Cruise Buddies — Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains what information Cruise Buddies (the “App”), operated by Cruise Buddies App LLC (“we,” “us,” or “our”), collects, how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. It applies to the App at cruisebuddiesapp.com. Your use of the App is also governed by our Terms of Use.

1. Information you give us

• Account details: your email address, a password (stored only in encrypted/hashed form by our authentication provider), your username and display name, and — if you choose to add them — a profile photo, phone number, and date of birth. Access to the App may also require an invite/access code.
• Cruise information: the cruises you add to your profile (such as ship, dates, and itinerary), any private notes you attach to them, the countries you mark as visited, and badges you earn.
• Connections and messages: the friends you connect with and the messages you send to other users through the App.
• Contributions: corrections or sailings you submit to our shared cruise database, and reports you send us (for example, a map that looks wrong or a contact-form message).

2. Information collected automatically

To operate the App reliably we process basic technical information such as your device and browser type, the App version you are running, and log data needed for security and troubleshooting. The App also stores a copy of your own profile, cruises, and friends in your browser’s local storage so it can load quickly and work offline. This local cache is used to run the App on your device — it is not an advertising or cross-site tracking tool, and we do not use third-party advertising cookies.

3. How we use your information

• to create and secure your account and sign you in;
• to provide the App’s features — storing your cruises, drawing your maps and routes, and matching you with friends who sailed the same voyages;
• to show cruises you choose to share to the friends you connect with;
• to send you necessary service messages, such as email verification and account-related notices;
• to maintain the accuracy of our shared sailings database;
• to find and fix problems and improve the App (see Section 6); and
• to comply with law and enforce our Terms.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for advertising.

4. What friends and other users can see

Cruise Buddies is a social app, so some information is shared by design:

• Cruises and profile details you choose to make visible are shown to friends you connect with.
• Your private notes on a cruise are never shown to anyone else — they are stripped out before a cruise is shared, and are for you alone.
• Messages are visible to the people in that conversation.

You control who you connect with, and you can edit what your profile shows from Edit Profile.

5. Service providers we rely on

We use a small number of trusted third-party providers to run the App, and we share only the information each one needs to perform its function:

• a cloud database and authentication provider that stores your account and app data;
• a website hosting provider that serves the App;
• an email delivery provider used to send verification and account emails; and
• mapping and geocoding services (including OpenStreetMap-based geocoding and a routing service) used to place ports and draw cruise routes.

These providers process information on our behalf under their own security and privacy obligations. We do not authorize them to use your information for their own marketing.

6. How the App owner may access accounts

To keep the App working correctly, the App owner may view a user’s profile card and the cruises on it — including how itineraries, maps, and routes are displayed — in order to find and fix problems and improve the App. This access is limited on purpose:

• only the App owner can do it, and it is enforced by our servers, not merely hidden in the app;
• it does not include your email address, telephone number, or date of birth;
• it does not include your private messages; and
• every time a profile is opened this way it is recorded, so there is a log of what was viewed and when.

7. Retention and deleting your account

We keep your information for as long as your account is active. You can delete your account at any time from your profile. When you do, we delete your profile details, your saved cruises, your friend connections, and your login credentials.

Two things are deliberately kept:

• Messages you sent to other people remain in those conversations, along with the display name you used, so the people you were talking to keep the context of their own conversations. Everything else about your profile — photo, email, phone number, date of birth, username, and login — is deleted, and the account can no longer be signed into.
• Sailing information you contributed to the shared cruise database remains, no longer attributed to you, so the shared database stays accurate for other users.

If you want a message removed before you delete your account, delete it (or ask the recipient to) first. For any other request after deletion, contact us at contact@cruisebuddiesapp.com and we will consider it, including where privacy law requires us to act.

8. Security

We protect your information with measures including encryption in transit, hashed passwords, email verification, and server-side access rules that keep each user’s private data separate. No online service can be guaranteed perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information and to limit who can see it.

9. Your rights and choices

You can view and update most of your information directly in Edit Profile, and you can delete your account at any time. Depending on where you live, you may also have the right to request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal information, and to object to or restrict certain processing. To make a request, contact us at contact@cruisebuddiesapp.com. We will not discriminate against you for exercising these rights.

10. Children

Cruise Buddies is invite-only and intended for adults. It is not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 (or under 16 where a higher age applies). If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we will remove it.

11. International users

The App and its providers are based in the United States, and your information is processed there. If you use the App from outside the United States, you understand that your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the “Last updated” date above and, where appropriate, provide additional notice. Your continued use of the App after an update means you accept the revised policy.

13. Contact us

Questions about this policy or your information? Contact Cruise Buddies App LLC at contact@cruisebuddiesapp.com.