Surprising someone onboard - try it...you'll like it.

[European_CruiseGirl]

10 minutes ago, schmoopie17 said:

You must have missed the fact that the second couple DID ask us to go along...as mentioned in post 5 (above). 

However that was then. They could have changed their minds after that and looked forward to just some alone time. It does happen many times. People hope for something to happen (in this case for friends to come along) but when they hear it is not possible they change their plans and embrace the possibility to spend alone time as a couple. Obviously they wouldn’t tell about changing their minds because…why would they need to tell anyone? The friends already said they are not coming. In that type of situation it will become as a truly unwanted surprise if those friends then suddenly join and expect to hang out. 
 

I am 100% sure op knows their friends and hence there is no problem for him or his friends. But for many…yea, there are huge potential risks associated because people are allowed and will change their minds…without telling their friends. 

[amarvel]

5 hours ago, complawyer said:

i firmly believe, if they wanted us to join them, they would have brought up the subject. 

This 1000 times, yes! This sentence is the correct thought process and said perfectly.  I think there are very rare times when surprising someone could be ok, but its rare.  But if you plan to do this to someone,  really think it through.  If they wanted you there,  they would have invited you!

[Firstin87]

On 12/6/2023 at 12:31 PM, SomewhereGirl said:

That's scary.  What if Heather was a stalker?!

Totally agree.  Very surprising that NCL is that liberal with such personal information.

[European_CruiseGirl]

5 hours ago, Firstin87 said:

Totally agree.  Very surprising that NCL is that liberal with such personal information.

Yes indeed. I once had a situation at a hotel while I was attending a seminar (this was in Germany of all places, usually they are very strict with personal info). One evening mid  seminar I heard a knock on the door and it was a person (male) whom I had met at the seminar. I am a female who was travelling alone. I was completely puzzled because I certainly had not given him my room number or even hotel name but he just casually said that ”Oh I noticed you came to this hotel after the seminar, I stay here too so I just asked at check in what is your room number”. Whaaaaaaat??? I made some vague excuse to get him away and immediately went to check in who scoffed at me and said ”well madam if you would have wanted to stay incognito you should have mentioned it when you checked in”. Those were their exact words. I asked for the supervisor who changed my room - but still made a big deal out of it saying to me that ”well now madam we have marked you incognito”. Ummmmmm…shouldn’t everyone automatically be? You shouldn’t really be handing out room numbers to others 🙄  Needless to say I have not stayed at that (big international) hotel chain anymore. 

 

Edited December 8, 2023 by European_CruiseGirl

[dexddd]

Wanting to know what Mrs. Schmoopie's take is on the mostly don't do it feedback?

 

We did it once on DCL with nearly family group.  Grandparents knew and ok.  Kids and grandkids fine with it, actually excited.  Did violate a couple of my nos, no DCL and no three night cruise.  Such a good time I think we have six DCL done but with current prices, no.

[cruiseny4life]

On 12/7/2023 at 8:15 AM, cruiseny4life said:

Well, I guess I'm in the minority of folks that think this is a super cool idea! @schmoopie17 and others, if any of you would like to bug me on a cruise, please feel free! Just send some chocolate covered strawberries to my room first. 🙂

I'm revising this statement @schmoopie17. If there are no hash browns brought to my room, then you may not surprise me on a cruise! BTW - I always post the room I'm in on my lives, so it'll be easy to find where to take the hash browns. Secretive, I am not. Suspicious? Maybe. 

[roger001]

Please, never ever do that to us!  We cruise to escape and get away alone.   No company, thank you.  

[Homosassa]

Because of some experiences we have had with vacationing with family members who assume they can just invite themselves along on our trips, we have stopped telling anyone in advance of our travel plans.

 

Note: These are very entitled people who throw hissy fits as it's all about them  and dress to attract attention and then are upset with the attention they attract.

[schmoopie17]

2 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

I'm revising this statement @schmoopie17. If there are no hash browns brought to my room, then you may not surprise me on a cruise! BTW - I always post the room I'm in on my lives, so it'll be easy to find where to take the hash browns. Secretive, I am not. Suspicious? Maybe. 

Do these count?

[sanger727]

This all seems to be going off the rails and out of context. There are many people who enjoy traveling with friends. Having a history of taking trips with these people and the fact that they were invited in the first place, makes this almost certainly a positive surprise. 

 

It has been noted that most of you would not like random, uninvited friends crashing your vacation. That is fair. 

Edited December 8, 2023 by sanger727

[schmoopie17]

4 hours ago, dexddd said:

Wanting to know what Mrs. Schmoopie's take is on the mostly don't do it feedback?

 

Considering it is Mrs. Schmoopie's idea, I'd say she's more than fine with it.

