GOVERNING LAW
This website has been designed for use within the
United Kingdom. By accessing this website you are agreeing that the
Courts of England will deal with any disputes which may arise between
you and us, and that English law shall be the applicable law.
NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY
You may only use this website for your
own personal use (which will at all times be reasonable and not
abusive) or for purposes legitimately connected with purchasing our
products and services.
You are not allowed to access, use or copy any material or
information on this website for any commercial purpose or for any
purposes which are unlawful. In particular, you are not allowed to copy
(whether by printing off, storing on disk or in any other way),
distribute (including distributing copies), alter or tamper with in any
way or use any material contained in this website except that you may
print off any individual page for your own personal use.
OWNERSHIP AND USE OF MATERIAL AND INFORMATION ON OUR WEBSITE
This
website displays brands which are registered in the UK and/or other
countries and which belong to us. You are not licensed to use any of
the marks on our website unless written permission is granted, and you
may not meta tag any of these marks.
Unless otherwise stated, we own (or are licensed to use) the
intellectual property rights in the content and information in this
website, including (without limitation) all text, sound, photographs,
images, logos, videos, 360° maps, podcasts, blogs, customer reviews,
graphics, design, underlying source code and software. Subject to the
"Non-Commercial Use Only" section above, material and information,
either whole or in part, from this website may not be reproduced,
copied, republished, downloaded, posted, broadcast or transmitted in
any form or medium without our and/or the appropriate owner's prior
written permission.
LINKS
If you wish to include a link to our website, unless you have our written permission, you may only do so to our homepage.
This website contains links to external web sites. These links are
provided so you can find out further information quickly and easily.
Please note that we are not responsible for the content of these
websites.
1. Booking Your Diving and Payment
By completing this online booking process, you are making a booking
which will be confirmed once your payment card details have been
verified and your payment taken.
Bookings made with a credit card incur a charge equivalent to 2.95%
of the value of the booking. Bookings made with a debit card do not
incur a charge.
We will send you a booking confirmation which shows the booking
details - please check all information carefully to ensure it is
accurate. If you have any queries or find any errors, you must advise
us immediately.
2. Your Contract
A binding contract between us will come into existence when we issue
our Confirmation of your booking. These booking conditions form the
basis of that contract. They may only be varied by a director of Ocean
College Limited in writing. If you booked your diving in any
jurisdiction other than in Scotland or Northern Ireland (including any
booking via the Internet), this Agreement, and any claim or dispute
arising from or related to this Agreement, will be governed by English
law and the courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive
jurisdiction over any claim arising out of it. If you booked your
diving in Scotland or Northern Ireland, this Agreement, and any claim
or dispute arising from or related to this Agreement, will be governed
by Scottish or Northern Irish law as appropriate and the courts of
Scotland or Northern Ireland shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any
claim arising out of it.
3. Prices
We reserve the right to make changes to and correct errors in
advertised prices at any time before your diving is confirmed. We will
advise you of any error of which we are aware and of the then
applicable price prior to confirmation.
4. Price Accuracy
The prices, offers, information and terms and conditions published
on our websites or in our leaflets are valid at the time of publication
until publication of any revised information.We reserve the right to
increase or reduce these prices or amend these offers or information at
any time. You will be advised of any change prior to booking
confirmation and must ensure you check all details of your chosen
package (including the price) with us at the time of booking. This
information on the Ocean College website is our sole responsibility. It
not issued on behalf of and does not commit any independent
organisation whose services are featured on it.
Before booking and not less than 30 days prior to departure the
prices featured may change. We reserve the right to impose surcharges
once you have booked but no surcharges will be imposed within 30 days
of departure and any downward revision in the price will be refunded to
you. Surcharges will only be imposed for variations in:
a) transport costs, including the cost of fuel.
b) dues, taxes or fees chargeable for services such as landing taxes
or embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports and airports; or
c) the exchange rates applied to the booking.
Price increases and surcharges will be calculated according to the
full extra cost compared to the costs obtained when our published
prices were calculated using an exchange rate of £1= €1.09, £1= $1.64.
