Every month American Express, Chase, and other credit card issuers come up with new offers for their card holders when they make purchases at select merchants.  If you're a cruiser with the right card, then May 2026 might be a good time to pay for a cruise.

Not every cardholder has the same options, so you'll need to check on the American Express website once you've logged in.  Look under Amex Offers & Benefits and be sure to click to add the offer you want to your card before you make the purchase, and verify the terms (and expiration date) ahead of time.

I spend a lot of too much time on Reddit, and one of the most common points of stress I see on there and in my inbox is from Sailors panicking because they’ve logged into the Virgin Voyages app and found that every single dinner reservation for their cruise is "Sold Out." I’m here to help you navigate this, but first, take a deep breath, as I promise you’ll not go hungry on Virgin.

If there is one thing Virgin Voyages has consistently nailed since the Scarlet Lady first touched water, it’s the food. From a new take on casual dining without buffets, to cuisine made a la minute that actually rival whats you’d find in a major city. Until now, however, one of my favorite cuisines was missing...

It seems cruisers are in a constant struggle with themselves, complaining about being "nickel and dimed" with add-ons, while often being averse to higher fares that include amenities or services they may not want to pay for.  Now, a cruise line that had simpler fares as a cornerstone of their brand is shaking things up.  Will guests lament the complexity, or appreciate the options?

Margaritaville at Sea, on the brands’ third anniversary, has announced that they’re expanding their fleet and where it's deployed, and we have some insights...

See what it was like on the maiden voyage of the MSC World America.  See if this new ship is something you might enjoy, or even a game changer . You can find these on the CruiseHabit YouTube channel, along with updates on our other social channels, all linked here.  Additionally, you can find an embedded playlist of MSC World America vlogs below...

Maybe when you cruise you disconnect, which is great.  I, however, always purchase internet access when cruising.  Sometimes this is because I’m working from a cruise ship, sometimes it’s for the same reason we all have internet access these days.  This isn’t without challenges, as some lines, like Carnival, block VPN services some may require for work.  On a recent cruise, we found that Virgin Voyages made some changes that meant if we wanted to use Zoom, we'd have to pay up.  So, we tried something new instead...

Virgin Voyages is known for being 18+, but among those that have sailed, many also know them for extraordinary quality cocktails, and higher-quality spirits than are often found on cruise ships.  Unlike many lines that offer add-ons to your cruise which allow for unlimited (or practically unlimited) drinks during your voyage, each drink on Virgin is paid for a la carte - until now...

Recently, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri revealed they’d struck a deal to build four new cruise ships for NCL. These ships will be very large and very expensive to build, and while we’ll share some numbers we know, there is a number relating to these new ships that we don’t know and it could indicate that Norwegian is taking a different approach.  We’ll warn you, we’re going to get a bit nerdy in this article, but we’ll also be offering you the chance to call us out in the future for being wrong - so keep reading!