Terms & Conditions

 Winter Tours

In these terms and conditions “we” refers to Stuart Thomson Foto. “You” refers to all people named on the booking.

Deposit & Payment

A deposit of 10,000 NOK per person is required at the time of booking to secure your tour. The balance of the tour is payable 45 days prior to departure.

If you cancel your booking for any reason up to 90 days before your departure date, 100% of your deposit will be refunded. If you cancel 90 to 45 days before departure date, 50% of your deposit will be refunded. If you cancel within 45 days of your departure date, you will not receive any refund on the full amount of the tour that you have paid.

Cancellation

We are a small company with only 1 employee. In case of illness, injury, or force majeure, we will make reasonable efforts to find a replacement guide. If we cannot find a replacement guide and we cancel your trip, we will refund 100% of the tour price to you. If we are forced to cancel your tour, we will not be liable for any other costs you incur, including but not limited to flight and hotel costs.

Insurance

The tours that we offer require insurance that usually falls outside of standard travel insurance policies. We recommend that you purchase a policy that covers snowmobile driving and includes search and rescue / emergency evacuation cover for the Spitsbergen area.  In addition, we recommend that your insurance policy covers cancellation or curtailment, loss of luggage, medical expenses, death, repatriation, illness, and loss or theft of personal property.

Responsibility, liability & risk

Our tours take you into remote and wild environments in Spitsbergen. We take responsibility for ensuring that you receive an orientation on snowmobile driving, before driving commences, in line with industry standards. You accept that driving a snowmobile carries an inherent level of risk.

We accept responsibility and liability for any accident or injury that can be reasonably attributed to have been caused by negligence, or failure to meet up to industry standards, by us.

You take responsibility for; ensuring you are in physical and mental condition adequate to undertake the tour; driving your snowmobile with due care and attention.

Weather & conditions

Weather conditions in the Arctic are highly changeable and can be difficult at times. We may decide in very harsh weather conditions that the risk to go out is too great, and cancel the days programme. The threshold for cancellation will be in complete whiteout conditions and/or very high winds. Some routes and destinations may be closed off to us due to weather conditions and/or avalanche risk. We will make the assessment on how the weather and conditions affects the programme for each day and our decision will be final. We will make all reasonable attempts to take you into nature during bad weather, including by changing the timing of the days activities, and/or restricting the activity to more local areas. If we decide to cancel the entire days activity, a full refund for the day will be granted.

 Summer Tours

In these terms and conditions “we” refers to Stuart Thomson Foto. “You” refers to all people named on the booking.

Deposit & Payment

Full payment is required at the time of booking for summer tours to secure the trip.

If you cancel your booking for any reason up to 45 days before your departure date, 100% of the trip cost will be refunded. If the tour is cancelled within 45 days of the departure date, we regretfully cannot issue any refunds.

Cancellation

We are a small company with only 1 employee. In case of illness, injury, or force majeure, we will make reasonable efforts to find a replacement guide. If we cannot find a replacement guide and we cancel your trip, we will refund 100% of the tour price to you. If we are forced to cancel your tour, we will not be liable for any other costs you incur, including but not limited to flight and hotel costs.

Insurance

The trips use a car for transport. There may be some walking within the vicinity of the car in rugged terrain. We will not usually venture more than a few hundred metres from the car. We can tailor the physical aspects of the trip to the groups requirements. We recommend that you have travel insurance that covers you for any unforeseen injury or accident that could occur whilst on the trip.

Responsibility, liability & risk

We accept responsibility and liability for any accident or injury that can be reasonably attributed to have been caused by negligence, or failure to meet up to industry standards, by us.

You take responsibility; for ensuring you are in physical and mental condition adequate to undertake the tour; to dress in a way appropriate to the natural environment and conduct yourself according to the instructions from the guide. (Even in summer weather conditions can be harsh in Svalbard. If you need tips on clothing/footwear we can give them to you!)

Weather & conditions

Weather conditions in the Arctic are highly changeable and can be difficult at times. We will make all reasonable attempts to take you into nature during bad weather. We may decide in very harsh weather conditions that the risk to go out is too high, and cancel the days programme. In summer it is usually possible to go out and cancellations are rare. If we make the decision to cancel the programme it will be based on safety grounds and you will receive a full refund for the day. If you decide you would like to cancel because the weather is not so great, we will not grant refunds.