I’m curious about the price differential. When I compared our initial Viking cruise with very similar Princess and HAL cruises, I did not find the gap so wide. This was three years ago, so the gap may have grown.
I do hope if the itinerary is right, you will reconsider Viking. Your experience seems to have been the unfortunate perfect storm, perhaps ship specific…but an anomaly from what we have experienced. Our 2021 Mediterranean cruise was so impressive, my DW will not consider any other line.