Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

BluCruise ("BluCruise", "we", "us", or "our") operates the website blucruise.com and related services. BluCruise is a cruise travel companion platform based in Belgium.

Data Controller: BluCruise
Email: hello@blucruise.com

2. Data We Collect

Information You Provide Directly

• Waitlist/early access: Email address when you join the waitlist
• Contact form: Name, email address, message content, and your role (passenger, operator, investor, etc.)
• Operator applications: Name, email, service type, and business information
• Booking enquiries: Travel dates, passenger count, destination, and preferences

Information Collected Automatically

• Usage data: Pages visited, time spent, buttons clicked, search queries
• Device data: IP address, browser type, operating system, device type
• Referral data: How you arrived at our site (direct, social media, search engine, affiliate link)
• Cookies: See Section 5 for full details

Information from Third Parties

When you interact with third-party services embedded in BluCruise (such as Kiwi.com for flights or Viator for excursions), those services may collect data independently under their own privacy policies.

3. How We Use Your Data

We do not sell your personal data. We do not use your data for automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

4. Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)

If you are in the European Economic Area (EEA), we process your personal data under the following legal bases:

• Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)): When you join our waitlist or subscribe to marketing communications, you consent to receiving email updates. You can withdraw consent at any time.
• Contract (Art. 6(1)(b)): When necessary to respond to your enquiries or fulfil a service you have requested.
• Legitimate Interests (Art. 6(1)(f)): To improve our services, prevent fraud, and ensure website security — where our interests are not overridden by your rights.
• Legal Obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)): Where we are required to process data to comply with applicable law.

5. Cookies & Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies on our website. You can manage your cookie preferences at any time using our cookie consent tool or your browser settings.

Types of Cookies We Use

For full details on the cookies we set and how to manage them, see our Cookie Policy.

6. Affiliate Disclosure

Our affiliate partnerships include:

• TravelPayouts / Kiwi.com — Flight search and booking
• CJ Affiliate / CruiseDirect — Cruise bookings
• Viator (Partner ID: P00296824) — Excursion and tour bookings

These partnerships use cookies to track referrals. Clicking an affiliate link may set a tracking cookie on your device for 30–90 days. Our editorial content and recommendations are not influenced by affiliate relationships — we only recommend services we believe are genuinely useful to cruise passengers.

Prices shown on BluCruise are the same as or equivalent to booking directly with the relevant service provider. We do not add surcharges for affiliate bookings.

7. Third-Party Services

BluCruise integrates third-party services, each operating under their own privacy policies:

When you click through to a third-party service, you leave BluCruise and that service's privacy practices apply. We are not responsible for third-party privacy practices.

8. Data Sharing

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data. We share data only in the following limited circumstances:

• Service providers: We share data with trusted third-party service providers (e.g., Formspree for email delivery) solely to provide our services. These providers are contractually bound to process data only on our instructions.
• Affiliate networks: Anonymised click and referral data is shared with our affiliate network partners (TravelPayouts, CJ Affiliate, Viator) for commission tracking.
• Legal requirements: We may disclose data if required by law, court order, or government authority.
• Business transfers: If BluCruise is acquired or merged, your data may transfer to the new entity under the same privacy protections.

9. Data Retention

After the applicable retention period, data is securely deleted or anonymised.

10. Your Rights

Under the GDPR (if you are in the EEA/UK), you have the following rights:

• Right to access: Request a copy of your personal data we hold.
• Right to rectification: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten"): Request deletion of your data where there is no legitimate reason to continue processing.
• Right to restrict processing: Request that we limit how we use your data in certain circumstances.
• Right to data portability: Receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Right to object: Object to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing.
• Right to withdraw consent: Where processing is based on consent, withdraw it at any time without affecting prior processing.
• Right to lodge a complaint: If you believe we have violated your rights, you may complain to the Belgian Data Protection Authority (Autorité de protection des données / Gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit) at dataprotectionauthority.be.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at hello@blucruise.com. We will respond within 30 days.

11. California Residents (CCPA/CPRA)

If you are a California resident, you have the following rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA):

• Right to Know: You may request disclosure of the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you.
• Right to Delete: You may request deletion of your personal information, subject to certain exceptions.
• Right to Correct: You may request correction of inaccurate personal information.
• Right to Opt-Out of Sale/Sharing: We do not sell your personal information. We do not share your data for cross-context behavioural advertising.
• Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising your CCPA rights.

To submit a verifiable consumer request, email hello@blucruise.com with "CCPA Request" in the subject line.

Categories of personal information collected: Identifiers (name, email, IP address); internet activity information (browsing history on our site); geolocation data (country/region level only).

We do not sell or share personal information as defined by the CCPA.

12. International Data Transfers

BluCruise is based in Belgium (EU). Some of our third-party service providers (including Formspree and Hostinger) may process data outside the EEA. When this occurs, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as:

• Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the European Commission
• Adequacy decisions where applicable

For more information about the safeguards applied to international transfers, contact us at hello@blucruise.com.

13. Children's Privacy

BluCruise is not directed at children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 16. If you believe we have inadvertently collected data from a child, please contact us immediately at hello@blucruise.com and we will delete such data promptly.

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements, or business operations. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. For significant changes, we will notify you by email (if you are on our waitlist) or by displaying a prominent notice on our website.

We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Your continued use of BluCruise after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

15. Contact Us