The alarm worked this morning at 7:30. Mom just shut it off. I got up at 8 and then she had to follow. We were going to our first breakfast and then to a Sidewalk Sale up by the pool but ended up going straight to the sale. Mom found two t- shirts and then we had breakfast. The buffet layout on this ship, while nice, is different from other Holland America ships that we've sailed on. We have to search around to find things. I'm just a cereal and fruit gu...

It's 6am when our wake up call comes in. I'm up but Mom needs more time. Our room service is scheduled for 6:30 so we need to be ready. Karen finally climbs out of bed and makes it to the bathroom just before our breakfast arrives. Ahhh. A continental breakfast with coffee, fruit and milk. I figured we'd never get out here on time if we went to breakfast in the Lido so the breakfast came to us and we were off the ship by 8:15am. It's a short day...

It's sad. We don't even awake until 10am and that's really 11. We've missed breakfast and we're closing in on lunch. Our breakfast, followed by a meet & greet at 10 and a cruise lecture at 11 are all gone. So we hurry up, get dressed and head up to lunch at 12:30. It's crowded but we manage to find soup, salad and some fruit - our usual. We enjoy our lunch, looking out on the sea as we make our way toward Grand Turk Island. The Caribbean ...

It seems like a short night's sleep. The alarm wakes us at 7am but our bodies tell us it's 4am. We didn't unpack much so getting out of here won't be a problem. Mom makes coffee in the room and gets ready while I unplug battery chargers and watch the news. We were told to see the lady at the desk around 9am to arrange for our shuttle to the port. It's 8:30 when we head down for our free breakfast. With only a few small candy bars holding me o...

It's 6:17am and the alarm is telling me to "get up". Our driver and her assistant will be here at 9am to ferry us and our luggage to OAK. I instruct Karen to begin our last minute preparations while I snooze for 10 more minutes. Our bags are packed, cameras, iPad and phones charged and ready to go. Boarding passes, passports, wallet, credit cards, medications? Check. Cats have food? Who cares. Heat off? Light timers on? I think we're ready. We are...