details will be read back to you. Once you have confirmed these details we will proceed to confirm the booking with the principal(s) or supplier(s). Please check that all names, dates and timings are correct on receipt of all documents and advise us of any errors immediately. Any changes to these details will incur the charges stated below. Please ensure that the names given are the same as in the relevant passport. The booking information that you provide to us will be passed on only to the relevant suppliers of your travel arrangements or other persons necessary for the provision of your travel arrangements. The information may therefore be provided to public authorities such as customs or immigration if required by them, or as required by law. This applies to any sensitive information that you give to us such as details of any disabilities, or dietary and religious requirements. Certain information may also be passed on to security or credit checking companies. If you are travelling to the United States, the US Customs and Border Protection will receive this information for the purposes of preventing and combating terrorism and other transnational serious crimes. If you travel outside the European Economic Area, controls on data protection may not be as strong as the legal requirements in this country. If we cannot pass this information to the relevant suppliers, whether in the EEA or not, we will be unable to provide your booking.  In making this booking, you consent to this information being passed on to the relevant persons. Full details of our data protection policy are available upon request.

Payment

You will be required to pay a deposit or make full payment for your booking at the time of booking. Where you only pay a deposit you must pay the full balance by the balance due date which is 15 weeks prior to departure. If full payment is not received by the balance due date, we will notify the principal(s) or supplier(s) who may cancel your booking and charge the cancellation fees set out in their Terms and Conditions.

Cancellation and Amendment

Any cancellation or amendment request must be sent to us either in writing or by email and will not take effect until received by us. Amendments are also accepted by telephone. If you cancel or amend your booking the principal(s) or supplier(s) may charge the cancellation or amendment charge shown in their Terms and Conditions (which may be 100% of the cost of the travel arrangements) and you must pay us the cancellation or amendment charge stated below.

Insurance

Many principals/suppliers require you to take out travel insurance as a condition of booking with them. In any event, we strongly advise that you take out a policy of insurance in order to cover you and your party against the cost of cancellation by you; the cost of assistance (including repatriation) in the event of accident or illness; loss of baggage and money; and other expenses.

Delivery of Documents

All documents (e.g. invoices/tickets) that require to be posted will be sent to you by either post or email. Once documents leave our offices we will not be responsible for their loss unless such loss is due to our negligence. If tickets or other documents need to be reissued all costs must be paid by you. You can ask for delivery by other means subject to the charges stated below.

Passports, Visa and Health

We can provide general information about the passport and visa requirements for your trip. Your specific passport and visa requirements, and other immigration requirements are your responsibility and you should confirm these with the relevant Embassies and/or Consulates. Neither we nor the principal(s) or supplier(s) accept any responsibility if you cannot travel because you have not complied with any passport, visa or immigration requirements. Most countries now require passports to be valid for at least 6 months after your return date. Please take special note that for all air travel within the British Isles, airlines require photographic identification of a specific type. Please ask us for full details. We can provide general information about any health formalities required for your trip but you should check with your own doctor for your specific circumstances.

Final Travel Arrangements

Please ensure that all your travel, passport, visa and insurance documents are in order and that you arrive in plenty of time for checking in at the airport. It may be necessary to reconfirm your flight with the airline prior to departure. Please ask us for details at least 72 hours before your outbound flight. You should take a note of any reference number or contact name when reconfirming. If you fail to reconfirm you may be refused permission to board the aircraft and you are unlikely to receive any refund.

Complaints

Because the contract(s) for your travel arrangements is between you and the principal(s) or supplier(s), any queries or concerns relating to the travel arrangements should be addressed to them. If you have a problem whilst on holiday, this must be reported to the principal/supplier or their local supplier or agent immediately. If you fail to follow this procedure there will be less opportunity to investigate and rectify your complaint. The amount of compensation you may be entitled to may be reduced or you may not receive any at all depending upon the circumstances. If you wish to complain when you return home, write to the principal/supplier. You will see the name and address plus contact details in any confirmation documents we send you. We will of course assist you with this if you wish - please contact our Customer Support team. If the matter cannot be resolved and it involves us or another ABTA Member then it can be referred to the arbitration scheme arranged by ABTA, see www.abta.com

Service Charges

In certain circumstances we apply a service charge for the services we provide.

Tour Operator Terms of Business

The background to this agreement is:

Imagine Cruising arranges and provides cruise holidays and excursions by coach, air and sea to customers, upon the following terms and conditions.

