Terms and conditions

By booking a trip with Whitstable Vintage Lifeboat Trips you acknowledge that you have read and agree to be bound by our terms and conditions. Any person booking on behalf of a group is responsible for ensuring all passengers are made aware of the information contained herein.

Safety
Whitstable Vintage Lifeboat Trips has full public liability insurance.

All trips are subject to cancellation by us up to the point of sailing in the event of unsuitable weather conditions which may affect the safety of passengers. We do not cancel for rain.

Full safety equipment is carried onboard including a life raft and lifejackets for all passengers along with communication equipment, first aid kits and distress signals. The vessel is inspected under commercial regulations and the skipper is fully qualified and highly experienced.

Passengers must follow any safety instructions given to them by the skipper or crew during embarkation/disembarkation and throughout their trip.

Passengers must make us aware before embarking of any medical or mobility issues they or someone in their group may have that could affect their ability to respond to safety instructions once on board. We are unable to facilitate the use of wheelchairs due to the limitations of the boats design. At all times it remains the passenger’s responsibility to determine if the trip is suitable for them, or anyone they have responsibility for, given any such issues they have.

Passengers are required to behave responsibly at all times with due regard to their own safety and that of any children in their group as well as other passengers and crew.

The skipper reserves the right to refuse boarding to anyone who is, or appears to be, under the influence of drink or drugs or is behaving in a disruptive manner or in any way that may affect the safety or enjoyment of the trip by others. In this event, a refund will not be issued for the ticket.

Lifejackets – Age-appropriate lifejackets are carried onboard for all passengers (including infants). Children under ten are required to wear them from the point of boarding. All others may request to wear a lifejacket for the trip if they wish to do so.

Personal possessions and clothing – Being afloat can sometimes mean spray coming aboard and passengers and their belongings getting wet. Movement of the boat may also lead to damage due to items falling over etc. No liability will be accepted for loss or damage to items in this way. Items such as buggies etc may be stored ashore at our ticket hut during the trip at our discretion and with no liability for loss or damage.

Whitstable Vintage Lifeboat Trips shall not be liable to any passenger for any loss or damage which arises out of or in connection with or as a consequence of the operation of its trips, including, but not being limited to, loss of profit, damage to or loss of property or items belonging to the passenger and any personal injury to the passenger.

Booking and tickets
Tickets are available for Seal Safaris, Round the bay trips and/or whole boat private charter. There are a maximum of twelve places on each trip.

As with any wild animal, we can offer no guarantee that seals will definitely be seen on our Seal Safari trip. To date, though, we have not had any trips where none have been seen.

Trips are subject to cancellation without notice if we consider it too windy. Trips are not cancelled for rain.

Payment is due immediately before departure at our ticket hut other than for whole boat charters which are payable upon booking.

Refunds for cancellation by ticket holders of whole boat charters will only be given if more than seven days’ notice is given.

In the event of us cancelling a trip for any reason, a full refund will be payable within seven days and alternative dates for rebooking will be offered, where available.

Payment may be made by card or cash at our booking hut or remotely by BACS.

At the time of booking, passengers will be requested to provide telephone and email contact details. These will not be passed to any third party and will only be used in connection with the trip booked.

In the event of us cancelling a trip we will either text, Facebook message or email the ticket holder as soon as the decision is made, subject to which ever method was used for booking. It is the ticket holder’s responsibility to monitor these forms of contact prior to arriving to embark. We will endeavour to contact you the evening before we sail in the event of cancelling the trip but reserve the right cancel up to the point of departure.

Minimum passengers – we reserve the right to cancel any trip which has less than four persons booked for it.