KATHAKA
Booking & Cancellation Policy
Last updated: 17 August, 2026 · Applies to all hosted trips
This policy explains how a place on one of our hosted trips is booked, what you pay and when, and exactly what happens if either side has to cancel. It sits alongside our Terms & Conditions and the Trip Agreement you sign before travelling. Where the Trip Agreement for a specific trip says something different, the Trip Agreement governs.
01 — Who you are booking with
Your trip is organised and sold by KATHAKA, the travel company behind our expeditions beyond Cozumel. KATHAKA is the trading name of Arvi Tours SA de CV, a travel agency registered in Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Arvi Tours SA de CV is the party you contract with and the party that holds your money.
Blue Mystic Divers is the dive centre that designs and hosts the diving. Vessels, hotels and ground operators are independent suppliers with their own terms, which apply to you on board or on site. For the Maldives 2027 charter the vessel operator is Honors Club Maldives Pvt. Ltd, trading as Honors Legacy Maldives Liveaboard.
02 — Enquiring is not booking
Submitting an enquiry form costs nothing and commits you to nothing. It asks us to confirm a place is available and to send you the trip pack.
You are booked only when all three of these have happened:
- We have confirmed in writing that a place is held for you.
- You have signed the Trip Agreement for that trip.
- Your deposit has cleared into our account.
Until the deposit clears, the place is not held and may be sold to someone else.
03 — What you pay, and when
Prices are quoted per person in US Dollars and are set out in full on the trip page and in your Trip Agreement. For the Maldives, 27 February – 6 March 2027:
| Stage | Amount | When |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit | USD 1,500 per place | Within 7 days of us confirming your place |
| Balance | Your trip price − 1,500 | By 29 November 2026 |
| Onboard Package | USD 500 per person | Before boarding |
The deposit is USD 1,500 per place, whichever rate applies to you. Your balance is your own trip price less that deposit, and the exact figure is stated in your booking confirmation. For a diver at the early rate of USD 2,990 the balance is USD 1,490.
How to pay By bank transfer, or by card through PayPal. Card payments carry PayPal’s processing fee, which is shown before you confirm. If you would rather pay the deposit by card, tell us and we will send you a payment link.
The onboard package The USD 500 is paid to us and remitted by us to the vessel on your behalf. It covers the Maldivian green tax, the vessel’s service charge, and your nitrox for the week. Nitrox is included in this package and is not charged separately.
Diving on nitrox requires an Enriched Air certification. If you do not hold one, Blue Mystic Divers can train you before the trip — the theory is completed online with a video session, so you do not need to be in Cozumel. Ask us and we will send the options and the cost.
Failure to pay the balance by its due date may be treated as a cancellation by you, and section 5 applies.
04 — What is and is not in the price
Included: accommodation for the nights stated; the diving described on the trip page, with guides, tanks and weights; all meals, snacks, water, tea and coffee aboard; airport transfers where stated; government taxes stated in your Trip Agreement; hosting and concierge from booking to the flight home; the pre-trip briefing pack.
Not included: international flights; the onboard package described above; any pre- or post-trip hotel night; travel insurance and dive insurance; dive equipment rental; crew gratuities, which are customary on a liveaboard and entirely at your discretion; alcohol and personal expenses; optional extensions and add-ons.
05 — Cancellation and refunds
There are five situations. Find yours.
Situation one · within seven days of paying You get everything back, no questions asked. Under Mexican consumer law you may revoke your agreement within five business days of signing, without any liability. We apply a flat seven calendar days from the date of your payment — and if the statutory five business days happens to run longer than that, the longer period applies. Write to us inside that window and every peso and dollar comes back.
Situation two · after seven days, before the balance is paid The deposit is non-refundable. It is what takes your cabin off the market, and it is committed to the vessel operator, who does not return it to us.
Situation three · after the balance is paid, more than 60 days before departure We refund 30% of the total trip price. The deposit is not refunded in addition to this — the 30% is calculated on the whole trip price and is the total sum you receive back.
Situation four · within 60 days of departure, or a no-show No refund.
