Please read all these terms and conditions.

These terms and conditions apply to Bookings you make or purchases of Digital Content you make on our website. A contract on the terms set out in these terms and conditions will exist as soon as we issue confirmation in respect of Bookings or in the case of Digital Content, once the product is delivered and paid for.

If you are not sure about anything, just phone us on 020 3488 3480.

Application

  • These terms and conditions will govern all Bookings and purchases of Digital Content made with us. We are Denise Allen trading as The Galapagos Explorer Limited of 63 Woodlands Avenue, Sidcup, Kent, DA15 8HB (“Company”) with email address info@thegalapagosexplorer.com; telephone number 020 3488 3480.
  • In these terms and conditions, references to “we”, “us” and “our” indicate the Company and references to “you” and “your” include either the person who has purchased Digital Content from the Website or made a Booking and all persons on whose behalf a booking is made or any other person to whom a Booking is added or transferred. Your use of our Website is expressly conditioned on your acceptance of our terms and conditions.
  • You may only make a Booking or purchase Digital Content from our Website if you are eligible to enter into a contract and are at least 18 years old.

Interpretation

Booking means any booking made on our Website for a Holiday Tour, Day Trip or Cruise which is confirmed or accepted by us.

Booking Form means the booking form which is provided to you with the Quote and availability information.

Cruise means any voyage on a boat taken as a holiday calling at several places and lasting a minimum of 8 days/7 nights.

Customer means the person who makes a purchase of Digital Content or a Booking.

Day Trip means an excursion completed in one day.

Digital Content means digital photographs available for purchase and download on our Website.

Holiday Tour means an extended land based tour longer than one day to include transport, excursions, guide and accommodation, except for any Cruise.

Privacy Policy means the terms which set out how we will deal with personal information received from you via the Website;

Travel Supplier means Galapagos Best Cia. Ltda of Pedro Carbo 911 E-Sucre y 10 de Agosto, Guayaquil-Ecuador.

Website means our website www.thegalapagosexplorer.com on which the Services and Goods are advertised.

Personal information

We retain and use all information strictly under the Privacy Policy which can be found here https://thegalapagosexplorer.com/privacy-policy.

Website content

We take reasonable care to ensure the accuracy of the information contained on our Website. However, content is subject to change, often due to the actions of our Travel Supplier and their agents (e.g activity providers, car hire companies etc) and other relevant travel service providers. We will endeavour to notify you of any change known to us and affecting your holiday prior to issuing you with our Booking confirmation and after that, as soon as we are notified by the Travel Supplier (and / or other relevant travel service provider).

Acting as agent

  • When you make a Booking with us, you acknowledge and agree that we will be acting as an agent only for the Travel Supplier (or other relevant travel service provider), including in relation to packages that we arrange, and that neither the Company nor any of its directors, employees or agents has any liability of any nature in connection with the relevant travel service, except as set out in these terms and conditions and the Package Travel Regulations (a copy of which can be found at this website address: legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1992/3288/contents/made).
  • Any Booking you make will be with the relevant travel service provider and not the Company. The Travel Supplier (or other relevant travel service provider), and not the Company, will be responsible to you for the provision of the relevant travel service. Any services we provide to you are collateral to our agency relationship with the Travel Supplier (or other relevant travel service provider) and are separate to the actual provision of the travel services.
  • 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, except to the extent caused by fault on our part.

Booking process

  • In order to make a Booking you must either call the Company, submit your details via the contact page on the Website or send an email to info@thegalapagosexplorer.com in order to request information in respect of the same.
  • We will confirm availability for requested dates of a Booking and provide a quote (Quote) with a Booking Form by email as soon as possible after the request has been received.
  • Any Quote provided in accordance with clause 6.2 will be valid for seven days from the date on which the Quote is provided.

In order to confirm your Booking, you must:

  • Complete the Booking Form, which should be completed and sent to us by email to info@thegalapagosexplorer.com within seven days of receiving the Quote; and
  • Pay the relevant deposit amount required to secure your Booking.
  • A payment reminder email will be sent to you before the balance of the Booking is required pursuant to clause 9.
  • Once a Booking has been made in accordance with clauses 6.1-6.4, a booking confirmation will be sent to you by email within 48 hours (Booking Confirmation).
  • Acceptance of a Booking will be made by us (and a contract concluded) when we have sent you a Booking Confirmation.

