Attempting a Surprise - Will it be Done??

[donutcop]

I booked a cruise on the Getaway for September 20. 75 days away, but whose counting!? ;)

 

My DH has no idea. He doesn't think an adult only vacation is in the cards for us this year (we have four children and are going away as a family next month). I've squandered money away and will have the cruise and spending money paid for before we sail (which will be a huge selling point towards my husband's excitement when he finds out).

 

I've tried searching on the board for other people who have successfully pulled off a surprise cruise, but seem to be coming up with how the surprises have been ruined instead. Ideally i'd like to wait until we're driving to the airport to tell my husband. He's not the type that needs to prepare. I usually take on all the planning tasks other than finding a place for the dog to go lol. So my choices are as follows:

 

We work nightshift the night before our flights. (meaning we get off work at 7am and need to catch a 7am flight) I'm planning to arrange it so we can get off work early...therefore leaving straight from work to go to the airport.

 

Second choice would be for me to arrange for us to have that nightshift off. Usually before nightshifts we have a nap in the afternoon so i'd have to spring the surprise on him before his nap otherwise he'd never sleep that night lol. So essentially he'd find out about 18 hours before we'd be leaving.

 

I like the effect of getting off early and driving straight to the airport however i'm thinking he's going to be totally surprised either way. I guess my question is...if it were you as the recipient of the surprise would you rather find out at the very last minute or be given a day (or even more) to get excited?

 

Last thing (and thank you if you've made it this far) is that i'm just bursting with excitement and trying to not tell anyone about the cruise to minimize the chances of someone mistakenly saying something. I don't know if i'll have the willpower to keep it from him for the next 75 days!

[1lovehols]

Wow exciting, I'd surprise him the day before but try to get the eve shift off & maybe drop him a few clues around the house. This way your not having to secret pack for him too.

[DevonianCruiser]

That's a brilliant surprise :)

 

The only tip I can say is, tell the least amount of people possible, as people blurt things out by mistake.

 

He will be overjoyed I'm sure, I know I would :D

[DevCruise]

Unless you booked a suite, I don't think you'll need to worry about NCL blowing the surprise. Usually the surprise gets ruined when NCL sends out their greeting card for booking a Suite or The Haven. The other time is when the luggage tags show up, but these are only sent out for suites these days.

 

The only other thing I could think of is if he logs into his MyNCL account.

[DevCruise]

Wow exciting, I'd surprise him the day before but try to get the eve shift off & maybe drop him a few clues around the house. This way your not having to secret pack for him too.

 

Agreed....

[Paddy41]

I was on a cruise last March where the hubby managed to completely surprise his wife with the cruise. She did not know until they arrived at the pier! He was on cruisecritic a lot, keeping everyone up to date with his plans and he received a lot of good suggestions. He had a teenage daughter who did the packing for her mom and on the day of the cruise he suggested to his wife and daughter that they just go out for a drive around and he drove to the cruise terminal to show her the ship he'd like to go on 'someday'. Their luggage was in the trunk and while the two looked at the ship, the daughter whipped out the luggage and took off home with the car. That cruise had the best group of cruise critic members ever and we met the next day in the atrium for pictures and everyone was going up to him and his wife to see how she was feeling. She sure put on a positive face so I would say she loved the surprise. Since you say you are bursting to talk about it, I would go onto the cruise critic thread for your particular cruise and vent to everyone on there. Personally I would want to know ahead of time because I am the planner of the family but my husband would be the one who would just go along for the ride whatever way I arranged the surprise. So maybe there's a friend you can let in on the secret who can help you in some way if need be. Good luck!

[donutcop]

Wow exciting, I'd surprise him the day before but try to get the eve shift off & maybe drop him a few clues around the house. This way your not having to secret pack for him too.

 

Good idea :) I'd be packing for him anyways and had thought i'd pick up a set of new toiletries so he wouldn't notice anything missing. Plus his observation skills aren't that great so if i packed 3/4 of his Summer clothes he wouldn't notice lol

[donutcop]

That's a brilliant surprise :)

 

The only tip I can say is, tell the least amount of people possible, as people blurt things out by mistake.

