Conditions for travel and bookings

The conditions for booking tours and travel with Scanbalt Experience

Who can travel with Scanbalt Experience?
You should be 18 years old; we make almost no exceptions to that rule. We might make exceptions if it’s a person 16 years or older travelling with adult relatives. You need to ask us before making a booking if you can bring a person younger than 18. You should be able to take care of yourself. We are eager to help, but our tours are semi structured and made for independent travelers. You should understand English reasonably. Some of the tours take the passengers to remote areas where the access to healthcare is strictly limited. Scanbalt experience cannot take responsibility for illness or injuries that occur under circumstances beyond our control.

Bookings, deposits and payment
Your booking is complete when you received a confirmation from Scanbalt Experience. When booking and paying online this confirmation is sent automatically to you.
If not informed about anything else when booking you needs to pay a deposit of normally 25% of the price otherwise your booking is not accepted (if the tour includes flights or similar the deposit might be higher). At least 45 Days before departure you need to have paid the full amount, this passenger must to remember to do.  If booking closer than 45 days before departure you need to pay full amount directly. If you don’t pay full amount in time Scanbalt have the right cancel your booking and you lose the deposit.

Cancellation conditions

Note that deposit is never refundable.

There can be special refund conditions when personal tickets for public transport are included in a package. The value of non refundable tickets will not be paid back to a passenger cancelling a tour after booking. 

Cancellation by any reason will be refunded as follows:
45 Days or more to departure 100% refund (except the deposit)minus possible costs for banktransactions.

31 Days or more to departure 50% refund of the full price minus possible costs for banktransactions.
30 Days or less to departure 0% refund.

NOTE THAT SCANBALT DOES NOT HAVE A SPECIAL CANCELLATION POLICY REGARDING CANCELLATION BECAUSE OF ILLNESS OR FORCE MAJOUR. We highly reccommend all passengers to have a valid travel insurance. (to cover cancellations because of illness, death in family, force majoure etc.) If you need to cancel because of these reasons please contact our office and Scanbalt will assist you with documents for your Insurance company.

Cancellation by passenger regarding bookings before September 26th 2011

General cancellation
You can cancel your trip without giving us any reason up to 45 before departure. Notice that you will get back 70% of the ticket value (if you payed the balance) but note that the deposit is not included in the sum. If you paid 50 Euros in deposit and 250 Euros in Balance you get back 70% of the 250 Euros minus the costs for possible bank transactions.
If the passenger doesn’t pay full price at least 40 days before departure it is regarded as a cancellation from the passenger.  The booking will be deleted.
Note that the following are examples of matters not giving any exceptions from how we are dealing with cancellations: lost a job, lack of money, exams, my friends don’t want to go anymore, I don’t have access to my passport because I have to apply for visa on another tour I booked.

Cancellation because of illness
A passenger can cancel a tour if she/he becomes ill. The cancellation must be in writing but with less than 48 hours we like you to also give us a call directly when you understood that you cant go. As you can read below you can get money back but how much you are repayed depends on how far in advance you inform us about your illness. If less than 24 hours you dont get anything back. If you call us we make a note regarding what time it was. If you dont succeed in reaching us on telephone its the time when you send us an email that is noted. Its local Estonian time that is the one we count.

Contact details

+372 6606914
E-mail: info (@) scanbaltexperience.com

Passenger must be able to prove that the illness would not make it possible to join our tour at time of departure. The passenger must send us a written proof of this illness signed by an authorized doctor. Scanbalt always contact the doctor. Scanbalt must have the documents not later than 10 days after the departure. After receiving all documents and contacted the doctor Scanbalt can inform the passenger if there will be a refund.

A passenger can also claim money back if a close relative become serious ill or died from the date passenger payed full price for the tour and departure of the tour. With close relative means grandparents, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, your children, wife/husband or parents. The process with documentation etc would be the same as if you were the one ill.

Any cancellation will incur a cancellation charge. These charges are a percentage of the holiday price, and are as follows (note that the deposit is not included in the sums below):
30 days or more 5% (minimum 30 Euros)
14 days or more 15%
24 hours or more 50%
Less than 24 hours 100%
Local payments are not part of the sum you need to pay if cancelling a tour.

 

 

Responsibility of the passenger

A passenger has responsible to read and know tour information and the conditions for the tour.

