The arrangements, in writing.

01Reservations & Enquiry

Center Monsoon arranges, at most, sixty passages per calendar year. Because of this, we do not operate a booking system in the ordinary sense. All passages begin with a written enquiry, are followed by a conversation (by telephone or, where preferred, by letter), and are confirmed only when both parties are satisfied that the route, the season and the traveler are well matched.

An enquiry is not a reservation. A reservation is confirmed only when (a) a written itinerary has been issued in the traveler's name, (b) the deposit set out in Section 02 has been received in cleared funds, and (c) the traveler has acknowledged receipt of these terms in writing.

We reserve the right to decline any enquiry without explanation. This is not a courtesy we extend lightly; it is, however, one we extend when the route is not the right one for the traveler, or the traveler is not the right one for the route.

02Payment & Fares

All fares are quoted per traveler, in United States dollars, on a single-occupancy basis unless otherwise stated. Fares include every arrangement from arrival at the gateway city to departure: accommodation, all meals, ground and water transfers, guides, gratuities, and the services of the host family throughout. Fares do not include international air travel, visa fees, travel insurance, or items of a personal nature.

A deposit of twenty per cent of the fare is due upon confirmation. The balance is due ninety days before the date of arrival. Where a reservation is made within ninety days of arrival, the full fare is due upon confirmation.

Payment is accepted by bank transfer, in USD, to the account set out on the invoice. We do not accept credit cards. We do not accept installment plans. We do this to keep our fares as low as they are.

03Cancellation & Refunds

Because every passage is arranged by hand, around specific dates and specific families, our cancellation policy is necessarily stricter than that of a larger operator. We ask that it be read carefully.

• Cancellation more than 120 days before arrival: full refund of all amounts paid, less an administrative fee of $200 per traveler.
• Cancellation between 120 and 90 days before arrival: refund of all amounts paid except the deposit.
• Cancellation between 89 and 60 days before arrival: refund of fifty per cent of the fare.
• Cancellation between 59 and 30 days before arrival: refund of twenty-five per cent of the fare.
• Cancellation less than 30 days before arrival: no refund is payable.

We strongly recommend that all travelers purchase travel insurance covering cancellation for any reason. We are unable to make exceptions to this policy on compassionate grounds, as the families we work with depend on the income from confirmed passages.

04Travel Documentation

It is the responsibility of the traveler to hold a passport valid for at least six months beyond the date of return, and to obtain any visas required for the route. We will provide, on request, a letter of invitation and a confirmed itinerary to support visa applications.

We are unable to advise on visa policy in detail, as it changes frequently and varies by nationality. We recommend that travelers consult the embassy of each country on the route, in writing, not less than eight weeks before departure.

05Health & Accessibility

Our passages are designed for travelers aged sixty and over, and the pace reflects this. However, many of the guesthouses, boats and bungalows we work with predate modern accessibility standards, and several are accessible only by foot, by boat, or by unpaved road. We are unable to guarantee wheelchair accessibility on any route.

Every printed itinerary includes the telephone number of an English-speaking physician in each town on the route. This has been our policy since 1986. We ask that travelers with significant health concerns discuss the route with us in detail before confirming a reservation.

06Itinerary Changes

Because we work with the monsoon, and the monsoon does not always do what is expected of it, we reserve the right to alter any itinerary after confirmation. Such alterations may include: the substitution of one guesthouse for another of equivalent standing; the reordering of nights between locations; the substitution of one route for another where a road, canal or pass is closed.

Where a change is material — defined as a change of region, a change of more than forty-eight hours in the dates of travel, or a reduction in the number of nights — we will offer the traveler the choice of accepting the revised itinerary, accepting an alternative itinerary of equivalent fare, or receiving a full refund of all amounts paid.

07Conduct & The Quiet

Our passages are quiet by design. The guesthouses we work with are family homes. The boats we work with are working boats. We ask that travelers respect the rhythms of the houses and the water: that dinner be taken at the hour the household takes dinner; that the early morning be respected; that telephones be set to silent in shared spaces.

We reserve the right to terminate a passage, without refund, where a traveler's conduct is, in our judgment or the judgment of our hosts, materially inconsistent with the quiet and the rhythm of the route. We have exercised this right twice in forty years. We do not extend it lightly.

08Liability & Insurance

Center Monsoon acts as arranger of the passage, not as principal. Accommodation, transport and guiding services are provided by independent third parties — the families, captains and guesthouse owners with whom we have worked, in many cases, for two generations. Our liability for the acts and omissions of these third parties is limited accordingly.

We carry professional indemnity insurance to a value of USD 2,000,000 per occurrence. We require that all travelers carry travel insurance covering, at minimum, medical evacuation, cancellation for any reason, and baggage loss. We will provide details of insurers familiar with our routes on request.

09Privacy & Data

We hold the personal data of our travelers — name, address, date of birth, passport number, dietary and medical notes — in paper form, in a single locked cabinet, in our office in Madras. We do not hold traveler data on any computer connected to the internet. We do not share traveler data with any third party, other than as required to arrange the passage (for example, with the host family or the airline).

We retain traveler records for seven years after the passage, after which they are destroyed. Travelers may request a copy of their records, or their destruction earlier than seven years, by writing to us at the address on the invoice.

10Governing Law

These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of India. Any dispute arising out of or in connection with these terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Chennai. We are, however, willing to mediate any dispute through the Madras Chamber of Commerce before resort to litigation, and we ask that travelers extend us the same courtesy.