Terms and Conditions (English)

General terms and conditions

1 Booking of the trip and conclusion of the contract

By booking a trip, you are offering Omneia the conclusion of a travel contract. The booking can be transmitted to Omneia by e-mail, fax, in writing, online or by telephone. The travel contract is only concluded when Omneia sends you a written booking confirmation by e-mail, fax or post. You are bound by your booking until it is accepted by Omneia, but no longer than 14 days from the date of
your booking.

2 Data protection

Data that you have provided to Omneia will only be used and stored by us for the purpose of processing your travel booking and customer service. Omneia does not pass on any of your data to third parties unless this is necessary for your trip, e.g. to safari boats, hotels or diving centres.

3 Services

Omneia is the tour operator of the tour you have booked.
The scope of the contractual services which Omneia guarantees is set out in the booking confirmation and, as a rule, in an associated brochure from Omneia which you will receive as an electronic document with it or which you can find on Omneia's website. The information contained in the brochure or on the website is binding on Omneia. Omneia expressly reserves the right, for objectively justified, substantial and unforeseeable reasons, to declare a change in the brochure details prior to the conclusion of the contract, of which you will be informed prior to your booking.

Other brochures that do not originate from Omneia are for your non-binding information only and do not entail any warranty obligation for Omneia.
If Omneia compiles an individual itinerary at your request, the obligation to perform follows exclusively from the corresponding concrete offer to you and from the corresponding booking confirmation. Amendments or supplementary agreements to the services advertised by Omneia or these travel conditions require an express agreement with Omneia. Excluded from the obligation of express agreement are changes to services on site that result, for example, from official regulations, weather-related route changes or other necessary measures that serve to avert danger and your safety. This also applies if a service provider decides on site to adapt a tour itinerary at his discretion to the diving abilities of a tour group or those of individual divers.

4 Payments

You are not obliged to make a payment until Omneia sends you a security certificate in the sense of § 651 k para. 3 BGB (German Civil Code). As a rule, you will receive this insurance certificate with the booking confirmation. You make your payments without cash to the account stated in the booking confirmation.

A deposit of 20% of the tour price is due immediately upon receipt of the security certificate. The remainder of the tour price is due 25 days before the start of the tour, unless otherwise stated in the confirmation. If you book a tour more than 25 days before departure, the entire tour price is due immediately.

Your travel documents will be sent to you by Omneia upon receipt of the full invoice amount.

Failure to make a deposit or final payment has no effect on the validity of the travel contract.
Insofar as Omneia is willing and able to provide the service, there is no entitlement to the travel service without full payment of the travel price. If payments are not made despite being due, Omneia can refuse to carry out the trip and is entitled to cancellation fees according to point 5.1 of these General Terms and Conditions and compensation for possible further costs incurred as a result in their actual and documented amount.

5 Changes by the customer

5.1 Withdrawal from the travel contract

You can withdraw from the travel contract at any time before the start of the trip. This can be done without formalities (e.g. by letter, fax, email or telephone). For reasons of proof, the written form is recommended. However, since Omneia has already incurred expenses up to this point, and has often already made advance payments to service providers on site, Omneia can demand compensation for its own expenses to date. Based on the date of receipt of your cancellation notice, these are:

for hotel bookings:
up to 30 days before departure: 25 % per person
from the 29th to the 15th day before departure: 50 % per person
from the 14th to the 7th day before departure: 75 % per person
from the 6th to the 3rd day before departure: 85 % per person
from the 2nd day before the start of the trip until the start of the trip or non-appearance: 90 % per person

on liveaboards:
up to 60 days before departure: 25% p. person
from the 59th to the 30th day before departure: 50% p. person
from the 29th to the 15th day before departure: 75% p. person
from the 14th day before the start of the trip until the start of the trip or non-appearance: 90% p. person

In any case, the customer is at liberty to prove to the tour operator that the latter has incurred no damage at all or that the damage is lower than the flat rate demanded by the customer.
Cancellation fees are due immediately. If you have already paid the full price of the trip, Omneia will reimburse you immediately, deducting the cancellation fee.
Experience shows that circumstances can always arise under which a cancellation becomes necessary. Omneia therefore strongly recommends that you take out travel cancellation insurance and will assist you in doing so.

5.2 Substitutes

You can request from Omneia that another person takes your place on the trip, provided that this person is suitable from a diving point of view, that this can still be provided by the service providers in terms of time or that there are no other special reasons against this. However, as this means further effort for Omneia, Omneia will charge a flat-rate processing fee of 50 euros for the rebooking of a substitute person.
If further costs are incurred by the service provider as a result of the change of person, these will also be charged.

5.3 Cancellation after commencement of travel / services not used

After commencement of the trip, you can only withdraw from the travel contract within the legal framework. However, if you withdraw for other reasons or do not make use of individual travel services, Omneia retains the right to the travel price. If there is a possibility of obtaining a refund from service providers for services not used there, Omneia will try to do this for you. In this case, Omneia is entitled to 20% of the amounts reimbursed by the service provider as compensation for the additional costs incurred.

5.4 Rebooking for another trip

If, after conclusion of the travel contract and up to 30 days before departure, you wish to change your booking to another trip, i.e. e.g. change the date of travel, the destination, the place of departure, the accommodation or the mode of transport, this shall be deemed to be termination of the original travel contract and conclusion of a new travel contract.
If you request a rebooking less than 30 days before the start of the trip, and if its implementation is possible at all, Omneia will try to implement this without cancellation fees for you. However, if this is not possible at no cost to Omneia, the rebooking can only be carried out after withdrawal from the travel contract under the conditions stated under point 5.1 and simultaneous re-registration.

