This is the surprising reason I'd take a cruise over a coach tour every time

I probably feel the same way about a coach tour as non-cruisers feel about cruising. It's not the way I prefer to travel. I like having space, comfort, choices and water views. Despite the stereotype of being stuck on a ship, cruising gives you plenty of freedom.

Let's start with the journey itself.

On a coach tour, you spend much of the day travelling between destinations, watching the scenery from a window.

On a ship, the journey becomes a fun part of the holiday. You can swim in the pool, hang out in a hot tub, go to the bar, play sports or see a show. Much of the transit happens while you're sleeping, so you simply wake up somewhere new.

One of the great pleasures of cruising is that you keep changing destinations without changing rooms.

Coach tours move from hotel to hotel, sometimes daily, which means checking in and out, packing and unpacking, and regularly moving your luggage.

On a cruise, you unpack once, sleep in the same bed, and porters carry your bags on and off the ship.

When I did a coach trip around Turkey, I was exhausted by the schedule. Some mornings, we had to be in the lobby by 7am and didn't arrive at the next hotel until evening, stopping for petrol-station snacks along the way.

I missed choosing how to spend my day and where to eat lunch. Cruises also give you the option to do nothing if you're tired. The itinerary keeps moving, but you don't have to.

My favourite moment on the Turkish trip was when I broke away from the tour group.

After dinner at a taverna, when everyone returned to the hotel, I stayed out for a drink. I felt like such a rebel sharing a bottle of raki with the locals.