How We Earn Money
It’s important that you know about our relationships with the companies we report on and fees we receive for sponsorships and referrals.
Cruise companies and travel agents provide Avid Travel Media Inc. (the company that owns River Cruise Advisor) with revenue from referrals and sponsorships. Here are some questions that you may have.
Do cruise companies ever pay us to write specific articles? We wish! Cruise companies, however, support the site with monthly sponsorship fees. They tell us that they prefer that we remain unbiased and trusted.
Do they ever dictate to us what to write? Never. However, cruise companies may submit article ideas that we will publish should we deem them to be editorially worthwhile for our readers.
Do they ever ask us to remove stories that they may not like from our web site? Yes, once. A story about water levels in which the cruise company was not favorably mentioned by our readers. We lost that cruise company as a sponsor for refusing to remove the post.
Do we filter negative comments from readers? No. On the contrary, we encourage opposing views or any information that will help inform our readers.
Also, we cruise for free. Does that bias us? Probably. But we do our best to produce content that is relevant to our readers. We can only write authoritatively about ships that we’ve experienced, and since our site does not operate on a subscription model, with our 18,000 readers paying $49 annually, for example, we rely on the press trips to experience river cruises. Moreover, almost all staff at all travel outlets, including international publications, travel for free or at press rates that are a mere token of what a regular customer would pay. We’re also invited on inaugurals, all expenses paid.
Are we travel agents? No. But we do make recommendations to those who ask for help from travel agents, and we may receive commissions from travel agents or travel suppliers for referrals and leads.
Feel free to join the discussion by leaving comments.
Thank you for dropping by. We hope to see you here more often.
Best regards, Ralph Grizzle & Britton Frost
Have from November 9 to 22 to take a river cruise trip, preferably on the Douro.
There are two of us but would each want own room. Want general information about Mississippi River Cruses – length, cost what to wear, how much money need. Various cabins for one person. Do you have all inclusive? We are both on fixed income so value is important.
I am just looking for some information about Mississippi River cruises–length, cost, what kind of clothes, how much money do I need while on the boat, and anything else that you think might be relevant.
looking for prices on scenic tsar russia volga river
Is it possible to see what a cabin looks like? I travel alone so will that make the amount of the trip more expensive?
I am interested in all inclusive and single supplements also
Ann Armbruster