Europa Tours reputation has been built on client satisfaction because we go
that extra mile, striving to ensure that you, our client, get value for money.
We want you to enjoy your holiday to the full and return to Malta feeling
both satisfied and relaxed. We therefore invite you to please read these
booking conditions.
GENERAL TERMS & CONDITIONS
The holidays in this programme have been planned and are operated by the
Company/Tour Operator/Travel Agent, Europa Tours 31 St Anne Str Floriana to
ensure maximum client satisfaction.
These terms and conditions have been laid out according to Maltese legislation
and international rules, and cover every aspect of your holiday, from the moment
you book until the moment you return home. The general conditions clearly spell
out our obligations to you, and your commitments when you book your holiday
with us.
In these Terms & Conditions, the term “you” and its derivatives include you and
all other persons travelling with you, in whose name you have made the booking.
OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU
After you have paid your deposit (€400 per person on any package, €800 per
person on long haul holidays & cruises) and a receipt has been
issued by us, the booking is considered confirmed. Payment of the initial deposit
also confirms that you have read and understood these Terms and Conditions.
However, your participation in the tour is only confirmed, and can only be ensured,
once you have paid the full amount due.
When making a booking, it is important that the name you give us is exactly as
shown on the passport or other valid travelling document. If you fail to do so, you
may be denied boarding on the tour altogether, or we may be constrained to affect
a name-change, in which case, an administrative fee of €50 will be levied, together
with any additional fees which our suppliers may impose. This also applies should
you require a transfer of the booking to a different traveller. The notice for change
or transfer is to be given within a reasonable time, at the latest seven days prior to
your intended departure.
Should you wish to change your holiday arrangements in any way, we will try our
best to meet your wishes to the best of our ability. We reserve the right to charge
you a handling fee of €50 for any such change to your booking, in addition to any
actual costs incurred in respect of such a change.
Where the price varies depending on the number of persons booked into the
accommodation and you wish to change that number of persons, you will need
to pay the price on the basis of the new party size as shown in this brochure. Any
increase in the price per person, which would be due by you and payable as a result
of a part cancellation (eg: for a hotel room under-occupancy, changing from twin
room to single room), is not a cancellation charge.
The prices indicated in this brochure are set at the time of its publication and are
the price per person. Children’s rates apply provided the children share the room
with 2 or 3 adults.
The actual costs relative to your holiday may change from the time of issuing the
brochure, or from the date of booking due to: -
companies, or any other increase relative to other power sources that affects
the price directly or indirectly;
authorities, including but not limited to, any increase in tourist taxes, landing
taxes, embarkation or disembarkation costs;
The balance due for the holiday must be settled by not later than seven (7)
weeks prior to departure in the case of packages, and eight (8) weeks prior to the
departure in the case of cruises or long hauls. If the booking is made less than eight
(8) weeks prior to the departure of your cruise or long haul, or seven (7) weeks prior
to the date of departure of any other holiday, the full payment is due immediately.
Payments may be made in Cash, by Personal Cheque, Banker’s Cheque or Bank
Transfer. Since it may take up to 7 working days for cheques to clear, payment by
Personal Cheque will not be accepted in the last 10 working days before the date
of travel.
If, for whatever reason, we do not receive your payment in time as indicated above,
we reserve the right to cancel the booking and impose a cancellation fee.
You are entitled to cancel your booking with us at any stage prior to your
departure, subject to a cancellation fee. A cancellation can only be accepted once
this is communicated in writing to us by any of the persons listed on the booking
form or by the Travel Agent through whom the booking was made. The cancellation
will be effective from the date it is received and duly stamped by our offices. The
stamp constitutes irrefutable proof of the date of receipt of the cancellation.
The cancellation fee which you must pay shall be: -
to your deposit
equivalent to 50% of the total price of your package inclusive of extras if
previously booked by you
equivalent to 75% of the total price of your package inclusive of extras if
previously booked by you
100% of the total price of your package inclusive of extras if previously booked
by you
In the case of a cancellation of a cruise package, should the cancellation be
affected more than 90 days before scheduled departure, only the deposit shall be
lost. Should, however, the cancellation be affected less than 65 days before the
scheduled departure, a cancellation fee equivalent to 100% of the total price of
your package will be imposed.
