Last Updated on June 12, 2026 by Rod Washington

Cruise travel is having more than a moment. It’s having a decade.

(Tiffany Miller) The cruise industry is not waiting for travelers to come around. By most measures, they already have. A projected 21.7 million Americans are expected to cruise in 2026, a record high and a 4.5 percent increase over last year, according to AAA.

“Cruising has come a long way since The Love Boat,” said writer and travel expert Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon, aka JetSetSarah. “Pull up to the port, unpack once and have the world come to you.” 

This April, more than 11,500 attendees and 650 exhibitors gathered at Seatrade Cruise Global to map out what comes next.

Dining as the main event

Food has always been part of the cruise experience. The question the industry is now asking is what happens when it becomes the point.

Cruise lines are placing greater emphasis on the dining experience, with destination-inspired menus, port-specific drinks and more immersive, multi-course experiences. 

Royal Caribbean introduced the Empire Supper Club this year, pairing multi-course menus with craft cocktails and live music into a single evening.

Expedition cruising finds a new audience

Expedition cruising is one of the fastest-growing types of cruising, and major cruise lines are moving into it.

These itineraries go where other ships do not. Travelers kayak among glaciers, contribute to citizen science programmes and spend time in the field with naturalists and researchers, with programming built around science and conservation rather than port stops.

National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions has operated in this space for decades, with programs including the Visiting Scientist Program, the Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic Fund and the Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship.

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Wellness expands across the ship

Wellness is no longer a spa deck. It is becoming a reason to book.

A few years ago, a thermal suite was a selling point. Now it is closer to a baseline expectation. Meditation spaces, sleep-focused staterooms and recovery lounges are following the same trajectory. A dedicated wellness pavilion debuted at this year’s show, a signal that the category has grown large enough to need its own floor space.

Cunard’s Wellness at Sea program runs across multiple days. Its three tracks (Relax, Energise and Recover) each combine fitness, spa and mindfulness elements. Shore excursions and destination-specific spa offerings carry the experience beyond the ship.

Ships as cultural hubs

Entertainment on cruise ships used to mean a stage show. Cruise lines are now producing content that doesn’t exist anywhere else.

Holland America Line partnered with The Verdon Fosse Legacy to debut “Fosse and Verdon, The Duet That Changed Broadway,” a live musical and multimedia tribute to the work of Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon. The production marks the first international staging of their work at sea.

Onboard retail is moving in the same direction. More cruise lines are curating locally sourced goods and destination-specific products at port, the kind passengers could only find by actually being there.

The bigger picture

The passenger numbers tell one part of the story. What cruise lines are building inside that growth tells another.

“Today’s ships offer amenities that are at least as good as, and often more comprehensive than, those in resorts and hotels,” Greaves-Gabbadon said. “A cruise can be equally enjoyable for solos, families, honeymooners, groups and adventurers, and that versatility is a large part of their appeal.”

What the show floor made clear is that the industry is not waiting to be discovered. It is building toward the traveler it wants next.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock

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SOURCE:

Seatrade Cruise Global

Our Lifestyle section on STM Daily News is a hub of inspiration and practical information, offering a range of articles that touch on various aspects of daily life. From tips on family finances to guides for maintaining health and wellness, we strive to empower our readers with knowledge and resources to enhance their lifestyles. Whether you’re seeking outdoor activity ideas, fashion trends, or travel recommendations, our lifestyle section has got you covered. Visit us today at https://stmdailynews.com/category/lifestyle/

(Tiffany Miller) Kids have more ways to connect than ever. They can text, scroll, game, comment and chat all before they even leave the house. Yet for many young people, all that connection does not necessarily translate into feeling known, useful or part of something larger than themselves.

The World Health Organization (WHO) calls loneliness a global health threat, and the numbers explain why. With 1 in 6 people affected worldwide, loneliness hits the hardest among teens and young adults ages 13 to 29, where between 17% and 21% report feeling lonely. Young people experiencing chronic loneliness are twice as likely to develop depression and 22% more likely to earn lower grades, according to the WHO. If screens are now built into childhood, what actually helps kids build confidence, purpose and belonging?

New research from Harris Poll, commissioned by Scouting America, examined more than 3,000 U.S. adults, including those who earned the Eagle Scout rank, the program’s highest designation, and compared them with adults who never participated. Conducted for three months beginning October 10, 2025, the survey of 3,178 adults asked for feedback on well-being, civic engagement, leadership and character development. The findings reveal meaningful differences in how those groups describe their relationships, outlook, civic involvement, connection and sense of purpose.

The clearest difference may be loneliness. Just 11% of those who earned the Eagle Scout rank say they frequently feel lonely, compared with 23% of non-participants. Those who earned the rank are also more likely to report a strong sense of purpose, with 78% saying they feel one compared with 60% of those who were never in the program, and 95% describe themselves as happy versus 82% of adults who never took part.

