Costs & Booking:

The Costs for Holiday and Short Break Charters: (For Day Charter Costs please click here)

As a private charter operation, the number of days guests are with us varies. We therefore keep the calculation of the tariff simple and use 'daily rates', no matter what the time of year. If there are two of you sharing our double bedded guest cabin, the current inclusive tariff is £99 per person per day. For a single person, exclusively occupying the double guest cabin,  the current inclusive tariff is £140 per day. In both cases the tariff is fully inclusive of all meals and ordinary cruise costs (but excludes any 3rd party costs/admission fees etc).  So the inclusive cost per person is simply the number of full days multiplied by either £99 or £140. The tariffs for any particular booked cruise remain set to the rate agreed at the time of booking, even if our prices subsequently increase.

Remember that our daily rate is for each full 24 hrs period (not just 'so many nights'), so please do compare rates 'like for like'. Typically a 7 day cruise might be from 4pm on the Saturday to 4pm the following Saturday - that's chargeable for only 7 full days even although it actually covers 8 different dates. Rates per person are for full-board. For non UK residents who may not be familiar with the term, 'full board' means inclusive of all meals and accommodation (not just 'B&B'). For the 2012 season we continue our policy of providing a complimentary glass of 'house wine' (or should that be 'boat wine), with the evening meal. Guests are responsible for paying for any outside attractions or visits, whilst with us; and any transfer costs to and from Willow (we don't charge for picking guests up from the local station using our own vehicle). There are no hidden extras.

Available Discounts:

We know from experience that some guests find that a full cooked breakfast, as well as a full three course evening meal, along with lunch (and cake in the afternoons) - every day for a week - can be a bit too much. So we do offer a small discount scheme that might suit. We will reduce a joint weekly tariff for two people by £50, if you both elect to reduce your evening meals to two courses (rather than three) for the cruise duration. On a similar basis we will also further reduce the joint weekly tariff by £50, if you both elect to have a non-cooked breakfast (which would include fruit juice, cereals, and toast etc) for the cruise duration. So that could be a discount of up to £100. To qualify for such discount(s) a request must be made at the time of booking, or in any case before the final payment is made.

The Booking Stage:

Provisional Booking: Following on from the enquiry stage, and should you wish to go ahead with the booking, we can proceed to an offered 'Provisional Booking'.  On request, we send you our 'Provisional Booking' document (emailed attachment in pdf format) which details the discussed cruise description, total tariff, and booking deposit requirements, etc. It is our formal offer for your requested booking. At this stage your booking is still only 'Provisional'.

Confirmed Booking: The 'Provisional Booking' document invites you to confirm your booking with us by payment of our standard booking deposit (£250). The booking moves from 'Provisional' to 'Confirmed' status on our receipt of that booking deposit. The balance of the tariff becomes due and payable no later than 84 days (12 weeks) before the start of the cruise. The tariff is payable in full if there are less than 84 days prior to the date of the cruise. We send a receipt/confirmation document, updating your record of payment etc, on receipt of all payments.

On confirmation (receipt of booking deposit), we send a receipt for the deposit and confirmation of the booking; ‘joining instructions’; and a ‘likes / dislikes’ questionnaire. This is now usually done by e-mail, but we can use good old fashioned paper post for UK clients without e-mail facilities. We will receipt and send updated documentation with each payment received.

We ask that all clients confirm that they have read and accept our booking conditions - confirmed by specific Email confirmation (or if making postal payment, by completion of the accompanying signed postal booking form).

Holiday/Travel Insurance: In keeping with the norms of our industry, once the booking deposit is received and the booking moves to 'confirmed' status, a contract has been formed. We, therefore, strongly recommend that you provide yourself with suitable holiday/travel cancellation insurance. Our experience is that clients can normally arrange their own cancellation insurance more cheaply than us providing 'free' cover (it's never really free, just hidden) - but if you live in the UK we may be able to help you source suitable cover.