Pre-booking questions
- We insure our boats and their equipment against physical loss and damage and against public liability risks. You are entitled to any protection that may be afforded by the Company’s insurance policy (subject to Your paying any applicable policy excess) but You and members of Your party may become legally liable to the Company or to third parties for loss or damage caused or contributed to by Your acts, omissions or negligence.
- The Company’s insurance policy does not cover personal accidents or Your personal belongings and does not cover the first £250 of any claim. You and your party are advised to take out your own personal insurance cover.
- The Security Deposit is intended to cover the Company’s policy excess and any uninsured risks or other sums due to the Company under the Agreement. The Security Deposit is not the limit of Your potential liability to the Company. A security deposit of £250 is required (£75 per person is required for larger non family groups).
- The Company may apply the whole or any part of the Security Deposit to payment of any claim which the Company may have against You. Otherwise the Company shall promptly refund the Security Deposit by cash if it was paid by cash or card refund if it was paid by card. As soon as the Company is satisfied that no loss, damage or accident has occurred and that no other sums are due to the Company from You.
- Instead of paying the Security Deposit You may pay a Damage Waiver of £75 which covers the insurance excess of £250. The Damage waiver is not available to larger non-family crews.
- If You want to cancel Your booking You must give the Company written notice (the “Cancellation Notice”). The date of receipt of the the Cancellation Notice is the effective cancellation date but in order to increase the prospects ofus re-letting the boat, You must let us know about any cancellation by telephone.
- If if you want to cancel more than 6 weeks before the date of hire, a refund of any monies paid over and above the deposit amount of 25% will be given. If the company is able to re-let the boat at the original price, the deposit will be refunded less an administration charge of £50. If the holiday is re-let at a reduced price any refund will take account of the reduction in price.
- If you want to cancel less than 6 weeks before the date of hire, there will not normally be a refund of the balance paid unless and until the boat is re-let. If the boat is re-let to another customer any monies already paid over and above the 25% deposit payment will be refunded. The 25% deposit is not refundable except in the following circumstances: death, serious illness or injury to yourself or a crew member or Jury Service. In these cases the deposit will be refunded less an administration charge of £50. We will need evidence to support such a cancellation request.
- Prices for our short breaks can be seen on each of the boat pages. Once you have a date in mind just call us to make a booking on 01256 703691. You will need to pay 25% of the price at the time of booking as long as you holiday is more than 6 weeks away. If it is under 6 weeks you will need to pay the full amount.
- We welcome up to 2 dogs on our boats but please bear in mind that boats are compact so treat dogs as another person from an available space point of view. We make an additional charge of £30 for each dog to cover extra cleaning. This will be made clear to you when you book. If you’d like to bring any other kind of pet, just get in touch with us.
- Please note pets should not be left unattended in boats and that they must remain off furniture at all times. You, as pet owner, will be responsible for removing any evidence left by your pet and reimbursing the owner if any damage is caused.
We understand that some visitors have special requirements in terms of access on and off the boat or the facilities needed within it. We work closely with Accessible Boating Organisation and have a 7 berth accessible boat for hire called ‘Madam Butterfly‘. It has ramp access on and off the boat, hydraulic lifts front and rear on the boat for wheelchairs, accessible wet room & toilet, hospital bed, hoist and mains power for equipment. If you need further advice or help, please contact us and we will be pleased to help.
Accommodation questions
Yes, both Gas and Diesel are included in the hire price.
We provide 1 parking space per boat. If you have more than one vehicle we may have space available in our small car park. If not there is plenty of free car parking in the area and there is a free public car park within 3 minutes walk. Cars can unload luggage in our car park.
No, All our boats are provided with bed linen and towels, You will need to bring your own beach or swimming towels.
- All boats are self-catered, this means that you will need to bring your own provisions.
- A full inventory of what is on board is sent to you with your holiday confirmation in a welcome pack
- Your boat will be equipped with crockery, cutlery and cooking utensils, salt & pepper, instant coffee sachets, tea bags and sugar. We can provide a travel cot (by arrangement) with mattress, cot bedding is not supplied.
- Buoyancy aids (life jackets) are provided for 2 adult crew. Other life jackets will be provided as required.