The data does not reduce childhood connection to a single activity. It shows how structured, real-world experiences can give young people repeated chances to be active participants rather than passive ones, working alongside others, taking responsibility, solving problems, serving a community and building confidence over time.

That matters because belonging is not built in theory, it is built through repetition and lived experience. A young person shows up, learns a skill, helps with a project, gets trusted with responsibility and begins to see that their presence matters. From the outside these moments may look small, but over time, they can shape how a person sees themselves and how they relate to others.

Those patterns extend into adult life. The research does not establish that the program causes these outcomes, but the consistency across measures is striking. Some 74% of those who earned the Eagle Scout rank say they have held leadership positions at work, compared with 31% of non-participants. Another 57% say they have spoken up for a cause they believe in or on behalf of others, versus 33% of those who never took part.

The story inside the numbers is not that every child needs the same path. It is that young people need places where they are asked to show up, contribute and be counted on. They need adults who mentor them, peers to collaborate with them and real responsibilities that help them practice who they are becoming.

In a childhood increasingly shaped by digital life, those experiences can be easy to underestimate. But the research shows the long-term value of giving kids something to do, somewhere to belong and a reason to see themselves as capable. For families worried about loneliness, confidence or lack of meaningful connection alongside their digital lives, the takeaway is practical: Look for structured experiences that allow young people to participate, contribute and lead. Connection is not just something kids feel. It is something they get to practice.

Methodology

The research was conducted online in the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Scouting America among 3,178 U.S. adults ages 18-plus, including 1,549 who were never members of Scouting America (“non-Scouts”) and members of Scouting America (“Scouts”), including 1,067 who achieved the rank of Eagle Scout (“Eagle Scouts”) and 562 who did not achieve the rank of Eagle Scout (“non-Eagle Scouts”). The survey was conducted initially from Oct. 10 through Nov. 17, 2025, and relaunched from Dec. 16, 2025, through Jan. 9, 2026.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock

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Scouting America

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(Tiffany Miller) The summer of childhood had a different quality to it. The days felt unscheduled, the weeks unhurried, and the season itself stretched on in a way the calendar did not quite explain. A new survey from ThriftBooks, the largest independent online bookseller of new and used books, found that many readers believe the endless summer feeling is gone, and that the one thing most associated with getting it back is also the thing they feel least entitled to do.

It also found that nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults who read say summer moves faster now than it did when they were growing up. And 76% say reading is the one thing that slows it down.

Summer used to feel different

Part of what shifted it was the screen. About 60% of readers say screens take away from the feeling of summer. The associations most tied to childhood summers — being outdoors, family time and reading — have quietly faded into the background. What replaced them is a season that feels more scheduled, more managed and harder to slow down.

Reading slows it down. Guilt gets in the way.

Reading holds a complicated place in that picture. Fifty-three percent of readers fell in love with reading during childhood, and the emotional connection between books and summer runs deep. Fifty-six percent say reading makes summer feel like it lasts longer, and most agree it helps them slow down in a way other forms of downtime simply do not.

But wanting to read and feeling permitted to read are different things. Seventy-four percent of readers say they sometimes or often feel that reading for pleasure is only allowed after everything else is done. That hesitation often looks familiar: a book left on the nightstand while the dishes get done, a chapter saved for when the to-do list clears. The single biggest obstacle is not a shortage of time but the sense that reading is not productive enough to justify: 27% say the main barrier is feeling like they should be doing something more useful instead.

A generational divide

That tension runs deepest among younger readers. Gen Z enters summer more optimistic about reading than older generations, but also more burdened by it. Seventy-seven percent of Gen Z say reading makes summer feel longer, compared with 44% of Baby Boomers. Yet it is younger readers who are most likely to feel they need to earn the time first.

Why it matters now

The findings suggest summer often feels shorter because schedules and distractions leave less room to slow down. For many readers, books may be one of the simplest ways to bring back the endless summer feeling.

Methodology

ThriftBooks commissioned Atomik Research to conduct an online survey of 2,000 adults throughout the United States who read three or more books per year. The margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points with a confidence level of 95%.

Fieldwork took place between April 13 and April 17, 2026. Atomik Research, part of 4media group, is a creative market research agency.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock

SOURCE:

ThriftBooks

Our Lifestyle section on STM Daily News is a hub of inspiration and practical information, offering a range of articles that touch on various aspects of daily life. From tips on family finances to guides for maintaining health and wellness, we strive to empower our readers with knowledge and resources to enhance their lifestyles. Whether you’re seeking outdoor activity ideas, fashion trends, or travel recommendations, our lifestyle section has got you covered. Visit us today at https://stmdailynews.com/category/lifestyle/ and embark on a journey of discovery and self-improvement.

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