Privacy Policy

This policy covers Cruise Companions Club ("CCC", "we", "us") and the CCC website and member platform. It applies to visitors, applicants and members.

Depending on how you use the Club, this can include:

• Account information — your name or display name, email address and password (stored in hashed form by our authentication provider)
• Profile information — profile photo, bio, age range, home city, state and country, and how much of that you choose to show
• Cruise Profile and preferences — cruising experience, cruise lines sailed, destinations visited and on your wish list, onboard and shore interests, travel style, budget band, planning style and companion preferences
• Cruise plans — upcoming and past cruises you add
• Community activity — connections, private messages, community posts and reviews
• Safety information — blocks, reports you make or that concern you, and related moderation records
• Support and enquiries — messages you send us, including cruise enquiries

Membership checkout and payment processing are handled by our checkout provider (ThriveCart) and payment processor (Stripe). CCC does not receive or store your full payment card details. We receive and store payment and subscription status information — such as your membership status, chosen payment option, whether you are a Founding Lifetime Member, renewal or paid-through dates, and provider reference identifiers — so we know whether your membership is active.

When you use the site we collect technical and log information such as IP address, device and browser type, pages viewed, and error and security logs. We use necessary cookies and similar technologies to keep you signed in and to keep the platform secure. We also use limited information for fraud prevention and to protect the community.

• to create and operate your membership account
• to show your profile to other eligible members according to your privacy settings
• to enable member discovery, connections and private messaging
• to operate blocking, reporting and moderation, and to keep members safe
• to process membership payments and manage your membership status
• to respond to your support requests and cruise enquiries
• to send service and account emails, and Club updates you can opt out of
• to maintain security, prevent fraud and misuse, and meet legal obligations
• to improve and develop the platform

In future, information you choose to provide may also be used for identity or profile verification and for algorithmic or AI-assisted Companion Matching. Neither is operational today, and we'll update this policy before those features go live.

Your email address, password, payment details and account settings are never shown to other members. Information you place in your profile — such as your photo, display name, general location, Cruise Profile and cruise plans — may be seen by other eligible members in line with your privacy settings. Private messages are visible to you and the member you're messaging, and may be reviewed by our moderators where a report is made. Members you block cannot see or contact you.

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only with service providers who help us run the Club, under appropriate obligations of confidentiality and security:

• hosting, database and authentication providers
• checkout and payment providers (ThriveCart, Stripe)
• email delivery and customer support providers
• travel booking providers, where you ask us to help with a cruise enquiry and only to the extent needed to action it
• legal, safety and regulatory recipients where we are required or permitted by law, or where necessary to protect members

CCC is a global community and our service providers operate in multiple countries. Your information may therefore be stored and processed outside the country you live in. Where that happens, we take reasonable steps to ensure it remains protected to a standard consistent with this policy and applicable law.

We keep your information for as long as your membership is active and for a reasonable period afterwards, so we can meet legal, accounting, security and safety obligations. Moderation, block and report records may be retained longer where needed to protect members.

Member data is protected by access controls at the database level, so your private account information is only accessible to you and, where necessary, to authorised administrators. Profile photos are stored privately and served through controlled access. No online service can be guaranteed perfectly secure, so please use a strong, unique password.

You can review and update your profile information at any time in your account, adjust your profile visibility and messaging privacy settings, block members, and opt out of non-essential emails.

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to request access to your personal information, to correct it, to request deletion, to object to or restrict certain processing, or to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority. To make a request, contact us and we'll respond within the time required by applicable law.

CCC is for adults. Membership requires you to be at least 18 years old, and we do not knowingly collect information from children.

We'll update this policy as the platform develops and note the date it was last updated. For any privacy question or request, please contact the Club crew.