Required by the FTC — and by common sense
Affiliate disclosure
Effective July 16, 2026 · applies to cruiseindex.net
The short version: when you book a cruise through a link on CruiseIndex,
we may earn a commission from the cruise line or travel agency you book with. It
costs you nothing extra — and it never, under any circumstances, changes a score,
a rank, or a fair price.
How CruiseIndex makes money
CruiseIndex is free to use, with no paywall and no “call us for the price”
gating. To keep it that way, the outbound booking links on sailings are
affiliate links: if you click one and complete a booking, the merchant may
pay us a referral commission. This is our primary source of revenue.
What that never affects
- Vessel Class. A ship's grade is computed from expert calibration, hardware,
inspections, incidents, and traveler reviews — not from who pays us.
- Value Scores. The score is a function of price versus a modeled
fair price (with a small traveler-review adjustment). Commission rates are not an
input, and never will be.
- Rankings and search results. There is no pay-to-rank. Nobody can buy a
position on CruiseIndex, and no partner sees their scores before you do.
- Fair prices. The fair-price model is fit to market fares, not to
partner economics.
What you should assume
- Assume any outbound link to a cruise line, travel agency, or booking site
on CruiseIndex is an affiliate link that may earn us a commission.
- Commissions vary by partner. A sailing's placement on this site does not
reflect its commission — sailings with no affiliate relationship at all are listed
and ranked identically.
- Prices you see on the merchant's site are the merchant's prices. Using our
link doesn't raise them.
Our editorial rule
One sentence, and we mean it: if a partner ever conditions a relationship on
influencing a score, we drop the partner, not the score.
Questions
Ask us anything about how we're compensated: [email protected].
This disclosure is provided in accordance with the FTC's Endorsement Guides
(16 CFR Part 255).