Booking Conditions

  • All Bookings are subject to availability. When you make a Booking with us you are making an offer to us to buy some of our advertised services. We reserve the right to refuse to accept and/or not to proceed with any Booking at any time in our sole discretion. Once the contract is made between us we will use reasonable skill and care to perform our obligations to you in accordance with our Terms & Conditions.
  • All Bookings must be made by a person aged 18 years or over. Where your Booking is for more than one person, the first-named person in your party aged 18 years or over will be treated by us as the ‘lead name’ for your Booking. The lead name will be responsible for making all payments due to us in accordance with our contract.
  • Completion and submission by you of our Booking Form will be treated by us as confirmation that you have read, understood and accepted all our Terms & Conditions.
  • It is important that you accurately complete our Booking Form as all documents, notices and other information relating to your holiday will be sent to this address. It is your responsibility to ensure that the details which you supply to us are correct.
  • You must take out travel insurance prior to departure of a Holiday Tour, Cruise or Day Trip.

Prices for Bookings

  • The prices displayed on our website are examples of starting prices. The full price of the Booking will be confirmed in our Quote.

Our holiday price does not include:

  1. Visa fees, flights, porterage, personal expenditure, hotel extras, fuel and extras for car hire;
  2. Taxes or compulsory charges introduced by governments, regulatory bodies or airlines after you have booked; 
  3. Security charges introduced or increased after you have booked relating to transportation costs;
  4. Holiday insurance; and
  5. National Park fees and entrance fees to attractions unless specified.
  6. The price payable by you for your holiday and what this price includes will be confirmed in the email we send to you containing the Quote and set out in the Booking Confirmation.

Payment for Bookings

  • Once you have confirmed the Day Trip, Holiday Tour or Cruise then the Company will issue an invoice via PayPal. You will receive an email and will be able to pay through the link provided. You do not need to set up an account to use PayPal. Once payment is received for the deposit, the Company will issue a Booking Confirmation via email.

You will be required at the time of making a Booking to pay us in accordance with either of the following:

  1. for a Holiday Tour, a deposit of 20% of the Quote and the full balance of the same 60 days prior to departure;
  2. the full price of the Holiday Tour if your departure is within 60 days of the time of booking the same;
  3. for a Day Trip, a deposit of 50% of the Quote and the full balance of the same 15 days prior to departure;
  4. the full price of the Day Trip if your departure is within 15 days of the time of booking the same;
  5. for a Cruise, a deposit of 20 % of the Quote within 7 days after the reservation has been confirmed in order to guarantee the Cruise, otherwise the reservation will be immediately cancelled. The full balance of the Cruise will be required 60 days prior to departure; or

the full price of the Cruise if your departure is within 60 days of the time of booking the same.

  • Unless you are making a late Booking in accordance with either clause 9.2(b), 9.2 (d) or 9.2 (f) above, the balance owing must be paid to us no later than 60 days (for a Holiday Tour), 60 days (for a Cruise) or 15 days (for a Day Trip) before your date of departure. If we do not receive the balance by this time, then we will treat the booking as cancelled by you and you will be liable to pay our cancellation charges in accordance with clause 11.
  • PayPal accepts all major credit cards including Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. An administration charge will apply to any changes carried out by us at your request (see clause 10.1).
  • Fees and charges include VAT at the rate applicable at the time of the Booking.
  • You must pay for a Booking by submitting your credit or debit card details with the Booking Form.

If you change your Booking

  • If, after you have received the Booking Confirmation you wish to change your travel arrangements in any way, for example your chosen travel dates, 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 in writing from the lead–named traveller who made the Booking. You will be asked to pay our administration charge of £25 for Day Trips, £50 for Holiday Tours and £50 for a Cruise per passenger per booking (or such other amount specified in your travel documents), plus any additional travel service provider change or cancellation fees. Where we incur any liability for a travel service provider change or cancellation fee for any booking which you change, you agree to compensate us for the amount of that fee. You should be aware that costs could increase closer to the departure date. When changing travel arrangements we may have to rebook you to current fares and rates, which may result in an increase in the cost of your arrangements, in addition to our administration charge and the travel service provider’s change fees.
  • No date changes are permitted outside of your Holiday Tour, Cruise or Day Trip validity period.
  • Certain travel arrangements (e.g. advance purchase tickets and non-flexible fares) may not be changeable after a reservation has been made and any alteration could incur a

cancellation charge of up to 100% of the service cost. Name changes are not permitted

in any instance.

If you cancel your Booking

  • If you wish, following the issue to you by us of our Booking Confirmation, to cancel a Booking or any part of it relating to any person (in the case of a group booking), we will require your authority in writing or (in the case of a group booking) the authority in writing of the lead name to do so.
  • Our cancellation charges will apply (see ‘Booking Cancellation Charges’ below). These are calculated with reference to the date on which we receive your authority in writing. Such authority should be emailed to info@thegalapagosexplorer.com.
  • Our Booking Cancellation Charges increase the nearer the cancellation is made to the departure date of the Holiday Tour, Day Trip or Cruise as we may not be able to resell your space on either of these without making significant price reductions, or at all. 

