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“They just announced that the shore excursions are available for booking,” I said. “I think we should act fast.”

“Well what are the options?” Kris asked.

“The standard HAL excursions,” I said.

“What are they?”

“You never looked at the list?”

“No. Was I supposed to?”

“I suggested it a long time ago.”

“Well, I didn’t look. Tell me what they have.”

Oh, boy… I got my telephone headset and plugged it in. “Still there?” I asked.

“Yeah. Go ahead.”

Over the next hour, I read and re-read the available excursions. For Kris, only one excursion stood…

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Nothing. Nada. Zilch. It was a little disheartening. Although more and more people were finally posting to the forum with questions, I couldn’t get more than a couple to sign up on the roll call. I’d post comprehensive answers to various questions posed elsewhere, drop hints about the roll call, and watch as no one signed up. This got a little boring after a while.

I decided to spend the month of June on something slightly less futile, and cut back on time spent on the cruise forums….

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“…the ambulance came and the police came and your mother went to the hospital with them and I locked up the house and made sure the cat was in and that he had food and water and…”

“Okay,” I said. “Slow down. Let’s take it from the top.”

There wasn’t a lot of information available that hadn’t come out in the initial torrent, so I thanked Pat and hung up. I knew dad didn’t sound well on the phone – I guess this is one area where the…

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I wasn’t about to broach the subject of cruising with my own mother until the holiday season was well past – there are some things a son just knows not to do. But I couldn’t just sit around and think about the upcoming cruise, and being a devout CruiseCritic, I followed my natural tendency to go out on the Internet, find fellow cruisers and start talking up the trip.

I imagined that the large majority of those who jumped at the chance to go on this trip…

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I think Kris was momentarily taken aback. “Well, my mother probably would – but your mother? I doubt it. I don’t think my mother would want to be all alone in a room, though.”

“Our cabin can sleep four,” I said, mainly for effect. It worked.

“No way!” said Kris.

“It’s a lot less expensive that way.”

“No! Absolutely not,” Kris said.

“I could upgrade to a suite for the three of us and still save money,” I said. I knew she wouldn’t go for it, but what better way to demonstrate…

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