Terms & Conditions

The following booking conditions form the basis of your contract with Famine Way Tours (“we”, “us” and “our”). Please read them carefully as they set out our respective rights and obligations. By asking us to confirm your booking, we are entitled to assume that you have had the opportunity to read and have read these booking conditions and agree to them.

These booking conditions only apply to the trip arrangements which you book with us and which we agree to make, provide or perform (as applicable) as part of our contract with you. All references in these booking conditions to “trip”, “booking”, “contract” or “arrangements” mean such trip arrangements unless otherwise stated.

BOOKING YOUR TRIP AND PAYMENT DETAILS

  1. To make a booking, please follow the procedures issued to you or ask for an offline application form. The relevant application form needs to be completed by each person travelling. Where you are under 18 at the time of booking, the application form also needs to be signed by your parent or guardian or initialled online during the booking process.
  1. Where we have already confirmed the availability of your chosen arrangements and you book within any applicable time limit for doing so, your booking will be treated as firm, and a contract between us will come into existence as soon as we receive your completed application form and your deposit. We will then send you a receipt for all payments made and our invoice. Where we have not confirmed availability, your booking will be treated as firm, and a contract between us will come into existence when we dispatch our invoice to you. Where you book through our website without prior confirmation of availability, any electronic acknowledgement of your booking is not a confirmation of it. Please check your invoice carefully as soon as you receive it. Contact us immediately if any information which appears on the invoice or any other document appears to be incorrect or incomplete.
  1. A minimum deposit of €100.00 per person must accompany the booking. We also offer and encourage an instalment plan of the trip payment made by a minimum of 30 days prior to departure. In any case, the full balance must be received by us by 30 days prior to departure. Bookings made within thirty days require immediate full payment.
  1. If, for any reason, the balance (including any surcharge where applicable) is not received by the due date, we reserve the right to treat the booking as cancelled by you. If we do not cancel straight away because you have promised to make payment, you must pay the cancellation charges shown herein depending on the date we reasonably treat your booking as cancelled.
  1. The price quoted for any trip covers the cost of the planning, the organization and carrying out of the trip, including group equipment, supplies, accommodation, administration and staff, except for the following, for which the you must be responsible: vaccination fees, travel insurance, cost of travel to and from the start / return point of your trip and personal expenses while on the trip and any other expenses specifically excluded on the trip description and/or invoice.
  1. We reserve the right to make changes to and correct errors in quoted prices at any time before your trip is confirmed. We will advise you of any error of which we are aware and of the then applicable price at the time of booking.
  1. Once the price of your chosen trip has been confirmed at the time of booking, then subject to the correction of errors, we will only increase or decrease the price in the event of any change in our transportation costs or in dues, taxes or fees or in the exchange rates which have been used to calculate the cost of your trip.
  1. A surcharge or refund (as applicable) will be payable, subject to the conditions set out in this clause. Even in the above cases, only if the amount of any increase in our costs exceeds 2% of the total cost of your trip will we levy a surcharge. If any surcharge is greater than 10% of the cost of your trip, you will be entitled to cancel your booking and receive a full refund of all monies you have paid to us or alternatively purchase another trip.
  1. Any surcharge must be paid with the balance of the cost of the trip or within 14 days of the issue date printed on the surcharge invoice, whichever is the later. A refund will only be payable if the decrease in our costs exceeds 2% of the total cost of your trip. Where a refund is due, we will pay you the full amount of the decrease in our costs.
  1. Travel insurance: It is essential that you have adequate and appropriate cover for your trip including any adventurous activities such as cycling. It is important to have adequate insurance which will cover cancellation costs from the date of booking as well as medical expenses (including evacuation and repatriation). Please read your policy details carefully and take them with you on your trip. It is your responsibility to ensure that the insurance cover you purchase is suitable and adequate for your particular needs.
  1. Health: Except as disclosed in your medical questionnaire, you are taken to confirm at the time of booking that you are in good health, physically capable of undertaking all aspects of the trip, and unaware of any reason why you may be unsuited to taking part or may be likely to suffer illness or injury during the trip, taking into account its challenges and purposes. If you are unable to give for this confirmation for any reason or have any medical condition or disability which may affect your trip, you must contact us before you submit your application form so that we can assist you in considering the suitability of the trip for you.
  1. If any information given in the application form or medical questionnaire is shown to be materially incorrect or incomplete, we reserve the right to cancel your booking or terminate your participation in the trip, depending on when we become aware of the true position. In this situation, cancellation charges as set forth herein will apply and we will not be responsible for any costs or expenses incurred as a result.
  1. Special requests: Please advise us of any special requests prior to making your booking. Where possible, we will endeavour to meet or arrange for our suppliers to meet any such request. Confirmation that a special request has been noted or passed on to the supplier or the inclusion of the special request on your 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. For your own protection, you should obtain confirmation in writing that a special request will be complied (where it is possible to give this) where it is important to you.

