Booking and planning terms

1. Role

We shortlist ships and build a plan: cruise, suite or cabin category, flights, hotels, transfers, excursions, and dining notes. The first conversation and a first shortlist are complimentary and create no obligation. Extended research is charged only if a fee is agreed in writing before that work starts.

We are an advisor. Space is requested through our host agency, as agent for a disclosed supplier. We are not the carrier. We do not operate ships. The contract of carriage is between you and the cruise line. Payment of a supplier deposit is acceptance of the line's conditions, not a package contract with us.

We are not the organizer of a package unless a written contract expressly names us as organizer. We do not currently issue that contract.

Client money for the sailing is paid to the cruise line or to the registered seller the host names. It is not paid into a Blackbury account unless a written proposal says otherwise. We do not take a card number for the fare on this Site.

2. Host agency

Bookings are arranged through our host agency, which holds the supplier relationships and collects the commission. Where a state requires it, the proposal and the first email about a purchase will name that registered seller, with its address, telephone number, and registration number. Those details are inserted only after the host confirms them. We will not invent a number.

If you live in California, Florida, Hawaii, or Washington, we place the booking only in the way the host's seller-of-travel registration allows.

3. Price and commission

Figures on the Site are planning figures. The figure that matters is the one in the written proposal, subject to the supplier confirming it. Nothing is reserved until you approve the plan and the price and the supplier accepts. We do not invent urgency. We will tell you when a constraint is real, such as a suite category that has sold out.

The supplier may pay a commission to the host agency. We are paid from that arrangement. The commission is not added on top of the supplier price in the proposal. We do not publish the rate or the split. A design fee, if agreed in writing, is separate from the fare, is earned when the described work starts, and is non-refundable once that work has started, except where a statute that cannot be waived says otherwise.

If we decline to act (sanctions, an unverifiable supplier, or an unpaid agreed fee), we refund any unearned fee you paid us.

4. The line's conditions

Deposit dates, final payment, name changes, cabin guarantees, gratuities, what is included, pregnancy rules, and the cancellation scale are the cruise line's. They are often severe inside 90 days and can be the full fare close to sailing. A name change may be treated as a cancellation. We put the scale we have been given into the proposal. We do not soften it and we do not refund a supplier penalty the supplier has refused.

Itinerary, ship, and port changes are decided by the line or the master. We pass on what they tell us. A fare that was clearly mistaken may be refused by the supplier. We will tell you promptly.

A complaint about the sailing is raised with the supplier on board, in writing. Copy us and we will help chase. That is assistance, not a guarantee of a remedy from the line.

5. Your duties

Names must match the passport. You are responsible for passport validity (lines often require six months), visas, vaccinations, minors' consent letters, and fitness to travel. We do not check these unless we agree in writing to do a named check, and even then the decision to board is the line's. We are not liable for denied boarding or entry caused by documents or health status.

Travel insurance that covers cancellation, medical costs, and evacuation from a ship is strongly recommended and is your contract with the insurer. We do not insure you. Read Before you sail before you pay a non-refundable deposit.

6. Wildlife and expeditions

We will not add an excursion that depends on riding a wild animal, a performance, a wildlife cafe, or handling an animal for a photograph. The full rule is at Wildlife and animals. Expedition landings follow the line's rules. An evacuation plan for Antarctica or the Arctic is the line's condition and your insurer's.

7. Stopping

You may stop before you approve a proposal, at no fee, unless a written design fee has already been earned. After you pay a supplier, cancellation follows the supplier's scale. Disputes with us follow Delaware law and the arbitration clause in the Website Terms. Disputes with the supplier follow the supplier's clause.