Terms of Use

What this site is

CruiseShipInsights publishes research and editorial opinion about cruise ships, cabins and the experience of sailing on them. It is general information, not professional advice of any kind.

Ships change. Deck plans, cabin numbers and categories, venue locations, fares, availability, itineraries, accessibility arrangements and cruise line policies can all change without notice, sometimes between the day a guide is written and the day you read it. Confirm anything that would change your booking with the cruise line, your travel agent or the relevant operator before you act on it.

Not a cruise line, agency or booking service

CruiseShipInsights is an independent site. It is not a cruise line, port authority, travel agency, tour operator, insurer or booking service, and it has no relationship with any operator. Anything you book or buy from a third party is an agreement between you and that third party, on their terms, at their prices, under their cancellation rules and privacy practices.

Your booking decisions are yours

Guides here are meant to help you narrow down options and know what to ask. The decision about which cabin to book, which ship to sail, and whether a particular drawback matters to you is yours to make. Noise, motion, privacy and view tolerances differ enormously from person to person, which is why the guides describe who is likely to be affected rather than telling everyone the same thing.

Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Use the Site unlawfully or in a way that violates someone else’s rights.
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Site, its accounts, servers or systems.
• Interfere with the Site’s operation, security or availability.
• Introduce malware, harmful code, automated attacks or excessive automated requests.
• Scrape, republish or commercially exploit substantial portions of the Site without written permission, except where the law allows it.
• Misrepresent content from the Site, strip attribution, or imply an endorsement or affiliation that doesn’t exist.

Intellectual property

Unless stated otherwise, the original text, photographs, graphics, research, organization and branding on this Site are owned by Ellie Simons or used with permission, and are protected by applicable intellectual property law. You may read the Site and share links to public pages for personal, noncommercial use. Short quotations are fine with clear attribution and a link where the law permits. No other license is granted.

Cruise line names, ship names, logos, deck plans and other third-party materials remain the property of their owners. Their appearance here does not imply endorsement or affiliation.

Copyright concerns

If you believe material on the Site infringes your rights, get in touch through the contact page with your contact information, identification of the work and the disputed material, the page address, a good faith explanation, and any supporting documentation. I may ask for more information before acting.

Reader submissions

If you send a cabin report, correction, photograph, or other material, you confirm that it’s yours to send and that sharing it doesn’t breach anyone else’s rights. You give me permission to use it for research and verification, and to publish findings drawn from it.

Submissions are treated as leads and checked before anything based on them is published, as described in the Editorial Standards and Corrections Policy. I’m under no obligation to publish, act on, keep, or return what you send. Your name and email address are not published, and photographs you send are only used on the Site with your permission. How submissions are handled as personal data is covered in the Privacy Policy.

Affiliate links, advertising and sponsored content

The Site may in future contain affiliate links, advertising, sponsored content or references to complimentary travel or products, and may earn compensation when you click or purchase through certain links, at no additional cost to you. Compensation never buys favorable coverage. Current arrangements and the rules that govern them are on the Affiliate Disclosure and Cruise Travel Disclaimer page.

Third-party sites and services

The Site links to cruise lines, forums, booking platforms and other outside sites for reference. I don’t control them and I’m not responsible for their content, availability, security, prices, practices or policies. A link is not, by itself, an endorsement. Review their terms and privacy policies before using them.

Disclaimers

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Site and its content are provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, express or implied. I do not warrant that the Site will be uninterrupted, error free, secure, current, complete, or suited to any particular ship, cabin, sailing or traveler.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Ellie Simons and CruiseShipInsights will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for losses arising from reliance on Site content, a booking decision, travel disruption, third-party services, lost data or inability to use the Site. Nothing here excludes liability that cannot legally be excluded.

Indemnification

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and hold Ellie Simons and CruiseShipInsights harmless from third-party claims, liabilities, damages and reasonable costs arising from your unlawful use of the Site, your material breach of these Terms, or your infringement of another person’s rights.

Privacy

Your use of the Site is also subject to the Privacy Policy.

Changes

I may update the Site, remove or revise content, or change these Terms. Updated Terms take effect when posted with a revised date unless a later date is stated. Continuing to use the Site after that means you accept them.

Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Wisconsin, without regard to conflict of law principles, except where mandatory consumer law provides otherwise. Before filing any claim, you agree to make a reasonable good faith effort to resolve the issue by contacting me first. Any dispute will be brought in a court of competent jurisdiction, subject to applicable law.

Severability and waiver

If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest remain in effect. Not enforcing a provision on one occasion does not waive the right to enforce it later.

These Terms were written for this site by its owner and have not been reviewed by an attorney.

Contact

Questions about these Terms: use the contact page.