The passenger is fully responsible getting to the departure point in time.
Scanbalt has no responsibility to wait on passengers after announced departure time or refund a passenger missing a departure
It must be the passenger who stands on the booking that are coming on the tour. A passenger can’t go on a tour using someone else ticket. Scanbalt will stop that person from joining the tour.

Passenger must bring an ID on tour. Passport and Visa if necessary according to tour description. If passenger got a discount on the price of a membership etc a proof like a membership card must be brought to departure.

The passenger must act responsible and suitable for the kind of tours Scanbalt do. Travelling in group for some time brings responsibilities and are not suitable for everyone. First of all you must show respect for other passengers, the crew, our partners rules you get informed about and laws.
If a passenger doesn’t live up to what can be expected from him/her the tour manager has the right to take the passenger of the tour. The passenger will be let off at the next place where there is public transport. If this would happen at a hostel the passenger can be asked to leave the hostel directly. 

The tour manager can give a warning to the passenger but if the behavior is seriously ill the Tour Manager can take the passenger off the tour directly. Scanbalt has no responsibilities to a passenger who is taken off the tour example refund of tour, alternative transport, food or accommodation.

Group booking

If your are several persons who go on a tour you can book together. Unless you know each other very good we recommend you to book separately. The person making the booking will get responsibility for the other persons on the booking and their payments. Then it’s better that you plan together but book one by one.

Cancellation of tours

A minimum number of passengers are required to operate each tour. If nothing else is mentioned the number is minimum 20 passengers (33 on special student tours). If numbers are short, we may cancel the tour. The traveler will be informed about a cancelled tour at least 3 weeks before departure but often 6 weeks before departure. For a tour shorter than six days travelers will be informed ten days before departure and for one-day tours two days notice will be given. Scanbalt Experience will inform travelers of cancellations via e-mail. All money paid for a cancelled tour will be returned to the traveler as soon as possible. Note that Scanbalt is not responsible to refund any costs for your independent transport to the departure point when a tour is cancelled. Scanbalt can offer you an independent or group tour instead of the tour package you booked but the passenger have the right to say no to this option.

Changes and delays
Scanbalt Experience reserves the right to alter the route or itinerary of any of its tours and arrange alternative carriers to those advertised if necessary. No refunds will be given in these circumstances or in the event of any delay, alteration of a trip due to severe weather conditions or mechanical failure, for example. So don't plan to catch a flight home to Tokyo or Sydney the same evening a longer tour should be finished.

Our partners
Independent companies run some of the activities you can find in our materials or presented by our drivers/guides. Scanbalt Experience cannot be held responsible for the action or performance of these companies.

Changes of price by Scanbalt Experience
Scanbalt Experience has the right to change the price for a tour even after it has been booked by a traveler. The price can't be changed 20 days before the day of departure or closer. Acceptable reasons for a changed price are; changes in costs for transports, changes in taxes, fees and tolls affecting products or services which are included in the tour, changes considering the value of currencies which affects the costs for the operator. The price will only be changed if the cost increases or decreases by 120 Estonian crones or more. The traveler will be informed about the new price as soon as possible.

Accommodation.
Read the itineraries on the tour descriptions to see what kind of accommodation that is offered on the tour. On most tours we stay in hostels on a shared room bases. After departure we decide who sleeps in which room. Normally the rooms have space for 2-8 persons.

Meals
No meals are included on the tour unless the itineraries say so. On the bus, if there will be some cooking equipment so it is possible to prepare meals. The passengers have the possibility to cook food together and arrange a dinner kitty system. Scanbalt Experience does not take any responsibility for the meals or the money collected for the meals. The driver/guide can participate in cooking and organizing the meals as one of the group and should also pay for the meal just like the passengers.

The responsibilities of the passenger
The traveler is responsible for bringing the necessary documentation such as Visa and passport. All travelers must have travel insurance. Be on time for departures; try to be there 15 minutes before the agreed time. The bus waits 15 minutes if possible. When we depart from a terminal it’s not always possible to wait longer than 10 minutes. If you miss the bus, it's your responsibility to catch up; call the driver or the office to get instructions. Scanbalt Experience will not compensate any passengers who miss the departures.

Luggage and belongings
All travelers can bring luggage equivalent to one big backpack and one smaller bag and if nothing else is stated in the tour description. To bring more luggages you must first have ask Scanbalt for permission. The passenger is responsible for carrying all bags. On winter tours have in mind that bags with wheels are not so functional when snow. Remember to bring all stuff you might need until arrival inside the bus not the luggage room.

 

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