Surprise!!! How have you sprung your surprises??

[Teris50]

well I am so jealous of all these wonderful surprises you all did that I am going home to smack my hubby!!! LOL!!.

[1witchydiva]

I think it has been a little easier for me to keep the room a surprise, as I normally do all the vacation planning.

 

Hubby also has never been on a cruise until he met me. :)

 

He doesn't know much about the different lines and if he hears them say suite, I'm not even sure he will realize it is the Haven. My son definitely will not. Only my daughter will pick up on it the minute she hears suite. :)

 

To be honest, I really booked this room for the balcony. My husband is always on the balcony--watching the dolphins early in the morning and reading. I didn't catch on it was a Haven suite initially as I knew not all aft ph,were considered a part of the haven on other ncl ships. The PCC just said that according to the floor plans , that balcony was very large. A few minutes later, he mentioned that is was a Haven suite and I would get the perks.

 

I have kept quiet since 2011, but now that it is getting closer, I am having a much harder time keeping it from them. I am so excited. :)

[Aurora2143]

I'm sure I'll figure out something, though these are really great ideas. I had images of military hand signals and stop/drop/rolling over to checkin with my finger to my lips lol

 

My biggest ally is the fact that nobody knows anything about the ship and nobody's really paying attention so far lol Hopefully that holds for 5 months lol (well, 4 1/2) :p

 

Can't wait to hear all about it. Your review is going to be awesome!

[1witchydiva]

well I am so jealous of all these wonderful surprises you all did that I am going home to smack my hubby!!! LOL!!.

 

Lol. Don't smack him. :). This has been a lot of work planning everything. Shore excursions , dinner reservations etc. I usually ask everyone's opinion while I plan but I can't since I don't want to make anyone suspicious. In a way, I wish I wasn't trying to surprise them so I could get some help and have someone to talk about it with!!!! Lol. My friends are sick of hearing about the cruise. They hide from me. :)

 

And to be honest, I don't think hubby would ever be able to surprise me ,no matter how hard he tried. I don't like surprises either. Lol. Lol. Go figure.

[DevCruise]

I have kept quiet since 2011, but now that it is getting closer, I am having a much harder time keeping it from them. I am so excited. :)

 

2011? And I thought I booked a long way out....:eek:

[SissasMomE]

Lol. Don't smack him. :). This has been a lot of work planning everything. Shore excursions , dinner reservations etc. I usually ask everyone's opinion while I plan but I can't since I don't want to make anyone suspicious. In a way, I wish I wasn't trying to surprise them so I could get some help and have someone to talk about it with!!!! Lol. My friends are sick of hearing about the cruise. They hide from me. :)

 

And to be honest, I don't think hubby would ever be able to surprise me ,no matter how hard he tried. I don't like surprises either. Lol. Lol. Go figure.

 

Oh good Lord I don't either!! I really hate being surprised.... and I usually know everything so I don't see how he could ever pull it off. LOL

[Aurora2143]

What an awesome friend you are Psycomac for taking your friends on such a wonderful vacation!!

I'm sure your family and friends will love it!

[1witchydiva]

What an awesome friend you are Psycomac for taking your friends on such a wonderful vacation!!

I'm sure your family and friends will love it!

 

I agree. I want to see pictures of all their faces when they walk into that villa. Priceless. :)

[psycomac]

I still have to get it booked lol but yes....I plan on shooting lots of video....my DH and SS's are so clueless about ship layout that they'll prolly think the entry way is just another corridor of unrelated room doors lol

Sent from my HTCEVOV4G using Forums mobile app

[toyotaford]

I just got a notice that the GV on the Jewel on 11/10 was gone. I was thinking this was the date you were looking at. Just wondering if you got it booked.

[tymike]

My BF knew I was going to take him on some unknown trip as a Christmas present, but he didn't know what or when. On Christmas, I gave him a gift box with a letter that announced that, in fact, our trip was going nowhere! Inside the box was the deck plans for the Jewel, all our specialty dinner times with menus, pictures of our aft penthouse (later upsold to an OS!) and other information about the weekend cruise.

 

While not a surprise at embarkation, it was fun for both of us!! We had a wonderful weekend!:)

[1witchydiva]

My BF knew I was going to take him on some unknown trip as a Christmas present, but he didn't know what or when. On Christmas, I gave him a gift box with a letter that announced that, in fact, our trip was going nowhere! Inside the box was the deck plans for the Jewel, all our specialty dinner times with menus, pictures of our aft penthouse (later upsold to an OS!) and other information about the weekend cruise.

 

While not a surprise at embarkation, it was fun for both of us!! We had a wonderful weekend!:)

 

That's so nice. I love giving surprises but not getting them. Lol. Go figure.

 

I gave hubby a picture of the breakaway and put it in a card. No Info about the room etc, because that's still a surprise!!!!

 

So happy you had a great trip. !!!!

[Sequim88]

Our So. Caribbean cruise was paid for by my parents who were celebrating their 60th anniversary. They took my two brothers and I and our wives. So use three ganged up and with the help of one of the SILs who was a cruise consultant "upgraded" the folks to a balcony. They have always cruised in insides (to frugal) but said it was OK if we wanted to upgrade our selve for the difference. So we we did their upgrade too.

