These terms & conditions apply to all holidays onboard The Fula Princess booked with FairPlay Gambia. Please read them carefully before making a booking.
1. Your Holiday Contract
When a booking is made, the ‘lead name’ on the booking guarantees that he or she has the authority to accept and does accept on behalf of the party the terms of these booking conditions. After we receive your booking and deposit, we will confirm receipt of your deposit. A binding agreement will come into existence between us when we dispatch this confirmation. This contract is governed by Gambian Law and the jurisdiction of the Gambian Courts.
2. Passports, visas, health requirements and travel documents
It is your responsibility to ensure that you are in possession of all necessary travel and health documents. A full and valid passport is required for British Citizens entering The Gambia (including children) and visas may be required for some nationalities. Requirements may change and you must check the up-to-date position in good time before departure. If you or any member of your party is not a British Citizen or holds a non-British passport, you must check passport and visa requirements prior to booking.
3. Insurance
We consider adequate travel insurance to be essential. Please read and take it with you on holiday. It is your responsibility to ensure that the insurance cover you purchase is suitable and adequate for your particular needs. Please be aware that some insurance policies (particularly those that come free with a bank account, for example) may consider your booking to be a group booking and therefore you might not be covered in the way you expect.
4. What is included
Your holiday package onboard The Fula Princess includes (unless otherwise agreed) accommodation onboard, all of your crew, three meals per day and all running costs of the boat.
Our specialist packages, such as our Birding Special, also include items listed in the relevant document.
5. Paying for your holiday
In order to confirm your chosen arrangements, you must pay a non-refundable 25% deposit and the remainder upon arrival. If we do not receive the second payment in full, we reserve the right to treat your booking as cancelled by you in which case the cancellation charges (Para 8) will become payable.
| When Payment is Due | Total Cost Due |
| At the time of booking | 25% |
| On arrival | Outstanding balance |
6. Your Holiday Price
FairPlay Gambia reserves the right to raise or lower its prices at any time. With respect to your booking, the price you pay will be the amount discussed and shown in your confirmation invoice. Changes in fees (including transportation costs, fuel costs, dues, taxes, fees such as landing taxes or embarkation/ disembarkation fees at ports/airports and exchange rates) will be absorbed by FairPlay Gambia and the price of your travel arrangements will not change after you have booked your holiday.
7. If You Change Your Booking
If, after our confirmation invoice has been issued, you wish to change your travel arrangements in any way, we will do our utmost to make these changes, but please note that it may not always be possible. Any request for changes to be made must be from the ‘lead name’ on the booking. We do not charge an administration fee but reserve the right to make changes relating to any further cost we incur in making this alteration. You should be aware that these costs could increase closer to the departure date that changes are made.
8. If You Cancel Your Holiday
You may cancel your travel arrangements at any time. Written notification by mail, fax or email from the ‘lead name’ on the booking must be received at our offices. Since we incur costs in making your travel arrangements and may not be able to find alternative bookings, your deposit is not refundable.
Note: If the reason for your cancellation is covered under the terms of your insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges from your insurance company.
Please note, if only some members of your party cancel, the remaining guests will be responsible for paying the full shortfall left by the cancelled guest/s.
9. If We Change or Cancel Your Holiday
We begin planning your trip many months in advance and so we reserve the right to make changes to holiday details both before and after bookings have been confirmed. Most changes are minor but occasionally, we may have to make a Major Change. If we have to make a Major Change, we will tell you as soon as possible and if there is time to do so before departure, we will offer you the choice of cancelling in which case you will receive a full and quick refund of all monies you have paid to us.
We will not cancel your confirmed booking except for reasons of “Force Majeure”, as defined below or failure by you to make full payment on time.
(Force majeure is defined as any circumstances which are unusual and/or unforeseeable which are beyond the control of FairPlay Gambia, the consequence of which could not have been avoided even if all due care had been exercised, including (but not limited to) war or threat of war; riot; civil strife; hostilities; political unrest; government action; industrial dispute; natural or another disaster; nuclear incident; terrorist activity; weather conditions; closure of airports; fire; flood; drought; re-scheduling or cancellation of flights or alteration of the airline or aircraft type by an airline and technical problems with transportation and all similar events outside our control.)
Due to the unpredictability of Force Majeure events, we shall not be liable for any changes either before departure or during the holiday, which in our opinion are necessary to protect your safety. In this event, we will offer you suitable alternative arrangements, or, if you do not travel, return the monies you have paid us but we will not pay you compensation where we make a major change or cancel in the event of Force Majeure.
We will not pay you compensation if we make a minor change or cancel as a result of your failure to make full payment on time. We regret we cannot pay any expenses, costs or losses incurred by you as a result of any change or cancellation.
Very rarely, we may be forced by Force Majeure to change or terminate your arrangements after departure. If this situation does occur, we regret we will be unable to make any refunds (unless we obtain any from our suppliers), pay you compensation or meet any costs or expenses you incur as a result.
10. Behaviour
When you book a trip with FairPlay Gambia you accept responsibility for the proper conduct of yourself and your party whilst on holiday. If we or any other person in authority is of the reasonable opinion that you or any member of your party is behaving in such a way as to cause or be likely to cause danger or upset to any other person or damage to property, we will be entitled to terminate the holiday of the person(s) concerned and we will have no further responsibility to them including any return travel arrangements. No refunds will be made and we will not pay any expenses or costs incurred as a result of the termination. You will be responsible for making full payment for any damage or loss caused by you or any member of your party during your time away. Payment must be paid direct at the time to the service supplier concerned failing which, you will be responsible for meeting any claims subsequently made against us (together with our own and the other party’s full legal costs) as a result of your actions.
