Anyone else surprising the family with a cruise??

[4merlurker]

I took advantage of the last RCCL WOW sale and booked the Explorer of the seas for next November!!! Haven't told DH or the kids.....I want to keep it a secret until the very last minute!!!

 

Think I can do it???

 

~Connie

[AZPam]

My parents surprised all of us one Christmas and took us for spring break. Last year we returned the favor and took them for spring break! It's very hard to keep it to yourself, so good luck with that.

[gone_fishin]

Trying to keep the trip RCCL- EOTS 1/7/08) a secret from the kids (girls 23 & 20..both just moved back home YIKES!) We haven't had a family vacation since the Disney days when they were just ankle biters. It has taken a LOT of creativity (secretly calling bosses and boyfriends) but I think I can pull it off!! Any suggestions for a fun way to announce the trip? I was thinking off wrapping luggage tags in a series of next-sized boxes. Not very creative I guess - would love some better suggestions! :confused:

[4merlurker]

I think when it gets closer I'll start talking about a totally different vacation.......throw them off track LOL. I do all the planning (and packing:rolleyes: ) anyway. DH just askes when? and where?

 

~Connie

[NursKris]

MY DH and I booked a cruise on april on carnival destiny and havent told our kids yet, they are 10 and 14. This will be the little ones first and the bigger ones second cruise. It is over spring break for them and they think we will be skiing, so we are going to see how long we can keep it from them.

[cntrydncr1]

In August we booked a cruise for Christmas and still haven't told my 14 year old son yet. I"ve been giving him clues about something special. So far I've told him....

1. It won't be white.

2. Start practicing...you might be the next teen idol.

3. You will meet people from all over the country and a few "saints." (St. Thomas, St. Maartin...get it??)

4. I know you like mini golf.

 

I'm guessing I'll have to give him something easier soon! LOL!! It is soooo hard not to tell him. I can't imagine keeping it for a whole year. I'm sure I could not do that.

[Flipflopsnfrozendrinks]

We pulled off a surprize 10 day cruise for our 5 and 7 (at the time) year olds a couple of years ago. We had them memorize the cabin number,without telling them what it was. Then we told them we were going to drive to Boston to wave at my in-laws as their ship sailed away (my MIL and FIL came with us) as we were all in line to board we let the kids know that we would all be going..and explained the room number to them. THey were stunned, and then started jumping up and down with excitement. Unfortunately this has led us to 2 problems: 1) they think anything shorter than a 10 day cruise is just not right, and 2) they thought that in order to take a cruise, you just walked up and paid your way on, like a taxi or something. LOL

 

Keeping the secret is the hardest part, but it will be well worth it in the end. We let them help choose the next cruise (please note it is another 10 day, that was their deciding factor LOL)

 

Good luck and enjoy your trip, you are giving a great gift!

Kim

[jim85254]

We leave next week on Carnival Destiny for our "surprise" Christmas Cruise. We told our two daughters in August since we feel the anticipation is part of the fun. I booked it back in Feb., so waiting till Aug to let them know was pretty hard on me.

 

Both the DW and I have done the last minute surprise thing to each other, but we thought our two daughters would enjoy the semister at UofAZ looking forword to the cruise!

[surfinggoofy]

I just booked the Star Princess a 23 day cruise from Chile to San Francisco. I was going to tell my wife at Christmas but I messed up and said it's going to be a good 2008 as I was talking about the blessings in our life I said and the Cruise; she said Cruise? I tried to cover it up but I had to tell her that night as I could not keep a secret. I had a scavenger hunt to find the cruise info; when she opened it it was a print out of a four night Disney cruise ( she is not fond of Disney) she then had a dvd that I made on the computer of the real Cruise.. It worked!!!!

:eek:

[Flipflopsnfrozendrinks]

LOL about the Disney thing. I would not be as excited with a Disney cruise as a 23 day adventure either! She is very lucky, have a great time!

Kim

[Mango Mike]

I've surprised my wife and daughter three times with a cruise vacation. The best part is the look on their face once they find out. The first time, they weren't too sure about it since they had never even seen the ocean, let alone sail on it - now they're hooked.