Booking Cancellation Charges

Number of days left before your departure for a Holiday Tour (when your authority in writing is received by us) Cancellation charge (expressed as a percentage of the total price (including VAT) of the Holiday Tour)
60 days or more 0%
30-59 days 50 %
29 days or under 100%

 

Number of days left before your departure for a Day Trip (when your authority in writing is received by us) Cancellation charge (expressed as a percentage of the total price (including VAT) of the Day Trip)
15 days or more 0%
10-14 days 50 %
9 days or under 100%

 

Number of days left before your departure for a Cruise (when your authority in writing is received by us) Cancellation charge (including VAT)
91 days or more £250 (handling fee only) per person
45-90 days 20% of the total price of the Cruise (deposit sum)
44 days or less 100 % of the total price of the Cruise (unless your space is resold in which case you will receive a 90 % reimbursement)

If the customer(s) are not on time at the agreed meeting point and have not communicated with us, it will be considered as a no show. The payment will not be refunded.

If we have to change or cancel your Booking

  • Occasionally the Travel Supplier, or other relevant travel service provider, may have to make changes to your original Booking. We do not accept any liability or costs incurred that may result from these changes, other than in accordance with the Package Travel Regulations. Most of these changes will be minor and we will advise you of them at the earliest possible date.
  • Examples of minor changes include alteration of your holiday tour departure time by less than 12 hours, change of accommodation to a comparable or higher standard. No compensation is payable in respect of minor changes.
  • In certain circumstances we or the Travel Supplier or a travel service provider may be required to cancel your travel arrangements (for example, if the minimum number of travellers required for a tour or excursion is not reached or for reasons of force majeure, pandemic or epidemic illness or if you fail to pay the final balance by the due date). In these circumstances (except where you have failed to pay the final balance) you can either have a refund of all money paid or, if available, accept an offer of alternative travel arrangements of comparable standard (we will refund any price difference if the alternative is of a lower value).
  • If you have booked a package arranged by us and it is necessary to cancel or make major changes to your arrangements we will, in addition to the above, pay you compensation as follows:
 55-29 days prior to travel: £10.00
 28-15 days prior to travel: £20.00
 14-8 days prior to travel: £30.00
 7-0 days prior to travel: £40.00

Please refer to the section titled ‘Our responsibility for your booking’ for more information in this regard. 

Passport & visas

  • All travellers must have a valid passport for any international travel and many countries require at least six months’ validity from the date of return.
  • Some countries also require a machine-readable passport and/or unstamped available pages.
  • When assisting with a Booking, we will assume that all travellers on the Booking have a valid passport. If this is not the case, you must let us know.
  • It is important that you ensure that you have valid passports, visas and re-entry permits which meet the requirements of immigration and other government authorities (including, in certain cases, visas for transit points).
  • Any fines, penalties, payments, delays or expenditures incurred as a result of such documents not meeting the requirements of those authorities will be your sole responsibility (except to the extent caused by fault on our part).
  • We do not accept any responsibility if you cannot travel because you have not complied with any passport, visa or immigration requirements.
  • We do not warrant the accuracy of information provided by any external service and accept no liability for any loss or damage which you may suffer in reliance on it (except to the extent caused by fault on our part).
  • Please allow adequate time to obtain any related advice or documents.

For information on passport and visa requirements in Ecuador you should read the information provided via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/ecuador/entry-requirements

Health requirements in respect of a Booking

 You must ensure that you are aware of any health requirements and recommended precautions relevant to your travel and ensure that you carry all necessary vaccination documentation. We recommend that you consult with your doctor or specialist clinic before commencing travel. For health advice you should read the information provided via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/ecuador/health

If you have a complaint in respect of a Booking

 If you have a problem during your trip, please inform the relevant travel service provider (e.g. your hotelier) as soon as possible who will endeavour to put things right. If your complaint is not resolved locally, please follow this up within 28 days of your return home by sending an email to info@thegalapagosexplorer.com or calling us on 020 3488 3480 giving your booking reference (provided in the Booking Confirmation) and all other relevant information. It is strongly recommended that you communicate any complaint to the travel service provider in question without delay. If you fail to follow this procedure we will have been deprived of the opportunity to investigate and rectify your complaint whilst you were travelling and this may affect your rights.