In any event we shall absorb the first 2% of any such surcharge.Any
increase to the price that exceeds 10% of the total package cost will
entitle you to the options outlined in clause 9.
5. Amendment by You
Should you wish to make any changes to your booking after it has
been confirmed, please advise us as soon as possible in writing. We
will endeavour to assist although we cannot guarantee that requests for
amendment can always be met. Where an amendment can be made, a fee of
£25 per booking per amendment will be charged together with any costs
or charges incurred by us or incurred or levied by our suppliers. An
amendment constitutes a change to the existing booking. A request to
transfer to other arrangements will be treated as a cancellation
incurring the cancellation fees set out in clause 6. Where you or a
member of your party is prevented from participating (e.g. as a result
of personal illness/injury, the serious illness or injury of a close
family relative, jury service or unavoidable work commitments) the
person concerned may transfer their booking to another qualified
person, providing we are notified of the need to transfer not less than
28 days prior to departure. An amendment fee of £25 will be payable
together with any costs or charges incurred by us or incurred or levied
by our suppliers to effect the transfer. Should you transfer your
booking to another person, you will both be jointly and severally
liable for payment of the package price and other associated expenses.
6. Cancellation by You
If you wish to cancel your booking, you must inform us in writing. The following cancellation charges are applicable:
More than 49 days before departure: a sum equal to amount paid
49 to 14 days before departure: 70% of total booking cost
13 days to 3 days before departure: 90% of total booking cost
Less than 48 hours before departure: 100% of total booking cost
These dates refer to the date we receive written notification of
your cancellation. No refunds can be made after your scheduled
departure date. Any amendment charges are non-refundable in the event
of your cancellation. We strongly recommend you take out insurance
against irrecoverable cancellation costs.
7. Changes by Us
We reserve the right to make changes to your booked arrangements and
our leaflet or website information at any time both before and after
bookings have been confirmed. Occasionally, it is necessary to make a
significant change. A significant change is one made before departure
involving, for example your start date for diving. All other changes
are treated as minor changes.. In the event of a significant change, we
will advise you as soon as possible and give you the choice of:- (a)
accepting the changed arrangements as notified to you; or (b)
purchasing different arrangements from us, of at least the same
standard if available (with you paying a supplement or receiving a
refund in respect of a price difference); or (c) cancelling your
arrangements and receiving a full refund of all monies paid to us. If
we have to make a significant change within 56 days of your booking, we
will as a minimum pay you compensation in accordance with the scale set
out below (providing we have received full payment from you) except
where the change is made either as a result of unusual and
unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of
which we could not have avoided even with all due care. Compensation is
not payable in the case of minor changes and such changes do not
entitle you to cancel or change to another diving package without
paying our normal charges. Period before scheduled departure date
within which a significant change is notified to you, and compensation
per person:
More than 56 days: Nil
56 to 43 days: £25.00
42 to 29 days: £30.00
28 to 15 days: £35.00
14 days or less: £40.00
8. Cancellation by Us
Occasionally, it may be necessary to cancel previously confirmed
arrangements which we reserve the right to do. Where your arrangements
are cancelled other than due to your default in payment, we will offer
you the choice of either alternative arrangements, of at least the same
standard if available (with you paying or receiving a refund in respect
of any price difference) or receiving a full and immediate refund of
all monies paid to us. Except where you fail to make payment in full
and on time, we will not cancel less than eight weeks before departure
unless we are forced to do so as a result of “force majeure” as defined
in clause 9 below. We regret no compensation will be payable if we
cancel either as a result of unusual and unforeseeable circumstances
beyond our control, the consequences of which could not have been
avoided even with all due care. Very rarely, we may be forced to
curtail your arrangements after the date of departure where
circumstances amounting to “force majeure” as defined in clause 9 below
occur. In this situation, we cannot make any refunds (except where
these are obtained from the relevant supplier(s)), pay any compensation
or be responsible for any costs or expenses you may incur as a result.
