Suprising people on ship????

[m&m1329]

Just wanted to know if Carnival will help us suprise someone we havent seen in 2 yrs aboard ship. They have no idea we booked the same cruise. How would You do it if you were us????? Please help with any ideas.. Ship is Carnival Valor March 20th 2011 sailing...Thanks M&M;)

[mikewrit]

Get aboard very early. Steal or mock up a crew uniform. Be on the quarterdeck when your friends show up and refuse to allow them to board.

[Mr. Bungle]

Have the Pursurs(sp) desk call their cabin and tell them there is an issue with the credit card and they have to come to the desk immediatly with a large cash sum or they will be left off at the next port... Then stand to the side semi-hidden and find some way have the purser pretend to 'call' you and come in and 'save the day'

[trish1c]

I would just show up at the M&G which hopefully will be early or if you are doing traditional dining, work it out so you are at their table.

[firefly333]

Have the Pursurs(sp) desk call their cabin and tell them there is an issue with the credit card and they have to come to the desk immediatly with a large cash sum or they will be left off at the next port... Then stand to the side semi-hidden and find some way have the purser pretend to 'call' you and come in and 'save the day'

 

I doubt carnival would lie for you!!! lmao.

[Sheffie]

My daughter and her husband surprised some friends on a cruise once. They found out what cabin they had, and then they went and snapped a picture of them when the door was open. They sent the picture via phone to them and said that they had spies aboard the ship checking on them. They then snuck behind the couple and sat behind them either in the buffet or lounge (I cannot remember which). The friends were VERY surprised to have them tap them on the shoulders!

 

3 weeks ago my best friend and her sister went on a cruise. While eating lunch at the buffet, a man came up behind them and said, "Excuse me." It was their brother!

 

So, I think this can be done easier than you expect.

 

Have fun! What a great surprise you will be!!

[kitty9]

Some friends of mine were on a Crystal cruise, and I didn't tell them I was on the same cruise. We flew to Lisbon on different planes, so when I arrived on board, I went into the dining room where they were having lunch and plopped myself on a chair at their table.

[RoofingPrincess]

Not always a good idea... We had a group of Cruise Critic friends cruising together. One woman posted she couldn't go, kept it up right till we all started leaving home to get to the port. She wanted to surprise another woman in the group (they lived in the same area). For some personal reason, the surprisee was NOT happy to find this woman on the same cruise... made for a VERY awkward sailaway get-together...

[geoherb]

My boss and his wife went on a cruise. One of their "friends" found out and decided to take his wife on the same cruise. He went through the same local TA and had their bookings linked so they could be at the same table for dinner. He did not tell them beforehand, so they did not find out until the first night at dinner.

 

Fortunately, it was a short cruise. I think my boss would have ended up tossing the guy overboard if he had to last a whole week with him.

 

When my boss got back, the TA got an earful and ended up giving my boss and his wife a credit toward another cruise and a promise never to share their info with anyone.

[Mr. Bungle]

Well... Looks like the easiest way to go would be to wait till you see them by the pool and send a drink their way. When they ask whom it is from you can just wave to them and let them decide if they want to interact the rest of the trip or just keep to themselves.

 

As opposed to some of our twisted sense's of humor... :D

[Dayenu]

Do you know their cabin number? Call them - the calls from cabin to cabin are free. Tell them, there is a surprise waiting for them... pick time and place.

[Marie51]

Are you sure your friends want to be surprised like this?

[m&m1329]

They are family so I don't think it will be awkward. We live in different states 1000 miles from one another. Sister and brother in law. Thanks for the great ideas.

[sail7seas]

I'm not fond of surprises and don't know how I would react to a situation like this. Of course, it would depend who it is but give it a lot of thought. They could view it as a bit 'presumptious'.

[Sam The Cat]

My DS her DH and my DM are going on NCL Jewel in October. My GF and I are also going with out the knowledge of my mother. Since this is her birthday cruise I am ordering the birthday package to decorate their cabin but have the birthday cake delievery to our suite which I will will delivery to their cabin. Since the GF and I are traveling to NYC by different means and are in a suite which means that we are lead on to the ship I feel that my mother will not suspect a thing (I hope) till we knock on the door with her birthday cake. She has already mentioned that she wished that we would come on the cruise buy already told her that we could not make it. I am going to send something to the cabin to tell her that I wish we were there and for her to enjoy the cruise

[Sheffie]

My DS her DH and my DM are going on NCL Jewel in October. My GF and I are also going with out the knowledge of my mother. Since this is her birthday cruise I am ordering the birthday package to decorate their cabin but have the birthday cake delievery to our suite which I will will delivery to their cabin. Since the GF and I are traveling to NYC by different means and are in a suite which means that we are lead on to the ship I feel that my mother will not suspect a thing (I hope) till we knock on the door with her birthday cake. She has already mentioned that she wished that we would come on the cruise buy already told her that we could not make it. I am going to send something to the cabin to tell her that I wish we were there and for her to enjoy the cruise

 

Fabulous!!!

