Privacy Policy

Castles and Castaways Blog can be found at https://www.castlesandcatawaysblog.com/ (“Website”) is governed by the following privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”).

We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it. The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to inform you what personally identifiable information we may collect and how it may be used. This statement only applies to this Website.

WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT AND HOW IS IT USED?

Information You Voluntarily Submit to the Website: We may collect personal information from you such as your name or email address. For example, you may voluntarily submit information to the Website by leaving a comment, subscribing to a newsletter, or submitting a contact form.

Automatically-Collected Information: We automatically collect certain information about you and the device with which you access the Website. For example, when you use the Website, we will log your IP address, operating system type, browser type, referring website, pages you viewed, and the dates/times when you accessed the Website. We may also collect information about actions you take when using the Website, such as links clicked.

Cookies: We may log information using cookies, which are small data files stored on your browser by the Website. We may use both session cookies, which expire when you close your browser, and persistent cookies, which stay on your browser until deleted, to provide you with a more personalized experience on the Website.

HOW YOUR INFORMATION MAY BE USED

We may use the information collected in the following ways:

  • To operate and maintain the Website;
  • To send you promotional information, such as newsletters. Each email promotion will provide information on how to opt-out of future mailings;
  • To send you administrative communications, such as administrative emails, confirmation emails, technical notices, updates on policies, or security alerts;
  • To respond to your comments or inquiries;
  • To provide you with user support;
  • Communicate with you about products, services, surveys, offers, promotions, rewards, and events offered by Matt and Cathy Cameron – Dream Vacations and others, and provide news and information we think will be of interest to you;
  • To track and measure advertising on the Website;
  • To protect, investigate, and deter against unauthorized or illegal activity

YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THE CALIFORNIA CONSUMER PRIVACY ACT (CCPA COMPLIANCE)

If you reside in California, you are entitled to additional rights under California law and we ensure compliance with the CCPA. 

Here are your rights:

1. You have the right to know whether your personal information is sold or disclosed to third parties.

2. You have the right to say no to the sale of your personal information.

3. You have the right to access your personal information, which we will provide within 30 days of such request.

4) You have the right to know what personal information is collected from you and how it is used, which we explained in this Privacy Policy

5) You have the right to have your personal information deleted

6) You have the right to equal service, price, and no discrimination

7) You have the right to data portability and the right to request your personal information and use it for your own purposes

Pursuant to California’s “Shine the Light Act,” you are permitted to request information about the manner in which we share certain categories of information with third parties for their marketing use. We may disclose your personal information to our affiliates or other related third parties such as service providers, or vendors for their use in marketing to you, so we can provide the products and/or services offered on this website to you. When we disclose such information, your personal information is still kept confidential and between us and that third party. It is not used for any other purpose that’s not permitted under the laws.

Please be advised we DO NOT SELL YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION to third parties and have never sold your personal information. We do not intend to sell your personal information in the future either. 

Under the CCPA, you still have the right to opt-out of such sales and send us a “do not sell my information” request. If you would like to exercise any of your rights under California law, please submit a verifiable consumer request to us by sending us an email at mcameron@dreamvacations.com

Only you as the person registered with the California Secretary of State can make such verifiable consumer requests related to your personal information or someone you authorize to act on your behalf. 

Your verifiable consumer request must provide sufficient information that allows us to verify that you are the person you are claiming to be or that you are the authorized representative of such person about whom we had collected personal information. You must describe your request with enough details such as your first and last name, address, and your country that allow us to properly understand the request and respond to it. Please note we cannot respond to your request or provide you with personal information unless we first verify your identity or authority to make such a request and confirm that the personal information relates to you. We will make all attempts to respond to your request within 30 days of receipt. 

This privacy notice for California residents supplements the information included in the previous sections of this privacy policy. California and Delaware law also require us to state whether we honor “Do Not Track” settings in your browser regarding targeted advertising and we do not monitor or respond to Do Not Track browser requests.