 

Look, we know our friends better than anyone on this board. We know they would be thrilled (as the first couple was). We're sure the second couple will be, too. As I said, they originally invited us...and that was very recently as they only booked the cruise a week or so ago. And...the husband of the couple was recently diagnosed with dementia, so this will probably be our last opportunity to take a memorable vacation with them. 

 

For those of you who prefer to cruise alone...more power to you. But that's why they make more than one ice cream flavor...more than one model of car...more than one pizza topping, etc. Not everyone likes the same things or thinks alike. 

 

As they famously say on CC...YMMV.

 

Edited December 8, 2023 by schmoopie17

[cruiseny4life]

8 minutes ago, schmoopie17 said:

Do these count?

I'll take it!! With onions, peppers, salt, black pepper please...and some canola oil. 🙂

[schmoopie17]

2 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

This all seems to be going off the rails and out of context. There are many people who enjoy traveling with friends. Having a history of taking trips with these people and the fact that they were invited in the first place, makes this almost certainly a positive surprise. 

You said what I didn't say very succinctly and accurately. 

[European_CruiseGirl]

22 minutes ago, schmoopie17 said:

Considering it is Mrs. Schmoopie's idea, I'd say she's more than fine with it.

 

Look, we know our friends better than anyone on this board. We know they would be thrilled (as the first couple was). We're sure the second couple will be, too. As I said, they originally invited us...and that was very recently as they only booked the cruise a week or so ago. And...the husband of the couple was recently diagnosed with dementia, so this will probably be our last opportunity to take a memorable vacation with them. 

 

For those of you who prefer to cruise alone...more power to you. But that's why they make more than one ice cream flavor...more than one model of car...more than one pizza topping, etc. Not everyone likes the same things or thinks alike. 

 

As they famously say on CC...YMMV.

 

I guess the problem here is op said in his opening: ”Surprising someone onboard - try it...you'll like it.”

 

The latter part is why people are reacting. Not everyone likes it or would like their friends to do it. And thats fine. Not everyone needs to like it. If op’s title had been ”We surprised our friends and it was fantastic” the replies would have been very different I assume. 
 

I may sound like a broken record but I still want to emphasize once more that people can change their minds. Just because someone has invited you at some point to a trip or wherever and you say no thank you it doesn’t mean that the friends would be happy that you then surprise them by joining as they might at that point have made some very different plans. I might invite someone to my home for tomorrow evening but if they say no I’ll change my plans. I might very well still be at home but have planned something else like a quiet evening and a ”surprise we came” most likely would be a very big no no. 
 

 

Edited December 8, 2023 by European_CruiseGirl

[laudergayle]

@schmoopie17 please share how this surprise turns out.  I bet your wife friend  will be happy to have friends around to help her with her husband and his dementia.  To me, that changes the surprise scenario, a lot.  Happy cruising!

[complawyer]

if you're planning on surprising them, and they invited you in the 1st place, why not just tell them you decided to join them after all? This way you can all make similar travel arrangements.

What if the couple have already booked shore excursions, dinner reservations etc?

 

What if they're in a haven, or suite, and there are no longer any of those category cabins available.

 

Do you think they'd be willing to give up those perks to accommodate you? Would you even ask them to.

Sanger727. While i certainly enjoy traveling with friends, part of my enjoyment is sitting down, and working out the logistics prior to traveling.

Personally, it's not something i would spring on anyone (regardless of how friendly we are)

 

wouldn't it be infinitely smarter to try and book the same flights, same hotels (if they're going in early to embarkation city, or staying after disembarkation, and planning where you want to go and what you  want to do? 

[schmoopie17]

32 minutes ago, complawyer said:

if you're planning on surprising them, and they invited you in the 1st place, why not just tell them you decided to join them after all? This way you can all make similar travel arrangements.

What if the couple have already booked shore excursions, dinner reservations etc?

 

What if they're in a haven, or suite, and there are no longer any of those category cabins available.

 

We already know they booked an inside cabin. That was one of their selling points when they wanted us to join them...the fact that insides were so inexpensive. Furthermore, it's not like we plan on spending every waking moment with them. It's a 14 day cruise and it would get a bit tiresome to have every meal and every single activity with them.

 

We have cruised with friends a number of times in the past and half the time we didn't have dinner with them or didn't do the same excursions. We're not attached at the hip.

 

Finally, for everyone who is trying to talk us out of this surprise, we are past final payment and it's not happening. 

 

Edited December 8, 2023 by schmoopie17

[Sugar Magnolia]

This is a surprise so please do not share...

 

My family of five, with two toddlers and an infant, have booked a cabin next to @schmoopie17, because I so appreciate his sharp wit and humor on so many of these CC pages and thought he would equally appreciate the lively companionship of three little ones under the age of five. 