In the event of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances at the holiday
destination, which would significantly affect your trip, you may cancel your booking,
without paying the cancellation fee, and receive a full refund of any payments made
to us.
We reserve the right to cancel the tour if there are not at least 30 people booked
on the tour you have reserved, or if sales of that holiday are so low as to make
it economically not feasible for us to operate it. In this event, we may offer you
an alternative holiday to purchase, of comparable standard, if available, with no
obligation on your part to purchase such alternative package. If you choose not to
purchase an alternative holiday, we will refund you all the money you have paid us
for your cancelled holiday and the following amounts as compensation per person:-
departure date of said cancellation.
necessitated by force majeure or unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances. In
the latter event, we shall contact you to inform you about the cancellation without
undue delay.
No compensation will be due by us in the event that the cancellation results
because of: -
unconnected with the provision of services included in the package that we are
supplying, such as Government authorities;
We take all reasonable steps to ensure that proper arrangements have been made
for all the holidays which are advertised in this brochure. We are not responsible
for any prejudice, extra costs or consequential loss that you may suffer, directly or
indirectly, if you choose to make any independent arrangements with third parties in
relation to your holiday, separately to the services included in our package.
You will appreciate that we have no direct control over the provision of services
to you by suppliers. We cannot be held responsible if any activities are cancelled
due to force majeure or due to unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances,
such as adverse weather, strikes or the indisposition of the protagonist in a show
or entertainment event. We always try our utmost to communicate your specific
requests to our suppliers; however, we can never give a guarantee that these will
be definitively confirmed since adherence to said requests is always subject to
availability.
We assure you that should any of the travel services included in our package
not be performed in accordance with the package booked with us, we shall seek to
remedy the lack of conformity, unless this is impossible or entails disproportionate
costs.
We plan our holidays to give you the maximum enjoyment. In order to do so, we
may occasionally have to change your holiday arrangements, and we reserve the
right to do so in the unlikely event that this should become necessary. Such changes
may be necessary, for example, as a result of force majeure, government or local
authority action, essential maintenance or cleaning, lack of support or demand,
religious or local holidays or changes made by our suppliers, and include, changes
in flight times, hotels closing down, hotel overbookings, or inclement weather
imposing a change in itinerary. We may not be held responsible for changes in
the programme resulting from said third party interventions. However, we shall
inform you within a reasonable time of any changes to the programme once the
relative change is communicated to us. Touring itineraries may also have to be
changed, sometimes at short notice, due to weather, road or traffic conditions,
mechanical breakdowns, police activity etc. Whilst we strive to make sure that
everything goes according to the plan set out in this brochure, we cannot be held
liable for said changes when these are caused by force majeure or unavoidable
and extraordinary circumstances.
changes to the programme may have to be made: -
inform you or your Travel Agent of all the details relative to said changes within
a reasonable time prior to the departure. Should the changes to the travel
programme be significant, or increase the price of the package booked with
us by more than 8%, and you are not satisfied with the new arrangements,
you will be entitled to cancel your booking without incurring any cancellation
fees, provided that your instructions to cancel your booking are made within a
reasonable time, which shall, under no circumstance, be longer than seven days
from the date that we would have informed you about the change, or later than
seven days before the scheduled departure, whichever is the earlier.
due to unforeseen circumstances, to change a hotel or some other part of your
holiday arrangement after your holiday has commenced, in which event we
will do our best to maintain the overall standard of the holiday arrangements.
Should, however, the alternative arrangement be of a lower quality or cost than
the one originally planned, you shall be entitled to an appropriate reduction
Details of the airlines we anticipate using are shown in the programme. The
choice of airline is exclusively at our discretion. We reserve the right to substitute
alternative airlines and/or aircraft if necessary; however, we shall immediately inform
you should such change be made.
Flight schedules are subject to changes and confirmation by the airline. Our
reservation system will show the latest schedules as advised to us. Please check
your flight tickets as soon as you receive them, as they will show the confirmed
time for your flights. Some flights may have intermediate stops en route and this
is not always known before departure date. In such cases, we cannot notify you in
advance. Flights are subject to the granting of permits and licenses by authorities
both in Malta and overseas. We cannot be held responsible for any prejudice or
consequential damage that you may suffer from such changes. However, we are
committed to inform you as soon as the change is made known to us. Should the
change lead to a delay which results in an overnight stay abroad, we will cover the
costs for reasonable meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting
time, the hotel accommodation should overnight stays be necessary, transport
between the airport and place of accommodation, and also 2 telephone calls or
emails.