Within the meaning of the Package Travel Regulations 1992, your attention is drawn to the provisions in the website, regarding:

· general information regarding the requirement for a valid passport - travel advice can be found at www.fco.gov.uk/knowbeforeyougo;

· any necessary visas and procedure and timescale to obtain them;

· any health requirements for the journey and the stay - Clients should contact their GP, Practice nurse or Travel Health Clinic for recommended practice;

· the measure taken by the Tour Company to keep secure the money which you pay for the Tour; and

· the steps which will be taken to repatriate you from abroad if the Tour Company becomes insolvent

Definitions

These definitions apply unless the context of the Agreement requires a different interpretation:

"Booking" means any placing of a request by you, in person, in writing or by telephone, for you or someone else to be included in a Tour, either direct to Imagine Cruising or through any authorised agent, together with full, cleared deposit payment for the tour, as advertised

"Confirmation" means confirmation, by Imagine Cruising of a Booking for a tour or an excursion and "confirmed" shall be construed accordingly

"Package Holiday" means a package holiday within the meaning of the Package Travel Regulations 1992

"Ticket" includes an electronically generated ticket

"Tour" includes any excursion or tour advertised from time to time, with itinerary and price, to be arranged by Imagine Cruising, as described in any of its advertising.

"Writing" includes electronic writing

"Us" / "We" Imagine Cruising

"You" means the Client which may include any person over the age of 18 years or any minor accompanied by such a person.

The terms of this Agreement are:

1. Your Booking

1.1 Whether you book alone or as a group, we will only deal with the lead booking name in all subsequent correspondence, including changes, amendments and cancellations. You must be 18 years old at the time of booking and possess the legal capacity and authority to book as the lead name and travel on holidays with us and take up the offers advertised by us if they are still available. You are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the personal details or any other information supplied in respect of yourself and any other person travelling on the booking and for passing on any information regarding the booking or any changes made in relation thereto, to all persons travelling on such booking, including but not limited to information on schedule changes or copies of booking confirmations. Any person who is under 18 years old must be accompanied by an adult on his or her journey.

1.2 In order to make a Booking you must pay either a deposit (to be advised at the point of booking) or the full balance of the total advertised price. It is your responsibility to ensure that the Booking and the Tour are suitable for your requirements and capacity (including your physical and medical state and any disability from which you may suffer), in every respect.

1.3 Provided that a place on the Tour booked is available and we are satisfied that there is no good reason to refuse the Booking, we will confirm the Booking in writing. You must then pay the balance of the advertised Tour price no later than 15 weeks prior to departure. At that point, and not before, the Booking is complete and a contract is then made for the provision of the Tour.

1.4 Within 14 days of booking confirmation, you will be sent a Confirmation Invoice either by post or email.

1.5 Where the Tour constitutes a Package Holiday, the following provisions in any of our advertising shall constitute part of the Booking terms and conditions:

1.5.1 the destinations and, where more than one, the time to be spent at each;

1.5.2 the means, characteristics and categories of transport with dates and times and points of departure and return; any intermediate stops and connections and where to go or stay to effect them;

1.5.3 where accommodation is included, the location, degree of comfort and main features (including categorisation in a member state of the EU)

1.5.4 what, if any meals are included in the Tour;

1.5.5 whether there is a minimum number of clients before the Tour is cancelled and the timetable for any such cancellation;

1.5.6 the itinerary;

1.5.7 the excursions and tours included in the price and any surcharges that might arise and their method of calculation;

1.5.8 the name of the organiser and any insurer, together with a local representative, whether associated with the Tour Company or not;

1.5.9 the total price for the package holiday and any charges, taxes, dues not included;

1.5.10 the payment schedule and accepted methods of payment;

1.5.11 the need to agree any special requirements with Imagine Cruising;

1.5.12 the ways and means and timetable for making a complaint.

1.6 Your contract is with Imagine Cruising, a trading division of Hays Travel Limited, a member of ABTA with membership number Y2901 for package holidays. When you buy a cruise holiday package which includes a flight from us your arrangements are protected under our Air Travel Organiser's Licence (ATOL) number 5534. In the unlikely event of our or your cruise line’s insolvency, the CAA will ensure that you are not stranded abroad and will arrange to refund any money you have paid to us for an advance booking. For further information visit the ATOL website at http://www.atol.org.uk/

1.7 All prices we advertise are accurate at the date published, but we reserve the right to change any of those prices from time to time. We reserve the right to add a fuel supplement to holiday prices should this increase after the date of this publication. Prices can go up or down. We will be able to tell you the up-to-date price of your chosen travel arrangements and of any other services advertised by us before confirming your booking. We reserve the right to increase the price of your holiday after you have booked but no later than 30 days before the departure date stipulated and will forward an Amendment Invoice reflecting any changes made. After a Confirmation Invoice has been sent to you, any increase to your holiday price will be as the result of changes in our costs of supplying your holiday resulting from transportation charges, (fuel, airport charges, scheduled air fares and other transport charges which form part of our contract with the transport provider), currency fluctuations and government action. An administration charge is included within these amounts.

If the increase would be 2% or less of the holiday price shown on your Confirmation Invoice (excluding insurance premiums and any amendment charges), we will absorb the changes in our costs described above and will only pass on any increase above that level. If any change in our costs would cause a reduction in your holiday price, we will not make refunds of amounts less than 2% of your holiday price (calculated as above), but we will refund in full amounts exceeding such 2%, after deducting an administration charge of £1.