 

He will be overjoyed I'm sure, I know I would :D

 

Right now it's only my best friend and boss that knows. (boss because he has to approve the time off and I didn't want him going to my husband to talk about it). I'll have to tell my kids with a couple days of notice so we just don't go MIA for 9 days however i'm confident they won't say anything.

[donutcop]

Unless you booked a suite, I don't think you'll need to worry about NCL blowing the surprise. Usually the surprise gets ruined when NCL sends out their greeting card for booking a Suite or The Haven. The other time is when the luggage tags show up, but these are only sent out for suites these days.

 

The only other thing I could think of is if he logs into his MyNCL account.

 

No suite for us so no worries on that end. He also doesn't have a myNCL account. We've only ever sailed with Royal. As for credit card statements, he's doesn't bother to look. So long as the balances aren't up he's not worried. I have everything booked with my email address so things should be safe on that end too. Only glitch is his passport expires 2 weeks before we go so i'm going to have to convince him to renew it soon. Thankfully mine is expired too so I might say we should get them done in case we do a road trip to NH to outlet shop in the Fall. ;)

[CruzLover80]

Good idea :) I'd be packing for him anyways and had thought i'd pick up a set of new toiletries so he wouldn't notice anything missing. Plus his observation skills aren't that great so if i packed 3/4 of his Summer clothes he wouldn't notice lol

 

Isn't that for most men?? LOL.

 

That is so awesome! I would still try to get the night off and come up with some excuse and just get up in the wee hours saying that the job called (I assume you work together) and that you need to rush in for an emergency?

[donutcop]

I was on a cruise last March where the hubby managed to completely surprise his wife with the cruise. She did not know until they arrived at the pier! He was on cruisecritic a lot, keeping everyone up to date with his plans and he received a lot of good suggestions. He had a teenage daughter who did the packing for her mom and on the day of the cruise he suggested to his wife and daughter that they just go out for a drive around and he drove to the cruise terminal to show her the ship he'd like to go on 'someday'. Their luggage was in the trunk and while the two looked at the ship, the daughter whipped out the luggage and took off home with the car. That cruise had the best group of cruise critic members ever and we met the next day in the atrium for pictures and everyone was going up to him and his wife to see how she was feeling. She sure put on a positive face so I would say she loved the surprise. Since you say you are bursting to talk about it, I would go onto the cruise critic thread for your particular cruise and vent to everyone on there. Personally I would want to know ahead of time because I am the planner of the family but my husband would be the one who would just go along for the ride whatever way I arranged the surprise. So maybe there's a friend you can let in on the secret who can help you in some way if need be. Good luck!

 

That sounds awesome :) I'd personally rather know about the vacation so I could plan and get excited for it, but my husband is a total 'go with the flow' type of guy so finding out last minute won't upset him.

[Tiggertastic]

love the idea

 

I'd have to say the night before so that I didn't forget anything. I've just read it to my DH and he said, 'you can do that for me anytime' then said 'but If I did that to you there would be a long face' - I love to plan, part of my trip is the excitement of planning

 

Just qualified to him that he knows what I take away clothes wise and I'm sure he'd manage

 

Good luck with it, would love to hear what his reaction is

[Hikini]

How fun!!!

 

My DH has surprised me a couple times with vacations, and the first time I didn't know we were going until we were on our way to the airport. In spite of his careful planning, he still didn't think to pack a couple things that were essential for me, as well as things like stopping the mail, canceling an appointment, etc. (He didn't know about the appointment so never would have thought to cancel it.)

 

So, with that in mind the next time he gave me about a 24 hour notice, and I had time to take care of things, as well as making sure I had everything packed that I needed.

 

With all of that said, I'll chime in with the others who have said to tell as FEW people as possible. Loose lips sink ships. NO pun intended! :D

 

Have fun!!

[fishin' musician]

I surprised DW on our 25th wedding anniversary cruise when our two kids woke her up in our stateroom just prior to the muster drill. She had no clue. This is the most stressful thing I've ever attempted, but also perhaps the most gratifying. It was booked in February and we cruised in June... and this gal's radar is always on high alert! Advice, don't tell anyone. Here is a music driven slide show w/ video of the magic moment (and some fishing video!):

 

[dolita22]

We surprised my mom with cruise to celebrate her retirement in 2011, after teaching for 37 years. We didn't tell her until we were flying to Fort Lauderdale; she knew she was going there, she just didn't know we were heading on to Miami to board the Sky! Some family friends of ours even flew in to join us on the cruise as a surprise to her. I booked it in July, and we cruised in September, so it's about the same amount of time you have!