11. If You Have A Complaint
In the unlikely event that you have any reason to complain or experience any problems with your holiday arrangements whilst away, please immediately inform either Dave Adams or your crew. Most problems or complaints can be resolved while you are away, however, if not resolved, please email us at dave@fairplaygambia.com within 28 days of your return to the UK giving your booking reference and full details of your complaint and all other relevant information.
If this procedure is not followed we will not have the opportunity to investigate and rectify your complaint whilst in The Gambia and this may affect your rights under this contract.
12. What Happens To Complaints
Our reputation is vital to our success and we will endeavour to resolve any problems to your satisfaction, but if you are not happy with our handling of any issues, be aware that we are obliged, under our registration to The Gambia Tourism Board (GTB) to maintain a high standard of service to you and all of our guests.
13. Our Liability To You
(1) In respect of Packages
We promise that your holiday arrangements will be made, performed or provided with reasonable skill and care. This means that we will accept responsibility if, for example, you suffer personal injury or your contracted arrangements are not provided as promised or prove deficient as a result of the failure of ourselves, our employees, or suppliers to use reasonable skill and care in making, performing or providing your arrangements. Further, we will be responsible for what our employees and suppliers do or do not do if they were at the time acting within the course of their employment or carrying out work we had asked them to do.
(2) In respect of other arrangements
We promise to use reasonable skill and care in the performance of our contractual obligations, subject to and in accordance with these Booking Conditions. Our contractual obligations consist of using our reasonable skill and care in making your booking and arrangements, as well as using our reasonable skill and care in choosing our suppliers.
(3) In respect of Packages and other arrangements
We will not be responsible for any injury, illness, death, loss, damage, expense, cost or another claim of any description whatsoever that results from:
The act(s) and/or omission(s) of the person(s) affected or any member(s) of their party or
The act(s) and/or omission(s) of a third party not connected with the provision of your arrangements and which were unforeseeable or unavoidable or
’Force Majeure’ as defined above.
(4) Except as set out in these conditions, we will not accept any further or different liability than the Package Travel, Package Tours and Package Holidays Regulations impose. It is your responsibility to show that reasonable skill and care have not been used if you wish to make a claim against us.
(5) We limit the maximum amount we may have to pay you for any claims you may make against us. The maximum amount we will have to pay you where we are found liable for loss of and/or damage to any luggage or personal possessions (including money) is £100 per person affected unless by special arrangement.
For all other claims which do not involve death or personal injury, the maximum amount we will have to pay you if we are found liable to you on any basis is three times the price (excluding insurance premiums and amendment charges) paid by or on behalf of the person(s) affected in total unless a lower limitation applies to your claim. This maximum amount will only be payable where everything has gone wrong and you have not received any benefit at all from your holiday.
(6) Where any claim or part of a claim (including those involving death or personal injury) concerns or is based on any travel or service arrangements (including the process of getting on and/or off the transport concerned) provided by Fair Play Gambia, the maximum amount of compensation we will have to pay you will be limited. The most we will have to pay you for that claim or that part of a claim if we are found liable to you on any basis is the most the carrier or service provider concerned would have to pay under the international convention or regulation which applies to the travel arrangements or hotel stay in question. Where a carrier or hotel would not be obliged to make any payment to you under the applicable International Convention or Regulation in respect of a claim or part of a claim, we will not be obliged to make a payment to you for that claim or part of the claim. When making any payment, we are entitled to deduct any money which you have received or are entitled to receive from the transport or service provider for the complaint or claim in question.
(7) Local Excursions/Activities/Events
We will not accept responsibility for services or facilities which do not form part of our agreement. For example any excursion you book whilst away, or any service or facility which your hotel or any other supplier agrees to provide for you. Excursions, tours, activities or other events that you may choose to book or pay for through other providers whilst you are on holiday (“Local Events”) are not part of your package holiday provided by us and these terms and conditions do not apply. For any Local Event, your contract will be with the supplier of that Local Event and not with us. We are not responsible for the provision of the Local Event or for anything that happens during the course of its provision by the supplier. Please note that this position also includes all hazardous activities.
(8) The services and facilities included in your holiday will be deemed to be provided with reasonable skill and care if they comply with any local regulations which apply, or if there are no applicable local regulations if they are reasonable when compared to the local standards in practice.
14. Data protection/privacy
We would like to hold your information for our own future marketing purposes (for example, to inform you of promotional/competition offers or to send you our brochure). If you do not wish to receive such approaches in future, please inform us as soon as possible.
15. Special requests and medical problems
If you wish to make a special request, you must do so at the time of booking. We will try to accommodate any reasonable requests but we cannot guarantee that requests will be met. The fact that a special request has been made on your pre-trip questionnaire is not confirmation that the request will be met. Failure to meet any special request will not be a breach of contract on our part unless the request has been specifically confirmed.
We are happy to advise you on matters such as accessibility. As much of The Gambia lacks even the simplest facilities, such as ramps for wheelchairs, lifts etc, it is important that, when booking, you advise us of any disabilities and special requirements to make sure the holiday meets your specific needs. If we reasonably feel unable to properly accommodate the particular needs of the person(s) concerned, we will not confirm the booking. For further guidance, please contact Dave Adams.