GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Reserve Your Trip By Phone
The easiest way to reserve any Grand Circle Travel program is
to charge your deposit by phone. Call to request a brochure
on the China Tour.
Reservations & Information: Call Toll-Free
1-800-221-2610 Monday-Friday 8 am-10 pm *
Saturday-Sunday 9 am-7 pm (Eastern Time)
Customer Service: Call Toll-Free
1-800-321-2835 Monday-Friday 8 am-7 pm *
Saturday 9 am-5 pm (Eastern Time)
Grand Circle Corporate Headquarters
347 Congress Street * Boston, MA 02210
You may charge your vacation to your MasterCard,
VISA, American Express, or Discover Card.
General Terms and Conditions
RESERVATIONS and PAYMENTS
All-inclusive Vacations, Extended-Stay Vacations, and Escorted Tours:
A deposit of $250 per person is required to secure your reservation.
To secure reservations on a trip departing within 70 days, full
payment is required by credit card at the time of booking.
Final payment for all programs must be paid in full to
Grand Circle Travel at least 70 days prior to departure, unless
otherwise stated. Tour prices stated are per person and based
on double occupancy. Departure taxes and government fees are
not part of the tour price and will be billed as a separate item on
your invoice. Please note that port charges are included in tour
prices, unless otherwise indicated.
Changes in plans: For any changes you make to your
reservation within 70 days of departure that affect destination,
departure date, program extension, and/or traveler names, a
$50 per-person administrative charge applies, in addition to
any cancellation penalties or applicable fees imposed by airlines,
hotels, or cruise lines. We regret that we cannot change air
reservations inside of 45 days from acceptance. All changes are
subject to availability and cannot be guaranteed.
Every effort has been made to produce pricing information
accurately. GCT reserves the right to correct errors.
CANCELLATIONS and REFUNDS
If you must cancel your trip for any reason, you may do so by
telephoning Customer Service as soon as possible. You must
then follow up with a letter to Customer Service explaining your
reason for canceling.
All refunds will be processed 30 days after receipt of your letter
of cancellation, and are calculated as of the day of receipt of
notification of your cancellation. Please note that GCT does not
make any refunds after your departure for any unused portion of
your trip.
Processing Fee: There is a non-refundable fee of $125
per person for each program you cancel. This low fee reflects only
GCT's costs of administering a reservation, and is not intended to
be punitive in any way. GCT realizes that the majority of those
who cancel their reservations do so out of necessity.
Refunds - All-Inclusive Vacations, Extended-Stay Vacations
& Escorted Tours:
Unless otherwise stated next to the program's rate chart, for all
cancellations GCT will refund to you the cost of your trip less the
following per-person charges:
Prior to departure Charge
71 days or more $125
70-46 days $300
45-30 days $500
29-1 days $1000
Day of departure No refund
Refunds - River Cruises and all other programs: For details,
please check the cancellation information next to the individual
program rate charts in your brochure.
PASSPORTS and VISAS
A valid passport is required on international programs. Non-U.S.
citizens are advised to contact the appropriate consular office for
entry requirements pertaining to their trip. You will be notified if
your destination requires a visa. The Important Information booklet
you will receive after you reserve outlines procedures for obtaining
a visa.
AIR ARRANGEMENTS
In order to provide you with the lowest possible domestic arifares,
Grand Circle Travel takes advantage of special promotional fares.
These fares can be quite restrictive and carry cancellation charges
imposed by the airlines ranging from 25% to 100%. Therefore,
any penalties resulting from changes or cancellations to hometown
arifares after they are ticketed will be the responsibility of the passenger.
If you must cancel your trip after you have received your tickets, you
are required to return the tickets to Grand Circle Travel before they
can process any refunds that may be due to you. Hometown airfares
are ticketed approximately 35-21 days orior to the program departure
date.
Most programs offer Business Class upgrades, subject to availability.
International and domestic air schedules are subject to change at
any time.
