Please Read This Through Carefully

These conditions, the information in any of our brochures and all other relevant information given to you by us form the basis of the agreement between us and you and any other person (s) on whose behalf you book. In these terms & conditions, ‘we’ are Russiana River Cruises, trading name of Russian Gateway (UK) Ltd. 

TO MAKE A BOOKING
Bookings are accepted by telephone, fax, e-mail or post. When requesting confirmation of a booking, you accept these conditions , the information in this brochure and all other relevant information given to you by us. There is a binding contract between us as soon as we confirm all services which are to be provided. We will not accept any alterations to these conditions unless we inform you in writing.

PAYMENT 
If you book your holiday more than 10 weeks before your intended departure date, you must pay a deposit of 25% of the tour cost per person. You must then pay the balance of the trip no later than 10 weeks before departure. If you are booking within 10 weeks of departure we require the total amount together with your booking. We do not accept credit cards in order to keep the cost of the services we provide you down. In order to guarantee no surcharges we appreciate early payment.

CANCELLATION BY US 
We reserve the right in any circumstances to cancel your tour. If so we will contact you as soon as possible and offer you an alternative or a full refund. As all of our tours are entirely individual and do not depend on a certain number of passengers booking, cancellation by us is highly unlikely. We may have to cancel due to force majeure (see below) - if so we will give you a full refund but will have no other liability to you whatsoever. If we do not receive payment within 56 days of departure we may in certain circumstances be forced to cancel your holiday which will lead to loss of deposit. Force Majeure is unusual or unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which neither we nor the employees of our suppliers could have avoided even with the exercise of due care.

CHANGES BY US
We reserve the right to change any of the particulars in this brochure before you make a booking with us but if we do so we will advise you of these changes before we confirm your booking. We also reserve the right to make changes to your holiday arrangements after we have confirmed your booking. These changes may be major or minor. A major change is a change of UK airports (not including a change of London airports), a change of resort, a change of departure time by more than 12 hours or a change to a lower category of accommodation. All other changes are minor. If there is a minor change, we will do our best to notify you of this, but we are under no obligation to do so or pay you any compensation. If there is a major change we will offer you the choice of a full refund or an alternative holiday, if available. If the alternative costs less we will refund you the difference and if it costs more you must pay us the difference. Compensation will only be paid if a large portion of your holiday or services are not or cannot be provided. In this case, we will pay you an amount which is reasonable taking in to account the circumstances of the services not provided. On certain occasions it may be necessary to change hotels at the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances such as overbooking by the hotel or other unexpected changes. We reserve the right to change hotels within the same hotel category without prior notice and if we change your hotel to a hotel of a lower category we will pay compensation for the price difference between hotels.

CANCELLATION BY YOU 
After we accept your booking, if you cancel your arrangements you will be liable to pay the following cancellation charges. In order to avoid these charges we strongly advise you to have a suitable insurance policy which covers unexpected curtailment of holiday. If you wish to cancel your holiday, you must inform us in writing and the cancellation will not be effective until this is received. Visa charges can not be refunded under any circumstances. Follow the link in the info section of this website for specialist Russia Travel Insurance

Number of days before departure when we receive your written cancellation.

Charge as a % of your total holiday cost (excluding visas and other non refundable services)

56 days or more Deposit 
55 to 29 days 30% 
28 to 15 days 50% 
14 to 7 days 75% 
Less than 7 days 100%

Please note if we have issued non-refundable airline tickets or any other non refundable services then these will also be excluded from the refund amount you receive. In every circumstance of course we will provide documentary evidence to your insurance company if necessary

CHANGES BY YOU 
We are not legally obliged to accept changes by you but if you do wish to change your booking we will attempt to do so. There may be a 20 pounds admin charge if you do change your itinerary. You may transfer your booking to another person for the sum of 20 pounds (more than 30 days before departure)

SERVICE
We will provide all services purchased and confirmed by ourselves in each itinerary. Due to the nature of the travel industry in Russia and the CIS States, on certain occasions due to unforeseen circumstances itineraries may be altered with little or no notice i.e excursion changes, theatre billing or hotel changes etc: in all cases we will provide a suitable alternative of equal or greater value. All excursions included in the tour price are confirmed prior to departure. Optional excursions, time permitting, may be offered to clients at the discretion of our local suppliers, for extra payment. These excursions are, in all circumstances, optional. None of our services include tips to waiters or guides, laundry, drinks (except where indicated), souvenirs or other items of a personal nature.

