I’ve never been on a cruise, my daughter has and she booked it through a travel agent. Cost a little bit more, but was so worth it for all the added information

If you are a member of a state motoring association such as RAA, RACV, NRMA, etc. (sorry but I don’t know the name of all of the state ones) some of them have travel sections. If anybody has special dietary needs you need to make enquiries whether they can guarantee their food will be safe and not cross contaminated in any way. Some also don’t supply baby food even if they know there will be babies on board, A lot of food can be mashed up but we found not all was suitable. Fortunately we took commercial sealed baby food with us. We went with Royal Caribbean. They were excellent but they are often more expensive than others (I didn’t choose the cruise company. I went with family who had gone with them before) You may find you can purchase your cruise cheaper on-line. Make sure you get Travel Insurance. Read the Terms & Conditions etc. carefully as some companies are a lot better than others. We used Bupa whose policy was the best we could find. Some charge extra if you have some medical conditions. I expected to be charged extra but I wasn’t.

Maybe check online/social pages and networks for cruise deals and reviews?

No idea about the best deals and will read the answers you receive to get more information.

I’m interested to know too

I have worked on cruise ships as well as travelled on them as a passenger. As a family my favourite cruise was with Carnival Spirit. I loved the facilities and the staff were especially helpful and friendly. Nowadays we book online for the best deal.

Whenever we went on a cruise we went to the travel agents and got several catalogues, one from each recommended line going to the places we wanted to see. We looked through them all , narrowed it down ,did some looking on line, because you see more from the cruise line on line. Then back to the travel agents and book. Easier and safer to use an agent. Usually used P & O felt good about them ,they always delivered, so we never changed.Used several of their ships all great.