Cancellation Policy

This policy explains how Malaka presents cancellation, change and refund workflows across sailing holidays and Skipper-only Bookings. It describes where the applicable terms are recorded, how a request moves through the platform, and where to go next — so you always know what a cancellation means for your Booking before anything happens.

It is written to sit alongside Malaka’s Terms and the other policies listed at the end. The final legal scope, applicability and the relationship between this policy and your specific Booking will be confirmed in the approved text.

Malaka supports several ways to book. This policy is structured to apply across all of them, while the exact commercial rules for each remain subject to the final approved terms.

A Booking preserves the commercial terms recorded for that transaction at the time it was made. Later edits to the Experience, the Departure, the price, an accepted Offer or public content must not silently rewrite the terms your Booking already recorded.

When a customer requests to cancel, Malaka reviews the request against the Booking. The steps below describe the shape of that review. The specific cancellation windows, conditions and outcomes are not defined in this prototype.

A change is not always a cancellation. Changes can touch dates, skipper, Boat, departure point, booking mode, party or capacity, or the commercial terms — and not every change is equivalent. Some are minor; others may affect the recorded Booking and require review.

Sometimes the service cannot be provided as booked. This section sets out the structure for provider-side cancellations. It does not state the remedies, refunds or replacement rights that may apply — those are defined in the final policy.

Not every change to a Trip is a commercial change. Day-to-day operational adjustments are related to, but distinct from, the commercial Booking terms. The exact line between the two is set by the final policy.

Sailing is weather-dependent. Routes and day-to-day plans may need to adapt to weather, sea state, port availability and safety considerations. An itinerary is a plan, not a guaranteed sequence of stops, and specific islands or ports are not promised.

A skipper may need to adjust the operational plan where conditions require it. This policy does not undermine that safety judgment — and it does not, on its own, create cancellation rights or financial consequences from a weather adjustment. Those rules are defined separately.

Any refund follows a review process rather than an automatic calculation. The steps below show how a request is assessed. There is no calculator here and no promised outcome — entitlement is determined by the applicable recorded terms and the final policy.

Payment status and cancellation status are tracked separately. A Booking can be cancelled while its payment or refund status moves through its own states. The statuses below describe what the interface can display — not timings or amounts.

Cancelling a group Booking has operational consequences for the people on the Trip, but their commercial and personal situations are handled carefully and separately.

A Skipper-only Booking is created from an accepted Offer. The accepted Offer version stays associated with the Booking, and later edits to the Offer must not silently rewrite the accepted commercial record.

The treatment of a no-show, late arrival or missed embarkation is defined by the final policy. This prototype does not set any penalty. The exact meeting point and embarkation details belong to your Trip and Holiday Hub, not to this public page.

Traveller-side disruption & insurance

Situations such as flight cancellations, visa issues, personal illness or transport delays are not covered by any promise here. Malaka does not provide travel insurance. Any recommendation or insurance-related terms, and how traveller-side disruption is treated, will be provided in the final policy.

Exceptional circumstances and force-majeure provisions are drafted by legal counsel and are not invented here.

Consumer rights & legal classification

This policy neither waives nor invents statutory rights. Any mandatory consumer cancellation or withdrawal rights, and the legal classification of Malaka and its Bookings, will be confirmed in the approved text and are not asserted here.

The flow below is conceptual — it shows where a request begins and how it is tracked. Submitting a request is not the same as a completed cancellation, an approved refund or a sent refund.

If a request needs help, it can be routed to Support. Support can explain and coordinate, but it is not the source of truth for payment and refund records — financial operations remain separate.

Where a cancellation relates to a serious safety concern, Support may route the matter to Trust & Safety. Restricted Trust & Safety details are not exposed on this public policy, and a Trust & Safety case does not automatically determine any refund.

The dispute and escalation process, and the legal rights attached to it, are defined in the final policy.

This policy may be updated over time. How a given version applies to existing Bookings, and how any change is communicated, will be set out in the approved text. The current version, effective date and last-updated date are shown at the top of this page and in the metadata below.

What changed

Questions about a cancellation or change are best started from your Booking, where the recorded terms and current status are visible. Contact routes will be confirmed before publication.

The Terms provide the general contractual framework; this Cancellation Policy provides the cancellation, change and refund-specific rules. Where a Skipper-only Booking is involved, additional skipper-side obligations may live in the Skipper Professional Terms and are not duplicated here. The precedence between these documents is defined in the approved text.