 

I was like you where I was very, very excited, because it was my parents' first-ever cruise and I hoped they would enjoy cruising in retirement (they have, and have since gone on 8 more cruises!). It was HARD to keep that secret, and in the end, we did end up telling a couple of her close friends about the cruise and requesting they keep it a secret. A couple friends even basked in knowing what was going on, knowing that she didn't know, and kinda liked to tease her with that. :D She's a good sport.

 

Anyway, I tell you this the surprise can be done and your husband will love it! Happy planning, surprising and cruising!

[LrgPizza]

My surprise was spoiled when I received an email from NCL letting me know that my 2 latitudes accounts were being combined. I didn't know why I would have 2 accounts since I'd only sailed NCL once. Turns out it had assigned me a new account when my husband tried to surprise me with a cruise for Christmas.

[Kenlorz]

I've been in your shoes to a small degree. I surprised my dh 24 years ago for our first anniversary by picking him up after work for a special night out and told him he couldn't know the restaurant we were going to until we got there. I drove him 5 hours away straight to Niagara Falls for a vacation. Small potatoes compared to what you're accomplishing here. So, even though I'm obviously in the 'let's surprise 'em at the last second' fan club......

 

If the surprise shoe were on the other foot I would DEFINITELY want a days notice! Why? Because I'm an extreme organizer and planner and would be frantic with thousands of micro-panic attacks all happening simultaneously in mere seconds of finding out....

-did he call the bank and notify then we're traveling out of the country?

-did he give the sitter all the pertinent information such as dr's numbers, insurance info, notarized permission to treat letter, and extra cash?

-do they have enough food in the house? Did he fill the cars with gas? Do we have enough kitty litter & cat food?

-are all the bills paid before their monthly due dates?

-did he pack EVERYTHING I need? Put a fresh blade in my razor? Grab the right swim suit? Did he pick me up a new kindle charger cuz the old one is on the fritz? Did he grab extra memory cards and the right camera equipment?

 

And that's only a TASTE of the questions that would be whirling around my head as I was being whisked away, LOL. Yes, I would love the surprise for sure, but I would personally like the opportunity to have at least a night to decide what special things I would like to pack and have the piece of mind that everything has been set at home for our absence and have a night of sleepless giddiness..... but remember... that's just me :D Best of luck no matter which way you decide to go! Your husband's a lucky and blessed man :)

Edited July 8, 2014 by Kenlorz

[bluesea777]

Lovely to surprise your dh with a cruise!!

 

One thing though .. are you travelling to Miami at least a day before the cruise?? Not on the same day, I hope!

 

Do you have a close relative or friend that you pretend to your dh that you and dh need to go to airport to see them off when you finish your shift?

 

(we have been to Halifax before and know the airport is some distance away from city AND there are loads of early morning flights ... ;))

 

And oh, one more thing - if you have booked the cruise, you realize it has to be paid in full now, it being 75 days before cruise?

Edited July 8, 2014 by bluesea777

[GeezerCouple]

I've been in your shoes to a small degree. I surprised my dh 24 years ago for our first anniversary by picking him up after work for a special night out and told him he couldn't know the restaurant we were going to until we got there. I drove him 5 hours away straight to Niagara Falls for a vacation. Small potatoes compared to what you're accomplishing here. So, even though I'm obviously in the 'let's surprise 'em at the last second' fan club......

 

If the surprise shoe were on the other foot I would DEFINITELY want a days notice! Why? Because I'm an extreme organizer and planner and would be frantic with thousands of micro-panic attacks all happening simultaneously in mere seconds of finding out....

-did he call the bank and notify then we're traveling out of the country?

-did he give the sitter all the pertinent information such as dr's numbers, insurance info, notarized permission to treat letter, and extra cash?

-do they have enough food in the house? Did he fill the cars with gas? Do we have enough kitty litter & cat food?

-are all the bills paid before their monthly due dates?

