Terms & Conditions | Protect you and protect me

Please provide all information requested to help us manage your reservation and booking as quickly as possible. Please book as early as possible to avoid disappointment. Late bookings, less than thirty (30) days from your arrival date, will be accepted subject to availability. All late booking requests must be accompanied by full payment.

All of our prices are quoted in RM (Ringgit Malaysia). Our quotes are valid for 30 days from the date of issue subject to our suppliers maintaining theirs pricing. Our prices include current taxes where applicable. It is worth noting that we work on extremely tight margins to deliver you the best enjoyment for your buck. Thus on very rare occasions, our suppliers will alter pricing at the last minute. If our supplier decides to alter their pricing and we are unable to absorb the extra cost/s you will be asked to cover the diference.

• A 30% non-refundable deposit of the total booking cost (Land tours and packages only with a value of more than RM 2500.00) is required to confirm your reservation.
• On trips, tours and packages with a total cost of less than RM 2500.00 then full payment is required at the booking stage.
• Full payment must arrive 45 days before the trip/tour start date – Failing to do this could result in the cancellation of your reservation.
• There are a few ways to send us a payment – send a SWIFT Payment (Electronic International Bank Transfer), pay via Stripe.com (via credit card on our online shop) or we can process your credit card locally (VISA or Mastercard):
  • SWIFT Payments can only be sent in MYR, GBP or USD.
  • All bank charges and credit card charges for payments to Borneo Dream are to be borne by the customer.
• Please note that some of the trips we arrange with Suppliers work to different payment terms (for example, for Mount Kinabalu trips full payment is required within 5 working days of making a reservation). Were this is the case we will advise you at the reservation and booking stage.

For courses, trips and packages provided by Borneo Dream (Borneo Dream scuba diving and snorkelling trips and courses only), the following cancellation policy will apply:

• If you cancel >45 days from the date of your trip/course/experience, we will charge the 30% non-refundable deposit (for the total package cost).
• If you cancel between 20 – 35 days from the date of your trip/course/experience, we will charge 50% of the total package cost.
• If you cancel within 19 – 10 days or less from the date of your trip/course/experience, we will charge 75% of the total package cost.
• If you cancel within >10 days or less from the date of your trip/course/experience, we will charge 100% of the total package cost.
• If you fail to turn up for a trip (“no show”), you will still be charged the full package cost.
• We will not refund respect any unused services (or parts) included in a package.

Our chosen Suppliers for land trips, Sabah diving packages, transport and room bookings will charge late cancellation fees in line with their own cancellation policy and depending on the circumstances. The cancellation fees charged by them will be charged to you by Borneo Dream.

For Mount Kinabalu trip bookings (climbing Mount Kinabalu) 30% of the upfront full payment is a ‘non-refundable deposit’. The remaining 70% is fully refundable should you cancel the booking more than 60 days before the trip date.

Please note for Turtle Island bookings that, Turtle Island Resort charges an extra fixed cancellation fee for cancellations. This fee is over and above what has been paid for the trip. This means if you cancel a booking at Turtle Island, they will charge an extra amount which you will need to pay. Therefore your refund will be less than 100% as we will need to deduct the charges applied to the booking by Turtle Island – this is the same for both cancelled and postponed bookings. We recommend you only book Turtle Island Resort if you are 100% certain you will go on the trip (including after checking your country’s FCO Travel Advice for Islands off the east coast of Sabah).

For the 4D3N Mount Trusmadi trip and the Danum Valley Field Center Tour, the cancellation policy is as follows:-

• 90 – 46 days prior to arrival, a 25% cancellation fee will apply
• 45 – 22 days prior to arrival, a 50% cancellation fee will apply
• 21 – 0 days prior to arrival, a 100% cancellation fee will apply

No partial or full refunds will be given for an uncompleted PADI course, diving or snorkelling trip with Borneo Dream for whatever reason. If you decide during your course/trip you do not want to continue. We will offer you our ‘Unguided Snorkeling Trip’ as an alternative for the remaining part of your course/trip.

What happens if we need to change your booking:

• Although every effort will be made to operate the trips as advertised, Borneo Dream reserves the right (at our sole discretion and without penalty) to make alternative arrangements as it sees fit if caused by poor weather conditions, technical problems with vehicles, flight delays or other circumstances beyond their control necessitate.
• Where it is in the interest of tour/trip/course members that an itinerary be altered, such alterations may be made without penalty to the company.
• If a Borneo Dream Tour (snorkelling and/or scuba diving tour run by Borneo Dream) is cancelled prior to the date of departure due to circumstances beyond our control, we will refund all money paid by our booked customers.
• In the event of one of our suppliers cancelling a tour, we will make every endeavour to ensure full reimbursement, but where a supplier has a policy of retaining any fees or charges, we will have to defer to their policy.
• If you are ill on or before the start date of your trip, tour both land and water-based (scuba diving and snorkelling). If you need to cancel or can not continue, no refund will be issued for unused parts as Borneo Dream has had to set aside resources that can not be filled with new business. This is to be read in conjunction with the first part of this FAQ.

This is why it is highly recommended all travellers take out holiday insurance and cover to protect themselves from unexpected illnesses, missed flights, lost luggage and generally I screwed up 🙂 situations.

If  you wish to re-schedule/move your adventure we will need your new dates ASAP. The dates must be in the same calendar year as the original trip. Subject to availability you will be charged RM 250.00 as a ‘Change of Booking Fee’ plus any other costs due to price increases, supplier cancellation charges or seasonal variations. This can only be done once.

We act as an agent for airline, hotel, ‘Explore Tours’ and in some cases, transport companies assume no liability in connection with their services. Borneo Dream will not be responsible for any act, omission, error or any injury, delay, irregularity, government regulations, theft or strikes over which it has no control.

Like with all great Natural Marine Parks around the globe such as the Ras Mohammed Marine Park in Egypt, The Cayman Islands, the Maldives etc., the Local Governments and Authorities impose local Permit charges to all guests and visitors alike. Here in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo we have several marine parks of this type, such as Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park (TARP) just outside Kota Kinabalu (KK), one near Pulau Tiga, Turtle Islands Park and Pulau Sipadan to name but a few.

The following charges will apply to all our guests and will either be collected in advance or on the day of the activity (Correct September 2021):-

• Go Ashore (Known as the Marine Park Conservation Fee) – On any of the islands in the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park (TARP), Pulau Tiga and Turtle Islands Park it is RM 5.00 for Malaysians. For Non-Malaysians RM 20.00 – This is per person per day.
• Scuba Diving (Known as the Diving Permit) – Within the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park (TARP), Pulau Tiga and Turtle Islands Park is RM 20.00 for Malaysians and RM 50.00 for Non-Malaysians. This is per diver per day.
• Scuba Diving Courses – Within the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park (TARP), Pulau Tiga and Turtle Islands Park is MYR 20.00 for Malaysians and MYR 50.00 for Non-Malaysians. This is per diver for the duration of the course.

If another operator says that he has included the Marine Park fees, I would ask you to request a valid “Sabah Parks” receipt on the official Sabah Parks paper.

Further information and up to date pricing on Sabah Parks conservation fees can be found here.

On rare occasions we find that online orders have been paid for multiple times. This due to caching or browser issues of the device you are using. More often than not it is a mobile device causing it due to poor or slow network connection. As a result we end up with multiple transactions for the same order. If you feel your payment was successful please do not pay again, please contact us and let us check your payment status.

Overpayment and multiple payments will be refunded but we can not refund the Stripe.com/Bank Charges as we do not receive these back on refund requests. The charges are approximately 3% + RM 1.00 + 6% SST – So on RM 100.00 this is approximately RM 4.24 of Stripe.com charges.

Force Majeure or Act of God protects both parties from obligations when events happen beyond their control. The most common reason for using Act of God is during bad weather or mechanical breakdown.

Borneo Dream Travel & Tours SB shall not be liable for travel affected by Force Majeure or Act of God. In the context of these terms and conditions, ‘Force Majeure is any event that is beyond the reasonable control of the Company or which is unavoidable by the exercise of due diligence on the Company’s part, including but not limited to war, the threat of war, riot, civil commotion or strife, hostilities, industrial dispute, natural disaster including earthquakes, fire, acts of God, terrorist activity, nuclear disaster, adverse weather, pandemics, strikes, any government action including travel restrictions or technical problems with transportation.

Refunds for such events will not be offered, and we strongly advise all clients to seek travel insurance to cover such events in the case of cancellations.

Typical Example – Should you have booked a diving trip, course and/or snorkelling tour and on the day, either at the start or during the day, there are adverse weather conditions. Either Borneo Dream or another party have decided to cancel the trip, then no refund or rescheduling will be offered as this will be classed as force majeure or an act of god. This is why travel/holiday insurance is a must.