House Rules of OZEANEUM Stralsund
1. Purpose of the House Rules
These House Rules shall serve to ensure that the visitors experience the museum in a pleasant atmosphere. Thus, following the House Rules is in your own best interest.
2. House Rules
The executive management, represented by the employees of OZEANEUM Stralsund, shall enforce the House Rules. Thus, instructions must be followed. They promote the security and the protection of the visitors to the museum and the exhibits.
3. Admission Tickets
The premises of OZEANEUM Stralsund may be entered only with a valid admission ticket. The admission tickets shall provide an entitlement to enter and visit the public areas of the museum’s premises during the posted business hours.
The admission tickets must be presented for validation when entering the museum’s premises and must be retained throughout the customer’s entire visit. Any validated admission tickets shall become invalid upon leaving the museum’s premises. It is forbidden to resell the admission tickets or otherwise use them commercially.
Admission tickets, which have been purchased in an unauthorised fashion or misused, shall lose their validity and must be returned to OZEANEUM Stralsund without receiving any compensation for them. In the future, the affected persons may be barred from visiting the premises of OZEANEUM Stralsund. OZEANEUM Stralsund reserves the right to file criminal charges against them.
Providing discounted individual and group tickets, e.g. to university students, pupils, kindergartens and schools, shall require corresponding authorisation documentation.
The annual pass shall entitle the persons indicated on it, beginning on the purchase date for the duration of its period of validity, to present the pass in order to enter and visit OZEANEUM during the posted business hours. It is non-transferable. The purchase of the annual pass shall substantiate no claim that OZEANEUM be open daily during the pass’s period of validity. The annual pass shall have no validity for special events which begin after the posted business hours of OZEANEUM. The issuance of the annual passes shall require the submission of OZEANEUM Stralsund’s order forms which have been completely and correctly filled out and signed by the customer. Persons who illegally provide their annual pass or other non-transferable admission tickets to third parties or attempt to manipulate the admission process shall lose their admission rights for the period of validity of the pass/ticket. OZEANEUM Stralsund shall seize annual passes which are misused. Moreover, in the future, it may bar their holders from visiting OZEANEUM and reserves the right to also file criminal charges.
4. Visitors to the Museum
The House Rules shall be binding for all visitors.
Children under 12 years of age may visit the exhibit areas only while being accompanied by an adult.
5. Smoking, Fire, Bringing Along Objects
Within the premises, smoking is forbidden except in specially-indicated zones. Starting fires is absolutely forbidden. It is not permitted to bring weapons (pistols, knives, chains, brass knuckles, etc.) onto the premises. Persons who are under the influence of alcohol or drugs may be refused admission or may be expelled from the premises.
Bringing bicycles, scooters, skateboards, roller skates, bobby cars, other types of wheeled devices, sleds, etc. onto the premises of OZEANEUM Stralsund shall not be permitted owing to security reasons. These objects must remain outside the premises.
It shall not be permitted to bring objects such as balls, balloons and the like onto the premises. In the interest of security and in order to protect our visitors from unpleasant restrictions, we reserve the right to also forbid bringing additional objects/articles onto the premises which may represent a disruption to the other visitors and/or our animals and employees.
6. Feeding and Petting the Animals
The species-appropriate behaviour and the health of the animals can be guaranteed only if they are fed the corresponding feed exclusively by the employees of OZEANEUM Stralsund GmbH. Feeding the animals is absolutely forbidden even if the animals appear to be harmless and trusting. OZEANEUM Stralsund reserves the right to expel persons from OZEANEUM who violate the feeding ban and to also bar them from visiting OZEANEUM in the future.
7. Bringing Animals onto the Premises
Bringing animals into the exhibit areas is permitted only subject to the prior consent of an employee of OZEANEUM Stralsund. In this case, the employee shall take into consideration both the animal as well as also the respective situation at OZEANEUM when making his decision. Dogs are always barred from visiting OZEANEUM.
