U ntil I was 47, I thought cruises were stupid. I’d grown up by a lake and loved water, but even a one-hour ferry trip left me feeling nauseous. Being trapped on a ship for a week or more seemed like a terrible idea.

Then in 2019, a friend couldn’t take his Caribbean cruise and offered it to me for just a few hundred dollars. It seemed too good a chance to miss, so I stocked up with travel sickness patches and pills, and got onboard.

Before the ship left dock, I got into a hot tub, steeling myself for nausea. When I asked a passing couple what time the “sail away” party was – when passengers gather to celebrate the start of the journey – they said I’d missed it hours ago. We were at sea.

Despite being in open water, I wasn’t feeling sick: I smiled in relief. That was the moment I fell in love with cruise life. It wasn’t just the calming effect of being surrounded by water. I have severe OCD and it helps to do the same things every day.…