Surprising kids with a cruise ideas...

I am planning on surprising my kids (11, 7, 5) with a cruise for Christmas. My plan is to buy them each their own suitcases and put all kinds of cruise stuff in them, like summer clothes, swimsuits, towels, etc... The other presents I hope to kind of evolve around a cruise type theme also, like new cameras, fake sand for a sand box, legos that make things like boats and such. I have seen some videos of people who have surprised their children by doing a scavenger hunt, or puzzles. I also had an idea to have a puzzle made of a the ship and port pictures and give each kid some pieces and they have to work together to put it together at the end.

What have you guys done to surprise your kids with a cruise. Pictures would be great to see all the great ideas. Thanks!!

What a wonderful idea. I'm sure your kids will love it. I hope you come back after your cruise and post pictures of their reactions.

Have fun! Happy cruising!

For their first cruise, we did a scavenger hunt and all the clues were things you might use on the trip. It culminated in the bathroom with a "carnival" ship in the bathtub. It was a lot of fun, and of course they were thrilled with their present. I'm sure your children will be equally excited! :)

We did a scavenger hunt this past Christmas for my nephew and niece (teens) and used items that they will use on the cruise. It was so fun and their reaction was worth every bit of planning!

We are hoping to surprise them again this Christmas (we told them last year that it was probably going to be a one time deal, but after how much they enjoyed the cruise, we HAVE GOT to take them again!!) I'm looking for a new idea for this Christmas, can't wait to see what you guys come up with!

My son (age 3) likes this small replica of a cruise ship that his grandmother bought him on the Ryndam; you might want to include a small cruise ship toy.

http://www.amazon.com/Holland-America-Pullback-Cruise-Ship/dp/B004GGHQOM/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1411455098&sr=8-4&keywords=cruise+ship+toy

Also, there is a book about Walter the Farting Dog who goes on a cruise ship (boys love to read about walter farting, but I should warn you that it is definitely not polite or high literature but my son loves reading about walter). It's a toddler book, so only get it if you think your 5 year old would like it.

http://www.amazon.com/Walter-Farting-Dog-Goes-Cruise/dp/0525477144/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1411455200&sr=8-2&keywords=walter+the+farting+dog+cruise+ship

We didn't surprise them but we did get my grand daughter a Barbie cruise ship before the cruise we took our kids and their families on. She was 4 and she was able to get used to the idea before the cruise by playing Cruising Barbie!

I gave my kids the cruise and put them in suites. Then for Christmas a month before, I gave them cruise related items for stocking stuffers like bug spray, suntan lotion, etc, and then told them their Christmas gift was my credit card on their on board accounts. They loved that, and I wasn't giving them a gift that would cost them loads (the cruise was a gift the Christmas before).

We did this 12 years ago - my daughter was 13 and my son was 10. We wrapped the plane tickets and tickets to Busch Gardens (Tampa) and told them we were leaving in 4 days. My son was obsessed with roller coasters and both were in shock. When all the presents were done - we gave them another wrapped box which had a picture of the Carnival Sensation with the cruise information. They had never even been on an airplane yet alone a vacation of that magnitude. It was amazing. Funny - my DD was initially upset because she didn't want to miss her "boyfriend's" birthday which was happening while we were away. By day 4 on the ship she obviously forgot him as she was having a blast with the other teens.

We are coming from Australia in April to do a western and southern Caribbean cruise as well as a week in Cancun and a few days in Vegas.

They are 10 and 12 and think we are just taking their sister who will be 16 months. They think they are going to stay with their grandparents for the 4 weeks who live interstate and that their flight leaves an hour before ours.

So basically going to rock up to the airport and pretend that we are putting them on their plane...and then SURPRISE!!!

I think I decided to surprise the nephew and niece this Christmas, I'm going to make a clue puzzle or something (either a broken up sentence, or using picture clues, I'm not sure yet) and put each piece in a balloon and then blow them all up and even some that won't have anything in them, and put them all under the Christmas tree.

Hopefully, they will have a lot of loud wild fun popping all the balloons , then getting all the clues together and putting that together to figure out what the surprise is.

I hope this makes sense :D

We are coming from Australia in April to do a western and southern Caribbean cruise as well as a week in Cancun and a few days in Vegas.

 

They are 10 and 12 and think we are just taking their sister who will be 16 months. They think they are going to stay with their grandparents for the 4 weeks who live interstate and that their flight leaves an hour before ours.

 

So basically going to rock up to the airport and pretend that we are putting them on their plane...and then SURPRISE!!!

As long as you're aware they may have their own plans and you need to give them time to make emergency cancellations. I'm sure they want time to circulate their home friends and explain that they'll be out of email contact for some time, for example. And if they have friends with their grandparents, and have arranged to hang out with those friends, maybe you'd better write their letter of apology as well!

(Presumably you're already sure that a cruise which they didn't know about and haven't planned for is going to be a big improvement on a rotten old holiday with rotten old grandparents? It would definitely mar the party if the children are going to sulk about being wrenched away, without consultation, from that lovely holiday with grandparents that they had spent six months looking forward to.)

I just wanted to post to say how nice it is you are not only taking the family on the cruise but also your plan to surprise them.

Take photos that day and as you prepare for the cruise and during the cruise and give them each a photo album. It will serve as wonderful memories for them to cherish forever.

Keith

As long as you're aware they may have their own plans and you need to give them time to make emergency cancellations. I'm sure they want time to circulate their home friends and explain that they'll be out of email contact for some time, for example. And if they have friends with their grandparents, and have arranged to hang out with those friends, maybe you'd better write their letter of apology as well!

 

(Presumably you're already sure that a cruise which they didn't know about and haven't planned for is going to be a big improvement on a rotten old holiday with rotten old grandparents? It would definitely mar the party if the children are going to sulk about being wrenched away, without consultation, from that lovely holiday with grandparents that they had spent six months looking forward to.)

They are already pretty annoyed they are missing out on the cruise do grandparents are plan B.

They are already pretty annoyed they are missing out on the cruise do grandparents are plan B.

I realise we're going a bit off topic, but putting them through 6+ months of annoyance followed by 5 minutes' happiness? When the happiness could be spread over the whole 6 months? Surprise them now, I say.