To Surprise or Not Surprise

[shancan911]

That is the question. We are sailing Liberty of the Seas in February. It will be DS(6)'s first cruise, and we haven't told him about it just yet. He knows about cruising from our photos, and in the past has said he wants to go. Not something he talks about on a daily basis, however. Has anyone just "taken" their children without pumping them up about it first? Does anyone have any stories to share about their children's anticipation? It could help us make our decision. A good friend, who is also sailing with us, has already bought him some cool stuff to use at the beach and stuff for his Christmas presents. That would be a little tough to explain, "here's some cool stuff you can use someday when you go swimming..."? Any ideas/suggestions are welcome.:)

[sailinglisa]

IMHO, I would tell him. Let him share the excitement of planning what to do in ports. Share learning with him just where he is going, the people he will meet in port. Show him pictures of the ship and Adventure Ocean and the water play zone (H2O zone).....and all the other amazing stuff on the ship. Then watch him when he finally sees the ship for the first time and all the excitement and anticipation in his eyes!

[shancan911]

Hi Lisa,

I do have a bunch of cool album pages and stuff bookmarked with great AO shots, and H2O Zone pics. Pictures of Stingray City, and ship pictures. I do think it would be fun to watch him be excited, but on the same hand, 6 year olds have a pretty rough concept of time. He knows his calender (boy, does he know it:rolleyes:) but I would hate for him to anticipate, and then lose interest. Maybe closer to the holidays...:confused:

[2Hoyas]

Hi there,

We surprised our 2 boys (ages 2 and 5) with a Disney cruise last year which worked out great. Our kids (especially the older one) get very excited before a trip which can be challenging - they are not as attentive at daycare, harder time going to sleep, not as good at following directions, etc.

 

For this trip, we picked them up at daycare and took them straight to the airport - didn't tell them were we were going. We flew into Orlando the night before and they still had no idea what we were doing but seemed content that we were "on a trip". They didn't figure it out until we got on the bus to the ship and the video on the bus started - and didn't completely get it until we saw the ship through the windows.

 

We did do a bit of subtle prepration - we showed them the promotional video from Disney about the cruise and also a TV special on cruising so they got the gist of what to expect. Since we were going for a 3 day cruise, packing, etc. was pretty easy to do when they were sleeping.

 

My son still talks about how that trip was "the best surprise ever" - tho we did need to do a bit of level setting so he doesn't expect a trip every week when we pick him up after school :) I'd highly recommend the surprise if you think it will work for your son - it made it a TON easier on us and the look on their face when you show up at the ship is priceless!

 

Have fun!

[MellowMel]

Surprising him would be fun, but it's also fun to plan. My kids have cruised twice before and they love it! We didn't keep the trips a surprise. They already know about Alaska next summer and they've been excited about watching shows on the Travel Channel about Alaska.

 

We've also been able to use trips like this for behavior rewards so it helps if they know about it in advance. It worked fabulously when my daughter was younger and I was having big trouble with whining. She knew about our trip to Disney World so about 6 weeks out we implemented Quarters. At the beginning of the week, she'd get a roll of quarters. Every time she whined, she'd have to give me a quarter. Every quarter that she didn't have to use was put in her bank to spend as she wished at Disney World. I figured on a 7-day trip to Disney World, I'd be spending $60 on souvenirs so it was already money I was going to spend. She lost quarters the first week, but it worked and the whininess was curbed! If she started to whine all I'd have to say was "Are your quarters handy?" She'd turn it around!

[shancan911]

MellowMel,

I absolutely LOVE the idea with the roll of quarters!!! We recently instituted a new behavior board in our house. We spell out some behaviors we're having issue with on a dry erase board, each assigned with a value. As each offense occurs, I remove a letter. He has to have letters left to receive that dollar amount at the end of the week. Your idea has a little more substance, though, as she already has cash in hand and really IS losing it...:rolleyes:

I know regardless of whether he knows about it or not, he'll probably still be awestruck when he sees the ship, but it seems to me like it would be so much more so if he didn't know it was coming!!!

 

Thanks for sharing, everyone!!

[notentirelynormal]

I'd tell him. Anticipation is half the fun - even for kids. He's old enough to prepare him. Let him pack his own backpack with his own travel and special stuff (and have him think about what he wants in it-favorite book, toy, game). Point out planes and say, that's gonna be us soon. Show him the shore excursions and see what he thinks he'd like to do. Look, there's a monkey. Wow, waterfalls... would you like to see those for real? Plus the unknown can sometimes not be as much fun as the anticipated. Think how much more he'll enjoy that waterfall if he's already seen it and now gets to live it. Kids imaginations are wonderful.

[tricialee]

My kids always know about our vacations way ahead of time. I just can't keep my mouth shut. :o I like sharing the excitement with them for months beforehand.

 

They have known that we were trying to do a Med. cruise in 2008 for about the last year. When I finally booked it in April they knew the date right away too.

 

When we get down to around 100 days remaining we make a vacation chain and then tear off a link each day until the trip. Makes a good visual for the children that don't quite understand that length of time.