CANCELLATION AND CHANGES

  1. Cancellation of bookings must be notified to us by letter or email. Your notice of cancellation will only be effective when it is received in writing by us.
  2. Due to Covid-19, we have implemented the following flexible cancellation policy for 2021. Should it not be possible to travel or Famine Way tours are forced to cancel your booking due to travel restrictions in Ireland or in your home Country due to COVID-19 at the time of travel, deferment to a later travel date or a voucher for the amount paid will be offered in lieu of a refund. Full refunds may be available upon request.
  3. All other reasons for cancellation by a client will be subject to our standard terms and conditions listed here.
Period before departure within which written notification of cancellation is received by us Cancellation charge per person cancelling (% of total cost)
31 day or more
€50 administration fee
16 – 30 days
60%
8 – 15 days
80%
7 days to the date of departure
100%
  1. Depending on the reason for cancellation, you may be able to reclaim these cancellation charges (less any applicable excess) under the terms of your insurance policy. Claims must be made directly to the insurance company concerned. Where a part cancellation of a booking affects the basis on which the price was calculated, we will recalculate and re-invoice you accordingly.
  2. Changes to your confirmed trip can be considered depending on practicalities and availabilities, but there might be a cost associated with these changes. We do not charge an amendment fee for doing so and will only pass on any extra costs involved in providing additional or alternative services which are incurred or imposed by any of our suppliers. A change of holiday dates will normally be treated as a cancellation of the original booking and rebooking in which case cancellation charges will apply. Changes may result in the recalculation of the holiday price where, for example, the basis on which the price of the original holiday was calculated has changed.
  3. The itinerary is a guide to which we will attempt to adhere, but it may be necessary to alter this at short notice as a result of circumstances or events outside our control such as adverse weather or road conditions or any of those amounting to force majeure, or due to the operating conditions imposed by owners and operators of accommodation, facilities and transport. Your itinerary will, however, be the same in content as far as is reasonably possible, unless circumstances beyond our control make this impossible. Should weather conditions involve you in extra costs such as accommodation, transportation and meals, these will be borne by mutual agreement between us.
  4. Changes and cancellation by us: As referred to above, we may have to make changes to and correct errors in advertised and confirmed details and also cancel confirmed bookings which we must reserve the right to do.
  5. In these terms and conditions, “force majeure” means any event which we or the supplier of the service(s) in question could not, even with all due care, foresee or avoid. Such events may include whether actual or threatened, war, riot, civil war, terrorist activity, natural or nuclear disaster, fire and all similar events outside our control. Except where otherwise expressly stated in these terms and conditions, we regret we cannot accept liability or pay any compensation where the performance or prompt performance of our obligations under our contract with you is prevented or affected by or you otherwise suffer any damage, loss or expense of any nature as a result of “force majeure”.

 

Our Liability to you

  1. We promise to make sure that the trip arrangements we have agreed to make perform or provide as applicable as part of our contract with you are made, performed or provided with reasonable skill and care. This means that, subject to these booking conditions, we will accept responsibility if, for example, you suffer death or personal injury or your contracted trip arrangements are not provided as promised or prove deficient as a result of the failure of ourselves, our employees, agents or suppliers to use reasonable skill and care in making, performing or providing, as applicable, your contracted trip arrangements.
  2. Please note, it is your responsibility to show that reasonable skill and care has not been used if you wish to make a claim against us. In addition, we will only be responsible for what our employees, agents and suppliers do or do not do if they were at the time acting with the course of their employment or carrying out work we had asked them to do.
  3. We will not be responsible for any injury, illness, death, loss (including loss of possessions and loss of enjoyment), damage, expense, cost or other sum or claim of any description whatsoever which results from any of the following:
    1. your act(s) and/or omission(s); or
    2. the act(s) and/or omission(s) of a third party not connected with the provision of your trip and which were unforeseeable or unavoidable; or
    3. ‘force majeure’.
  4. We cannot accept responsibility for any services which do not form part of our contract.

HEALTH REQUIREMENTS AND COMPLAINTS

  1. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are aware of all recommended vaccinations and health precautions in good time before departure.
  2. In the unlikely event that you have any reason to complain or experience any problems with your trip whilst away, you must immediately inform your trip guide or our local agent (if we have one) and the supplier of the service(s) in question. Any verbal notification must be put in writing and given to our trip guide / local agent and the supplier as soon as possible. If any complaint or problem is not resolved to your satisfaction by the trip guide, local agent or supplier, you must contact us using the contact details we have provided you with during your trip, giving us full details and a contact number. Until we know about a complaint or problem, we cannot begin to resolve it. Most problems can be dealt with quickly. If you remain dissatisfied, however, you must write to us within 14 days of the end of your trip giving your booking reference and full details of your complaint. For all complaints and claims which do not involve death, personal injury or illness, we regret we cannot accept Liability if you fail to notify the complaint or claim entirely in accordance with this clause. In the unlikely event you have a complaint which we cannot amicably resolve, you may, as an alternative to bringing a claim in the courts.

APPLICABLE LAW

  1. We both agree that Irish law (and not other) will apply to this terms and conditions and any other contract/agreement as well as to any dispute, claim or other matter of any description which arises between us.
  2. We both also agree that any claim which arises between us must be dealt with by the courts in Ireland.

OUR WEBSITE

  1. The information contained in our website and in our other advertising material is believed correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. However, any errors may occasionally occur and information may subsequently change. You must therefore ensure you check all details of your chosen trip (including the price) with us at the time of booking.