 

For over a year we had to keep it from slipping out. Even marked a fake room on the deck layout. Their balcony was next to ours so when we all got to the cabins it finally dawned on Dad before he even went in that their cabin number as the next one after us so had to be a balcony. But the reaction was great. :D I now have the best picture of Dad - a candid shot from our balcony of him leaning on the railing and gazing out at the water. Priceless.

[mearsfansinboise]

We're sailing the Star to Mexico for Christmas...and it will be a surprise to our children. We are telling no one in the entire family - like grandparents or anyone else - so that no one will ruin this surprise.

We are telling the family in CA that we will be in ID for Christmas....we are telling the ID family that we are going to CA for Christmas...and we are telling the kids that we are going to CA as a surprise for the grandparents.

So the kids will know we are traveling to CA at Christmas....but they literally won't know until we get to the pier that it's for a cruise. In case they realize that we are taking a different route - through UT and Las Vegas, instead of through Reno to get to Northern California - we are telling them that we are taking a longer way due to the snow in the Sierras. So hopefully we have thought of every angle to offset any suspicion until we are at the pier in LA.

[SissasMomE]

Ok - I caved and told my daughter who is 16. As I figured, she could care less LOL but at least I have someone to talk to about it. It's now a father's day surprise for hubby - who will be more than satisfied with that huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge balcony we are going to have :D

[SissasMomE]

Our So. Caribbean cruise was paid for by my parents who were celebrating their 60th anniversary. They took my two brothers and I and our wives. So use three ganged up and with the help of one of the SILs who was a cruise consultant "upgraded" the folks to a balcony. They have always cruised in insides (to frugal) but said it was OK if we wanted to upgrade our selve for the difference. So we we did their upgrade too.

 

For over a year we had to keep it from slipping out. Even marked a fake room on the deck layout. Their balcony was next to ours so when we all got to the cabins it finally dawned on Dad before he even went in that their cabin number as the next one after us so had to be a balcony. But the reaction was great. :D I now have the best picture of Dad - a candid shot from our balcony of him leaning on the railing and gazing out at the water. Priceless.

 

Awww, that was so cute!!

[jdvmd]

God willing that it's still available in a few days when I can book it, I'll be booking my family and 2 friends of mine into a GV suite and they don't know. Did you book a suite or significant upgrade and not tell your fellow travelers? What other special things did you do to go along with your surprise and how did you spring it on them? Did you have to get cooperation from the ship staff in order to make sure that they didn't give the game away?

 

Tell me your stories!!

Are you going to take care of the online check-in for your friends? If not, they will see the cabin number.

[WaldosPepper]

God willing that it's still available in a few days when I can book it, I'll be booking my family and 2 friends of mine into a GV suite and they don't know. ...

 

I received an email from psycomac, letting me know that she was indeed able to book the GV, and is excited beyond words. She'll be back among us soon, and will post all her exciting details then. Meanwhile, she wants to thank everyone for their awesome posts and suggestions. ;)

[SissasMomE]

I received an email from psycomac, letting me know that she was indeed able to book the GV, and is excited beyond words. She'll be back among us soon, and will post all her exciting details then. Meanwhile, she wants to thank everyone for their awesome posts and suggestions. ;)

 

I was wondering what happened to her. Thanks for the update!

[ch7012]

One thing to note is that if you are booking a cruise as a surprise and your traveling party has traveled with NCL before, they will receive emails and mailings from NCL even if you tell NCL it is a gift/surprise when booking, as their info is part of their latitudes number and it automatically gets sent out.

 

This happened to me, I booked a suite for my family for Christmas last year and when booking explained MANY times that it was a surprise and was assured that no one would be sent anything.

 

Well - come to find out that is not true...everyone was sent emails and even a letter congratulating us on booking a suite.

 

Congrats on your trip! I hope yours does stay a surprise!!!

[psycomac]

Well, I was able to book the cruise, put the deposit down and yes, we're in the GV for the sailing date I was targeting. Got the flights and hotels booked and paid for, all was right with the world.

 

Then last week, DH was admitted to the ICU unit for difficulty breathing and chest pains. After much testing, including CT scans, EKG's etc, he has been diagnosed with stage 4 Renal Cell Carcinoma and a football sized tumor was discovered in his right lung. During the first couple of days, they took out almost a liter of fluid from his right lung (not including the tumor, just fluid surrounding it). That is the bad news.

 

The good news is that he has since been moved out of the ICU (just today as a matter of fact), he's off the oxygen, breathing on his own and able to walk short distances (you have no idea how happy he was to walk into the bathroom of his non-ICU room and pee all by himself while standing up!). They had him on an aggressive radiation treatment schedule last week and he has 2 more scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. After that, they're starting him on IV chemo and he might even get to come home this week.

 

DD (the 4 yr old) has been seemingly dealing with it ok but I don't think she knows that daddy is sick. She knows he's in the hospital and she misses him (climbs into my bed every morning, tears in her eyes saying she wants her daddy back. Yes, it's as heartbreaking as it sounds) like crazy but otherwise she's alright.