[happyone082]

My fiance and I are getting married this Saturday (the 19th!) and we are going on a cruise. As a thank you to both sets of parents we are surprising them with a cruise this December. None of them have ever been and always dreamed of going so we can't wait to see their reactions!! We tell them Friday!

[Carrotstick]

I surprised my sister with a cruise for April 5th on the Sun. Told her on Christmas. It's a reward for getting through Organic Chem 2 and making it into grad school...

[letsgoagain!]

In 2004 I started saving without my husband knowing for 1 year to go for our 20th anniversary. It was the hardest year!!! He had always wanted to go on a cruise. SO many times I would go to say something and then tell myself I can keep this secret. For Valentine's I got the kids to help me plan a party and wrapped up a sun hat, suntan lotion, a couple other things and then a picture frame with "Our First Cruise" from a flyer on it. His face was priceless as he thought I had charged the cruise on our Visa. I was then able to give him my bank statement (of my secret account) and show him there was enough in there to cover the cruise. He was speechless. It was our 1st real vacation of our marriage. We were then able to go to the travel agent together and pick the one that we wanted. To me planning is half the fun. We left 6 weeks later. Longest 6 weeks of my life.

We were hooked. We went in 2006 again with friends and then just last year I found a good sale on Royal Caribbean in March for the next January (2008) and we booked to take all the kids & family with us as a Christmas gift. We surprised them in May with a "Christmas In May" party. We put up Christmas decorations, played CHristmas music, ordered an icecream Christmas cake with palm trees on it and then wrapped up little gifts to give them the hint. Again I think the planning and anticipation is 1/2 the fun so this gave them lots of time to plan and look forward to it.

What I thought was the trip of a lifetime and we would never be able to do this again (from our 1st cruise) has become an addiction and yes we are hooked as we wait for cruise #4!!!!

[MuffyKismet]

Our daughter is graduating college May 3rd, we just booked a cruise for the whole family for May 5th -the 9th! I called her boss and cleared her vacation time, she knows nothing about it........we have 14 family member going as well and her best friend..........she knows nothing and will not know anything until graduation day just 2 days before we leave! I have her best friend pre packing for her as much as possible LOL.......this should be intresting! her boyfriend is in on the suprise as well. We can't wait to see her expression when we give her the tickets after graduation at a Luncheon we are hosting for her after the ceremony! LOL Hopefully no one slips!

[pmfan]

MuffyKismet ... what a great surprise. :D

[hel0013]

I tried to surprise the DW with a 14 day Panama Canal cruise for our 25th Anniversary but the TA ruined it. :(

 

I was very specific to her to communicate with me by email only but she passed our file onto another TA because she was going to be away and didn't tell her replacement. The replacement TA called while I was on my way to see her for a payment and guess who answered the phone.

 

So I came home to a grinning wife who casually asked.... "Why did a travel agent call here this morning?"

 

I wanted to save it until the actual day of our anniversary... But the good part is that we're still going and I think the DW likes me... :D

 

[dwdwnurse]

Although we had booked our summer cruise this past December, we waited until our oldest daughter's "Sweet 16" birthday to let she and her 11 year old sister know about it. I wrapped our RCI confirmation sheet in a nice box, so when she opened it and found the folded piece of paper with all our names on it she and her sister let our great screams of joy! I think our neighbors must still wonder what happened, ha. The other surprise we are planning is to take them to Disney World when we get back from our cruise - they won't know about that until we pull into Orlando and we are going to give them a piece of Disney jewelry as a clue. It's going to be so hard to keep that a secret!:D

[m1ckey]

My dh and I are surprising our kids b9 g12 for spring break.

They think they are going to grandmas. Its been killing me, not to tell them. I have been running around getting them some nice clothes(we never dress up, thought we would for the cruise).

only 17 days to go!!!!

[MuffyKismet]

As some of you might have seen on my thread "I am steaming" the cat is out of the bag. Carnival sent her an email congratulating her on her newest booking..........UGGGG she didn't book it but they had her email from previous cruises, sooooooooooooo no surprise anymore :(

[gelo7]

I took advantage of the last RCCL WOW sale and booked the Explorer of the seas for next November!!! Haven't told DH or the kids.....I want to keep it a secret until the very last minute!!!

 

Think I can do it???

~Connie

I did the same thing, I told my wife and kids 3 weeks out.