NEWSLETTERS

On the Website, you may subscribe to our newsletter, which may be used for advertising purposes. All newsletters sent may contain tracking pixels. The pixel is embedded in emails and allows an analysis of the success of online marketing campaigns. Because of these tracking pixels, we may see if and when you open an email and which links within the email you click. Also, this allows the Website to adapt the content of future newsletters to the interests of the user. This behavior will not be passed on to third parties.

THIRD-PARTY USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

We may share your information with third parties when you explicitly authorize us to share your information.

Additionally, the Website may use third-party service providers to service various aspects of the Website. Each third-party service provider’s use of your personal information is dictated by their respective privacy policies.

The Website currently uses the following third-party service providers:

Google Analytics – this service tracks Website usage and provides information such as referring websites and user actions on the Website. Google Analytics may capture your IP address, but no other personal information is captured by Google Analytics.

At this time, your personal information is not shared with any other third-party applications. This list may be amended from time to time at the Website’s sole discretion.

Except when required by law, we will not sell, distribute, or reveal your email addresses or other personal information without your consent; however, we may disclose or transfer personal information collected through the Website to third parties who acquire all or a portion of our business, which may be the result of a merger, consolidation, or purchase of all or a portion of our assets, or in connection with any bankruptcy or reorganization proceeding brought by or against us.

ANONYMOUS DATA

From time to time, we may use anonymous data, which does not identify you alone, or when combined with data from other parties. This type of anonymous data may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses. Examples of this anonymous data may include analytics or information collected from cookies.

COMMENTS AND SOCIAL MEDIA

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue. When you leave a comment, your name, email address, and website/organization name is not shared with a third party and may be used to communicate with you.

Social media accounts and sharing options are available on this website. Social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and so forth) can track your personal information. Should you choose to interact with us on social media, please note that you will be voluntarily disclosing that personal information. This information is no longer private. It becomes public information and can be collected and used by others. We have no control over and take no responsibility for the use, storage, or dissemination of such publicly disclosed personal information by you.

Any such interactions via comments and social media with us do not subject us to any kind of liability related to the misuse of your information by others.

COOKIES

The Website uses cookies to store visitors’ preferences, record user-specific information on what pages users access or visit, ensure that visitors are not repeatedly sent the same banner ads, and customize Website content based on visitors’ browser type or other information that the visitor sends. Cookies may also be used by third-party services, such as Google Analytics, as described herein.

Users may, at any time, prevent the setting of cookies, by the Website, by using a corresponding setting of your internet browser and may thus permanently deny the setting of cookies. Furthermore, already set cookies may be deleted at any time via an Internet browser or other software programs. This is possible in all popular Internet browsers. However, if users deactivate the setting of cookies in their Internet browser, not all functions of our Website may be entirely usable.

ADVERTISING

Display Ads

We may use third-party advertising companies to serve content and advertisements when you visit the Website, which may use cookies, as noted above. 

RIGHTS RELATED TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Opt-out – You may opt-out of future email communications by following the unsubscribe links in our emails.

Access – You may access the personal information we have about you by submitting a request to mcameron@dreamvacations.com

Amend – You may contact us at mcameron@dreamvacations.com to amend or update your personal information.

Forget – In certain situations, you may request that we erase or forget your personal data. To do so, please submit a request to mcameron@dreamvacations.com.

Please note that we may need to retain certain information for recordkeeping purposes, or to complete transactions, or when required by law.

SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION

At no time should you submit sensitive personal information to the Website. This includes your social security number, information regarding race or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, health information, criminal background, or trade union memberships. If you elect to submit such information to us, it will be subject to this Privacy Policy.

CHILDREN’S INFORMATION

The Website does not knowingly collect any personally identifiable information from children under the age of 16. If a parent or guardian believes that the Website has personally identifiable information about a child under the age of 16 in its database, please contact us immediately at mcameron@dreamvacations.com and we will use our best efforts to promptly remove such information from our records.

CONTACT INFORMATION

At any time, please contact us at mcameron@dreamvacations.com for questions related to this Privacy Policy.

Last updated: March 22, 2025