8. Use of the Facilities of OZEANEUM Stralsund
The visitors must follow the terms of use, company policies as well as instructions issued by the employees of OZEANEUM Stralsund. If the visitors should not follow them, the employees of OZEANEUM Stralsund may bar them from using the facilities or expel them from the premises without any damage compensation claim being substantiated in this regard.
For all damages which are created through the violation of or non-adherence to the terms of use, company policies or instructions, any liability upon the part of OZEANEUM Stralsund shall be excluded unless it is based upon intentional wrongdoing or gross negligence upon the part of OZEANEUM Stralsund, its legal representatives or vicarious agents. This shall not be valid for damages arising from the loss of life, physical injury or damage to health (personal injury).
9. Use of the Play Equipment
When using the play equipment, the age restrictions and terms of use must absolutely be followed. For all damages which are created through a violation or any other improper usage, any liability upon the part of OZEANEUM Stralsund shall be excluded insofar as it is not based on intentional wrongdoing or gross negligence upon the part of OZEANEUM Stralsund, its legal representatives or vicarious agents. This shall not be valid for damages arising from the loss of life, physical injury or damage to health (personal injury).
10. Supervisory Obligation
Children under 12 years of age shall be granted entry to the premises only while being accompanied by an adult. We request that parents and/or supervisory persons dutifully fulfil their supervisory obligation. If parents and/or supervisory persons do not fulfil their supervisory obligation, they shall be liable for all damages created by the children.
11. Audio Guide
a) OZEANEUM Stralsund shall provide the visitor with an audio guide for the use of mobile, Internet-compatible devices, e.g. smartphones or tablets, at the URL AudioGuide.ozeaneum.de. In this context, any liability upon the part of OZEANEUM Stralsund GmbH for the availability of the contents and/or damages of any kind shall be excluded unless it concerns damage to life, limb or health and/or intentional wrongdoing or gross negligence upon the part of OZEANEUM Stralsund or its employees. It is forbidden to feed in software and files of any kind on the WLAN access point that is provided.
b) OZEANEUM Stralsund shall provide media devices–including headphones and audio guidance files–as rental equipment for a security deposit and the payment of a fee of 1.00 €. It shall be the responsibility of exclusively the employees of OZEANEUM Stralsund to decide whether and to what extent the objects will be accepted as a security deposit. No legal claim shall exist to rent the devices. The borrower shall be obliged to handle the device with due care and shall be liable to OZEANEUM Stralsund for any damage to the device or deterioration in the device’s condition that is discovered upon the device’s return. Any liability upon the part of OZEANEUM Stralsund to pay damage compensation arising from the safekeeping of the security deposit or from the Rental Agreement shall be excluded unless they are based upon gross negligence or intentional wrongdoing upon the part of the employees of OZEANEUM Stralsund or its vicarious agents and/or it concerns damage to the life, limb or health of the borrower.
c) The playback of the audio guide both on the rented multi-media devices as well as also on the visitor’s own multi-media devices shall be permitted exclusively subject to the use of headphones.
12. Solicitation and Offering Goods and Services
Solicitation on the premises of OZEANEUM Stralsund – including the areas in front of the entrances – as well as the offering of goods and services shall be permitted only subject to the prior written consent of the Managing Director. This shall also be valid for the conducting of surveys, political events, etc.
13. Photography and Filming
Any filming, photography, audio or video recording of any kind shall be permitted only after having purchased a fee-based photo permit for private (souvenir) purposes. The photo permit must be presented upon the supervisory personnel’s request to do so. Any exploitation for industrial, commercial and non-commercial purposes–including on private homepages–shall require the prior written consent of the board of directors of German Oceanographic Museum Foundation. The publication of recordings without having obtained approval to do so is forbidden. In the aquarium, it is permitted to take only non-flash photography.
Stralsund, 01/09/2021
Prof. Dr. Burkard Baschek, Andreas Tanschus
Board of Directors