I was afraid of cruises for years. After boarding my first, these 6 things surprised me the most.

• As an introvert, I was surprised that the Virgin Voyages ship offered activities beyond partying.
• I was also relieved that each port had multiple checkpoints, making reboarding easier.

I also really enjoyed the various happy hours hosted by the Greek-style bar, as well as the delicious scoops at the ice cream shop, which came in flavors like rum raisin, chocolate hazelnut, and malted strawberry milkshake.

The huge ship was intimidating, but there always seemed to be a crew member ready to help.

I pride myself on having a really sharp sense of direction wherever I am in the world. But I won’t lie: I got lost almost every single day on the ship.

Thankfully, there was always a friendly crew member nearby who would point my mom and me in the right direction — or even walk us directly to where we needed to go.