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 make every 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 119-60 days before the date of the original tour.
  • It will be considered a cancellation if made less than 60 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.

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 have any underlying health conditions that may impact your ability to paddle safely at these times, we recommend that you reconsider booking a trip, as our regular cancellation policy will remain in effect.

There are no exemptions to our cancellation policy for smoke or wildfire related issues unless there is a governmental evacuation order or alert in place and guests are unable to attend their tour or package.

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: $100
• Redonda Islands area: $200
• Toba Inlet: $300 (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 June 15 – September 9
• Off-Peak ‘Green Season’ Rates apply September 10 – June 14
• Late season Green Season rates apply to packages starting on September 10th, not packages ending on this date
• Tour dates that overlap Peak and Green Season times will be averaged on a per day basis (ie: Green Season rates will apply to only those days that fall during Green Season times)

• 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.

• 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 if they choose to paddle kayaks unguided they will need to be familiar with wet-exits and self- and assisted rescue techniques

• The price differences between our guided and unguided packages are relatively small. We therefore suggest that if you are on the fence concerning a guided or unguided package, selecting the guided option gives you the most flexibility to choose what you wish to do each day. You do not have to join the guided group each day just because you selected the guided option.
• However, if you still wish to add a guided day to a Chill & Immerse package, you can do so for $125 per person / day.
  • If you are looking for two or more guided days: at this point, it becomes financially advantageous to simply choose the guided package.
• Please note: A ‘Guided Day’ is a day in which you join the scheduled guided day excursion with other guided guests, and does not mean you will have your own ‘personal guide’ for this day.
• This ‘Guided Day’ must be booked in advance due to industry restrictions on client to guide sea kayaking ratios. The exact day that you choose to join the guided excursion can be flexible, with the exception of the first day of the package, which we will need to know about in advance so the guide can prepare adequate lunches for all guests.

• 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.

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).

• 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).
• Nightshades or other ‘food group’ allergies that cover a variety of common items.
• Any other diet that requires a unique menu (low-glycemic, no-sugar, lean-protein, etc).

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.