Rates & Policies

Cancelling a trip is the last thing one thinks about when planning a vacation. However, circumstances can and do occur that result in an unplanned need to cancel. Although we have empathy for events that may result in needing to cancel, we operate during a very short season and with a very limited occupancy, and this policy is in effect under all circumstances.

When traveling, it is only prudent to ensure you are appropriately insured for all eventualities.  All our guests should look into trip cancellation insurance through a travel agent or your insurance provider. Further to this, all guests should ensure that they have insurance that covers any evacuation – either emergency or non-emergency – that arises in the event of an incident and means that they cannot continue the trip.

Another good way to ensure you are covered for any unforeseen circumstances is through your credit card company. Check whether your credit card has the option to include travel insurance for all cancellations if you use the card to pay for your trip. 

Payment Schedule:

• A deposit of 50% including tax is required for all reservations at the time of booking.
• The remaining 50% balance is due 60 days in advance of the trip date. We will email a reminder with the invoice one week before this date and instructions for how this balance can be paid online.
• Any trips booked within this 60 day period of the trip start date will be required to pay 100% of the balance at the time of booking.

Cancellations: 

• If received 61 days or more prior to the scheduled start, a $200 CAD per person cancellation fee applies.
• If received 0-60 days prior to start, then the reservation is 100% non-refundable.

If you do need to cancel, we will contact our waitlist in an attempt to fill the cancelled spot. If we are able to fill the cancelled spots on a tour to 100% capacity, we will provide a full refund less the $200 per person processing fee.

Date Changes:

• If you wish to change the date of your booked tour to another date in the same season:
  • A $50 processing fee will be charged for such date changes if made more than 120 days before the date of the original tour.
  • A $100 processing fee will be charged for such date changes if made between 119-30 days before the date of the original tour.
  • It will be considered a cancellation if made less than 30 days before the date of the original tour and the regular cancellation policy will apply.

Non-Exemptions

Powell River Sea Kayak Ltd. is not to be held responsible for any environmental factors that may cause a package or portion thereof to be cancelled due to safety concerns, travel restrictions or any perceived reductions in quality of a package due to rain, wind, smoke, fog, cold, heat, or any other environmental phenomenon during the package dates.

Powell River Sea Kayak’s cancellation policy is still in effect during times of poor air quality due to smoke, or if travel is restricted due to concerns surrounding COVID-19 or any other pandemic related issues.

Furthermore, any personal circumstances that may arise from guests that prevents them from participating in their tour such as health issues, injuries, or personal scheduling conflicts may not be used as exemptions from this policy. Although we have never cancelled a tour in 25 years, there is still a risk (albeit minor) that this can occur. Anyone looking to book a trip is sharing in this risk with us as a company. We therefore strongly recommend guests consider trip cancellation insurance. Some credit cards even have this built into their plans.

If you feel there is a possibility you may need to cancel for any reason (as mentioned above), and you are concerned you will not be refunded as stated in this possibility, we suggest refraining from making a reservation until such time as you feel more confident the trip will go ahead as planned.

We appreciate your cooperation in adhering to this policy and kindly request that guests refrain from contacting our staff via emails and phone calls for refund inquiries.

Smoke

In recent summers, wildfires are becoming more prevalent in BC. That said, conditions on the coast and areas that we kayak are seldom affected by smoke and wildfires, however this can occur. For most healthy people, these conditions are not dangerous. Our trips go ahead as planned with or without smoke. If you feel that you would want to cancel your trip as a result of wildfire smoke and expect a refund, we ask that you do not book a trip with us. There will be no refunds due to wildfire smoke over the course of any of our tours.

Furthermore, if you have a pre-existing condition that would be affected by smoke and would therefore need to cancel, it is especially important to have trip cancellation insurance when making a reservation

In addition to cancellation insurance, be sure your personal insurance is adequate to cover expenses caused by accidents in remote locations. 

Any costs arising from an unscheduled evacuation will be the responsibility of the client. Whether this occurs via the Coast Guard or a third party water taxi company, you should expect that evacuation costs from the resort or Desolation Sound to be anywhere from $200-400. Our company motor vessel is not set up or insured for emergency transport.