-did he pack EVERYTHING I need? Put a fresh blade in my razor? Grab the right swim suit? Did he pick me up a new kindle charger cuz the old one is on the fritz? Did he grab extra memory cards and the right camera equipment?

 

And that's only a TASTE of the questions that would be whirling around my head as I was being whisked away, LOL. Yes, I would love the surprise for sure, but I would personally like the opportunity to have at least a night to decide what special things I would like to pack and have the piece of mind that everything has been set at home for our absence and have a night of sleepless giddiness..... but remember... that's just me :D Best of luck no matter which way you decide to go! Your husband's a lucky and blessed man :)

 

I'm more like Kenlorz...

But as long as you know your husband well enough to be SURE he'd like to be truly surprised, this is a really terrific idea!!

 

For me, DH knows me well enough to know that this wouldn't work.

Not only do I want to make sure I take the "right things" and make sure that the housesitter is arranged, etc... but I LIKE - no, I LOVE - the planning. It's like having the vacation while planning, and then... having the real vacation again.

 

I also don't think he'd want a true last minute surprise.

 

For us, I think the best way would be to plan the surprise, and then mention it in some sort of surprise way, before any $ penalty - just in case there was an important meeting/conference/etc., that I wouldn't have known about.

 

Someone last fall arranged the cruise to be known, but the SUITE was the surprise. That seemed just perfect. Keeping the secret was a big deal, but if I remember correctly, she pulled it off :)

 

THAT is the kind of thing I've already done, and it was a HUGE HIT.

Arranging a nicer room or suite in a hotel, or a special dinner with a special menu (something from a special previous evening, perhaps), that would be ideal for us.

 

But YOU know your husband, and if he's the type to enjoy a surprise like this, it doesn't get much better!

 

Whether giving him the 18 hours advance to deal with last minute stuff, or suddenly heading off to the airport?

You'll know what is best for both of you.

 

ENJOY!

It's the sweetest thing:)

 

GeezerCouple

[donutcop]

Lovely to surprise your dh with a cruise!!

 

One thing though .. are you travelling to Miami at least a day before the cruise?? Not on the same day, I hope!

 

Do you have a close relative or friend that you pretend to your dh that you and dh need to go to airport to see them off when you finish your shift?

 

(we have been to Halifax before and know the airport is some distance away from city AND there are loads of early morning flights ... ;))

 

And oh, one more thing - if you have booked the cruise, you realize it has to be paid in full now, it being 75 days before cruise?

 

Yes I booked out flights for the day before. Staying in Miami the night before the cruise.

 

Yes I've already paid the final payment..... No worries there :)

 

Good thinking re seeing a friend off to the airport. We live 20 minutes from the airport -25 minutes if we went directly from work. I could maybe get away with telling him someone is flying in and needs to be picked up even.... Hmmmm

[donutcop]

I'm more like Kenlorz...

But as long as you know your husband well enough to be SURE he'd like to be truly surprised, this is a really terrific idea!!

 

For me, DH knows me well enough to know that this wouldn't work.

Not only do I want to make sure I take the "right things" and make sure that the housesitter is arranged, etc... but I LIKE - no, I LOVE - the planning. It's like having the vacation while planning, and then... having the real vacation again.

 

I also don't think he'd want a true last minute surprise.

 

For us, I think the best way would be to plan the surprise, and then mention it in some sort of surprise way, before any $ penalty - just in case there was an important meeting/conference/etc., that I wouldn't have known about.

 

Someone last fall arranged the cruise to be known, but the SUITE was the surprise. That seemed just perfect. Keeping the secret was a big deal, but if I remember correctly, she pulled it off :)

 

THAT is the kind of thing I've already done, and it was a HUGE HIT.

Arranging a nicer room or suite in a hotel, or a special dinner with a special menu (something from a special previous evening, perhaps), that would be ideal for us.

 

But YOU know your husband, and if he's the type to enjoy a surprise like this, it doesn't get much better!

 

Whether giving him the 18 hours advance to deal with last minute stuff, or suddenly heading off to the airport?

You'll know what is best for both of you.

 

ENJOY!

