Where you book a Cruise or a Cruise together with a flight and/or a transfer you are booking a Cruise Package. We sell the Cruise Package to you as principal but third party Cruise suppliers provide the Cruise, operate the Cruise Ship and act as carrier. The conditions of carriage of the third party Cruise supplier will also apply when you book a Cruise Package. These are available on request.
Pregnancy
Cruise ships do not have adequate medical facilities for childbirth on board. Cruise Ships will not carry you if you have entered or passed your 24th - 28th week of pregnancy at any point in your Cruise - the exact timing depends upon the Cruise Ship operator. You must, therefore, check with Us at the time of booking. All pregnant women should produce a doctor's or midwife's letter stating that mother and baby are in good health, fit to travel and that the pregnancy is not high-risk. The letter must also include the estimated date of delivery (EDD) as calculated from both the last menstrual period (LMP) and ultrasound if this has been performed. We cannot accept a booking or subsequently carry you unless you comply with this Section. If you are pregnant and made a booking (or made a booking on behalf of a pregnant passenger) before it could reasonably have been known that you or the passenger would not be able to join the Cruise because you have entered or passed the 24th - 28th (as the case may be) week of pregnancy at any point in the Cruise, We will refund in full the price paid by you and the price paid by any accompanying passenger, provided that the pregnant passenger notified Us as soon as reasonably practicable upon becoming aware that they would not be able to join the Cruise, but shall otherwise not have any liability whatsoever. We and our third party Cruise suppliers expressly reserve the right to refuse passage on board to you if you appear to be in an advanced state of pregnancy and We shall not have any liability whatsoever in respect of either such refusal and/or your carriage.
Medical
(i) We and our third party Cruise suppliers reserve the right to require you to produce medical evidence of fitness to travel on our Cruises.
(ii) If you (or a member of your party) have a physical or mental disability or any other condition which may require special treatment or assistance (including those who use wheelchairs) you must advise Us in writing
before you make a booking. If you (or any member of your party) use a wheelchair, you must furnish your own standard size wheelchair and you must be accompanied by a travelling companion fit and able to assist you. Cruise Ships' wheelchairs are for emergency use only. We and our third party Cruise suppliers reserve the right to refuse passage to you if you fail to notify Us and Our third party Cruise suppliers of such disabilities or need for assistance or who in Our opinion is unfit for travel or whose condition may constitute a danger to themselves or others on board.
Our Liability to You for Cruise Packages (i) We expect at all times that you conduct yourself in a proper manner and with due regard for the health, safety, comfort, enjoyment and general well-being of all persons both on board the Cruise Ship and involved in the provision of any service or facility forming part of the Cruise, and, by booking with Us, you expressly agree to this. If it appears that your conduct, behaviour or health is such as to be a breach of this requirement or your behaviour, health or conduct is likely to endanger your own health or safety or that of any other passenger or crew or may make you likely to be refused permission to go ashore at any port or may make Us liable for the costs of any medical treatment and/or maintenance and support and/or repatriation, then We and Our third party Cruise suppliers and/or the Cruise Ship's Master shall have the right to take any one or more of the following measures as may appear to be reasonable and appropriate in the particular circumstances -
1. refuse to embark or to disembark you at any port or other place of call;
2. disembark you;
3. transfer you to another berth;
4. confine you to a particular stateroom or to
the Cruise Ship's medical centre;
5. through the Cruise Ship's doctor and/or his staff, administer any drug, medicine or other substance of a similar nature, or admit and/or confine you to a hospital or any similar institution at any port as the Cruise Ship's
doctor may consider necessary.
(ii) In the event of any action taken, neither you nor (at Our and Our third party Cruise supplier's discretion) any other person travelling with you (whether or not under the same booking) shall be entitled to make a claim against Us for any loss or expense incurred as a result of such action, whether for a full or partial refund of the price or for any other form of compensation or for the cost of returning to the UK or to any other place or for any other form of loss or expense whatsoever.
International Conventions relating to cruises As mentioned in Clause 8 above, all carriage (by land, air and sea) is subject to the terms and conditions of carriage of the actual carrier (which may be our third party Cruise supplier or any other supplier or their sub-contractor).
