Booking terms

• "You": the person who makes the booking. You book for yourself and for every passenger you name, and you confirm that you may act for them and will pass these terms and all information on to them.
• "Passenger": every person named in the booking who takes part in the service.
• "Travel service": a day tour, a ferry crossing or a transfer as described on its product page.
• "Instant booking": a product marked "instant confirmation"; the contract is formed at checkout.
• "Request": a product marked "availability on request"; you ask, we confirm or propose alternatives, and the contract is formed when you accept.
• "Package": a trip with several services as described in Part B.
• "Operator": the licensed company on the islands that performs the service.

You must be at least 18 years old to book. Passengers under 18 travel under the responsibility of an adult passenger in the same booking.

An account is optional. If you create one, keep your password to yourself and tell us at once if you suspect someone else is using it; you are responsible for what happens under your account until you do. You can delete the account at any time in the profile settings. Without an account we send you a private link to your booking by email; anyone with that link can see and manage the booking, so keep it confidential.

Instant bookings: when you confirm your order at checkout you make a binding offer. The contract is formed when we send you the confirmation email with your booking reference, which happens right after checkout. Payment of the full price is part of checkout.

Some boats are confirmed by their operator after you have paid; the product page and the checkout show them as "The operator confirms within 24 hours". If the operator can't take you, we offer you another boat or date, and if you don't want it, we refund that service in full. Moving you to a boat of the same category on the same day is a minor change (section 10); we tell you, with the reason.

Requests: sending a request is not yet a booking and nothing is charged. We check availability with the operator and answer by email, usually within 24 hours, either confirming your request as it is or proposing alternatives, with a date until which we hold them. The contract is formed when you accept our answer and pay within that period; you enter the travellers' details after paying. If you don't, nothing is owed.

We may refuse a booking or a request, for example when there is no availability, when the price shown was obviously wrong, or when these terms have been breached before. Check your confirmation as soon as it arrives and tell us about any error within 24 hours.

All prices are in US dollars, per person or per vehicle as the product page states. The price includes the service as described on the product page and our service; taxes due in Ecuador on the service are included unless the page says otherwise. The price shown when you book is the price you pay. If a price was obviously wrong (for example a missing digit) we tell you before confirming and you may withdraw free of charge.

Not included unless the product page says so: the Galápagos National Park entrance fee and the Transit Control Card (both paid by every visitor directly to the authorities), flights, accommodation, meals and drinks not listed, equipment hire, tips, travel insurance and personal expenses. Fees set by the Ecuadorian authorities may change without notice; the travel guide states the amounts we know.

Deals and last-minute prices apply only to the dates and departures shown and cannot be combined with other reductions.

Galápagos Fund. At checkout you may add a voluntary contribution to the Galápagos Fund: a percentage of the order or an amount of your choice. It is shown as its own line, added to the total and collected by ToursTrust GmbH together with the price; "no contribution" is the default and the price of the services does not depend on your choice. The contribution is not a purchase and not a tax-deductible donation to a charity; ToursTrust passes it on in full to conservation, research and community projects on the islands and publishes what was collected and handed on, in aggregate, on the sustainability page. If a booking is cancelled or refunded, the contribution is refunded with it.

The full price is due at checkout for instant bookings and when you accept our answer for requests. You pay by the methods shown at checkout through a certified payment provider (Stripe); we never see or store your card details. Amounts are charged in US dollars; your bank or card issuer may apply its own exchange rate and fees, which we do not refund.

The operators and the Ecuadorian authorities require, for every passenger, the name as printed in the passport, the date of birth, the nationality and the passport number: the National Park issues its permits and the port captaincy keeps the passenger list of every boat on that basis. Enter these details exactly. A change of passenger after the operator has registered the list may count as a cancellation and a new booking.

Allergies, dietary needs and medical notes are optional. If you enter any, we ask for your consent when you enter the travellers, after payment: with it, they go to the operator of each service, for that service's travellers only, so the crew and the guide can keep the passengers safe, and for nothing else. Details you send us by message or tell us on the phone go to the operators only once you have agreed to that, and we record your agreement. You can withdraw the consent at any time by writing to us. The details are deleted 90 days after the last service.

Each passenger is responsible for a valid passport, any visa, the Transit Control Card, the park fee in cash, the vaccinations and the insurance the trip requires, and for being at the meeting point on time. We are not liable, and the cancellation policy applies, when a passenger cannot take part because a document is missing.

• Follow the instructions of the guide and the crew and the rules of the Galápagos National Park: stay on the trails, keep two metres from the animals, take nothing and leave nothing.
• Be fit for the activity you book. Boat trips, snorkelling and hikes carry the risks of the sea and the terrain; tell us and the guide about anything that limits a passenger.
• The operator may refuse or end a passenger's participation for safety, for intoxication or for conduct that endangers others, without refund. A passenger who misses the departure is a no-show.
• You are liable for damage a passenger in your booking causes to the boat, the vehicle, equipment or other people.