6 Changes by Omneia or service provider

6.1 Cancellation if minimum number of participants is not reached

Some liveaboards can only be operated economically by all parties if a certain minimum number of participants is reached. This minimum number of participants is stated in the corresponding brochures or on the Omneia website. If this number is not reached, Omneia can withdraw from the travel contract up to 30 days before the start of the trip.
In this case, you can choose either to take part in another trip from the Omneia offer, provided that this can be offered by Omneia at no extra cost and this is organisationally possible, e.g. due to the availability of flights. Or demand a free and immediate refund of your payments made to date.

6.2 Cancellation of a trip for technical reasons or due to force majeure

If a diving trip has to be cancelled for reasons that become known to Omneia before you start your trip, e.g. due to technical defects, force majeure or the decision of a service provider on site, you will be reimbursed for any payments made.
However, you cannot assert any further claims.

7 Defects of the trip, remedy and cooperation

In the event that the tour is not provided in accordance with the contract, you can demand redress.
Any defects that occur must always be reported immediately to the local tour guide, the service provider or Omneia.
If a trip is considerably impaired as a result of a defect and no remedy can be found within a reasonable period of time, you may terminate the travel contract within the framework of the statutory provisions, whereby a written declaration is recommended. In the event that the tour is not provided in accordance with the contract, you may also demand compensation for damages, without prejudice to the reduction of the tour price or termination, unless the defect is due to a circumstance for which the service provider is not responsible.

Omneia informs you of the customer's legal obligation to report a defect that has occurred without delay, and that before the travel contract can be cancelled, a reasonable period of time to remedy the situation. You also have the legal obligation to cooperate in minimising the damage, to avoid possible damage or to keep it as low as possible.

Warranty claims under the travel contract must be made to Omneia within one month of the contractually agreed end of the trip. After the expiry of this one-month period, you can only assert claims if you were prevented from complying with the deadline through no fault of your own or if the claims are in tort. Your claims under §§ 651 c - 651 f BGB against Omneia are subject to a limitation period of one year. The statute of limitations begins on the day on which the trip was supposed to end according to the contract. If negotiations between you and Omneia about the claim or the circumstances giving rise to the claim are pending, the limitation period is suspended until you or Omneia refuse to continue the negotiations.

8 Liability and limitation of liability

8.1 Liability and limitation of liability as a travel agent

If Omneia only mediates individual third-party services, Omneia is only liable for the proper mediation of the service, but not for the careful and defect-free provision of the mediated services of the service provider.
Insofar as damage has been caused neither intentionally nor through gross negligence by Omneia or Omneia is solely responsible due to the fault of a service provider, liability for damage that is not bodily injury is limited to three times the travel price.
Claims arising from tortious liability shall remain unaffected.

8.2 Liability and limitation of liability as a tour operator

Omneia's contractual liability for damages other than bodily injury is limited to three times the tour price per tour and customer, insofar as damage to the customer is not caused intentionally or by gross negligence or insofar as Omneia is solely responsible for damage incurred by the customer due to the fault of a service provider.

For all claims for damages directed against Omneia that are not based on intent or gross negligence, Omneia is liable for property damage up to 4,100 EURO. If three times the travel price exceeds this amount, Omneia's liability for property damage is limited to three times the travel price per trip and customer.

The above limitations of liability against Omneia are limited or excluded to the extent that, under international conventions or statutory provisions based on such conventions or statutory provisions applicable to the services to be provided by the service provider, a claim for damages against the service provider can only be asserted under certain conditions or limitations or is excluded under certain conditions.

9 Personal requirements

Omneia cannot accept any responsibility for your personal prerequisites for the booked trip. If your participation in the trip is prevented or impaired due to a lack of personal prerequisites, this does not entitle you to withdraw from the travel contract free of charge.

Therefore, before you travel, make sure you have the necessary travel documents, especially passports and visas.

By making a booking, you declare that you are fit to dive and that you have no medical objections to your participation in the trip and to your involvement in sport and diving courses and other programmes. Omneia recommends that you have your diving fitness confirmed by a diving doctor before you start your trip.

With your booking you assure that you have the required diving experience. If service providers on site come to a different opinion from your assessment and make appropriate decisions, this does not constitute a defect in the trip and lies outside the liability of Omneia. You also agree to comply with the diving safety rules at your destination. You may be excluded from the diving programme if you fail to comply with them, without any right to compensation. Should any damage occur due to the non-observance of such rules, the diver is fully liable for it.

Omneia also recommends that you take out luggage, travel accident, travel health and travel liability insurance.

10 Final provisions

The travel contract shall be governed exclusively by the law of the Federal Republic of Germany. If the Customer is a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law, the exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from or in connection with the travel contract is the registered office of Omneia in Cologne.

This shall also apply to persons and contractual partners who do not have a general place of jurisdiction in Germany as well as to persons who have moved their place of residence or habitual abode abroad after conclusion of the contract or whose place of residence or habitual abode is not known at the time of bringing an action.

Should any point of Omneia's General Terms and Conditions be invalid, all other points shall nevertheless continue to be valid and become part of the travel contract.

Status 23.08.2012