9. Force Majeure
Except where otherwise expressly stated in these booking conditions,
we cannot accept liability or pay any compensation where “force
majeure” prevents or affects the performance or prompt performance of
our contractual obligations or causes you to otherwise suffer any
damage or loss (as more fully described in clause 10 (1) below). Force
majeure includes any event which we or the supplier of the service(s)
in question could not, even with all due care, foresee or avoid such
as, but not limited to, war or threat of war, civil strife, industrial
dispute, natural or nuclear disaster, adverse weather conditions, fire,
terrorist activity, governmental action and all similar circumstances
beyond our control.
10. Liability
(1). We promise to make sure that all parts of the diving package we
have agreed to arrange, perform or provide as part of our contract with
you are arranged, performed or provided with reasonable skill and care.
We will accept responsibility if any death, personal injury, failure or
deficiency of your arrangements is caused by any failure by ourselves
or our employees (providing they were at the time acting within the
course of their employment) or our agents or suppliers (as applicable)
to use reasonable skill and care in performing or providing the service
in question. Please note it is your responsibility to show that
reasonable skill and care has not been used if you wish to make a
claim. We will not be responsible for any injury, illness, death, loss
(for example loss of enjoyment), damage, expense, cost or other sum or
claim of any description whatsoever which results from any of the
following: - (a) the fault of the person(s) affected or any member(s)
of their party or (b) the fault of a third party not connected with the
provision of your diving which we could not have predicted or avoided
or (c) an event or circumstance which we or the supplier of the
service(s) in question could not have predicted or avoided even after
taking all reasonable care (see clause 10) Please note, we cannot
accept responsibility for any services which do not form part of our
contract. This includes, for example, any additional services or
facilities which any other supplier agrees to provide for you where the
services or facilities are not advertised on our website and we have
not agreed to arrange them and any excursion you purchase in resort.
(2). The promises we make to you about the services we have agreed to
provide or arrange as part of our contract - and the laws and
regulations of the country in which your claim or complaint occurred -
will be used as the basis for deciding whether the services in question
had been properly provided. If the particular services which gave rise
to the claim or complaint complied with local laws and regulations
applicable to those services at the time, the services will be treated
as having been properly provided. This will be the case even if the
services did not comply with the laws and regulations of the UK which
would have applied had those services seen provided in the UK. The
exception to this is where the claim or complaint concerns the absence
of a safety feature which might lead a reasonable holiday maker to
refuse to take the holiday in question.
(3). We limit the maximum amount we may have to pay you for any and
all claims or parts of claims which do not involve personal injury,
illness or death. Except where loss of and/or damage to personal
possessions is concerned or a lower limitation of liability applies to
your claim, the maximum amount we will have to pay you for such non
personal injury claims if we are found liable to you on any basis is
twice the price (excluding insurance premiums and amendment charges)
paid by or on behalf of the person(s) affected in total. This maximum
amount will only be payable where everything has gone wrong and you
have not received any benefit at all from your diving with Ocean
College.
(4). Where any claim or part of a claim concerns or is based on any
travel arrangements (including the process of getting on and/or off the
transport concerned) provided by any sea or road carrier your journey
may be subject to certain international conventions and the maximum
amount of compensation we will have to pay you may be limited. You
agree that the transport company’s own ‘Conditions of Carriage’ will
apply to you on your journey. When arranging this diving for you, we
rely on the terms and conditions contained within these international
conventions and those ‘Conditions of Carriage’. You acknowledge that
all of these terms and conditions form part of your contract with us as
well as with the transport company. 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 concerned would have to pay under the
international convention or regulation which applies to the travel
arrangements in question. When making any payment, we are entitled to
deduct any money which you have received or are entitled to receive
from the transport provider for the complaint or claim in question.
(7). Higher risk activities - Certain activities (e.g. diving) carry
a greater risk of personal injury and death. Such risks are compounded
by the fact you may be participating in these activities in remote
areas where even limited medical assistance may be some considerable
distance and time away. It is your responsibility to ensure you and all
members of your party are medically fit to engage in any particular
activity. Certain activities (e.g. diving) have particular medical,
training or other requirements. It is your responsibility to ensure you
are familiar and comply with those requirements. In making a booking
you acknowledge and accept the risks inevitably associated, both
directly and indirectly, with higher risk activities. If you are in any
doubt as to possible risks, you should consult our staff before
booking. You must ensure that any insurance policy you take out covers
you in relation to higher risk activities.