You may cancel a booking free of charge until 24 hours before the departure stated in your confirmation, Galápagos time; we refund the full price within 14 days to the payment method you used. Inside 24 hours, and for a no-show, the full price is due, because the operator has committed the seat and cannot resell it. Where a product page states a different rule, that rule applies. Date changes and changes to the number of passengers are made subject to availability; a price difference is charged or refunded. To cancel or change a paid booking you write to us; the cancellation policy says how, and has the details.

The sea, the weather, the port captaincy, the National Park and the condition of a boat decide whether a departure takes place. When a service is cancelled or changed substantially before it starts, we tell you as soon as we know and you choose between the next available date, an equivalent alternative or a full refund. Minor changes, such as a departure moved by less than an hour, a boat of the same category or a different order of the visitor sites, are not a cancellation and give no right to a refund.

If a service has to be interrupted after it started for reasons that are not the passenger's, you receive a refund in proportion to the part not performed. Beyond the refund we owe no compensation for cancellations caused by weather, sea conditions, decisions of the authorities, strikes, epidemics, natural events or other circumstances outside our and the operator's control, except where mandatory law says otherwise.

Tours, crossings and transfers are leisure services for a specific date. The 14-day right of withdrawal for distance contracts under EU and EEA law (Directive 2011/83/EU, Article 16(l)) and similar laws does not apply to them, and Swiss law provides no right of withdrawal for purchases made online. Instead, the cancellation policy applies.

When you book, in one booking and at a total price, a combination of at least two different types of travel service (for example ferry crossings and tours) for a trip that lasts more than 24 hours, the combination is a package under the Swiss Federal Act on Package Travel and, if you live in the EU or the EEA, under Directive (EU) 2015/2302. ToursTrust GmbH is then the organiser of the package and responsible for the proper performance of all the travel services included. A single day tour, a single crossing or transfer, or a combination within one day is not a package; Part A alone applies.

For a package you have these additional rights:

• Before you book you receive all the essential information about the package, and the price shown is the total price including taxes and, where they can be calculated in advance, all fees and charges.
• The price may be raised only for changes in transport costs, taxes or fees set by the authorities, or exchange rates, never within 20 days before departure, and if the increase exceeds 8 percent you may terminate free of charge.
• You may transfer the package to another person who meets its conditions, on reasonable notice of at least seven days before departure, and bear the costs the transfer causes.
• You may terminate before departure against the termination fee in the cancellation policy, and free of charge when unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances at the destination significantly affect the performance of the package.
• If a service is not performed as agreed, tell us at once; we remedy it, and if we cannot, you are entitled to a price reduction and, where appropriate, compensation. We give assistance without undue delay if you are in difficulty during the trip.

We are liable for the proper performance of the travel services we sell, including the acts of the operators performing them. For damage other than personal injury, and unless caused intentionally or by gross negligence, our liability is limited to three times the total price of the booking. Where an international convention or Ecuadorian law limits the liability of a carrier by sea or air, we may rely on the same limits.

We are not liable for services you book elsewhere, for the conduct of third parties who are not involved in performing the service, for the risks inherent in nature, sea and outdoor activities that a passenger accepts by taking part, or for loss that results from a passenger's own breach of these terms. Nothing in these terms limits a liability that cannot be limited by law. We strongly recommend travel insurance that covers cancellation, medical care and evacuation; it is not included in any price.

If something is not as booked, tell the guide or the operator on the spot and contact us at once (salesgalapagosdailytours@gmail.com, +593 96 875 45 66) so we can fix it while it still matters. Complaints after the trip reach us within 30 days of the last service with the booking reference; we answer within 14 days. We are not obliged to take part in consumer arbitration and, as a rule, do not.

The texts, photos, maps and software of tourstrust.com and the app belong to ToursTrust GmbH or its licensors and may be used only for your own trip planning. Reviews and photos you send us may be shown on the site with your first name; you confirm they are your own and truthful and grant us a free licence to use them for that purpose. We publish only reviews from people who have travelled with us; the About page also shows our office's reviews from Google Maps, as Google publishes them.

How we handle personal data, including the passenger details that go to the operators and the authorities in Ecuador, is explained in the privacy policy.

These terms and every booking are governed by Swiss law, excluding its conflict-of-law rules and the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. If you are a consumer, the mandatory protection of the law of your country of habitual residence remains in force. The services themselves are performed in Ecuador under Ecuadorian law, including the rules of the Galápagos National Park and the maritime authorities.

The courts at the seat of ToursTrust GmbH have jurisdiction. If you are a consumer, you may also bring a claim before the courts of your place of domicile, and we may sue you only there, where the Lugano Convention or the Swiss Civil Procedure Code so provides.

• If a clause of these terms is invalid, the rest remains in force and the invalid clause is replaced by what comes closest to its purpose within the law.
• We may change these terms for the future. The version shown at the time of your booking applies to that booking.
• These terms exist in English, Spanish and German. If the versions differ, the English version prevails.
• Questions about these terms: salesgalapagosdailytours@gmail.com.