The price quoted on the last Amendment Invoice issued is guaranteed, unless you change your holiday booking. Any increases in our costs which occur after the last Amendment Invoice has been sent will be borne by us. Should you instruct your credit/debit card company to "charge back" any payment(s) properly due from you in respect of your booking, we will charge you an administrative fee of £10 per incident and associated costs. We further reserve the right to cancel your booking and/or take legal action against you for all outstanding payment(s).

Our booking fee varies from £25 to £50 per person.

ABTA Statement
Imagine Cruising is a trading division of Hays Travel Ltd, who are Members of ABTA. ABTA and ABTA Members help holidaymakers to get the most from their travel and assist when things don’t go according to plan. We are obliged to maintain a high standard of service to you by ABTA’s Code of Conduct. For more information on ABTA, the Code of Conduct and the arbitration scheme available to you if you have a complaint, contact ABTA, 30 Park Street, London SE1 9EQ, Tel 020 3117 0581 www.abta.com

2. Cancellation and Amendments

2.1 Any cancellation by you of a Booking must be made in writing to us or our duly authorised agents and will be effective from the date we receive it. Communications must arrive no later than 3pm, Monday-Friday, to allow time to process the cancellation with our suppliers. Any cancellation requests received after this time or on a Saturday or Sunday will be deemed to have been received on the next working day.

Our cancellation charges are a percentage of the total holiday cost, not including any flight costs or insurance premiums which are non-refundable. These charges are based on how many days before your departure we receive your cancellation notice and not when your correspondence was sent to us. Insurance premiums, credit card charges and amendment charges are not refundable in the event of the person(s) to whom they apply cancelling.

2.3 No refunds will be made in relation to the return part or any other unused part of a ticket.

2.4 You may give written notice before the start of your booked or confirmed Tour, to us to change the Tour.

2.5 Where an originally booked Tour is changed in accordance with paragraph 2.4, any discount applied to the price of the original Tour will no longer apply to the cost of any replacement Tour. Only one change of Tour is permitted and any change cannot be to a cruise of a lesser cost than the original Tour. If you wish to change your Tour a second time this will treated as a cancellation and re-book.

2.6 If we have to alter your itinerary, travel or holiday arrangements, any change will be either major or minor. Although it is unlikely that we will have to make any changes to your travel arrangements, we do plan the arrangements many months in advance and as a result we may have to make changes and we reserve the right to do so.

2.7 Where a change is a minor change, we will, if practical, advise you before departure, but we are not obliged to do so or to pay you compensation. A minor change is any change apart from a major change as defined here.

2.8 When a change is a major change (and a major change is either an alteration to your flight time by more than 12 hours, or a change in standard of accommodation), we will advise you as soon as is reasonably possible. You will then have the choice of:

2.8.1 accepting the change, taking an alternative holiday (and where this is of a different price, you or we will refund the difference as appropriate);

or

2.8.2 withdrawing from the contract and accepting a full refund of all monies paid.

2.9 In addition, in appropriate cases, we will pay compensation commensurate with the inconvenience suffered (on the assumption that the full balance has been paid).

2.10 In the unlikely event that we become unable to provide a significant proportion of your trip after you depart, we will make alternative arrangements for you to continue the trip at no extra charge, or, if this is impossible, or you do not accept these alternative arrangements for a good reason, we will provide you with transport back to your point of departure.

2.11 In addition, if appropriate, we will pay you compensation of an amount which is reasonable taking into account all the circumstances. Compensation will not be considered appropriate, for example, in cases where a major change has to be made as a result of force majeure.

2.12 If we have to cancel your holiday before the date of departure, you will have the choice of:

2.12.1 taking an alternative holiday (and where this is of a different price you or we will refund the difference as appropriate);

or

2.12.2 accepting the full refund of all monies paid.

2.13 In addition, in appropriate cases, and where such cancellation is not due to under booking or force majeure as defined below, we will pay you compensation commensurate with your inconvenience. Under booking is the situation in which the minimum number of bookings required to run a tour is not met.

Your Obligations

3.1 You must ensure that any medical or other attendance that you require is provided by you.

3.2 You agree that you may be photographed in the course of the Tour for the purpose of Imagine Cruising's future publicity and that any written comments you make about the Tour or Imagine Cruising may be published by us.

3.3 You agree to abide by any reasonable directions (especially any given on account of health and safety), given by the tour company's representatives in the course of the Tour.

3.4 You agree to behave in a reasonable and responsible manner and, in particular that you will do nothing which might endanger the health and safety of any person involved in the Tour or which might result in personal injury to any person or loss of or damage to property belonging to the Tour Company, its representatives or other Clients.

3.5 You agree that it is your responsibility to carry any necessary valid passport or visa, necessary for the Tour. Information can be found at http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Passports/index.htm

3.6 You agree to inform us of any special requests at the time of booking. We will advise the relevant supplier of such requests but cannot guarantee that they will be met. Furthermore, we have no liability to you if such requirements are not met. You may find it useful to use the www.abta.com/consumer-services/travel_problems/arbitration

Service Charges

In certain circumstances we apply a service charge for the services we provide.