Pushka

I've tried a few new. RCL, Princess, Celebrity, Cunard and Viking. My favourites are Celebrity and Viking but they are vastly different. Itinerary is also really important. I don't tend to do Australian cruises. We don't tend to go to the shows as much. Viking is adults only, no photographers, casinos nor art shows. Alcohol etc is included with meals and generous pours. A much quieter experience. Beautiful amenities. Things like beautiful rugs draped on every chair. Wonderful food and specialty restaurants are free.

It's interesting how cruises polarises people, even worse than politics and religion. But at least we all have experiences with politics and religion whereas those who say they hate cruises have probably never been on one. Their loss.

Australians don't get a vaccination card and they are certainly travelling on Viking. We only have digital certificates.

It is only for cruise passengers and because so many passengers (660) on Ruby Princess became infected with Covid and 28 passengers died. This was Australia's first introduction to Covid in March 2020 and unfortunately cruise passengers continue to be under significant scrutiny.

The world cruise starting in December has likewise had Brisbane dropped from the schedule and Maroochydore inserted. This is on Neptune.

We sailed on Orion to Alaska pre Covid and there was King Crab available. Maybe it's just a current supply issue post covid.

It is balanced in a way in that negative reviews are published. However the comments that some post to such stories are truly awful. A person has a genuine issue - in one case a fire on their ship the day they arrived, everyone including crew had to evacuate and the ship not able to be sailed so there were multiple alternate arrangements including having to leave their possessions onboard for a night until they could be retrieved by crew. Of course there was compensation provided but for those who'd paid for flights, arranged time off etc, let alone experience a ship fire and evacuation, and dared to comment they were upset - well they were completely piled on by the fanboys. Telling them they'd be compensated. No empathy at all. And others saying they had no issues at all on their cruise. As if that's relevant to the OP? Someone coined the phrase 'toxic positivity'. Kinda fits.

I wish we could do dummy bookings in Australia but the only option for us is to click on the cruise we want and then send an enquiry to the Australian office. Who lately have been taking a week to reply. Covid staffing stuff. It gets a little worrying when you are after a particular category and you can see the terminology change from availability, then limited etc while you wait for an answer. I detest liquid soap and we always take or buy a large soap block whenever we travel.

Gratuities are always included in Aus and UK pricing.

Getting vaccinated will not give a positive PCR. They are completely different biological markers.

London Airport seems to be favoured for KLM city hoppers.