Rough seas
When Michael and Ann Smith boarded the Ruby Princess on March 8 this year, they didn’t have a care in the world. They were joining two of their dearest friends for 11 idyllic days at sea. For Mike, it would be a welcome respite from his hectic career as a children’s psychiatric nurse in Perth, as well as a celebration of his 60th birthday.
They’d booked the cruise as a birthday treat. “We’d had a wonderful holiday with Princess Cruises once before – a Canada-Alaska tour – so we felt comfortable travelling with them again,” Ann tells The Weekly.
In the weeks before they sailed, she says, “there were very few COVID
