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Many
times people ask the same questions about
our trips, and here are the common ones
with answers...
The
most frequently asked question
recently...Where are all the new
trips??
I am blessed and honored that so many
of my friends from previous trips keep
e-mailing asking where the new trips are.
The problem is that I am doing too many
things. I'm in production on
Jonathan
Bird's Blue
World,
so I have been too busy to schedule much
new! Also, having two small children cuts
into my travel time as well. The best thing
to do is get on my mailing
list
so you will be notified of new trips
immediately and get on them before they
are sold out.
What
is included in my trip?
This varies from trip to trip, and the
details will be listed on the individual
trip page. Airfare is not included since
people join these trips from all over the
country. You are paying us for the
location portion of the trip, such as the
live-aboard or the hotel/diving package
for land-based trips. You will usually
find that joining one of our trips is less
expensive than going on a trip organized
independently.
Why
should I go with you? Why not just go with
any open charter or my local dive
shop?
Good question! First of all, believe it or
not, our trips are often less expensive
than those put together by your local dive
shop. Next, we tend to put together
special itineraries that are not part of a
"standard" live aboard trip, like a full
week at Darwin Island, Galapagos, rather
than just a couple days there as part of a
tour throughout the Galapagos, or a special
live-aboard trip to Little Cayman Island,
rather than a normal Grand Cayman trip.
Our trips are all geared towards the
photographer/videographer, which means
going to the best spots for photography
and critters and staying there. This
usually appeals to non-photographers as
well since we explore the best sites and
try to avoid the "newbie" sites or sites
with a lot of diver traffic. Also, since
our trips are so much fun :-) we end up
having a lot of repeat guests and we all
get to know each other and have even more
fun. That's what it's all about right?
Great diving and lots of fun!
Why
do I have to put up a deposit?
The deposit serves two purposes. First of
all, the deposits go immediately to pay
the deposit on the boat or hotel. We try
not to ask for a higher deposit than is
necessary to hold the reservations. The
second reason for a deposit is to be sure
that people who say they are going to join
the trip actually do. Unfortunately,
people often intend to join a trip but at
the last minute back out unless they have
a financial obligation. It's only fair to
the people who organize trips and to the
people who were unable to go because it
was "sold out" that those people who said
they were going actually show up! A
deposit helps to insure this.
I
gave a deposit but now I can't go. What do
I do?
In this case, the obligation to find a
replacement is yours. We will make
every effort to help by contacting anyone
that may have been on the standby list and
putting out the word. Ultimately, however,
the responsibility to fill the spot is
yours. If the spot is filled, we will
gladly return all of your deposit...and tell you
what a great trip you missed when we get
back! ;-) If we cannot fill your spot, or
we have to discount the spot
at the last minute to sell it, you will
not get your deposit back, or you may only
get part of it back. I'm sorry that it has
to be that way, but that is the way a
deposit works. You place a deposit to hold
a spot on the trip, and that deposit
prevents another person from taking your
spot. If you decide you don't want the
spot, we are in a "bind" to fill it. The
best way to be sure you will get your
deposit back is to find someone to take
your spot.
How
soon do I need to give you a
deposit?
As soon as you RSVP for the trip. We will
hold your verbal reservation for 7 days to
give the deposit time to arrive, but after
that if the deposit doesn't show up, your
spot is up for grabs. Our goal is to fill
the trips, so we cannot turn people away
if the trip is not truly full. Until
your deposit arrives, your spot is not
confirmed! Once your deposit arrives,
we will send you a confirmation
e-mail.
When
is the rest of the money due?
The payment schedule is listed on the trip
description web page for each individual
trip. Please try to make your payments on
time. The payment schedule of money due to
us is based on the schedule of when money
is due to the live-aboard or the hotel. If
you don't pay us on time, we have to cover
your payment until your payment arrives,
so please do not be late with your
payments. We reserve the right to make
your space available to someone on the
stand-by list if your payment is
significantly late.
