Cookies Policy

Welcome aboard Navy Route. Just as every well-maintained vessel relies on precise instruments and logs to ensure a smooth journey, our website uses “cookies” to ensure your digital voyage is as seamless, efficient, and personalized as possible. This Cookie Policy is your chart to understanding what these technologies are, why we use them, and how you can navigate your choices regarding their use.

By using NavyRoute.com, you consent to the use of cookies in accordance with this policy. We encourage you to read this policy in its entirety to understand the information we collect and how we use it.

1. What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files containing a string of characters that are placed on your computer, tablet, or mobile device when you visit a website. Think of them as small entries in your device’s digital logbook. They are sent by a website’s server to your web browser, which then stores them. When you return to that same website, the browser sends the cookie back to the server, allowing the website to recognize you and remember information such as your preferences, login details, or items in a shopping cart.

Cookies are fundamental to the modern internet. They do not typically contain any information that personally identifies a user, like your name or email address, but personal information that we store about you may be linked to the information stored in and obtained from cookies. They are harmless and cannot execute code or deliver viruses to your device.

2. How and Why We Use Cookies

At Navy Route, our mission is to be your trusted first mate in the world of nautical products and lifestyle. We use cookies for several key purposes, all designed to enhance your experience and provide you with the most relevant and helpful content.

  • To Ensure Smooth Sailing (Functionality): Some cookies are essential for you to navigate the Website and use its features. Without them, services you have asked for cannot be provided. These are the digital anchors and rudders of our site.
  • To Chart Our Course (Performance & Analytics): We use cookies to collect information about how visitors use our Website. This is like checking our navigational charts to see which routes are most popular. We analyze traffic patterns, see which articles are most read, identify broken links, and understand the overall performance of the Website. This data is aggregated and anonymous and helps us continuously improve the content and structure of Navy Route.
  • To Remember Your Preferences (Personalization): These cookies allow our Website to remember choices you make (such as your username, language, or the region you are in) and provide enhanced, more personal features. This is akin to your vessel remembering your preferred trim settings for a perfect ride.
  • To Steer Relevant Recommendations Your Way (Advertising & Affiliate Marketing): As an affiliate marketing website, cookies are crucial to our operation. When you click on a link to a product on a partner site like Amazon, a cookie is used to tell that site you came from Navy Route. If you then make a purchase, this cookie ensures we receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This is how we keep our compass pointed true and fund the creation of high-quality, free content for the nautical community. These cookies also help us show you advertisements and product recommendations that are more relevant to your interests.

3. Types of Cookies We Use on Navy Route

We use both “session cookies” (which expire once you close your web browser) and “persistent cookies” (which stay on your device for a set period or until you delete them). Below is a more detailed breakdown of the types of cookies you may encounter while navigating our Website.

a) Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are essential for the Website to function correctly. They are the bedrock of your user experience, enabling core functionalities like page navigation, access to secure areas of the site, and load balancing. You cannot opt out of these cookies as the Website cannot operate without them.

  • Purpose: To operate the basic functions of the Website.
  • Examples: Cookies that manage your session, ensure website security against threats like cross-site request forgery (CSRF), and distribute server load efficiently.

b) Performance and Analytics Cookies

These cookies are our digital sextant and compass, helping us measure and understand our audience. They collect anonymous, aggregated data on how visitors interact with Navy Route. This includes which pages are visited most often, how much time is spent on each page, what links are clicked, and what error messages are encountered. This information is vital for us to improve the Website’s performance and content strategy.

  • Primary Service Used: Google Analytics.
  • Data Collected: Anonymized IP address, browser type, device type, pages visited, time on site, and referral source.
  • Purpose: To understand user behavior to improve the Website.

c) Functionality Cookies

These cookies allow the Website to remember the choices you’ve made to provide a more personalized and convenient experience. They remember settings so you don’t have to re-enter them on every visit.

  • Purpose: To enhance user experience by remembering preferences.
  • Examples: Remembering if you have already accepted our cookie consent banner, your language preference, or other customizable site settings.

d) Advertising and Targeting Cookies

As a content and affiliate platform, these cookies are fundamental to our business model and help us provide you with valuable, free information. They are used for two main reasons:

  1. Affiliate Tracking: When you click on an affiliate link on Navy Route (e.g., a link to a product on Amazon.com), a targeting cookie is placed on your browser by our affiliate partner. This cookie has a unique ID that tracks your visit from our site to theirs. If you complete a purchase within a specific timeframe, this cookie allows the partner to attribute the sale to us, and we earn a commission. This process does not add any cost to your purchase.
  2. Relevant Advertising: These cookies track your browsing habits and interests to show you advertisements that are more likely to be relevant to you. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement and help measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.
  • Primary Services Used: Amazon Associates Program, Google AdSense, and potentially other affiliate networks.
  • Purpose: To track affiliate referrals for commission and to display relevant advertising.