Note that even if Coast Guard or a third party evacuate a guest from one of our tours, there are likely costs related to PRSK picking up kayaks, equipment, etc, that will also be the responsibility of the guest. Fees related to picking up kayaks/equipment are as follows:

• Desolation Sound area: $200
• Redonda Islands area: $300
• Toba Inlet: $400 (not applicable for cabana tours)

Urgent evacuations that require immediate hospitalization from Desolation Sound are likely to be taken to Campbell River hospital, not Powell River. Guests should be aware of this, and also that the cost and logistical considerations of returning to Okeover from Campbell River is the sole responsibility of the guest.

High Winds & Accessing the Resort

As a kayak in/out eco-resort, motor vessel transport is not included in the base cost of our packages. If, for any reason, guests need to use the company motor vessel to access the resort, including high winds on the first or last day of the package, MVT charges will be added to your invoice as per our regular transport add-on prices.

• Peak Rates apply from the June 20th package through to the end of the season
• Off-Peak ‘Green Season’ Rates apply for all packages from the start of the season until the above date

• Minimum of 4 per group during Off-Peak season receive Off-Peak Group Rates
• To receive the Group Rates, all participants must know each other – or know of each other – prior to the trip
• We do not have Group Rates for our Peak season dates.

For our Chill and Immerse Cabana package, kayaking experience is essential. This includes having formal sea kayaking lessons in the past 5 years as well as extensive touring experience and knowledge of kayaking in tidal waters.

• PRSK will not allow guests to be self-guided unless 1/2 people in the group have had a formal lesson in the past 5 years, with a specific focus on capsize/re-entry.
  • 1/2 members in the group are also required to have at least two multi-day kayaking trips experience equal to or greater than the number of days of the package in the past 10 years.
  • All other members of the group must have some prior knowledge of rescues, and watched the videos of capsize/re-entry/launch and land on our website.
• PRSK will not allow guests to be self-guided with kids under 16 unless both parents have had a formal lesson in the past 5 years. In addition:
  • At least one parent is required to have experience of at least 2 multi-day trips without kids equal to or greater than the number of days of the package in the past 10 years.
  • All kids less than 16 must be in a double kayak.
  • Kids 16 or older can be in a single kayak as long as they have had a formal lesson with a focus on capsize/re-entry.

• Families of more than 2 people cannot occupy the same cabana (max 2 persons per cabana)
• If a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 children) occupies the two half-cabanas, both the adults and children qualify for the best rate (Off-Peak Group).
• If a family of 3 occupies the two half cabanas, the single occupancy surcharge ($75 per night) for the single person or child will be waived.
• Children must be 12 years of age or older, unless they are part of a group that has booked out the entire resort, in which case the minimum age is 8 years old.

• 8 day packages run Thursday-Thursday or Sunday-Sunday
• 5 day packages run Sunday-Thursday
• 4 day packages run Thursday-Sunday

• Guided packages are strictly set to the above conditions
  • If you wish to have a rest day or return unguided on the last day, the package prices are not discountable

• Due to our remote location, our changeover days are Sunday and Thursday. These days are effectively ‘reset’ days for packages.

• We have limited smaller cabanas with double beds that are suitable for single travellers for a single supplement of $75/night
• If there is no availability or a single guest wishes to stay in a queen bed cabana themselves, there is a single supplement of $225/night.

• Due to the availability of our guides and the probability of other guests staying at Cabana on a 4 or 5 day guided package at the same time, during the change-over days (Thursdays and Sundays) it is highly likely that your guide will be paddling back to Okeover with these other guests on this day, while the next guide will be paddling out to Cabana with new guests.
• 8 day guided packages therefore will have one ‘unguided’ day during the stay.
• Guests are free to enjoy the resort and the island on this day as they see fit – however they will not be able to paddle self-guided unless they meet our lesson and experience requirements.