RESPONSIBILITY
As a travel operator, please note that we only act as an agent for Embassies, hotels and other travel organisations. We reserve the right to cancel, alter or adjust any travel programme at our discretion and at any time for economic, safety or other reasons beyond our control, or where we feel there may be danger or other problems for our clients. In the extremely unlikely event where we have to take such measures, our liability is limited to refunding 100% of monies paid to us by our clients. All clients should take out travel insurance to cover personal effects, injury, death, disablement etc as Russian Gateway is not responsible for the provision of such insurance. We can not be held responsible for 3rd party errors or other misdemeanours ie post strikes, flight delays, accommodation problems etc but in every circumstance will do our very best to sort everything out amicably. Any problems caused by delays in transport, lost mail, rescheduling of flights, trains or ships will be dealt with by the customer's insurance company to whom we will provide full support in order that the customer receives prompt refund of any costs incurred. Please note you must check all documentation including flight tickets, hotel vouchers, excursion vouchers and all other documentation sent to you. Errors do occur and we can accept no responsibility for re-issuing of travel documents that have not been checked diligently when you receive them. Please note certain products we offer are dependent upon good weather (fighter flights, tank driving, climbing, adventure tours) and bad weather may, in the interests of your safety, make it necessary to cancel, postpone or reschedule the activity. If this does happen once again we will provide full support to your insurance company to ensure you receive the necessary refund. As always your safety is of paramount importance to us. Please make sure you check all your travel documents including Russian Visas to make sure they tie in with the trip you booked. An explanation of what your visa will look like can be found here . Make sure the names and dates are what they should be - if not call us right away. The Consulate does make mistakes from time to time but they are easily amended. You are responsible for sending us your valid passports in good time for your trip to Russia according to your booking confirmation. Normally this means approximately ten weeks before departure.. If you are applying yourselves for a visa, not using our full processing service, we do not accept responsibility for refusals which happen very rarely if local rules change etc. If you do not live in the UK, we always recommend you obtain your visa in your country of residence with our visa support.

COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
In the unlikely event you have any complaints about the travel services we provide, in the first instance please ask your guide for help or call one of the office numbers we provide you. Your guide or our Russian offices will immediately contact us in the UK for clarification and resolution of the problem. If the situation can not be resolved satisfactorily by the efforts of either our Russian or UK offices, write to The Managing Director of Russian Gateway for a full and proper investigation within 30 days of returning home. Please note in 99% of cases all problems can be resolved locally so if you do not inform your guide or our Russian offices the exact nature of your issue, we can not offer compensation upon your return to the UK. We will, in all circumstances, endeavour to please our clients with every aspect of our service.

OVERVIEW—PLEASE READ
By making a reservation with Russian Gateway (UK) Ltd, you explicitly agree to the terms and conditions on this page. In all cases, we reserve the right to cancel any reservations where clients fail to make the necessary deposit or full payment of the tour. If we, for whatever reason, cancel the tour, our liability is limited to the money paid to us by our clients.

Note: While every effort will be made to adhere to the schedules as outlined in each itinerary, due to the specialized nature of these programmes, please understand that all times are tentative, stops and sights are subject to change or cancellation at short notice due to reasons beyond our control, including, but not limited to inclement weather, water levels, museum closures, theatre billing alteration, government action, civil unrest, acts of God or similar, equipment breakdown etc. Your understanding and co-operation will be required and appreciated. Purchase of travel insurance is highly recommended.

Prices are based on currency rates as at 01.06.2009  and may be subject to change with short notice.

YOUR PROTECTION
Russian Gateway (UK) Ltd is compliant with European Commission Directive on Package Travel (The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tour Regulations 1992-SI3288/1992) your money is kept secure until you return from your holiday ensuring repatriation should Russian Gateway go bankrupt. In all circumstances, payment for flight elements will be made to our ATOL protected flights provider or the airline themselves and your tickets will always be issued within 48 hours of payment being made. All of our flights, without exception are on scheduled airlines and you will always be provided with valid return air tickets and prepaid accommodation, excursion, guide and transfer vouchers so you are 100% protected in the extremely unlikely event of our insolvency. We are also members of ASTA, the American Society of Travel Agents, registration number 900195901

Russian Gateway (UK) Ltd is a limited company in England and Wales (UK) - company registration number is 3878501. VAT Registration number is 803 3949 31.

LAW AND JURISDICTION
The contract we have with every client is governed by the laws of England and the Courts of England and Wales will have jurisdiction to hear any dispute arising out of or in connection with it. This included clients booking from any country in the world.

CAN I PAY BY CREDIT CARD ?
Yes, we accept all major credit and debit cards.