Our responsibility for your Booking

  • In all circumstances, we will not be liable where any failure in the performance or provision of your travel arrangements is due to: (a) your acts or omissions or the acts or omissions of another member in your group (b) any third party not connected with the provision of your travel arrangements and where the failure is unforeseeable or unavoidable (c) unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all due care had been exercised or (d) an event which we or a travel service provider, even with all due care, could not foresee or forestall (including but not limited to war, threat of war, riot, civil disturbances, industrial dispute, terrorist activity and its consequences, natural or other disaster (such as volcanic ash or hurricanes), nuclear incident, fire, adverse weather conditions (actual or threatened, including snow and fog), closed or congested airports or ports, unavoidable technical problems with transport and similar events).
  • Our liability will in all cases be limited in accordance with and/or in an identical manner to: (a) the terms and conditions of the travel service providers that provide your travel arrangements (which, by making a booking with us, you acknowledge form part of these terms and conditions) – and (b) any relevant international conventions, for example the Montreal Convention in respect of travel by air, the Athens Convention in respect of travel by sea, the Berne Convention in respect of travel by rail and the Paris Convention in respect of the provision of accommodation which set time limits for notifications/claims and limit the amount of compensation that can be claimed for death, injury, delay to passengers/guests and loss, damage and delay to luggage.
  • If you have made a Booking with us for a pre-arranged package organised by the Travel Supplier or other travel service provider our obligation to you is to (and you expressly authorise us to) make travel bookings on your behalf with reasonable skill and care and to arrange the relevant contracts between you and travel service providers on your behalf. We exercise care in the selection of reputable travel service providers but we are not ourselves a provider of travel services and have no control over, or liability for, the services provided by third parties. All Bookings are made on your behalf subject to the terms and conditions, including conditions of carriage and limitations of liability, imposed by these travel service providers. Your legal rights in connection with the provision of individual services and tour organiser packages are against the specific provider and are not against us, except to the extent a problem is caused by fault on our part.
  • In each case above, a service will be deemed to have been provided to you with ‘reasonable skill and care’ if it complies with the locally enforced regulations of the country in which it is performed, or, in the absence of locally enforced regulations, if the service is delivered in a reasonable manner given locally accepted standards and practices.

Money not held on trust

All money paid by you to us will be the property of the Company and, in respect of a Booking only and except for monies which are owed to the Company by way of commission, will be a debt due and payable to the travel service provider. In order to secure a Booking, monies paid to the Company, less the Company’s commission, will immediately be transferred to the relevant supplier.

Digital Content available for purchase

Where to find the price for the Digital Content

The price of the product (which includes VAT) will be the price indicated on the order pages when you placed your order. We take all reasonable care to ensure that the price of the product advised to you is correct. However please see Clause 19.3 for what happens if we discover an error in the price of the product you order.

We will pass on changes in the rate of VAT

If the rate of VAT changes between your order date and the date we supply the product, we will adjust the rate of VAT that you pay, unless you have already paid for the product in full before the change in the rate of VAT takes effect.

What happens if we got the price wrong

It is always possible that, despite our best efforts, some of the products we sell may be incorrectly priced. We will normally check prices before accepting your order so that, where the product’s correct price at your order date is less than our stated price at your order date, we will charge the lower amount. If the product’s correct price at your order date is higher than the price stated to you, we will contact you for your instructions before we accept your order.

Purchase of Digital Content

 Digital Content will be made available for download by you as soon as we accept your order and successful payment has been made.

When and how you must pay

  1. You must pay for Digital Content before you download them.
  2. To make a payment for Digital Content you must complete the checkout on the Website. You will then be directed to Paypal to complete the payment. Paypal accepts all major credit cards (including all major credit cards including Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover). Once payment has been made you will then receive an email with a downloadable link to the Digital Content.

Right to cancel orders for Digital Content

 Once Digital Content has been delivered to you, you will not have a right to change your mind.

Ending the contract where we are not at fault and there is no right to change your mind

  1. A contract for Digital Content is completed when the product is delivered, downloaded or streamed and paid for.
  2. If you want to end a contract before it is completed where we are not at fault and you have not changed your mind, just contact us to let us know. The contract will end immediately and we will refund any sums paid by you for products not provided but we may deduct from that refund reasonable compensation for the net costs we will incur as a result of your ending the contract.

When we are liable for damage to your property

If defective Digital Content which we have supplied damages a device or digital content belonging to you and this is caused by our failure to use reasonable care and skill we will either repair the damage or pay you compensation. However, we will not be liable for damage which you could have avoided by following our advice to apply an update offered to you free of charge or for damage which was caused by you failing to correctly follow installation instructions or to have in place the minimum system requirements advised by us.

Your key legal rights in respect of Digital Content

  1. Digital Content must be as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality.
  2. If your Digital Content is faulty, you are entitled to a repair or a replacement. 

Governing law

If any dispute arises between you and us, the laws of England and the jurisdiction of the English Courts will apply.