How to give a cruise bday surprise?

We are sailing April 21st on the Magic. This is surprise cruise for my daughter's 11th bday. She's got no clue we are going. I booked a Balcony Guarantee which will be our first balcony. YAY;p

Any ideas how you'd give the gift to her?

Honestly can't believe I've kept it this long without telling her. She's going to die of excitement she loves cruises. :cool:

I would definitely tell her in advance of the cruise as the anticipation is half the fun.

As for how to actually reveal the surprise, maybe a treasure hunt with clues all that would include a nautical type of word to see if she guesses as you go. At the end you could have a copy of the Fun Times or a cruise poster ro a little outfit to wear on the cruise.

There are birthday decorations you can order from Carnival's website and the room will be all decorated with happy birthday stuff. Be sure to tell Carnival it's a special occasion and they will bring out a cake on night and sing to your daughter.

Just advertise it as a birthday vacation to the city of the port. When you arrive in town, and she sees the massive ships in Port, and she makes that comment of, "I want to go on one of those someday!", Simply say, "Ok. How about right now?"

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Go to "Google Images" ...find a great pic of the ship, print it out, frame it, wrap it and watch her face when she opens it. (this could also be a forever keepsake she can hang on her bedroom wall).

Anticipation is so much of the fun. Tell her asap so you can plan and giggle together.

I'm kinda of the opposite mind....I say don't tell her at all...just take her to the cruise....We did this with our last trip to Disney...told our child he had to go to a Dr apt...(we are only about 45 minutes from Disneyland) and so he was miserable the whole car ride thinking he had to get shots...and to see his face when he figured out instead we pulled into the Disneyland resort was the best part of the trip...he couldn't have been more fooled or more excited...

All great ideas... I have the cruise booked & paid in full, airline purchased and hotel booked.

I've even almost slipped a couple times saying things and she looks as me and says Mama we aren't going away until August?? (That's the cruise she knows about)

In my mind I'm thinking NOPE we are leaving in 55 days! Shes gonna die of excitement. I will be telling her 6 days before we leave cause I got to get her on a plane. The minute I say Florida she's gonna say are we going on a ship??? Pls say yes! ;p

I am surprising my son with a cruise for his 14th bday but I get a bonus surprise, my wife doesn't know I booked a suite for the cruise. She thinks we are in an inside cabin. Yay so much fun.

I am surprising my son with a cruise for his 14th bday but I get a bonus surprise, my wife doesn't know I booked a suite for the cruise. She thinks we are in an inside cabin. Yay so much fun.

How fun!

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This is how we surprised our 2 girls at the time 15 and 10. We said we are going on a little weekend getaway at an indoor water park hotel. This was middle of cold winter and -20 degrees. Its warm in the water park so we told them to make sure they grabbed plenty of swimming clothes and shorts. Knowing she was going to over pack we head out. Drive 2 hours north towards Cleveland. They both fall asleep. They awake to me yelling "OH MY GOSH WE MISSED THE EXIT !" So I act lost for a few bit and wander into the airport parking. I said we are just going to turn around. Well we park and they are both saying "What are we doing?" We then break the news that we were going to Puerto Rico for a week, They almost fainted.

Make a certificate with the ship and date then put it in one of her school books.

She will have to open it while in class.

She will be on cloud 9 the rest of the day in excitement to come home and join the fun with you!!

Every time I see this thread title I read it as baby.

you are all more creative than I am. But I think anything that makes it a big surprise announcement some time prior to the cruise is great. She should have some time to anticipate the cruise, that is part of the fun. Don't spring it on her too close so she doesn't have the joy, and I do mean joy, of counting down like the rest of us.

But children's anticipation is not quite like adult antipation...at least not I'm my household...my kids version of anticipation goes more like "when are we going", "when are we going", "when are we going"....repeat...repeat...repeat....lol.....

She will be 11 on her birthday and is already aware of another cruise they are booked on apparently. So her sense of anticipation sounds pretty normal to me. I am Much much older than 11 and I know I'd want to know ahead of time, lol.

Either way, what a cool way to celebrate a birthday.

Honestly I keep going back and forth. Do I tell her or wait? Tonight she was asking about the August cruise. Said "Mum it's like 6 months OMG that's so soon. I can't wait." I bite my tongue and just smiled. I can't believe I havent told her. I think she's going to absolutely freak out of excitement when I tell her.

:eek: I've decided I'm telling her 6 days before we leave, kept this, this long I can hold off.

I surprised my husband and step son with a cruise for Christmas. I had T-shirt’s made for each of them. Husband’s said “I’m on a boat” and SS’s said “Rules of the boat: 1. Don’t fall off the boat.

They didn’t get it when they opened it. Next gift was luggage tags. Still no idea.

3rd gift was a picture of the ship we are taking, and the dates. Still took a minute to sink in.

I liked surprising them. There were no issues with having to rush to pack since the cruise isn’t until 3 weeks from now. Next year if my SS likes it we will try a longer cruise as a gift but my husband will be in on it. I prefer experiences over things for a 12 year old. Either way, have fun!

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Honestly I keep going back and forth. Do I tell her or wait? Tonight she was asking about the August cruise. Said "Mum it's like 6 months OMG that's so soon. I can't wait." I bite my tongue and just smiled. I can't believe I havent told her. I think she's going to absolutely freak out of excitement when I tell her.

:eek: I've decided I'm telling her 6 days before we leave, kept this, this long I can hold off.

Have you decided on some creative way to tell her? So many creative ideas were given on this thread. You will make her year.

I have surprised my husband several times with a birthday cruise, most recently in January. On his birthday card I said his present was in Tampa and we would have to go pick it up at the Port of Tampa in 5 days on the Carnival Paradise. He was so surprised and very excited and glad he had a few days to get organized. Previously when I have surprised him, his birthday has fallen on cruise departure days, but I didn't want to wait until that morning to tell him because of packing, etc. even though we live only 45 minutes from the Port of Tampa. I have already booked a suite on the Paradise for next January as another birthday surprise- he doesn't read Cruise Critic:cool:

So I've decided on what I will be going with. My daughter is a Harry Potter Fan. She will receive a box package in the mail. Due to it being her 11th bday (Potterheads know on the 11th bday they go to Hogwarts School) there will be an acceptance letter saying her travels will start on April 19th, in the box it will show her the journey she will take. Inside the package will be bathing suit, shades, sun screen, flip flops and a framed picture of the Magic with our sail date and our ports. Hopefully she'll get it. The cruise is prior to going to Universal Studios to see Harry Potter Wizardry World. She will know 6 days prior to us leaving.

Thanks everyone for the ideas they were great.

I surprised my God Daughter a couple of years ago, her husband was in on it, as I'm in USA and they r in UK.

So, the week of her Birthday she got a different clue from a different person each day.

So at he end of the week on her birthday she knew she was going on a cruise, but we had so much fun planning and thinking of all the clues.

Her husband organized who gave her the clues, so she didn't know I had anything to do with it. So each day she would text over that days clue to me, and if she was getting on the right track, and one day she was, I totally threw her off.

It was on The Eclipse, so one clue was a pic of a solar eclipse. Another was ice related, re: ice carving on carnival, so she thought she was going to Iceland that day.

Like I said, SO much fun.

I'm now planning another cruise for them, and I think I'll reverse it, tell my GD and let her Hubby get the surprise this time.