(8). Special trips and facilities - All special trips and facilities
referred to by Ocean College are in good faith and will, to the best of
our belief be available. Where any special trip or facility which forms
a significant part of your confirmed arrangements becomes unavailable,
cannot be provided or is not to take place for any reason, we will
advise you before arrival with Ocean College if possible. The
provisions of clause 7 will then apply. Unfortunately, we may be
unaware of such non-availability prior to arrival or may be unable to
inform you prior to arrival. In this event, the rest of the
arrangements will be provided as booked and we will refund the direct
cost of the event etc. in question (together with the cost of any local
transportation where applicable). Our liability in this situation will
be limited to such refunds.
11. Complaints/claims
If you are unhappy about any aspect of your arrangements, you must
inform our staff immediately. You must make every effort to bring
problems to the attention of ourselves so that they can be resolved as
soon as possible and to mitigate any losses, expenses or costs you
incur. Once we are aware of the problem, everything reasonably possible
will be done to quickly resolve it. If you remain dissatisfied, you
must write to us giving full details of your complaint within 28 days
of your return to the UK (e mail messages are not acceptable in this
context). We regret we cannot accept liability in relation to any
complaint which is not notified entirely in accordance with this clause.
12. Data Protection
(1). To ensure that your diving runs smoothly, we need to use
information such as your name and address, special needs, requirements
etc. We will apply appropriate security measures to protect this data.
However, we must pass it to suppliers of your arrangements including
transport companies. We may also supply it to security or credit
checking companies, and to public authorities such as customs and
immigration. If your holiday is outside the European Economic Area
(EEA), controls on data protection in your destination may not be as
strict as in the UK. We will only pass data, including sensitive
information regarding disabilities or religious requirements, to people
responsible for your diving arrangements. If we cannot pass this
information to the relevant suppliers, whether in the EEA or not, we
cannot provide your booking. When you make this booking, you consent to
this information being passed to the relevant people. We can supply a
copy of your information held by us; there is a small charge for
providing this. Ocean College Limited is part of the TUI Travel PLC
Group of companies.
(2). We may from time to time contact you with information on offers
of goods or services, brochures, new products, forthcoming events or
competitions from our holiday divisions and our holiday group
companies. Please note that our websites will assume you agree to
e-communications when you make a booking. You will be given the
opportunity on every e-communication we send you to indicate that you
no longer wish to receive our direct marketing material.
(3). You may indicate your preference regarding receiving third party direct marketing material.
(4). If you do not wish to receive such information or would like to
change your preference please write to: TUI Travel House, Crawley
Business Quarter, Fleming Way, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 9QL
13. Pre-Arrival Contact
It is essential to ensure you provide us with a telephone number or
address where you can be reached up to 24 hours prior to your arrival
with Ocean College in the event of late changes or other problems.
14. Insurance
It is a condition of our accepting your booking that you take out
adequate travel insurance. We do not accept liability for any losses
suffered by yourself or your party as a result of your being uninsured
or under-insured. Please read your policy details carefully and take
them with you as Ocean College may require a copy of the policy.
15. Passport, Visa and Health Requirements
It is the party leader’s responsibility to ensure that all members
of your party have all necessary passports, visas and health
certificates for your diving prior to departure. Requirements may
change and you must check the up to date position in good time before
departure. Ocean College require you to take your passport for your
first day diving.
16. Behaviour
We have the right to terminate the arrangements of any person whose
behaviour, in our opinion or that of the person in authority, does or
is likely to cause danger, distress or annoyance to themselves or any
of our other clients, employees or any third party or to cause damage
to property. In this event, our responsibility for the person concerned
(including any continuing/return travel arrangements) will immediately
cease and we will not be liable to meet any expenses or costs incurred
as a result, make any refund or pay any compensation.
Last Updated - 16 September 2009.