Anyone asked family to help fund cruise/excursions?

[tankersbabe]

Ok...hubby and I got hooked when we cruised this year on the four day Fantasy. LOVED IT!

 

Now we have two wonderful set of parents who pretty much buy us useless Christmas presents every year. I know it is the thought that counts, but so many of these items end up in the yard sale or go to Goodwill each year. I love them to death, but gift giving is not on their list of stuff to do well. Wrong sizes, jsut stuff stuff stuff. And I know my inlaws spend WAY too much money on us for Christmas every year. No matter what we say, they still do it.

 

This year, hubby and I were thinking about telling our parents to just contact Carnival and put what they would be spending on us towards either our cruise for next year, or just credit on our sign and sail for excursions and so forth.

 

How tacky is that? And has anyone ever had success doing it? My boss purchased the Bon Voyage package for us this year and it was such a wonderful surprise and so thoughtful!

 

Thanks for any suggestions on how to approach this.

 

Stef

 

Fantasy February 2004

Looking for my next cruise! WHOOO HOOO!

[bencruzN]

Not tacky at all. I'll bet they will love to give you something you could actually use. If they MUST wrap a present for Christmas, tell them to put it in a card (the cash).

 

Heading for my Destiny

[Snowball]

I think it is a great idea. My SIL bought us all funship dollars for Christmas last year (our whole family was going on the cruise) and it was definitely one of the best gifts I received, and was definitely put to good use for purchasing foo foo drinks on the ship.

 

Debbie

Join the Valor Voyagers on 6/12/05 as we sail the Western Caribbean - Click here for details

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Triumph (Eastern) 05/00

Destiny (Southern) 04/02

Miracle (Bahamas) 05/04

Valor (Western) 06/04

[HOSKI]

Perfect idea just have them buy you funship dollars that can be used to book or for onboard credit. Wish my family would do this. I'm tired of giving away my gifts.

 

Fascination 1997 Destiny 2000

Victory 2000 Sensation 2001

Norway 2002 Legend 2002

NCL Dawn 2003 Inspiration 2003

Victory 2004 Holiday 2004

[sea-cruise]

I think it would be fine. If you don't know exactly how to bring it up, you could always have a sister/brother put a suggestion to the parents that they "know what you could use" at gift-giving times. Our family, like most, is close enough that we wouldn't consider it tacky amongst ourselves. Our relatives usually ask each other if there is anything specific that they would like. (It's a good idea, because it's the "thought" that counts, and the gift could be for any denomination of value that the giver can afford, and at the same time it would be a gift that shows thought).

 

 

 

Celebrating 30th cruise soon....

[camreesmom]

I hope our family will do this at Christmas this year. We're taking our entire family (8 kids, son-in-law, and one of the grandmas)on the Ecstasy next summer and we already told our kids that there won't be any non-cruise related gifts at Christmas and birthdays before the cruise. They will be getting beach towels, beach bags, bathing suits, etc. that I plan on buying at the end of the season clearance sales this year. It would be great if the aunts, uncles, and other family members would give on-board credit or spending money.

 

Julie

 

mjcrober@yahoo.com

 

Fantasy 12/03

Splendour of the Seas 3/04

 

 until our first time on Princess

 

Grand Princess 11/04

 

 until our family cruise

 

Ecstasy 7/05

 

[BillnBobbi]

Our son and daughter-in-law had been married two years and hadn't really had any kind of vacation (he was finishing law school, she was finishing her nurse-practitioners degree). We asked them if they wanted to go on a cruise with us to Alaska last summer and they said, that that was a nice offer, but they really wanted to be by themselves and they wanted to be in a warm climate. (Now they LIVE all year round in New Orleans, did they want to spend a week in Death Valley!!!??? ).

 

So we let them take The Conquest out of NOLA.

About a month after the cruise they informed us she was pregnant. Four weeks ago we were awarded with our first grandchild (boy in case you were curious ). As they said on that commercial last year - He was their little souvenir!!!

 

Hey, we'll keep giving them free cruises if that's what they keep coming back with!!!

 

BTW, they enjoyed the cruise so much that we booked it this year with our younger son and his significant other. But just to make sure NOTHING happens because well...they simply aren't ready - we're making them stay in the same room with us. { OK< OK< just kidding about that last tidbit - we got them their own room, and its several doors down from ours.)

 

Gee, I hope Mrs. B dosen't come back pregnant... It'll mean I stayed out on the sun deck too long... while she was having fun....

 

BnB

[NinaCO]

I have a friend who sometimes puts credit on my S&S account as a birthday or Christmas gift. It's a wonderful present!