[tulsacubfan]

My DS her DH and my DM are going on NCL Jewel in October. My GF and I are also going with out the knowledge of my mother. Since this is her birthday cruise I am ordering the birthday package to decorate their cabin but have the birthday cake delievery to our suite which I will will delivery to their cabin. Since the GF and I are traveling to NYC by different means and are in a suite which means that we are lead on to the ship I feel that my mother will not suspect a thing (I hope) till we knock on the door with her birthday cake. She has already mentioned that she wished that we would come on the cruise buy already told her that we could not make it. I am going to send something to the cabin to tell her that I wish we were there and for her to enjoy the cruise

 

Now this kind of surprise is wonderful!!! I assume your sister is in on it and if she sees you before (like at the dock) will make sure your mother doesn't see you until you knock on her door? With my luck, we would show up at the dock at the same time and she would see me or my husband!

[daddig]

Now this kind of surprise is wonderful!!! I assume your sister is in on it and if she sees you before (like at the dock) will make sure your mother doesn't see you until you knock on her door? With my luck, we would show up at the dock at the same time and she would see me or my husband!

This is Sam the cats sister... yep we've planned this for a long time now the time is getting closer and I'm hoping that all is going to go according to our plan... When sam knocks at the door, my dh will be on the balcony and gee, I'll have to excuse myself to the bathroom... and telling my dmom to answer the door that its probably just the cabin attendant with more towels... lol.. just can't wait... jaup2 and daddig:D

[tulsacubfan]

This is Sam the cats sister... yep we've planned this for a long time now the time is getting closer and I'm hoping that all is going to go according to our plan... When sam knocks at the door, my dh will be on the balcony and gee, I'll have to excuse myself to the bathroom... and telling my dmom to answer the door that its probably just the cabin attendant with more towels... lol.. just can't wait... jaup2 and daddig:D

 

That sounds wonderful!!! Be sure and let us know how it goes!

[rjeffler]

If you haven't yet, go on to www.johnhealdsblog.com and ask John Heald to get you at the same table for dinner. He is Carnival's head CD and he does things like this all of the time. You would need to do it ASAP though because he is 3-4 weeks behind on returning his emails!

[Marie51]

I see there's lots of different opinions about this. I still say that I would not want to be surprised by people I haven't seen in 2 years, relatives or not.

[Tazsamp]

Our surprise wasn't necessarily very creative, but there ended up being more to the story than just us surprising our friends.

 

Years ago we met a fabulous couple from England (we are from Canada). We clicked, and it felt like they had become second parents to us. When we found out they had booked a cruise (this was with Royal - and we originally met on a Royal cruise) we thought we would book the cruise also, just show up and surprise them. We ordered their room to be decorated for bon voyage. Once we got on the ship we just went right up to their cabin (I can't remember if their cabin steward came with us or not), knocked and said "SURPRISE!!". Doesn't sound like much, but they were thrilled! Obviously, we don't get to see them very often;).

 

The twist to this story comes with my FIL and his wife. Of course they heard all about our plans to surprise our friends, so THEY decided to come along and surprise US. The plan was for them to just show up at the airport (booked the same flight as us) and surprise us there. Well, I can't remember exactly what I called the cruiseline about, but I guess I must have wanted to add something to our own sailaway or something (or to charge the bon voyage decorations, can't quite remember now). When I gave our last name to the Royal rep over the phone they pulled up my FIL's reservation and said "Oh, the reservation for insert name here". It was a surprise but unfortunately it kind of gave their plans away:o!

 

My DH and I decided we would make sure to act all surprised at the airport, as we didn't want to spoil my their fun. We did eventually admit to finding out about their plans, and needless to say, they were NOT impressed with Royal!

 

It was still a fabulous cruise and I wouldn't have traded it for the world!

[Caribbean Sunsets]

We just did this on a recent cruise. We have a group we met here through CC and try to cruise each year. A few of us were not going to be able to go but as time grew closer things worked out. We decided to keep our secret. It even involved changing flights as one couple that was booked are also family members.

 

We knew from following the roll call that they had plans to meet at Sailaway. We had to keep ourselves hidden until then which also meant getting through the muster drill and even walking in the hallways to our rooms (one couple was on the same deck). We had planned on having the waiter send them a drink but the area they were in didn't really provide some place for us to be out of sight until the time was right.

 

In the end, we were able to draw their attention from an open deck up above. Their reaction was awesome, and we had a fantastic cruise!

 

You may want to have a Plan B or C...just in case. Good luck on your surprise!!:)

[cruiseco]

I see there's lots of different opinions about this. I still say that I would not want to be surprised by people I haven't seen in 2 years, relatives or not.

 

I agree. If I'm cruising just with my spouse it's because I want to cruise just with my spouse. Otherwise I would have told all friends/family that we're cruising on such and such a date and if anyone wants to join us the more the merrier. I would resent this kind of surprise and certainly wouldn't do it to someone else.

[bluecat_1975]

I have to be honest and say that if my brothers or sisters did that. Or if my husband's brothers and sisters did that I would be THRILLED. I am blessed to love and be great friends with both sides of my family. They are our best friends. I am always in awe that not all families are like this -

 

Go for the surprise - if you are thinking about it you must be close. If that happened to me I would be so excited. We are close to our extended families too -nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts uncles I would love to have any of them on a vacation with us!

:cool: