- A small non-refundable booking fee will secure a place on a tour, no tour-place is secured until the deposit is received by Essential Ireland Tours & Travel ltd. This deposit is not refundable in ANY circumstances. This deposit amount is normally 20% of the tour price, but does differ depending on the various tour itineraries we offer.
- All Tours must be paid for in full 30 days before the departure date (these 30 days do not include the departure date, so therefore the 30 days period ends at midnight Irish time the day before departure, and begins at 12.01am, 30 consecutive calendar days before the departure date. This notice period is 90 days before departure for our luxury 'Castles & Classics' tour).
- After the 30 day period, free cancellation is not possible and no financial refund is possible.
This is why we strongly encourage all our cherished guests to please have travel-insurance in place to compensate you in the unlikely event you need to cancel. We are unable to offer a financial refund of any kind if cancellation occurs within the 30 day period before the tour departure date.
Note: Regarding our ‘Castles and Classics’ tour, the same rules apply except it is a three month cancellation-notice period instead of 1 month.
These occasional promotional discount prices are only valid on the dates specified. For example any 'Black Friday' tour discounts we may offer are only valid over the specified period stated on the adverts. Prices can occasionally be changed, but your quoted tour-price is locked in from the moment you make your reservation and pay your deposit, and then it will never change.
In the extremely unlikely event of political unrest, natural disasters, acts of terrorism, a hotel being unable to host us due to overbookings or closure, severe weather warnings, impassable roads; we reserve the right to amend the itinerary without notice. We are patriots and love Ireland, we will ensure anything that is hypothetically missed out on will be replaced by another great sight or activity. This rarely ever happens.
We pride ourselves on the quality of our Tour-Guides, all our guides live in Ireland and true lovers of this beautiful Island. Our Chief Guide Stephen McPhilemy endeavours to lead many of our tours, but Stephen leading an Essential Ireland tour is not guaranteed and he can often be away leading his own private tours, or in the unlikely event he may be sick or have a family emergency. If Stephen cannot guide all or part of your tour, then an equally competent and passionate member of our ‘Essential Ireland’ guide team will lead the tour. We have a great team of gudes, all hand-picked by Stephen McPhilemy and who share his famous and passionate tour-guiding style.