Such terms may limit or exclude liability, are expressly incorporated into these Booking Terms and Conditions and also form the terms And conditions of separate contracts between you and the particular carrier as contained in the carrier's ticket which is provided to you before your scheduled departure date. You can get copies of the relevant terms and conditions if you ask us.
Carriage of passengers and their luggage by sea is governed by the Athens Convention. You can get copies of this Convention if you ask Us. The Athens Convention is expressly incorporated into these Booking Terms and
Conditions and Our liability for death or personal injury or for loss of or damage to luggage arising out of carriage by sea shall be determined accordingly. In most cases, the Athens Convention limits the carrier's liability for death or personal injury or loss of or damage to luggage and makes special provision for valuables. It presumes that luggage has been delivered undamaged to you unless you give Us or the supplier written notice:
(a) in the case of apparent damage, before or
at the time of disembarkation or redelivery of
luggage;
(b) in the case of damage which is not apparent or of loss, within 15 days from the date of disembarkation or redelivery or from the time when such redelivery should have taken place. Any damages payable by Us up to the Athens Convention limits shall be reduced in proportion
to any contributory negligence by you and by the maximum amount deductible as specified in Article 8 (4) of the Athens Convention. When looking at Cruises, notwithstanding that the Cruise is performed on a Cruise Ship not owned by Us, it is agreed that We shall at all times nevertheless be deemed a ship owner for the purposes of the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims 1976 (as amended by the Protocol of 1996 or otherwise and as in force in any relevant jurisdiction from time to time), and so are entitled to limit Our liability under its terms.
At the Cruise Terminal - Advance Registration
and Check-in
To comply with Government and security requirements, Cruise Ship operators will require you to register your details with them in advance of travel and may also ask you to complete an online check-in process. We will include details of advance registration and online check-in procedures (as applicable to each Cruise operator) on your confirmation invoice or with your tickets where known but it is your responsibility to check the relevant Cruise operator's registration and check in process. Failure to submit the requested information accurately and in full may result in delays at the Cruise terminal and you may be denied boarding onto the Cruise ship. We accept no responsibility for such consequences. Please also note carefully information regarding embarkation times and departure times of your Cruise ship. You are advised to be on board the ship a minimum of 2 hours before the departure time (in some cases 1 hour before departure time is permitted at ports of call but check with the Cruise operator first). If you do not arrive to embark on time at any port or place then We shall have no liability in respect of the consequences. In respect of Cruises, the Cruise operators shall not be obliged to delay or deviate from the intended itinerary and you must bear any and all costs arising as a result. Costs associated with transportation to re-join the Cruise Ship such as, but not limited to, Government fees, visa fees, subsistence, lodging, air fare, launch fare, car hire or agency fees shall be borne by you.
Gratuities and Service Charges
The Cruise operators' policies regarding on board gratuities and/or service charges for the services provided by their staff vary. Most Cruise operators apply one or more of the following policies:
-Gratuities or Service Charges may be left to
your discretion;
-A daily charge may be automatically added to
your on board account which can be removed
on request;
-A charge may be included in the price of Our Cruise Packages, which you pay in advance of travel. Where this applies it may be possible to ask for the charge to be removed and added to your on board ship account.
-Some Cruise operators may apply a compulsory daily service charge to your on board account but do not expect you to tip at all during the cruise. Whichever scheme the cruise operator uses, you will be required to abide by their gratuity / service charge policy and must settle your account in full before disembarking the ship at the end of your cruise. Where We are made aware of a Cruise operators policy on gratuities or service charges details will be provided either at the time of booking, on Our invoices or with the Cruise operators tickets.
Contagious or Infectious Diseases Affecting Your Cruise
At any port or place the Cruise operator may refuse to embark or may disembark any customer who, in the opinion of the Master, ship's medical personnel or other authorised ship's officer, might be excluded from landing at destination by Immigration or other Governmental Authorities or who may be suffering from contagious or infectious disease or whose presence, in the opinion of the Master, may be detrimental to the comfort or safety of other customers or the crew. In such cases you shall not be entitled to any refund of the Package cost or compensation of any kind. Additionally, We will have no liability for any costs or expenses they incur as a result. In cases of quarantine of the ship involving your detention, you must bear all risk and expense thereby caused and will be charged for food and accommodation during the period of detention, payable day by day, if maintained on board the ship, and for all other quarantine fees and expenses assessed or incurred by you.