It's the sweetest thing:)

 

GeezerCouple

 

Thanks :) My husband would totally love the surprise. He always jokes that I'm the vacation planner and he just goes along with whatever I've planned. We were watching Mega Ships the other day and it was on a cruise ship that goes to Antarctica. He made a comment about having cruise fever and I smiled inwardly knowing what I have planned. We have a cruise booked for Nov 2015 on the Oasis so he's totally not thinking we will be going away this year!

[donutcop]

love the idea

 

I'd have to say the night before so that I didn't forget anything. I've just read it to my DH and he said, 'you can do that for me anytime' then said 'but If I did that to you there would be a long face' - I love to plan, part of my trip is the excitement of planning

 

Just qualified to him that he knows what I take away clothes wise and I'm sure he'd manage

 

Good luck with it, would love to hear what his reaction is

Here's hoping I can actually keep it a surprise!

[donutcop]

I've been in your shoes to a small degree. I surprised my dh 24 years ago for our first anniversary by picking him up after work for a special night out and told him he couldn't know the restaurant we were going to until we got there. I drove him 5 hours away straight to Niagara Falls for a vacation. Small potatoes compared to what you're accomplishing here. So, even though I'm obviously in the 'let's surprise 'em at the last second' fan club......

 

If the surprise shoe were on the other foot I would DEFINITELY want a days notice! Why? Because I'm an extreme organizer and planner and would be frantic with thousands of micro-panic attacks all happening simultaneously in mere seconds of finding out....

-did he call the bank and notify then we're traveling out of the country?

-did he give the sitter all the pertinent information such as dr's numbers, insurance info, notarized permission to treat letter, and extra cash?

-do they have enough food in the house? Did he fill the cars with gas? Do we have enough kitty litter & cat food?

-are all the bills paid before their monthly due dates?

-did he pack EVERYTHING I need? Put a fresh blade in my razor? Grab the right swim suit? Did he pick me up a new kindle charger cuz the old one is on the fritz? Did he grab extra memory cards and the right camera equipment?

 

And that's only a TASTE of the questions that would be whirling around my head as I was being whisked away, LOL. Yes, I would love the surprise for sure, but I would personally like the opportunity to have at least a night to decide what special things I would like to pack and have the piece of mind that everything has been set at home for our absence and have a night of sleepless giddiness..... but remember... that's just me :D Best of luck no matter which way you decide to go! Your husband's a lucky and blessed man :)

 

My mind would totally be racing with things that may have been forgotten at all. Luckily for my husband he is relatively oblivious when it comes to planning, packing etc. I'm serious when I say the only thing he usually has to do is find a place to take our dog lol. I've already arranged that though. Oh yes...calling the credit cards is another task he does before we travel so I'll have to put that on my to do list :)

[Juvesgirl]

My vote is last minute surprise!!!! I am a planner, too, but I am secretly hoping my husband surprises me one day. He has tried in the past but can never keep the secret from me. I love surprises.

 

I just successfully surprised my husband with a weekend cruise to nowhere out of NY (we are from NY so no flight involved) in January. It was great! I prearranged shows, got him a casino credit waiting in the room for us, etc. I packed for him a few things each day so he didn't notice a lot of things missing at once and, like you Already thought about, I got him extra mini toiletries to pack so I didn't need to take his. I hid the luggage in his trunk the night before we left because after he went up to bed I "remembered" I left my cell phone in the car "haha." Really I switched the luggage from my car to his trunk. I didn't think he would open his trunk (he didn't). The next day I left my car at work (arranged for it to be left there) took a bus to my husbands job, told him we were leaving and got in his car that already had the luggage, but he didn't know the luggage was there so didn't realize we were going anywhere.

 

Good luck!!

[wichitastatecruiser]

Yes I booked out flights for the day before. Staying in Miami the night before the cruise.

 

Yes I've already paid the final payment..... No worries there :)

 

Good thinking re seeing a friend off to the airport. We live 20 minutes from the airport -25 minutes if we went directly from work. I could maybe get away with telling him someone is flying in and needs to be picked up even.... Hmmmm

 

My 2 cents. I don't know what the two of you do, but your boss already knows so have your boss tell your husband that the two of you have been selected to attend some seminar in the port city and that he gave all the information to you already. If you know someone decent at graphics you can even make fake seminar brochures that include the pre-cruise hotel as place to stay. That way he could pack himself, and wouldn't be the wiser until you actually were at the pier...