Surprise cruise

I plan to take my husband on a cruise for our 10th anniversary in September 2018. I'm thinking a four day cruise out of Florida, the gulf coast or perhaps LA. I've only been on one cruise and that was 13 years ago in college. He has never been on a cruise and really wants to go on one.

Any tips for planning a surprise cruise?

I plan to take my husband on a cruise for our 10th anniversary in September 2018. I'm thinking a four day cruise out of Florida, the gulf coast or perhaps LA. I've only been on one cruise and that was 13 years ago in college. He has never been on a cruise and really wants to go on one.

 

Any tips for planning a surprise cruise?

I actually did that very thing for my wife our 10th, which also was our first cruise. Back then the cruise docs were printed in a small booklet - but an envelope with the cruise docs would work - which I handed to her at dinner with desert at one of our more favorite upscale restaurants. Kept the cruise a complete secret for 6 months and surprised her with it then. I did so a week before our sail date to assure she had time to pack, etc.. I had also arranged for her parents to come in that week to watch the kids while we went on RCI Sovereign of the Seas 7 night Eastern Caribbean.

That was 25 years ago - will be celebrating our 35th this September - and we have been cruising ever since, including a couple of other anniversary cruises. One of which was for our 30th back to Bermuda where we had our honeymoon. But that was not a surprise cruise and we had been back there on our 5th as well.

I plan to take my husband on a cruise for our 10th anniversary in September 2018. I'm thinking a four day cruise out of Florida, the gulf coast or perhaps LA. I've only been on one cruise and that was 13 years ago in college. He has never been on a cruise and really wants to go on one.

 

Any tips for planning a surprise cruise?

Whoaaaaa..! That idea brings back memories ! While I didn't hit the tenth anniversary mark, I didn't miss it by much ( 2 years past our tenth) or our 12th. In fact, I was so proud of my 'surprise' I almost outwitted myself. :( We were married in 1995, and for many years I did all but BEG her to at least try a cruise but she would neither try OR talk about it. She had seen the stupid, insipid T.V. show, 'Love Boat' and thought that was what a cruise was. :( So, in 2006 (without her knowledge, I might add) I went ahead and made a reservation for a five day cruise on the Carnival Holiday out of Mobile for Freeport/Nassau for the week of our anniversary in March 2007. I was sitting here fat, dumb and so proud of myself, so sure it'd be a surprise for her. WHEN it dawned on me, at the end of December 2006, I had neglected to tell her !!! Oh NO !, When she came in one afternoon, and mentioned our upcoming event, I cleared my throat, and stammered,' Er, honey I meant to tell you, well...' Her eyes grew wide, and for a for a few minutes she was speechless. Finally, she found her voice and squeaked out,' Well, let me check with my boss and see if that week's available'. Luckily, she was able to get the week off. Wow !! Was that ever close !! I mentally kicked myself in the pants everyday that following week. Long story, short ( I know, too late) she fell totally in love with cruising and from then on, till just last year, we were doing two cruises a year (Sept and March) and she loves making ALL the plans. Guess ONE 'surprise' cruise in her life is enough! LOL !

Mac

Make sure you book it using an email address he does not have access to. And you will have to pay a deposit with a credit card, do you have one where he does not see the bills?

How far in advance of the trip are you going to tell him? If he doesn't have a passport he will need to get one, and he will need to arrange time off from work.

Make sure you book it using an email address he does not have access to. And you will have to pay a deposit with a credit card, do you have one where he does not see the bills?

 

How far in advance of the trip are you going to tell him? If he doesn't have a passport he will need to get one, and he will need to arrange time off from work.

In July I'll reach out to his boss about blocking the time on his schedule with meetings or something on his calendar.