Wi-fi is not available on board our boats. The signal along the canal is variable. Most of the time it is possible to obtain a good signal. We recommend using your mobile data plan or obtaining an add-on from your provider. Films can be downloaded on your device before you start your holiday.
- All of our boats are non-smoking / non-vaping. Because the boat is outdoors it is possible to smoke on the rear deck whilst moving or whilst using the towpath. Cigarette butts must not be disposed of in the canal or surrounding areas and guests are responsible for the safe extinguishing of cigarettes and their disposal.
Post booking questions
- We accept payments made over the phone or by bank transfer. If you are an international customer, you may wish to consider a service such as ‘Wise‘ to reduce transfer charges.
- If your holiday is less than 6 weeks from the day you book, you will be required to pay the full balance at that time.
- If your holiday is more than 6 weeks away when you book, you will pay a 25% at the time of booking with the remaining balance paid no later than 6 weeks before the holiday start date.
- Before the start of your holiday, you will receive written confirmation containing information on arrival time and our location and where to park.
- Arrival and departure times can be found on the handover document but arrival is between 2pm and 4pm. The boat must be returned by 10am on the end date so we can get it ready for the next holiday makers.
- We ask that the property is left tidy with washing up done and put away. and all make up beds put back to seating. Towels can be left hanging on rails (not put in the shower) and bedding left on the fixed double bed and/or on rear bunks.
- You can see feedback from previous guests on Google, Tripadvisor and on our website.
- We are continually looking for ways we can improve our service. Your feedback plays a vital role in enabling us to achieve this. You can either leave a review on Google or on Tripadvisor. Please feel free to send us comments by email too on info@galleonmarine.co.uk
- You will receive a booking confirmation when a deposit payment has been made. Further confirmation, along with directions to our boatyard, video walkthrough of the boat, inventory and FAQs will be supplied nearer to your holiday date.
- Please call as soon as possible so that we can help you locate any item(s) left behind and arrange for this/these to be sent back to you. A minimum fee of £5 may be applicable to cover the cost of returning any item(s). Any item(s) not claimed after 14 days will be appropriately disposed of. We cannot accept responsibility for any personal belongings left behind
- We aim to provide a high level of customer service and want all of our guests to be completely happy with their holiday. However, things can be missed and if this is the case the matter should be brought to our attention on the number supplied on your handover document as soon as possible. Please don’t leave it until your last day or leave it until you have returned home to speak to us about any problems as we are then no longer in a position to help.
- We expect that a certain amount of wear and tear is inevitable, and this applies to the occasional broken glass or plate.
- However, if something does get damaged on the boat, please call the number which is on your handover document at the earliest opportunity so that it can be fixed or replaced in time for the next holidaymakers.
- For more serious damage you will have either paid a damage waiver or security deposit, details are again in your handover document and in our terms and conditions.
Adverse Weather
- Our primary concern is always the safety of our guests, staff, and suppliers. If there are warnings in place around travel, we would ask guests to make sensible decisions around delaying trips to start their holiday later where required.
Canal Questions
We will let you know as soon as possible about any changes that need to be made to your booking. Sometimes the canal levels can affect the state of the locks for example if the water level is low in the Hampshire Pound the Basingstoke Canal Authority may need to close the Deepcut, Brookwood and St John’s lock flights to preserve water levels in the top pound. In this case navigation would reduce from Greywell to Frimley Green. If Ash Lock is closed, then that would be the limit of navigation. It is impossible to predict weather conditions but as soon as we know we will inform you of your options. Reduction in water levels usually begins in July and can continue until September or October. Usually the canal remains navigable but in 2022 Ash lock was closed on 25th June and didn’t reopen until October.
This is the hardest thing to mitigate for. Canals can be closed for a number of reasons such as; trees falling across them, lock gates becoming dislodged or broken, bridges becoming damaged, mechanisms failing such as lift bridges, low water levels, breaches in the canal banks and any safety issues which require the canal to be closed in order to investigate or fix. All of these are beyond our control. If you have booked a week holiday you may be able to shorten it to a short break, as long as there is enough canal to navigate. If this doesn’t work then you could postpone your holiday to a future date. As these issues happen at short notice, it is unlikely that we would know 6 weeks or more before the holiday start date, therefore it is not possible to refund your deposit and unlikely that we would be able to resell the holiday so if the balance has been paid we would recommend making a claim with your holiday insurance provider.
