Cancellations and Refunds

Refunds depend on your protection plan and travel year. We strongly advise participants to upgrade their coverage to our Ultimate-Plus or Ultimate plans that provide a full refund (less the cost of the protection plan itself) for any reason up to four days prior to departure, and a full refund (less the cost of the protection plan itself) for a covered reason up to 1 day prior to departure. Participants who do not elect to upgrade have Basic Protection which provides a partial refund up to 30 days prior to departure.

2025 Encore Tours Protection Plan and Cancellation Policy
2026 - 2027 Encore Tours Protection Plan and Cancellation Policy

We hope you’ll reconsider, as we’d love to travel with you. If you do need to cancel, please complete the Cancellation Form. The requested email address on that form must match that of the traveler or for a minor that of the parent or guardian listed on the account. A confirmation email will be sent to that email address once submitted. Your refund is determined based upon your protection plan and the date you complete the form. 

We hope you’ll reconsider, as we’d love to travel with you. If you do need to cancel, please complete the Cancellation Form. The requested email address on that form must match that of the traveler or for a minor that of the parent or guardian listed on the account. A confirmation email will be sent to that email address once submitted. Your refund is determined based upon your protection plan and the date you complete the form. 

Cancellation Refunds are typically returned in the form you paid.

 If you paid via a checking/savings account you will receive a check, and if you paid with a credit card, the payment will go back on the card. Credit cards will be refunded first before a check is issued.

For credit card refunds, equal percentages will be refunded to each card used. For example, if you paid 5 payments of $100, and the penalty was 10% you would receive back 90% of each payment transaction.

Due to credit card company contracts, we must send cancellation refunds back in the form you paid. This includes any funds sent on your behalf through your personal fundraising link. So donations sent on your behalf via credit card, will be returned back to that card.

If for any reason the credit card refund rejects due to an account being closed or expired, we will issue you a check in the name of the cancelled passenger.

If you have completed the Cancellation form and selected you are cancelling for a medical or insurable reason and you purchased an upgraded protection plan, we will guide you through the next steps.  We send the insurance pertinent information they require (your registration date, confirm payments made, cancellation date, etc.) to them directly on your behalf.  Once they have this information we provide you with your individual claim policy # and the insurance form you'll need to complete. You will be required to send to the insurance your supporting documents for review with the completed claim form. Only the insurance company can determine if your reason for canceling meets their terms and conditions for an insurable reason for canceling, we are not included in that process. If you are canceling for a medical or insurable reason but have not purchased an upgraded protection plan, your refund policy follows the standard chart for the basic protection plan.

Refunds can take up to 45 days from the date of cancellation.

Refund checks are printed under the traveler’s name as we legally have the full name of the traveler upon registration. If a parent/guardian or someone else other than the traveler has paid for the trip, unfortunately, for security purposes, we do not have payment information saved to be able to see where it came from. If you’re a parent who paid for your child’s tour and they’re a minor, they should be able to endorse it over to you. If the minor is too young to sign, please reach out via email to request that we reissue your check with the correct full name and address.

Donations and personal funds paid with card are subject to be refunded by a percentage being withheld on the overall refund calculation based on date of cancellation and protection plan.