Giving a cruise as a gift - cards/sleeves/stationery

Hi all! This is my first post and I apologize if it isn't the most glamorous topic. I plan to give my wife a cruise as a gift for our anniversary. It will be our first cruise and I would like to present the itinerary to her in a box or card, preferably with Celebrity's branding.

Is anyone aware of any kind of branded sleeve or card I can obtain from a travel agent or the cruise line? (I'm imagining those old branded cards you used to get plane tickets in back in the 80s)

Otherwise, does anyone have any fun ideas for how to present a cruise to a loved one as a surprise?

Thanks!

Are you kidding? You're giving your wife a cruise for an anniversary gift. That's glamorous!

You don't by any chance live in the Raleigh area? I have tons of Celebrity stuff due to being avid trivia players.

I'd be glad to share some of it with you. Luggage tags, caps, T shirts, X lanyards....

Oh, it's your first post...welcome!

We gave our kids & grandkids a cruise as a Xmas gift. Wrapped up a puzzle of a cruise ship and they had to put the puzzle together to find out what they got for Xmas.

Great gift...lucky wife!

I have twice gifted my mom with upgrades on ships (she paid for the cruise, but I have surprised her with "extras"). When we upgraded from a standard cabin on Princess to a minisuite with a bathtub, I went to the toy section of Target and got a doll bathtub. I filled it with her favorite soaps & bubble baths as a way to let her know she would get a tub rather than a shower. On that note, how about getting a kids toy boat and putting it in a box with "stuff" (for lack of a better term) from some of the places you will be visiting and perhaps pictures from Celebrity's brochure. Along with the card and printed itinerary (perhaps laminated to make it special), she'll have fun digging through the box and figuring out her surprise.

Have fun!

What a wonderful gift! Ask your travel agent... They should have, or at least be able to get you something suitable. If not, call celebrity directly. At the very least they can send you a brochure....

Wonderful gift, I am sure your wife will be thrilled.

Love the ideas so far!

How about a romantic dinner followed by the waiter bringing a silver salver to the table, lift the lid, Celebrity brochure!

You could order something from Gifts by Celebrity.

http://www.shopcelebritycruises.com/product.asp?cat=Gifts+and+Memorabilia&subcat=travel+essentials&pid=2000631&str=1

About the only thing I stumbled across there were the Luggage Tags or the photo album. Maybe you can find something else..

I have a Suite Boarding sleeve, it's a folio, like a ticket jacket, that I'm happy to US mail to you if you email me your particulars....I don't think it is branded in any way as a suite item.

Another thought, is pay the $35 fee for your cruise tickets to be mailed, but I'm not sure if you can do that before OLCI is done, which can't happen till payment is made in full.

Thanks everyone, this is helpful!

Wonderful gift, I am sure your wife will be thrilled.

 

Love the ideas so far!

 

How about a romantic dinner followed by the waiter bringing a silver salver to the table, lift the lid, Celebrity brochure!

What a wonderful gift! Ask your travel agent... They should have, or at least be able to get you something suitable. If not, call celebrity directly. At the very least they can send you a brochure....

I love the Celebrity brochure idea. Circle the cruise itinerary you've purchased, mark the cabin you've booked on the deck plan for the ship you're sailing...I think that would be so much fun!

Here's another idea. Why not buy her a bunch a little gifts(dollar store) to open up first that are themed toward your cruise itinerary. Flip flops, sunglasses for Caribbean, a bottle of wine for Mediterranean etc.

Finally when she's finished opening them all up and she's not sure what to think you present her with the cruise itinerary in a card. I'm sure Celebrity can email you something with official letterhead.

We gifted my inlaws with their first cruise. A 3 piece (nested in one big box) set of luggage with photo-shopped ports of call stickers and photo-shopped luggage tags. A generic printout of the cruise ticket booklet was attached to the largest of the bags.

It was a hit with them.

bosco

Great idea, Bosco....

The dollar store has cruise ship foam cutouts in their school section. Last year I decorated each ship with the person's name and cruise particulars and stuck it on a christmas stocking. You could put the ship on top of a box or front of a gift bag or tote bag. As someone else mentioned, buy things you'd need for the cruise and put them inside. Sunglasses, sunscreen, flip flops, boca clips, one of those cute fake rhinestone lanyards (Michaels has these), a pretty shawl, a book, etc. She'd already have a start on her packing.

I bought my friend a cruise last Christmas, as she is a big fan of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I used that as a theme, along with cruise themed gifts to open first.

I started keeping a journal even before I booked it, I was so excited. So that was one present.

A Pandora cruise ship charm, photo album, key fob, decorations for cabin door, champagne, Wonka bar and candies.

this all lead up to the cruise documents, which I printed out online on vellum paper, and put in a yellow folder, on the front it said something like,

'You are the lucky winner, here is your golden ticket'

Inside I put a golden ticket in front of the documents.

I was a lot of fun.

We once surprised my in-laws with a cruise for their anniversary. We gave them the actual information for the booking about 6 months before the trip, but in the weeks leading up to the gifting we sent them a little something from each port they were going to visit. They had no idea what we were doing. For example, San Diego was one of the ports of call and Jack in the Box got their start there, so we sent them a gift card to Jacks. Another port of call was Seattle, and we sent them a gift card to Starbucks. They just thought we were being thoughtful during the holidays.

All great ideas but one thing you don't want to do is use a gift card. I had a Celebrity gift card that I got for credit card points and I used it to make the deposit on a Baltic cruise we wanted to take. Then I had a last minute medical issue and we had to cancel 5 days before departure. Thankfully we had trip insurance but the insurer would not accept the gift card as a "proper form of payment" so that was $500 flushed down the toilet.....

What a wonderful gift........:) Happy Anniversary to both of you.

All great ideas but one thing you don't want to do is use a gift card. I had a Celebrity gift card that I got for credit card points and I used it to make the deposit on a Baltic cruise we wanted to take. Then I had a last minute medical issue and we had to cancel 5 days before departure. Thankfully we had trip insurance but the insurer would not accept the gift card as a "proper form of payment" so that was $500 flushed down the toilet.....

This is good info. Which insurance company were you with?

I guess I can see how a gift card means someone else paid of the trip.....

I know credit card polices require full payment with the card to qualify, so one has to be sure they deposit and pay balance due with same card if they expect the card insurance to cover a trip.