Privacy Policy

Who we are

Our website address is https://cruiseandtravelexperts.com. Cruise & Travel Experts is a full-service travel agency. This policy explains what personal information we collect, how we use it, and your rights regarding that information.

Information we collect

We collect information you provide directly to us through our website contact and inquiry forms, including your name, email address, phone number, and any travel details or preferences you share. We also collect standard technical data that is automatically recorded when you visit our site, including your IP address, browser type, and pages visited.

Contact and inquiry forms

Our website uses Gravity Forms to process contact and quote request submissions. When you submit a form, the information you provide is stored in our website database and may be used to respond to your inquiry, provide travel planning services, and communicate with you about our offerings. Submissions are also processed through our email infrastructure to route inquiries to the appropriate team members.

Email communications

If you opt in to receive email communications from us, your contact information may be stored and managed through one or more of the following platforms:

Microsoft 365 — for direct team correspondence
Mailchimp — for newsletters and marketing emails
Signature Travel Network — for travel industry promotional communications
SMTP2Go — for transactional email delivery
SMTP.com / GRASP Technologies — for CRM-related communications

Each of these services has its own privacy policy. You may opt out of marketing emails at any time using the unsubscribe link included in any email we send.

Cookies

Our website uses cookies to support basic site functionality. If you submit a contact form, a temporary cookie may be set to confirm your browser accepts cookies; this cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser. We do not use cookies to track your activity across other websites or for advertising targeting purposes.

Some third-party services embedded in or connected to our site (such as Google and Facebook, described below) may set their own cookies independently. You can manage or disable cookies through your browser settings.

Third-party services and integrations

Our website integrates with a number of third-party services that may collect or process data as part of delivering functionality:

Google — we use Google Site Verification and may use Google services for analytics. Google’s privacy policy is available at policies.google.com/privacy.
Facebook — our site includes a Facebook domain verification. Facebook’s privacy policy is available at facebook.com/privacy/policy.
Microsoft 365 / Azure — we use Microsoft services for business email and collaboration. Microsoft’s privacy statement is available at privacy.microsoft.com.
CleanTalk — we use CleanTalk’s anti-spam service to protect our forms from automated abuse. Submitted form data may be checked against CleanTalk’s spam database. CleanTalk’s privacy policy is available at cleantalk.org/privacy-policy.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud (ExactTarget) — email marketing activity on the emarketing.cruiseandtravelexperts.com subdomain is managed through Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Salesforce’s privacy policy is available at salesforce.com/company/privacy.

Website hosting

This website is hosted by WP Engine. As our hosting provider, WP Engine may process certain technical data (such as IP addresses and server logs) in connection with operating and securing our site. WP Engine’s privacy policy is available at wpengine.com/legal/privacy.

Spam protection

Form submissions on our site are checked through CleanTalk’s automated spam detection service. This may involve transmitting certain submission data (such as your IP address and email address) to CleanTalk’s servers for verification purposes.

Embedded content from other websites

Pages on this site may include embedded content such as videos, maps, or social media posts from third-party platforms. Embedded content behaves as if you visited those platforms directly — they may collect data about you, set cookies, or track your interaction with that content, including if you are logged in to an account on their platform.

How long we retain your data

Form submissions and associated contact information are retained as long as necessary to fulfill your inquiry or as required for business, legal, or compliance purposes. If you subscribed to email communications, your information is retained until you unsubscribe or request removal.

Where your data is sent

Data submitted through our website may be transmitted to and processed by the third-party services described in this policy, some of which operate servers in the United States or other countries. By using our site, you consent to this transfer.

Notice for visitors in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, and Switzerland

If you are located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, the following additional provisions apply to you under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and applicable local data protection laws.

Legal basis for processing

We process your personal data only where we have a valid legal basis to do so. Depending on the purpose, we rely on one or more of the following:

Contractual necessity — to respond to your inquiries and provide travel planning services you have requested
Legitimate interests — to operate and improve our website, prevent fraud, and ensure the security of our systems, where those interests are not overridden by your rights
Consent — where you have opted in to receive marketing communications; you may withdraw consent at any time
Legal obligation — where processing is required to comply with applicable law

International data transfers

Some of the third-party services we use are based in the United States or other countries outside the EEA. Where personal data is transferred outside the EEA, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the European Commission, or we transfer to countries that have received an adequacy decision. Please refer to the privacy policies of the individual third-party services listed in this policy for details of the safeguards they apply.

Your rights under GDPR

If you are located in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

Right of access — you may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
Right to rectification — you may ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data
Right to erasure — you may request that we delete your personal data, subject to certain exceptions
Right to restriction — you may ask us to limit how we process your data in certain circumstances
Right to data portability — you may request your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format
Right to object — you may object to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing purposes
Right to withdraw consent — where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the information in the Contact section below. We will respond within 30 days. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

Data retention (GDPR)

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this policy, or as required by applicable law. Inquiry and contact form data is generally retained for [INSERT RETENTION PERIOD, e.g., 3 years] from the date of submission unless an ongoing relationship requires longer retention.

Notice for California residents

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) provides you with specific rights regarding your personal information. This section describes those rights and how to exercise them.

Categories of personal information we collect

In the past 12 months, we have collected the following categories of personal information:

Identifiers — such as your name, email address, phone number, and IP address
Internet or other electronic network activity — such as pages visited, browser type, and referring URLs
Commercial information — travel preferences and inquiries you share with us

We do not sell your personal information. We do not share your personal information with third parties for cross-context behavioral advertising purposes.

Sources of personal information

We collect personal information directly from you (via forms and email correspondence) and automatically from your browser or device when you visit our site.

Business or commercial purposes for collection

We collect personal information to respond to travel inquiries, provide services, send communications you have opted into, maintain website security, and fulfill our legal obligations.

Your rights under CCPA/CPRA

As a California resident, you have the right to:

Know what personal information we collect, use, disclose, or share
Delete personal information we have collected about you, subject to certain exceptions
Correct inaccurate personal information we hold about you
Opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information (we do not sell or share personal information)
Limit use of sensitive personal information (we do not collect sensitive personal information as defined by the CPRA)
Non-discrimination — we will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights

To submit a request, please contact us using the information in the Contact section below. We will verify your identity before processing your request and respond within 45 days, with an option to extend by an additional 45 days when necessary.

Authorized agents

California residents may designate an authorized agent to submit requests on their behalf. We may require written authorization or power of attorney and will verify your identity directly before processing the request.

Contact

If you have questions about this privacy policy, would like to exercise your data rights, or need to reach us for any privacy-related matter, please use the contact form on our website or reach out to us directly at cruiseandtravelexperts.com.