4. Detailed List of Third-Party Cookies

We work with a number of third-party partners who may also set cookies on your device. We do not control the use of these third-party cookies, and you should check the respective policies of these services for more information.

  • Google Analytics: We use Google Analytics to analyze the use of our website. Google Analytics gathers information about website use by means of cookies. The information gathered is used to create reports about the use of our website. Google’s privacy policy is available at: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/. You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking by installing the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-on: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
  • Amazon Associates Program: NavyRoute.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. When you click on a product link leading to Amazon, Amazon sets a cookie to track the referral from our site. This is essential for us to earn commissions that support our work. You can read more about Amazon’s privacy policy on their website.
  • Google AdSense: We may use Google AdSense to display third-party advertisements on the Website. AdSense uses cookies, specifically the DoubleClick cookie, to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to our website or other websites. You can opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google’s Ads Settings: https://www.google.com/settings/ads.
  • Other Affiliate Networks: We may also partner with other affiliate networks (e.g., ShareASale, CJ Affiliate). These networks operate similarly to the Amazon Associates program, using cookies to track referrals and sales. Their respective privacy and cookie policies will govern their data collection.
  • Social Media Cookies: Our website includes social media features, such as the Facebook “Like” button, Pinterest “Pin” button, or Twitter “Share” buttons. These features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on our site, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. These features are hosted by a third party, and your interactions with them are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing it.

5. How to Control and Delete Cookies

You have full command over the cookies on your device. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can modify your browser settings to decline them or to notify you when a cookie is being sent. Deleting or blocking cookies may impact your user experience, and parts of the Website may become inaccessible. It’s like dropping anchor—it will stop movement, but you might miss out on reaching your destination.

Here are instructions on how to manage cookies for the most common browsers:

Google Chrome

  1. Click the three-dot menu icon in the top-right corner of the browser.
  2. Go to “Settings” > “Privacy and security.”
  3. Click on “Cookies and other site data.”
  4. Here you can:
    • “Allow all cookies.”
    • “Block third-party cookies in Incognito.”
    • “Block third-party cookies.”
    • “Block all cookies (not recommended).”
  5. You can also click “See all site data and permissions” to view and delete cookies for specific sites.

Mozilla Firefox

  1. Click the three-line menu icon in the top-right corner.
  2. Go to “Settings.”
  3. Select the “Privacy & Security” panel.
  4. Under “Enhanced Tracking Protection,” you can choose “Standard,” “Strict,” or “Custom” to control what is blocked.
  5. To manage cookies manually, scroll down to “Cookies and Site Data” and click “Manage Data…” to see stored cookies and remove them. Click “Clear Data…” to remove all cookies.

Microsoft Edge

  1. Click the three-dot menu icon in the top-right corner.
  2. Go to “Settings.”
  3. Select “Cookies and site permissions” from the left-hand menu.
  4. Click on “Manage and delete cookies and site data.”
  5. Here you can enable or disable “Allow sites to save and read cookie data” and “Block third-party cookies.”
  6. Click “See all cookies and site data” to manage individual cookies.

Apple Safari (macOS)

  1. From the Safari menu bar, click “Safari” > “Preferences…”
  2. Select the “Privacy” tab.
  3. You can select “Block all cookies” or manage website tracking by checking “Prevent cross-site tracking.”
  4. To see and remove cookies, click “Manage Website Data…”

Apple Safari (iOS/iPadOS)

  1. Go to the “Settings” app on your device.
  2. Scroll down and tap “Safari.”
  3. Under the “Privacy & Security” section, you can toggle “Block All Cookies” or “Prevent Cross-Site Tracking.”

For more comprehensive information about cookies and how to manage them across a wide variety of browsers, you can visit https://www.aboutcookies.org/ or https://www.allaboutcookies.org/.

6. Web Beacons and Other Tracking Technologies

In addition to cookies, we may use other similar technologies like web beacons (also known as “pixel tags” or “clear GIFs”). A web beacon is a tiny graphic with a unique identifier, embedded invisibly on web pages or in emails. We may use them in our emails to you to see if the email has been opened and if any links within it have been clicked. This helps us gauge the effectiveness of our communication and marketing campaigns, allowing us to send you content that is more interesting and useful.

7. Changes to Our Cookie Policy

The digital seas are always changing. We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect, for example, changes to the cookies we use or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new policy on this page and updating the “Last Updated” date at the top. We encourage you to review this policy periodically to stay informed about our use of cookies.

8. Contact Us

If you have any questions about our use of cookies or this policy, please feel free to drop us a line. You can contact us via our contact page or by emailing us directly at:

support@navyroute.com

Thank you for taking the time to read our Cookie Policy. We hope you have a fantastic experience exploring the world of nautical products with Navy Route. Fair winds and following seas