Situation five · we cancel, or we change the trip materially If we cancel the trip by our own decision — for any reason of our own, including insufficient numbers — every sum you have paid us is returned in full, deposit included, within 60 days. No deductions, no credit notes, no vouchers. If we have to change the departure date or the vessel in a way that materially alters the trip you booked, we will tell you, and you may either accept the change or cancel and receive a full refund on the same terms. Changes to the daily route, dive sites and schedule are not in this category — on a liveaboard, moving the plan to where the conditions and the animals actually are is the point of having the boat.
Situations two, three and four are not our terms by preference. They mirror the vessel operator’s own policy: our charter deposit is forfeited on payment, and the charter is payable in full within 60 days of departure. We pass the operator’s terms through rather than adding a margin of our own on top.
This is why we require insurance. A policy with trip-cancellation cover is what stands between you and situations two to four if illness, work or family stops you travelling.
If the trip is prevented by something outside our control If the trip cannot go ahead because of weather, port closure, government action, or because the vessel operator cancels, withdraws the vessel or fails to perform, we cannot refund money we have already paid away and cannot recover. In that situation we will tell you promptly and plainly what has happened; pursue the operator and any other supplier for recovery; pass on your share of whatever we actually recover, in full and without deduction; and help you make an insurance claim for the shortfall.
We do not profit from a cancelled trip in any circumstance. The gap between what we recover and what you paid is exactly what travel insurance exists to cover, which is why we require it rather than merely recommending it.
06 — Transferring your place to someone else
If you cannot travel, you may transfer your place to another person who meets the certification and fitness requirements, provided you tell us in writing at least 60 days before departure and the incoming guest signs the Trip Agreement. We pass on any name-change charge the operator makes, at cost, and nothing more.
Sixty days is not arbitrary — it is the point at which the charter becomes fully payable to the operator, so a transfer after that is no longer ours to grant. Tell us as early as you can and we will do what we can.
07 — Insurance
Dive insurance is mandatory. DAN or equivalent, including emergency evacuation cover. Proof is required before boarding and you will not be permitted to dive without it.
Travel insurance with trip-cancellation cover is strongly recommended and, given section 5, is your only protection against losing money if you cannot travel. Take it out when you pay your deposit, not later — most policies only cover causes that arise after the policy begins.
08 — Documents, fitness and diving
Before boarding you must provide: a passport valid for at least six months beyond the travel dates; your diver certification card; proof of dive insurance; a completed medical questionnaire; signed liability waivers; and emergency contact and dietary information.
Certification requirements are stated on each trip page. For the Maldives, Open Water is the minimum and Advanced Open Water is recommended. The diving is channel and drift diving, and recent experience in current makes a material difference to the week.
You confirm that you are medically fit to dive and that you will dive within your training, your experience and the crew’s briefings. Scuba diving carries inherent risks, which you accept. We and the vessel’s dive team may decline or limit any dive on safety grounds, and that judgement is final.
09 — Responsibility
Arvi Tours SA de CV acts as organiser and coordinator of your trip. The vessel, the crew and the diving are provided by the vessel operator named in section 1, under that operator’s own terms, which apply to you on board. Flights, hotels and other third-party services you book yourself are governed by the terms of whoever provides them.
You accept the ordinary risks of scuba diving and liveaboard travel, as set out in section 8 and in the liability waivers you sign before boarding, and you are required to hold dive insurance and strongly advised to hold travel insurance to cover them.
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, our liability to you is limited to the trip price you have paid us. Nothing in this policy or in any Trip Agreement excludes or limits any liability that cannot be excluded or limited under Mexican law.
10 — Optional extensions
Trips are sometimes offered alongside optional extensions organised by us or by a partner. An extension is a separate arrangement with its own price, its own terms and its own booking. It is never included in the trip price, and declining or cancelling an extension has no effect whatsoever on your place on the main trip.
11 — If something goes wrong
Tell us at the time. Almost every problem on a trip can be fixed while you are still on it, and almost none can be fixed afterwards. Nicolas is reachable throughout.
To raise something formally after you get home, write to kathaka.travel@gmail.com and we will respond within 14 days.
12 — Law
These terms and any Trip Agreement made under them are governed by the laws of Mexico, and the courts of Cozumel, Quintana Roo have jurisdiction. Nothing here limits any right you have under Mexican consumer law that cannot be limited by agreement.
KATHAKA · Arvi Tours SA de CV · Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico · kathaka.travel@gmail.com