Information regarding the pricing and payments may be found on this page. This includes the following sections:

• What does the price include?
• When are payments due?
• What is the refund schedule?
• Methods of payment
• Late fees

(For more information regarding any of the above, please call us office for specifics.)

Prices

Prices include all hotel stays, 3 meals a day, round-trip airfare from New York (unless otherwise noted) and attractions and admission fees for regularly scheduled activities. An Achva backpack is included as well.

Prices do not include spending money for gifts, games and snacks or whatever else strikes your fancy. While the backpack is free, T-shirts, sweatshirts and other Achva-wear is additional.

The price includes the cost of your plane ticket at the time we reserve the seats. Any substantial surcharges, baggage surchages or fees added later by the airline, may need to be passed along to you, the holders of those plane tickets.  We try our best to minimize these costs but sometimes they are unavoidable.

We try to keep our prices as low as we can so as to allow as many people to participate as possible. Recently, rising fuel costs, plane fares and travel expenses have made travel much more expensive.  Our aim is to continue to provide top quality programs and even continue to improve our programs, despite this new more expensive environment.

All prices found on our website, printed on a brochure, or given out over the phone or email are subject to possible change. We very rarely ever change a price and only when circumstances are such that we feel we have absolutely no other option.  In the past, we have sustained large financial losses on tours to maintain our quoted prices but we reserve the right to change them in the future.

Payment Schedule:

• A $500 deposit is due upon registration. Until April 1, this is always refundable up to 3 business days after we recieve your deposit. This deposit may be paid by credit card or check!
• A $3,000 payment is due on February 6, 2009
• The balance of your bill is due on April 3, 2009

No participant will be allowed on the program without a fully paid balance. Those who require a special payment schedule should contact the Achva office. All special payment schedules MUST BE APPROVED in advance or risk late penalties or loss of your space on the program. If you do not make your payments on time, you could risk losing your place on the program. See below for a list of our late fees.

Achva pays for services including flights, hotels, chartered buses and attraction admissions well in advance of the program. These payments to our vendors and providers are usually non-refundable. We, therefore, need to collect payments upfront on a timely basis. In addition, we must stick to our refund policy as outlined below to cover our incurred expenses.

Refund Schedule:

Upon cancellation, please notify our office by phone immediately. However, refunds are based solely upon reciept of WRITTEN NOTIFICATION to Achva. You are welcome to fax or email us (please use the same email address that we have on file for you) with your official cancellation.

Until April 1, 2009, your initial deposit of $500 is fully refundable within 3 business days of our receipt of your payment. Otherwise, the following schedule applies.

If your written cancellation is received by:

• November 18, 2008, your deposit is fully refundable less a $10 administrative fee.
• January 1, 2009, payments are refundable less $250
• April 1, 2009, payments are refundable less $500.
• May 1, 2009, payments are refundable less $1,000.
• June 1, 2009, payments are refundable less $1,500.
• Up to 7 days prior to program start, payments are refundable less $2,500
• Within 7 days prior to program start, payments are no longer refundable.

(For people with serious and unexpected medical issues, please contact us to determine the amount of your refund. Also, please remember that once the program begins, there are no refunds upon ejection for any reason from the program.)

Methods of Payment:

• For the first $500 deposit, we accept check, cash or credit card (MC or VISA)
• For the balance of payments, we only accept payment by check or cash. Please do not send cash by mail. Checks should be in US funds only.

(We are unable to make exceptions to this policy.)

Late Fees:

• If you are not fully paid for the program by April 24, 2009, there is a late fee of $50
• If you are not fully paid for the program by May 22, 2009, there is a late fee of $150 and there may be additional penalties incurred for the late issuance of your plane tickets.

(These late fees apply regardless of when you actually registered for the program. The fees kick in when register early but do not pay for the program on time, or when you sign up very late.)