 

I wish I had the courage to ask my aunt, who buys me expensive gifts, to do cruise credit instead. But, I'm afraid of hurting her feelings. I know she spends a lot of time choosing gifts, and she has great taste. It's just that I'm not comfortable using a tiny $200+ purse. No complaints; she's just much more fashion conscious than me. I'm more comfortable with walking shoes and a backpack, hiking or doing agility with my dogs, than I am dressing up.

 

I don't think I can bring it up without hurting her, and I definitely don't want to do that! So, I keep quiet. If you can figure out a way to do it without making them feel bad, I think it's a great idea!

 

Sleazy 3 on Conquest in Just:

[Travelitis]

Our family is pretty good about asking each other what to get. Maybe you could bring it up by first asking what THEY want. After they answer you, there's a good chance they'll think to ask what you would like.

 

I'm not one to care much about receiving gifts, so you have to really be bad at it for me to notice. lol!

There's 1 family member who always has a list for us that we stick to religiously but who shops for us as though we're complete strangers. For a person with such good taste, the gifts are off-the-wall bad. (tablecloth and 4 napkins for our family of 5) The worst was the 1st Christmas we were married - 1 sweatshirt in his size. I spent hrs. finding something for her, but SIL didn't know me well enough to send a gift my in-laws said, so they figured I could borrow the shirt, making it a gift for both of us. They all still blamed me for marrying my dh at that point, so they weren't on their best behavior.

 

My funniest gift ever was from my in-laws was a ladder for my birthday, because they just couldn't come with any ideas. LOL! A $10 candle from Target would've done just fine, but I got the ladder we'd borrowed from them a couple of weeks prior. ROFL!

 

 

Gael

 

Norway 1994

Norway 7/00

Grand Princess 7/01

NCL Sun 7/02

Zuiderdam 9/03

Elation 11/04

[Wini18]

I hate to sound really stupid, but what is an S&S account? We have the whole family going on our 50th Anniversary cruise next August (2005) on the Pride out of Long Beach.

This is a wonderful idea - gifts to be related to the cruise - what a concept! Love it!!!

 

Wini Sell

 

 

Serenade of the Seas

So. Caribbean

4/16/2005

 

Carnival Pride

Mexican Riviera

8/28/2005

 

 

[RWolver672]

"I hate to sound really stupid, but what is an S&S account?"

 

Cash isn't used onboard the ship. You put a credit card or cash upfront against your account. Any spending onboard is then done through your S&S (Sail & Sign) account.

 

Dick

"To Sea or Not To Sea"

~~^~~Sea Ya!~~^~~

Destiny 02-28-99

Victory 02-24-01

Conquest 02-09-03

 

[palmtre2]

Carnival now has gift certificates for sale on their web-site, in fact I'm ordering one for my step-dad for Father's day. My mom is saving for a cruise but they always seem to need the money elsewhere so they don't get very far - this way the money can't go to anything else. It should speed up the process for them!!!!

 

til the Triumph

 

4/10/04 Easter aboard the GLORY

 

[tankersbabe]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, and good laughs this morning.

 

We did manage last year to stop my parents from buying STUFF for us for Christmas. We instead received half a beef. Yes, that is correct folks, a half of a cow! They raise cattle, and we wanted to buy half a beef from them...but nope, wouldn't let us pay for it, so I made them make the bargain that we would only receive that for Christmas.

 

Now his parents are NOTORIOUS for weird gifts. A money clip for the hubby (that probably cost quite a bit), very weird clothes for me, a high necked flannel nightgown for me, a talking dog with scuba gear on for hubby, socks wrapped individually so we would have lots to unwrap, bowls wrapped individually so we would have lots to unwrap, but my all time favorite...a quart jar of homemade tomato juice with an Arby's Holiday mug (that's when we first started dating and they thought that would be a funny gift!) I wasn't sure how to take it, have now realized that they have very weird senses of humor.

 

I think we are going to talk to them and my parents this year about the cruise thing. It's easier on them, less STUFF for us to haul back home and then unload on someone else. My parents will probably give us another half a cow (no complaints there for sure!), but his are going to be a different story. They are all about quantity in that house ,not quality. Go figure.

 

Any other ideas, please throw them my way!

 

Stef

 

Fantasy February 2004

Looking for my next cruise! WHOOO HOOO!

[tjevans]

We asked friends to buy us onboard credit for our honeymoon cruise as wedding presents.

 

 

Carnival Conquest 4/18/04

[Dee88]

After reading this tread, I think I'm going to give my daughter a Carnival Gift Certificate for her graduation. I have been racking my brains on what to get her and this seems perfect.

We will be sailing on the Miracle in Aug. and she can get a nice spa treatment or whatever else she wants to spend it on.

Thanks for a great idea!!!!

 

 

10/4/03 Legend

08/14/04 Miracle

 

 

[Dee88]

Just checked the website and you have to be 21 for Fun Ship $$ and the gift certificates aren't ready yet.

 

 

10/4/03 Legend

08/14/04 Miracle