I'll double check his passport in the next few months and this winter I will be getting new ones for myself and the kids. If his needs renewing I'll try to fold it all into one trip

Whoaaaaa..! That idea brings back memories ! While I didn't hit the tenth anniversary mark, I didn't miss it by much ( 2 years past our tenth) or our 12th. In fact, I was so proud of my 'surprise' I almost outwitted myself. :( We were married in 1995, and for many years I did all but BEG her to at least try a cruise but she would neither try OR talk about it. She had seen the stupid, insipid T.V. show, 'Love Boat' and thought that was what a cruise was. :( So, in 2006 (without her knowledge, I might add) I went ahead and made a reservation for a five day cruise on the Carnival Holiday out of Mobile for Freeport/Nassau for the week of our anniversary in March 2007. I was sitting here fat, dumb and so proud of myself, so sure it'd be a surprise for her. WHEN it dawned on me, at the end of December 2006, I had neglected to tell her !!! Oh NO !, When she came in one afternoon, and mentioned our upcoming event, I cleared my throat, and stammered,' Er, honey I meant to tell you, well...' Her eyes grew wide, and for a for a few minutes she was speechless. Finally, she found her voice and squeaked out,' Well, let me check with my boss and see if that week's available'. Luckily, she was able to get the week off. Wow !! Was that ever close !! I mentally kicked myself in the pants everyday that following week. Long story, short ( I know, too late) she fell totally in love with cruising and from then on, till just last year, we were doing two cruises a year (Sept and March) and she loves making ALL the plans. Guess ONE 'surprise' cruise in her life is enough! LOL !

 

Mac

Great story Mac. My wife was worried if she enjoy cruises before we got married. After ten on board the QM2 almost ten years ago we've been cruising happily ever since.

Great Idea Asara217. Good Luck with your cruise planning!

Jonathan

No tips on the 'surprise' part, but as far as deciding which cruise to take, a couple of things to consider:

Where do you live and how will you get to the cruise? I really wanted to do a 4-day Caribbean cruise in February, so we did. While we had a blast, it was 2 days travel there and back--partly because we live in the middle of nowhere Wyoming and our choice of flights was not plentiful. In my exhuberance to plan a cruise in the Caribbean, I didn't realize how much of a hassle getting there and back would be.

Now, for next February we are planning a Mexican Riviera cruise, and I picked that because it only takes us 1 day to get to California instead of the two days to Florida. So sometimes your itinerary needs to take into consideration the travel requirements to get there.

Also consider things that he (and you) would like to do on port days--if you want a beach experience, it's my understanding that the Caribbean is better for that than the 4-day Baja Californias.

Great story Mac. My wife was worried if she enjoy cruises before we got married. After ten on board the QM2 almost ten years ago we've been cruising happily ever since.

 

Great Idea Asara217. Good Luck with your cruise planning!

 

Jonathan

Amen, Jonathan. :) Like I said before after our first, she couldn't wait till the next and.. Well, you get the point. Two years ago we were booked on a 7 day cruise in Sept out of New Orleans when we received a phone call that the cruise was CANCELLED !! Ohhhh my goodness !! After eleven cruises,this had never happened ! HOW was I going to tell her? She was FURIOUS ! At me, at everybody ! I knew she also loved the beaches in Panama City,FL, that was what she did BEFORE cruising, so I told her I'd go online and see about 'something' for our vacation. Well, I found a nice hotel, ON the beach but when I told her about it, she GOT in my face (now mind you, THIS was the woman, that 8 years earlier would never even discuss a 'cruise') and literally screamed, 'I DO NOT want to go to GO#$DA% Panama City and stay in some FU@&NG hotel !! I WANT to go on a GD cruise !!" Wow !, I though, that was plain enough! We were able to find another cruise out of N.O. on the CCL Conquest, but paid almost double, because it was the last balcony on the ship. Taught me a valuable lesson about HOW my wife now viewed a cruise. :) LOL ! Eight days later as we sailed back up the Mississippi, back to NO it was about 10 p.m. and she was sitting out on the balcony, enjoying the fresh air, she began to sob. Concerned, I ask her what was wrong, she sadly choked out, 'WHY did you let me wait so long to take a CRUISE !!' MEN!! HOW totally inconsiderate we are!

Mac

You should write these stories down Mac. They're great.