What
is this "standby list" thing?
We maintain a list of people on standby
after a trip fills up. Sometimes, a
confirmed guest has to back out of a trip
for some reason and the first person on
the standby list will be offered the chance to take that spot. We go down the
list until we fill the spot. We nearly
always end up taking at least one
person on the standby list for every trip,
so if you really want to join a trip that
is sold out, being on the standby list
often works.
Do
you give a photo course on your
trips?
Some of our trips are specially planned as
courses (and advertised as such). If you
want a structured photo or video class on
your trip, with daily lectures and
formalized instruction, then definitely
join one of our designated photo or video
course trips. On other trips, Jonathan is
usually leading the trip because there is
something there he wants to shoot himself.
In that case, the thrust of his effort
will be maximizing photo-encounters for
the group. Nonetheless, on any trip
Jonathan is more than happy to provide
cheap advice, wise-ass comments, and
suggestions. On some trips he provides
shorter seminars tailored to the shooting
at that particular location. For example,
he gives a seminar with tips on "big
animal" photography during Galapagos trips
since that helps everyone get the best
pictures without taking too much time out
of the diving schedule.
I'm
traveling alone. Is this a
problem?
Not generally. We will try to hook you up
with a roomie. We rarely have a problem
hooking people up with suitable roommates,
however sometimes on liveaboards if we end
up with one single guy and one single gal,
they may have to room together if there
are no other options. This has only
actually happened a few times, but it is a
risk if you sign up as a single diver on a
live-aboard trip. On land-based trips, if
we have nobody to room with you, you might
have to pay extra for a single room, but
this doesn't happen often.
Are
your groups fun?
Well, we try to make them that way. On a
scale of 1-10, our group fun factor is
usually an 11.
I'm
bringing film. How do I carry it?
Are you kidding? Switch to digital!
What
if I have specific questions before I
decide?
No problem. Drop us an e-mail
and we'll answer it as soon as possible.
In general, we respond very quickly to
e-mail unless we are out of the office
diving!
Do
you take credit cards?
No, we're a small operation and it would
only drive up the cost of our trips!
Generally we do business with the old
fashioned check in the mail. We can accept
wire transfers from our international
guests. Please be advised that we do not
pay the fee for these transfers! We will
accept the fee on our end to receive the
payment, but the guest must pay the fee to
send the transfer. Because these fees are
now about $15 per transaction, we may ask
guests to pay for the trip in fewer
payments to reduce the fees. A trip with 4
payments can add up to over $60 in bank
fees, which is more than we can
absorb.
Where
should I send my deposit?
Make checks payable to Jonathan
Bird. (No "productions" - Jonathan
Bird Productions is my film production
company and is completely financially
separate from my dive trips. I cannot
deposit checks for dive trips that are
made out to Jonathan Bird Productions.)
Contact us for the address to which to
mail the check. (We are no longer
publishing the mailing address on-line due
to spam, solicitations, junk mail,
telemarketers and other
annoyances!)
Can
the trip price change?
I make a valiant effort not to allow the
price of a dive trip to change once I post
the price, but it has happened (only once though!) Please
understand that many of these trips are
booked in foreign countries that use a
different currency. I may lock in a price
with a dive operation, but the exchange
rate changes and my price in US dollars
changes. Since I don't have a large profit
to cover the variable, I may end up having
to increase the cost of the trip a little.
I always try to book my trips in USD, but
some operations will not do it because
they don't want their price to
change with fluctuations in currency
either. On top of that, the price of fuel
recently has caused many dive operations
to add fuel surcharges to their trips, and
this cannot be avoided. So while I will
say that 99% of the time the price of a
trip will not change, sometimes is has to
and therefore I reserve the right to
change trip costs if necessary. Please be
assured that I do not take this lightly
and I will always work to insure that the
guests on my trips are getting the very
best price I can manage. I haggle with the
dive operators pretty well!
Check
out the trips!
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