I went on a river cruise with my husband and our 2 young kids. It totally changed my perspective on cruising.

I grew up in an anti-cruise family. After taking my first river cruise as an adult, I can't stop talking about it. Mary Kearl

I grew up in a family that loved to go on big trips, but refused to travel by cruise ship.

I went on my first river cruise at 40 with my family and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

Though I'm still not sure if I would go on an open-ocean cruise, I've become a river cruise convert.

My parents are so anti-cruise that when we visited Alaska for my 21st birthday, we took a series of planes, trains, automobiles, and ferries to experience what a cruise would have made possible with a lot less planning and logistics on our part.

Now that I'm older, I decided to finally give cruising a real try.

With my husband and I both turning 40 this year, I wanted us to take an epic trip to celebrate, and I set my sights on a four-day, three-night Nile River cruise.

Having enjoyed…