Cruising is probably the best way to get the most out of your vacation dollars. Along with enjoying the benefits of an all-inclusive luxury retreat, you can tour a variety of port cities and their important attractions, without the bother of having to pack and unpack.

The best part is that you can often discover a place you didn’t even know you wanted to see. Sometimes it requires a gamble of time and money, but it’s almost always worth it.

One such hidden gem can be found on a Regent Seven Seas cruise. Regent Seven Seas Cruises was voted World's Best Small Cruise Line by the readers of Travel + Leisure Magazine. Conde Nast TravelerWorld Ocean & Cruise Liner Society has awarded the "Best Cruise Value" in the ultra-deluxe category to Regent Seven Seas for 11 years in a row. Read more »

 My once-in-a-lifetime Silversea Cruise from Dubai to the Seychelle Islands included stops in India. I was fortunate to take a mid-voyage land adventure to the Number One place on my bucket list:  the Taj Mahal. We left the ship, the Silver Wind, in Mumbai and re-embarked three days later in Cochin, a surprisingly beautiful seaside city on the Arabian Sea. But what I was truly hoping to encounter was a snake-charmer.

I had seen the Indiana Jones movie, so I surely expected my sighting to take place in one of the crowded open-air bazaars we visited. I scanned far and wide for the movie version of the performer -- an ancient, white-bearded, barefoot grandpa in turban and robes, seemingly oblivious to the gawking tourists, yet centrally positioned for maximum tip-collecting opportunities. But alas, he was nowhere to be seen in the markets of Mumbai. He materialized instead in a sophisticated New Delhi business district in the form of a clean-shaven teenager in a designer polo shirt, plopped down in the middle of a sidewalk, across the street from our luxury hotel.

 At first, only the soft tones of the flute could be heard, coming from somewhere near the bustling intersection. As our Silverseas Cruise tour guide led us down the street, we practically trampled over the boy. I could only be thankful that no one actually stepped on the snake! Naturally we stopped and watched. It was mesmerizing. Suddenly the taxis, the buses, the chatter of people on cell phones disappeared and there was only the music and the cobra.

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