If you do make your own domestic flight arrangements, Grand Circle
Travel will not be responsible for any loss resulting from cancellations
or changes in international gateways or travel dates. We recommend
that you do not purchase tickets with high penalty charges for changes.
Additionally, if you make your own domestic flight arrangements and
you miss your international flight for any reason, Grand Circle Travel
can assist with alternate flight arrangements; however, you are
responsible for the cost of an alternate flight to your destination, as
well as any other expenses you may incur prior to joining up with
your tour group.
All air routings are subject to availability and cannot be guaranteed.
If an air schedule requires an overnight stay in a gateway city, Grand
Circle Travel can assist with hotel reservations. In the event that a
flight requires a layover, overnights are at your expense.
RESPONSIBILITY
The responsibility of Grand Circle LLC and its affiliated Companies
(collectively, Grand Circle) is strictly limited. As a tour operator,
Grand Circle organizes, promotes, and sells tour programs consisting
of certain travel services, including, but not limited to, surface
transportation, air transportation, water transportation, sightseeing
excursions, and cruise/hotel accomodations that Grand Circle
purchases or reserves from various suppliers (collectively, Suppliers).
The Suppliers providing travel services for Grand Circle's tour
programs are independent contractors and are not agents or
employees of Grand Circle. To the extent that Grand Circle is
involved in booking air and/or cruise transportation for you, Grand
Circle acts as your agent and not as an agent of the air carrier and/or
cruise line. For all other purposes, Grand Circle does not act as an
agent for any party whatsoever.
Grand Circle is not responsible for the willful or negligent acts and/or
omissions of any air carrier, cruise line, or other Supplier, or any
of their respective employees, agents, servants, or representatives,
including, without limitation, their failure to deliver services or
their partial or inadequate delivery of services. All coupons, receipts,
and tickets are issued subject to the terms and conditions specified
by the Suppliers. By utilizing the travel services of the Suppliers, you
agree that neither Grand Circle nor any representative of Grand
Circle shall be liable, and that you will look to such Suppliers, for
any accident, injury, property damage, or personal loss to you or
to those traveling with you in connection with any accommodations,
transportation, or other travel services, or resulting directly or
indirectly from any occurrences or conditions beyond Grand Circle's
control, including, but not limited to, acts of terrorism, political
unrest, war, defects in vehicles, breakdown in equipment, strikes,
theft, or delay or cancellation of or changes in itinerary or schedules.
Grand Circle reserves the right to correct promotional or pricing
errors at any time, or to increase the program price in the event
of cost increases due to changes in airfares, cruise fares, currency
fluctuations, park fee increases, taxes, or fuel surcharges. Grand
Circle reserver the right to decline or accept or retain any person
as a member of any tour or to cancel or alter the tour without
notice. Hotels and other accommodations are subject to change,
If for any reason Grand Circle changes a hotel to a lower official
category, you may accept the alteration or you may elect to cancel,
in which case you will be entitled to a full refund.
SINGLE TRAVELERS
Most programs offer a limited number of single rooms, subject
to availability and hotel space. Please see individual program
rate charts in your brochure for costs. If you pay for single occupancy
but share during your program, contact Grand Circle in writing
upon your return to receive the appropriate refund.
Roommate matching: If you are on a program where sharing
is possible and you would like to share a twin-bedded room with
another single traveler of the same gender, we will do our best
to match you with a roommate. On River Cruises, the single
supplement is waived. On all other eligible programs, Grand Circle
will charge you only 50% of the single supplement; if a match
is available, the single supplement will be refunded after you
return. The Important Information booklet you will receive after
you reserve provides more details.
FREQUENT TRAVELER CREDITS
You will earn a credit valued at 5% of the advertised cost of
your trip, which may be applied to any Grand Circle Travel,
Overseas Adventure Travel, or Vermont Bicycle Touring program
on which you depart within one year. After the first year, this
credit is adjusted to 3%. Frequent Traveler credits expire after
five years. Please note that, for the purpose of calculating your
credit, your trip cost excludes charges not specifically covered
in the base cost.