 

I have also pre-ordered his beloved grease sponges to be delivered to his cabin instead of chocolate-covered strawberries. 

 

[schmoopie17]

46 minutes ago, Sugar Magnolia said:

This is a surprise so please do not share...

 

My family of five, with two toddlers and an infant, have booked a cabin next to @schmoopie17, because I so appreciate his sharp wit and humor on so many of these CC pages and thought he would equally appreciate the lively companionship of three little ones under the age of five. 

 

I have also pre-ordered his beloved grease sponges to be delivered to his cabin instead of chocolate-covered strawberries. 

 

Oh, rats...you spoiled the surprise. Now I have nothing to look forward to. Except I can still look forward to meeting you and exchanging astute observations.

[Firstin87]

12 hours ago, European_CruiseGirl said:

Yes indeed. I once had a situation at a hotel while I was attending a seminar (this was in Germany of all places, usually they are very strict with personal info). One evening mid  seminar I heard a knock on the door and it was a person (male) whom I had met at the seminar. I am a female who was travelling alone. I was completely puzzled because I certainly had not given him my room number or even hotel name but he just casually said that ”Oh I noticed you came to this hotel after the seminar, I stay here too so I just asked at check in what is your room number”. Whaaaaaaat??? I made some vague excuse to get him away and immediately went to check in who scoffed at me and said ”well madam if you would have wanted to stay incognito you should have mentioned it when you checked in”. Those were their exact words. I asked for the supervisor who changed my room - but still made a big deal out of it saying to me that ”well now madam we have marked you incognito”. Ummmmmm…shouldn’t everyone automatically be? You shouldn’t really be handing out room numbers to others 🙄  Needless to say I have not stayed at that (big international) hotel chain anymore. 

 

That is scary!  Thank goodness you were able to get him to leave. 

 

I hope this happened many years ago and that this international hotel chain has revised their policies.  If for no other reason, the hotel could be liable if something horrible happened to a guest after the business gave out the guest's room number without the guest's permission.

[sanger727]

2 hours ago, complawyer said:

 

Sanger727. While i certainly enjoy traveling with friends, part of my enjoyment is sitting down, and working out the logistics prior to traveling.

Personally, it's not something i would spring on anyone (regardless of how friendly we are)

 

 

And that's your choice. I can think of a handful of time when I was on trip that we invited other friends for. Most of the time they said yes. I can't think of a time when we invited someone on a trip and would have been upset if they showed up anyway.

 

Now, on both sides of the equation - the supriser or the one being surprised. I would not expect that the new couple would hijack the vacation and expect the other couple to change their plans. But, if I thought someone would do that, I wouldn't have invited them on the trip in the first place. 

Edited December 8, 2023 by sanger727

[complawyer]

in that case schmoopie, have a terrific time, hope it works out well 

and a fond "Bon Voyage" from your friendly, neighborhood complawyer

[firstimer2009]

On 12/6/2023 at 6:20 PM, Travelling2Some said:

My husband and I definitely have a strong preference for traveling just the two of us.  Our circle of friends mention from time to time how great it would be to do a group cruise.  I think I will be more discreet about sail dates and ship names going forward.  People who are very outgoing sometimes don't realize that others might not like this type of surprise.  Glad the OP seems to have chosen wisely.

My DH and I have first cruise in 5 years planned for next Sept in the Med.   He has family that cruise all the time but only Celebrity. Although one of them would take NCL just to go. We are telling no one. Did cruise with friends one time and I thought it was exhausting.  

[slavetoabunny]

2 minutes ago, firstimer2009 said:

My DH and I have first cruise in 5 years planned for next Sept in the Med.   He has family that cruise all the time but only Celebrity. Although one of them would take NCL just to go. We are telling no one. Did cruise with friends one time and I thought it was exhausting.  

Agreed.  We have gone on two cruises with friends.  One was absolutely miserable and the second only tolerable.  Never again.

[Travelling2Some]

2 hours ago, firstimer2009 said:

My DH and I have first cruise in 5 years planned for next Sept in the Med.   He has family that cruise all the time but only Celebrity. Although one of them would take NCL just to go. We are telling no one. Did cruise with friends one time and I thought it was exhausting.  

 

3 hours ago, slavetoabunny said:

Agreed.  We have gone on two cruises with friends.  One was absolutely miserable and the second only tolerable.  Never again.

We truly love our friends and are blessed to have them BUT I know that some would be upset if we were not joined at the hip and others would want us to change touring plans that took much research and planning to formulate.  Travel is expensive, we cruise for the ports and it is important to us to see what we planned to see.  We can socialize with friends at home anytime.