Transport of any kind is subject to the conditions of carriage of the company
providing that trip. These conditions applicable to you are likely to embody the
provisions of the law of the country where the company concerned is situate.
5.2 Accommodation
Our brochure descriptions are based on the information obtained from hoteliers
and other service providers at the time of printing.
Check-in at hotels is not done before 3 p.m. and check-out from rooms must
take place by 9 a.m. We kindly ask you to respect such times and abide by the
instructions provided by your tour leader or the accommodation manager/s.
Hotel rooms and ship cabins may be small or even very small when compared
to standards which you may be accustomed to, including any adjoining en-suite
or bathroom. We only work with hotels that have single or twin rooms. Triple or
quadruple rooms are hardly ever available. A third and/or fourth person wishing
to share a twin room will most probably be given either a small extra folding
‘camp bed’, a bunk bed or a sofa bed, which may make accommodation quite
uncomfortable. In America, three or four persons wanting to share a room will
always be given just two double beds (single beds for each person will not be
available). Therefore, we are not to be held liable should a room or cabin be smaller
than what you expected. The assignment of rooms is handled directly by the hotel
and at no stage are we involved in said assignment. At the time of booking, you
may inform us whether you wish two single beds or a double bed, or whether you
wish rooms next to each other or with a specific view. Although we will strive to
obtain your desired arrangement, we do not have any control as to whether the
accommodation-provider adheres to the submitted request.
Swimming pools may only be heated in colder weather and the general standard
of hygiene, public utilities, drainage, plumbing and services in general may not be
of the same standard as in Malta.
Breakfast is always continental unless otherwise specified. Lunches and dinners
are always served in three courses. No choice of food will be provided unless you
have informed us upon booking that you suffer from a particular food allergy, or
health condition, in which case, we will inform the catering establishment of said
dietary requirements. Please note that portions served abroad are moderate, and
sometimes may be considered small when compared to local customary food
portions.
When buffet meals are provided, a choice is available. Any drinks ordered,
including water and soft drinks, are not included in the package price and are to be
paid for separately. The use of the mini-bar, telephone and pay-tv, when available,
is not included in the package price, and must paid by you separately. Policies
vary from one hotel to the other – therefore, if in doubt, you should enquire with
the hotel management directly of any charges to which you may be liable, before
making use of the service.
5.4 Entrance Fees & Excursions
Unless otherwise specified, entrance fees to museums, shows, boat or train
trips, and the use of cable cars are charged separately whilst you are on holiday.
Excursions unless otherwise stated, do not include the service of a local guide, but
do cover the cost of the coach transfer..
Only items listed in the section ‘Price Includes’ are included in your package
price. We are only responsible for Excursions which are included in the brochure. If
you miss any excursion / transfer you are not entitled to any refund.
We are not responsible for any additional excursions, and their relative costs,
organised by yourself, your Europa Tours tour leader or any other third party while
you are abroad, if said excursions are not indicated in this brochure, and are not
carried out with the written consent of Europa Tours Limited management in Malta.
5.5 Services of a Tour Leader
Each group tour is escorted by a Maltese-speaking tour leader who will be
responsible for the implementation of the programme. The tour leader is under
no circumstance responsible to provide any service over and above the official
programme, and is not obliged to accompany members of the group around shops,
flea markets or theme parks even if the relative visits are included in this brochure. In
cases of emergency, namely if you should suffer any injury or fall victim to a crime,
the tour leader will use his best endeavours to offer you emergency assistance
necessary to approach local health services, authorities and consular assistance,
and assist you in making alternative travel arrangements should you so require. We
reserve the right to charge you for the cost of such assistance.
If you have a problem, you should immediately inform your tour leader, ideally
also in writing, so that, if possible, the problem can be dealt with promptly.
YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES
or other valid travel document, and any appropriate visas. Be sure to check
passport, travel document and visa requirements with your Travel Agent, well
in advance, particularly if you are a non-Maltese passport holder. You are
responsible for any charges, fines etc. that may be levied by authorities in
Malta or overseas for non-compliance with regulations in this area and any such
amounts will be charged to you.
responsibility to check if you are healthy enough to travel.
requirements from your trusted medical adviser, as soon as possible. You
must also take any inoculations you may need depending on the country you
are going to travel to, and ensure that any medication, such as Malaria pill,
can be taken within the stipulated time (this varies and could be necessary
months prior to departure) in order for such treatment to be effective on the
departure date. You may phone the National Immunisation Service in Floriana
on 21250492 for advice on these matters.
may use certain medical services in Europe.
time of return travel, you must have a medical certificate of fitness to travel.
Insurance, although you are under no obligation to purchase such cover from
us.
the right to decline to accept or retain any person as a client if their behaviour
is, in our opinion, or in the opinion of the airline pilot, ship captain, hotelier or
accommodation owner or manager or other person in authority, likely to cause
distress, danger, damage or annoyance to other customers, employees and to
other people or to property. We shall be under no liability to pay any refund or
compensation to, or costs incurred by, any person whose behaviour is considered
unacceptable and is made to leave any of the afore-mentioned premises or
facilities.
their 12th birthday by the end of the holiday. Our staff do not normally check
passports to verify dates of birth. If a child has reached his or her 12th birthday
by the end of the holiday, and was declared as a child on the booking form, the
airline will refuse boarding to the child.
that our personnel cannot provide the services of a personal assistant or carer.
Please advise us about any requirements or pre-existing medical conditions
that you think may be important for us to know about. Otherwise, we cannot
guarantee the provision of adapted services and facilities.
impose special conditions for clients 70 years and over. Please check with your
insurance company and travel advisor to ensure that the level of activity on your
chosen holiday, and the cover you have chosen, are suitable.
LIABILITY
We are not responsible for anything that may happen to you outside the hotel we
booked for you, or for the quality of any services not offered directly by the hotel
where you will be staying. Nor are we responsible for any theft that you may suffer
throughout your holiday, even if this occurs in the hotel or on the coach.
We cannot be held responsible for any injuries you may suffer during activities
or excursions.
INSOLVENCY
Europa Tours Ltd is a participant in the Insolvency Protection. This fund protects you
when purchasing a package holiday. You are to ensure that a certificate is issued as
this is the only legal document that will provide you with the necessary protection
in case the company files for bankruptcy.
FORCE MAJEURE OR UNAVOIDABLE AND EXTRAORDINARY
CIRCUMSTANCES
Force Majeure or unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances shall be a defence
to the non-performance of the package.
If a cruise liner misses a port of call, for the benefit of the passengers’ safety or
due to Force Majeure, passengers will be transferred, possibly by air (at no extra
cost) to another port. In such cases, no port tax refunds will be issued.
IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT
We do our best to give you an enjoyable, trouble-free holiday, but occasionally even
the best laid plans can go wrong. If you have a problem or complaint relating to the
overseas part of your holiday, you must contact our tour leader, representative or
agent in your resort at the earliest opportunity, and ideally register your complaint
in writing, in order that it may be investigated, and we may have the opportunity to
resolve the matter on the spot.
Please note that any WhatsApp group chats created by tour leaders or clients are not
created or managed by Europa Tours. In fact, the company is not even part of these
groups and therefore has no control over, or responsibility for, any content or information
shared within them. Should there be any issues, complaints, or official matters, these
must always be addressed directly to the company through formal written communication
— either by email, a written letter handed to the tour leader, or by registered mail.
In addition, you must notify us in writing within seven (7) days of the date of
your return from your holiday of any difficulties which you may have experienced
while overseas. Given the difficulties of investigating a complaint too long after the
event, we cannot accept liability in respect of claims received after the seven (7) day
period, and/or which have not been reported in writing to the Tour Leader during
the holiday. All disputes arising from this package will be subject to Maltese law and
adjudicated by the Maltese Courts.
In the case of cruises, complaints must be submitted in writing within 2 months
after the incident. We shall strive to address your complaint to your satisfaction, but
should you disagree with our conclusions, you can lodge an appeal to the MCCAA,
in line with your rights as a passenger.
Disclaimer: These terms and conditions have been set-out in accordance with the
current Maltese and EU legal provisions and are subject to change should there be
any amendments to the relative laws