• For guests electing not to kayak to the resort, our Motor Vessel Transport departs at fixed times only. Please see this link for Departure and Arrival times.
• In the event of strong winds that hinder paddling to or from the resort, we will endeavour to transport via motor vessel at a charge of $125 one-way or $195 return, per person.
• We are unable to transport more than 6 people on our company motor vessel at one time, and we can only make one scheduled transport per day. This is run on a first-come first-served basis. Additional people looking to take the motor vessel transport will need to arrange to do so with a local water taxi company, whose costs may vary and will be quoted by the separate company on a case-by-case basis.
• Motor Vessel Transport is for people and their personal belongings only – we are unable to transport personal kayaks to and from the resort.

• Guests are welcome to bring their personal touring sea kayaks and kayaking equipment to Cabana Desolation Eco Resort, however due to packing and quality concerns the following must be adhered to:
  • Kayaks must be at minimum 14 feet in length and should be touring sea kayaks.
    • Recreational or sit on top kayaks are not suitable for these packages.

• Guests who bring their personal kayaks receive $50 off the usual tour or package rate.
• We are unable to run guided tours with kayaks or boats that are not touring sea kayaks (for example: SUPs, Hobies, etc).
• Motor Vessel Transport is for people and their personal belongings only – we are unable to transport personal kayaks to and from the resort.

• Cabana Desolation Eco-Resort is all-inclusive
• The 5% GST tax and 1.2% hotel tax and 0.3% MRDT is additional to Cabana Eco Resort prices.
  • Why 1.2% hotel tax? In BC, hotel tax is normally 8%. However, since Cabana Eco Resort is all-inclusive, the hotel tax (PST) drops to 1.2%.
  • Why 0.3% MRDT (regional marketing tax)? The MRDT is normally 2%, however, since Cabana is all-inclusive, the MRDT drops to 0.3%.
• Package prices are per person
• Advertised prices are based on double occupancy and include kayaks for access to/from the resort. Additional surcharges may apply (see next tab).
• Gratuities are additional (typically 10-20% of the package price – all tips are evenly split among resort staff and guides)
  • Please note that we are unable to process tips from credit cards. We recommend having enough cash on hand after a trip to cover this, however many guests will simply bring along a blank check that they can fill out after the tour, which works well for both Canadian and US guests. We also have wifi at our Okeover launchsite, and have found that e-transfers and PayPal transfers to the guides once you have returned to base work perfectly as well.
    

• Single supplement for double bed cabanas is $75 per person / night. Single supplement for queen bed cabanas is $225 per person / night.
• Motor vessel transport options are additional $125 one-way or $195 return, per person. (Minimum 2 guests required).

Dietary Surcharges

Requests for the following dietary omissions will incur a surcharge of 5% of the package price per request:

• Gluten / Wheat.
• Dairy.
• Nuts.
• Seeds.
• Oils.
• Soy.
• Eggs as a general ingredient in baking or recipes (saying “no” to eggs as a meal in itself will not incur a surcharge).
• Multiple Food Group Allergies (eg. nightshades, FODMAP diets, brassicas, etc)
• Any other diet requiring a unique menu (eg. low glycemic, no-sugar, lean-protein, etc)

You will be asked to disclose any of the above unique dietary requirements during the booking process, and then will be asked to fill out a more comprehensive Medical & Dietary Questionnaire in the lead-up to the trip. If you do not disclose any of the above requirements at the time of booking, we may not be able to accommodate these requests.

Certain extremely restrictive requests, like keto & paleo diets, are not able to be accommodated at Cabana Desolation Eco Resort. We are unable to allow tour guests to bring their own food.

• Guests may use alcohol and legal recreational drugs such as nicotine and cannabis with the following caveats:
  • No smoking or vaping in cabanas or in/near common areas (such as the Cabana Cafe, the Point, etc)
  • If you are smoking or vaping, please make sure you are well away from other guests as well as these common areas. There are many areas in and around the resort that are discreet and private and will not affect the enjoyment of other guests.
  • Illegal recreational drugs are not permitted at Cabana Desolation Eco Resort.
  • If you drink alcohol or use cannabis during the day, there will be no kayaking or other activities such as snorkelling or stand-up paddling for the rest of that day.

Powell River Sea Kayak Ltd. guides and staff take and collect photographs and videos from all our tours and packages, and reserves the right to use this media for marketing and promotional purposes, including social media and on our website, without remuneration to any trip participants included or involved.