 

I'm getting better slowly, obviously with this coming on the heels of losing my mom so recently it's been difficult but we're getting by.

 

So, in a nutshell, it's been one heck of a month since I last posted. I've been lurking but unable to post until now. I'm hoping that the doctors give him the ok to travel in November and I broke the secret to him in the hopes that it would give him the added motivation to fight that much harder to get better.

 

So many people have come out of the woodwork to send us thoughts, prayers, etc that it has really shocked us quite a bit but of course we wouldn't turn away any new sources of positive energy that might come our way.

 

Oh, and...I got surgical approval for my tooth replacement surgery so that's going ahead as well yay! Can't wait to smile again and get to try all those foods that I can't eat right now....I don't think anybody has ever been as excited to eat a plain ol' salad as I am lol.

[jdvmd]

psychomac, I am so sorry to hear what you are going through right now. Lifting you and your family up in prayer. and sending you positive thoughts.

[psycomac]

psychomac, I am so sorry to hear what you are going through right now. Lifting you and your family up in prayer. and sending you positive thoughts.

 

Thank you :) Things really do seem to be turning around (knock wood) everyone including the oncologist are just amazed at the turnaround he's done in under a week's time. The oncologist said in his almost 12 yrs of practice, he's never seen something this aggressive (or large) go undetected, grow so rapidly and change for the better so rapidly. Between Sunday and Tuesday, it grew 10-20% which is why they were being so aggressive with it and watching him so closely. Just the fact that he's off the oxygen and they moved him from ICU says a lot :)

 

Once they figure out what's going on with the kidneys and see if it's spread anywhere else, we'll figure out what's going on with our trip but for now, I'm not cancelling. (Yes, I got trip insurance and the pre-existing condition waiver is in place because I purchased it within the deposit period thank God)

 

One thing that kinda sucks though is that since I've been unable to log in for the last month, I couldn't view our roll call board and my friend registered for a cc account (I hate it when people actually listen to me and check out websites I've recommended lol) and saw the post about the booking so now the only ones left to be surprised are my step-sons. Still, even without the mega secret, it's going to be a great trip :)

[vicnkojo]

Psycomac , my prayers are with your family....

 

My husband and I surprised our boys on the biggest surprise that we ever pulled off.....totally unforgettable !! Please forgive for the long response in Advance. I wrote on this before on another thread, but I don't mind rewriting it again:).

 

Firstly, some background.... our kids ,2 boys, then ..ages 12 and 7, fight alot!! among each other:o its horrendous. Plus, whenever I tell them in advance about a trip, they bug me, is it this week?? is it this month?? I can't wait!!!! Why can't we go earlier??..constantly, every day asking, and whining....Sooo..... for Spring Break in 2011, I told them for their spring break, we are going to do some family bonding. We are going to go to a "pig Farm" in Texas( i picked Texas because that's where the cruise ship was leaving out of) and told them that in Texas , they had imported pigs from all over the world, and we were spending a week vacation learning about the habitats of different pigs and how they lived, I even told them that one of the pigs were scheduled to give birth and we were going to participate in this glorious event!!! but we are big " practical jokers" .. ) there are other experiences in life you need to have. I said ..but we will not be completely roughing it. The farm is in Texas, Galveston, so at least we get a plane ride. So.. I even ...( by force ) drove them to the library and made them do silly pig researches and check out books on farming, and how to raise animals, my husband and I did all this with straight faces..( while dying laughing behind there backs!!! LOL!! I was raised on a farm and I loved it, but my kids have little idea on it, so it was extra fun tricking them like this... Sooo...

The flight was a red eye flight , I made them bring there farming books, and all the papers I had them write tips on raising livestock . We got on the plane... They were like happy they were going somewhere, curious about the pigs, but pissed off inside( we could tell. Lol) so we had to rent a car to get to the ship, they slept the whole way to the port, and when we got there , my DH and I woke up the boys , and said ""LOOK AT ALL THESE PIGS!!! They were in a"" just woke up stupor"", and all they saw were all the white cruise ships!! They said "what pigs ..where?? Mom, all we see are ships!!!!"" We said.... Ok kids , just leave your farming backpacks in the car,... We're going to the Caribbean...... !!!!! Wow..best look of surprise on there faces!! Priceless moment, only because we really tricked them.( They had to carry these big backpacks on the plane filled with farming and pig books, on a red eye flight, they were complaining, I'm sleepy, mom carry my bag, dad help...heheehe), and me n my husband loved every moment of it. I'm still laughing as I am writing this!!

[cruisezr1]

Next spring is my wife's birthday and she wanted to go on another cruise. So I booked the usual balcony room on the Breakaway in May. Then my son wanted to go so he is going to share the room. Told her like before it's going to be a little crowded with 3 of us. She said she didn't mine. What she doesn't know is I upgraded us to the Haven aft penthouse suite at over 700sq feet. She is going to be shocked, the hard part is waiting 9+ months. :)