iCloud Storage

So i recently transferred all my documents including photos into iCloud so I could transfer from one macbook to another. I just went to access my old photos, and realized they're gone. From what I'm reading in other forums, I'm understanding that this is because icloud id not actually a storage application, like dropbox or skydrive. So when i deleted the photos from my previous macbook, my photos were deleted from iCloud as well. Am i understanding this correctly? I think i just lost years worth of photos if this is the case. 😢