Privacy policy

SnapVoyages is a published information website about cruising. It has no user accounts, no login, no newsletter, no comments and no contact form. There is nothing on the site that asks you to submit personal information, and no database of visitors or readers is maintained. This policy covers the SnapVoyages website only, not the third-party sites it links to.

SnapVoyages uses Google Analytics 4 (measurement ID G-RKKSQY4P5T), loaded directly with the Google tag; there is no Google Tag Manager container. It also uses Ahrefs Analytics loaded directly from analytics.ahrefs.com. Analytics is consent-gated using Google Consent Mode v2. Before you make a choice, and after you decline, analytics_storage, ad_storage, ad_user_data and ad_personalization are all set to “denied”, so Google Analytics sets no analytics cookies and stores no analytics identifier in your browser. Ahrefs Analytics does not rely on the Google consent signals; it loads on every page and measures visits from Ahrefs' own servers. This is aggregated measurement only: the site has no accounts or contact data to combine it with.

To be precise about what still happens while consent is denied for Google: the Google tag script (gtag.js) is downloaded from Google's servers on page load, which means your IP address and browser details are visible to Google as part of that request, and Google may receive cookieless consent-mode signals. What denial prevents is browser storage and cookie-based measurement, not every network request to Google. The Ahrefs script is also downloaded on page load, so your IP address and browser details are visible to Ahrefs as part of that request.

If you accept analytics, Google Analytics may then set its usual cookies (such as _ga and _ga_<property>) to distinguish sessions. If you later withdraw consent, the analytics consent signal returns to “denied” and the site attempts to delete those cookies from your browser. Withdrawing consent does not remove the Ahrefs Analytics script, which continues to measure visits.

SnapVoyages itself sets no cookies. It stores one item in your browser's localStorage, under the key snapvoyages.consent.v1, holding only your privacy choice and when it was made. That entry is what stops the consent notice from reappearing on every page, and it is never sent anywhere.

You can change or withdraw your choice at any time using the “Privacy choices” link in the footer of every page. Changing it updates the real Google consent state immediately, not just the appearance of the page.

The search box searches an index of this site's own pages that is bundled with the page you are already viewing. Your query is matched in your browser. It is not sent to SnapVoyages, not sent to any search provider, and not stored anywhere.

The maps are drawn in your browser from public-domain geographic data (Natural Earth) that ships with the site. No map tiles are fetched from an external map provider, and the site never requests your device location.

Three third-party requests are made automatically. Web fonts are loaded from Google Fonts (fonts.googleapis.com and fonts.gstatic.com). The Google tag (gtag.js) is loaded from www.googletagmanager.com to enable Google Analytics 4 measurement. Ahrefs Analytics is loaded from analytics.ahrefs.com. Your IP address and browser details are visible to Google and to Ahrefs as part of those requests, and each provider's own privacy terms apply. Editorial images and map data are served from this site itself, not from an external host.

Everything else is a link. Following a link to a cruise line, port authority or government site takes you to that organisation, under their privacy policy. Until you click, no data is shared with them by SnapVoyages.

As with virtually all websites, the hosting infrastructure that delivers these pages may process technical request data such as IP address, user agent, requested URL and timestamp, for security, abuse prevention and reliability. This is ordinary infrastructure logging rather than something we use to profile or identify readers, and it is retained according to the hosting provider's own operational practice rather than a period we set. Hosting infrastructure may be located outside your country, including outside the EU/EEA.

There is no advertising on SnapVoyages today: no ad scripts, no ad cookies, no affiliate links and no sponsored placements. The advertising toggle in “Privacy choices” exists only so the four Google consent signals can be set correctly; it does not load anything and switching it on does not cause any advertising to appear. If advertising is ever introduced, this policy and the disclosures above will be updated before it goes live.

Depending on where you live, you may have rights of access, correction, erasure and objection in relation to personal data. Because this site holds no accounts, no submitted data and no analytics profiles, there is in practice nothing here for us to retrieve, correct or delete about you. Any technical request data is processed by the hosting infrastructure described above.

The site is general-audience reference material and is not directed at children. It does not knowingly collect information from anyone, including children.

This policy will be updated if the implementation changes. The version published on this page is the version that applies.

Questions about privacy or personal data can be sent to snapvoyages@gmail.com. General enquiries about the site are described on the contact page.