INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM, TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY LAW 1. BACKGROUND FACTS The Shermans booked a cruise in Canada called ‘The North West Passage (NWP) – in the Wake of the Great Explorers”. The cruise was to take place in September 2018, the time of year when normally, for a few weeks (as had happened in all the 10 previous years), the ice melts and the NWP opens up. The cruise was to start at Cambridge Bay and proceed eastwards. The last few days of the cruise would be spent exploring Greenland, before guests were flown home. The Shermans did not book an outward flight to Canada as part of the package, as they intended to visit family in that country in the weeks before the cruise. They joined the cruise party at a hotel in Montreal where everyone stayed the night before flying to the embarkation point. Unusually, perhaps, the Shermans saw absolutely none of ROL’s marketing material or adverts for the cruise before booking. Had they done so, they would have seen, on the face of the cruise description, a clear disclaimer that the itinerary was subject to ice and weather conditions and changeable at the discretion off the Captain, with safety the priority. But the Shermans booked the cruise purely on the recommendation of some friends, the Maguires, who had already themselves booked to go on it. Mrs Sherman rang ROL to make the booking on 9th January 2018. . She paid a deposit, described as non-refundable, and received, the next day (10th January) , a short form confirmation of the booking, the ROL Terms and Conditions, and an ATOL Certificate (which is a statutory UK scheme whereby a package holiday is financially protected to comply with the Package Travel Regulations (PTRs)). But it was only 2 weeks later that they received, for the first time, an itinerary describing in detail the planned daily progress of the cruise in Canada and Greenland, together with an invoice. This detailed itinerary did not specifically replicate the disclaimer, although the Ts and Cs did reserve the right to make changes. In summer 2018, the ice in the NWP was melting, but it was stubbornly slow in doing so. The cruise departed from a different port, and after a few days the Captain had to give up on the NWP and cross to Greenland to spend longer there than the detailed itinerary had provided for. The Shermans felt short-changed by this, and alleged that – although ROL had, a few days before departure, sent updates in advance about changes, in
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