The short version: Some links on SeniorTravelingGuide.com are affiliate links. If you click one and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission — at no extra cost to you. Our editorial ratings and recommendations are based entirely on independent research and are never influenced by affiliate relationships.
What is an affiliate link?
An affiliate link is a special URL that contains a tracking code identifying SeniorTravelingGuide.com as the referring site. When you click an affiliate link and complete a purchase on the destination site, we receive a commission from that retailer or service provider. The price you pay is identical to what you would pay by going directly to the site — you pay nothing extra, and the commission comes from the merchant's marketing budget.
Affiliate commissions are how many independent travel websites fund their operations and maintain editorially independent content without charging readers or running display advertising.
Our affiliate partners
SeniorTravelingGuide.com currently has affiliate relationships with the following partners:
| Partner | What they offer | Where you’ll find their links |
|---|---|---|
| Viator | Shore excursions, tours, and experiences at cruise ports worldwide | Cruise destination guides, port guides, cruise line review pages |
| Allianz Travel Insurance | Travel insurance including medical evacuation and trip cancellation | Cruise line review pages, destination guides, travel tips |
| Booking.com | Hotel reservations worldwide | Destination guides and port guides where hotel recommendations are relevant |
We are in the process of establishing additional affiliate relationships with cruise lines and other travel partners. This page will be updated as new partnerships are established.
How we identify affiliate links
Links to affiliate partners are marked with rel="noopener sponsored" in the HTML, as required by search engine guidelines. On pages where multiple affiliate links appear, we include a disclosure notice in the footer of that page.
In accordance with FTC guidelines, we disclose our affiliate relationships clearly on this page and wherever affiliate links appear in context.
Our editorial independence policy
This is the part that matters most:
- Affiliate relationships do not determine what we review. We review cruise lines, ships, and destinations based on their relevance and quality for our readers — not on whether we have an affiliate relationship with them.
- Affiliate relationships do not influence our ratings. Our cruise line scores (Holland America 9.1, Royal Caribbean 7.3, etc.) reflect our honest independent assessment. A higher score does not correlate with higher commission potential.
- We recommend products we believe in. Allianz Travel Insurance and Viator are genuinely recommended because they are appropriate for the travel context we cover, not solely because of commission rates.
- We will disclose sponsored content clearly. If we ever publish sponsored posts or paid placements, they will be labelled clearly as “Sponsored” or “Advertisement.” No sponsored content currently appears on SeniorTravelingGuide.com.
FTC compliance
SeniorTravelingGuide.com complies with the Federal Trade Commission’s guidelines on endorsements and testimonials (16 CFR Part 255). These guidelines require that material connections between advertisers and endorsers be clearly disclosed. Our affiliate relationships are material connections and are disclosed on this page and throughout the site where relevant.
Commission Junction (CJ Affiliate)
Some of our affiliate partnerships are managed through Commission Junction (CJ Affiliate), one of the world’s largest affiliate marketing networks. CJ Affiliate operates under its own privacy policy and terms of service, which govern how tracking data is processed.
Questions
If you have questions about our affiliate relationships or editorial independence policy, please contact us at: [email protected]
For our full privacy policy, see Privacy Policy.