- After my kids begged to go on a cruise, we took two within a couple of months.
- I preferred our smaller expedition trip over the traditional megaship cruise.
- The smaller boat offered more excursions, unique travel activities, and access to experts.
Earlier this year, my kids’ relentless pleas to take a cruise reached a fever pitch.
The thought of being trapped on a boat never appealed to me, but my children’s friends continued to regale them with tales of megaships with multistory slides and unlimited access to ice cream.
Eventually, I relented and booked a weeklong voyage on Royal Caribbean, which owns the largest cruise ships in the world.
The trip was fun, and I left with an appreciation for how easy cruising makes travel planning. But the megaships weren’t for me — I wanted more.
I searched for a cruise that fit my adventurous spirit. Two months after our first cruise, I found what I was looking for.
I booked a small-ship expedition to Iceland with National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions. It had all of the conveniences I cared about, but I didn’t feel like I had to compromise my other preferences.
When it was time to disembark, I had already started planning my next expedition. Here’s what converted me into a (certain kind of) cruise lover.