Jonathan

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In a bit over 2 weeks we'll do our second time anniversary cruise (1st was for for 15th - also Alaska) and there's no way in the world I could keep it a secret from my wife. She puts way too much thought and effort into preparing and planning. At the very least half the "fun" for her is shopping for clothes just for the cruise. Have her skip that and she skin me alive. I think the surprise things would work better on a guy. ;p

... I think the surprise things would work better on a guy. ;p

Hi, all:

I agree, it would be a challenge if I were surprised with a cruise and hope! it will work better on my guy!

I am asking a similar question so adding onto this thread -

Looking for some creative ideas on how to reveal a surprise birthday cruise for my husband. He has not done much traveling yet, and never has been on a cruise -so- I booked us an amazing week-long cruise to celebrate. I’ve kept this secret for almost six! months now – I cannot wait to surprise him!

His birthday is coming up soon, and the cruise is a couple months later, so would like to start the reveal on his birthday to at least give him a little notice given the length away so he is able to plan what he needs to; I do not want to reveal the cruise part right away though. I had mixed feelings about reaching out to his boss to pre-arrange his time out of the office, and in the end felt it best to let my husband do this (that and I do not think the boss will be able to keep my secret!).

The ship leaves out of Florida, so planning to use flying to FL as the initial surprise trip destination. This will help too as he will pack just about all the same stuff. He will not know about the -real- trip until our limo from the airport pulls up for him to see the huge cruise liner – gosh the look on his face will be priceless!

I would like the reveal to be creative and fun! I’ve read a lot on reveal ideas and so far a scavenger hunt or hangman reveal are front-runners but feel there is something better out there which I am just not thinking of - more "wow," ya know? So, reaching out to all the creative cruise minds out there! Any wow reveals you can think of? I will be so grateful for all suggestions.

This will be only my third cruise, so hoping cruising catches on with the hubby so we can enjoy many more cruises in the future!

Thanks in advance!

Any tips for planning a surprise cruise?

Yes - don't. It's a really selfish way of pleasing yourself and denying pleasure to your husband. Unless you're absolutely sure that he wouldn't enjoy looking forward to a cruise?

I'm going on a cruise next July, and have been on many other cruises before, and even so I'm looking forward to it already; I'm quite sure the 30 seconds of realisation wouldn't give me the same enjoyment as the many months of anticipation.

You can do the "surprise" aspect of it now. No need to wait until next year.

Lovely idea - planning a surprise anniversary cruise. I would suggest giving hubby a "heads up" - at least for saving the dates. What if he's planning a surprise anniversary cruise for you?

I plan to take my husband on a cruise for our 10th anniversary in September 2018. I'm thinking a four day cruise out of Florida, the gulf coast or perhaps LA. I've only been on one cruise and that was 13 years ago in college. He has never been on a cruise and really wants to go on one. Any tips for planning a surprise cruise?

Planning was so fun; I’ll echo be conscience of emails/confirmations and things which may get mailed to the house! I did let him know with enough time that he could request his own PTO, which he appreciated vs. me reaching out to his boss. (His boss is great and would have been fine but he can’t keep secrets ha-ha!)

For the surprise part, I ended up surprising my hubby by doing an unveiling through a puzzle that he had to piece together for clues over a few days (custom made through shutterfly), then at the end he opened up a gift with cruise line paraphernalia my TA sent me, plane tickets, our itinerary etc. He was super surprised and thrilled with the gift of an amazing cruise! His face was priceless when he realized what it was!

Good luck with your plans – happy sailing!!

This last year’s had some great highs and lows for us so two weeks before our 39th anniversary I found a last minutes cruise to Alaska(we are retired so time off was not the issue). Last minute deal was an interior guarantee and we were given an accessible room with virtual balcony which worked out great. As we both traveled extensively for work we have all the travel goods together and I was able to gather together everything without him knowing. Did cancel our obligations and finally had to tell him on Thursday morning that we could not play golf on Saturday as I had a surprise. We flew into Seattle Saturday morning and sailed away - fabulous. He has no interest in the planning phase so it was fine with him.

While many itineraries demand more planning than this one, we had a great time and would do that again in a heartbeat. So if your DH will be happy to go with the flow, have fun.