I travel often, but just took my first luxury cruise. The food was great, and it was easy to relax, but there was 1 unexpected drawback.

• Though I travel often, I had never been on a cruise.
• I had misconceptions about this popular way of travel.
• All that changed when my husband and I went on a luxury cruise for my 49th birthday.

My husband and I went on a cruise for my 49th birthday.

I couldn’t believe I sometimes preferred staying on board to sightseeing.

I actually relaxed — something I’m not very good at doing on trips.

I sometimes questioned how deeply I was experiencing the destinations.

A port stop is different. We visited some incredible places, and we were generally there for only a few hours before returning to the ship. There was less time for wandering, spontaneity, or meaningful cultural exchange.

In that sense, this cruise felt more like a true vacation than the kind of travel I typically do. And, as it turns out, I really needed and enjoyed that. But I did sometimes wonder how much I could say I’d truly experienced a destination after seeing it within the relatively controlled framework of a port day.

So if my primary goal were to deeply get to know a place, I’d still choose to stay there rather than visit it by ship. But I loved the shipboard experience, and it turned out to be one of the best trips I’ve taken in recent memory.