 

My kids are 10 and 6 right now, but we have been doing things this way since the oldest was just a toddler, so the little one just grew into it too.

 

Actually, we did disney one year, a cruise the next, and then Disney again the following year. Now the 6 year old thinks that this pattern has to be maintained. One year Disney, then Cruise, then Disney, then Cruise.....:D Actually, that sounds kinda fun to me.

[Karysa]

We told our then almost 5 year olds and their 7 and a half year old sister about six weeks before their first trip to Disney. Experiencing their excitement was wonderful. Two years later we surprised them with another trip to Disney. I packed all the clothes in my walk-in closet and we set the suitcases at the door before we went to sleep. The next morning was one to remember at our house. It worked out perfectly and I had arranged a Mickey character dinner for that night so it made it even more special.

If I were to do it all over again I would do it the same way. I think they might have been too overwhelmed and we would have missed out on their anticipation had we done it the other way around.

Enjoy your cruise!

Karysa

[DukeFamily]

Hi Lisa,

I do have a bunch of cool album pages and stuff bookmarked with great AO shots, and H2O Zone pics. Pictures of Stingray City, and ship pictures. I do think it would be fun to watch him be excited, but on the same hand, 6 year olds have a pretty rough concept of time. He knows his calender (boy, does he know it:rolleyes:) but I would hate for him to anticipate, and then lose interest. Maybe closer to the holidays...:confused:

 

My sister never tells her kids about upcoming trips, etc. And for the reasons you mentioned above. They DO have a sort of skewed concept of time, espcially when they're young AND they can worry unnecessarily about various aspects. Kids can be weird and wacky like that! She found that just keeping mum and then telling them, like, the week before "guess where we're going next week?" works really well. She even did that last spring break with a Hawaiin cruise - and the kids were 9 and 11! Just told them she'd probably plan "something" to do for spring break, then told them the week before. Works great, and you don't have to hear for months on end "when are we going?" "how many days till we leave?" and various other questions you may not even have the answer to!

[Ellanora]

A good friend, who is also sailing with us, has already bought him some cool stuff to use at the beach and stuff for his Christmas presents. That would be a little tough to explain, "here's some cool stuff you can use someday when you go swimming..."? Any ideas/suggestions are welcome.:)

 

Make the cruise one of his Christmas presents. Get a toy boat, and use a marker to put the name of the cruise ship on it, and include some photos of the ship and kids areas. Tell him, "Guess what, you're going on a cruise!!" Then he gets the special surprise, and time to get excited about it. Also, then he can open the gifts from your friend and you won't have to come up with explanations. :D

 

My son has been on one cruise and loved it. He knows we have two Carnival cruises booked, but has no clue about the Disney one that sails on his birthday. I'm going to give him a gift similar to what I described above at his birthday party the weekend before. It is very hard keeping the secret! ;)

[lexxity]

Definitely go for the surprise! When I was 11 and my sister 7 my parents said we were going on holiday on one particular morning! The taxi arrived and off we set, for the train station we thought and were really looking forward to it. On route we didn't take the turn for the station and I wanted to know why. My Parents said "surprise, we are flying (something we had never done) to the Isle of Man!" WOW! It would only have been about a 30minute flight, but exciting none the less.

 

Anyway, we got to the aiport and went to check in, being kids we weren't being too attentive and were too excited about getting on an aeroplane. When we got to check in the agent asked "final destination?"

 

SAN FRANCISCO!

 

The best surprise ever! I always remember my sister saying "it's like heaven up here" as we climbed out.

 

Definitely go for the surprise.

[jazzdog]

I have not done a cruise surprise, but in June I did surprise trip to Disney for my kids. We had gone the year before, and there was no way they thought we would be taking another trip back any time soon.

 

Well I kept the surprise for 9 months. On the morning we were to leave for the airport I woke them up to the sound of the "Mickey Mouse Club March" blasting from an ipod. The looks on their faces were priceless! The 9 months of secret keeping were sooo worth it!

 

But....they confessed to me, that while the thought the surprise was the coolest thing that had ever happened to them, they asked that the next time I plan a trip that I don't make it a surprise. They said that planning is half the fun, and researching the destination (Disney in this case) and seeing the hotel on the internet, and shopping and packing were all part of the experience. They also said that they wanted to have time to say goodbye to their friends, and their pets before leaving. And (this is the best part!!) they needed to have time to practice "getting along" with each other!!

 

So...surpise or not? It's an individual choice, but my kids have spoken loud and clear for me...no more surprises for them. (they are 11 and 13 by the way)

[familycruising4us]

I know what you mean about the waiting game for children.... I have a surprise cruise booked now for my family who has never cruised. (DH, DD13, DD7, DS5 ages at cruise time)

We cruise in January 09, and I originally had planned on Xmas surprise for Xmas 08, we'll see... ;) I plan on buying the Carnival Tee's and giving them as gifts to tell them.

I am always planning vacations, so it's been easy as far as planning our excursions. I see something online and play it off like "Oh wow, look what you can do here if we ever went here" and see reactions. Worked well deciding on Stingrays in GC. :D

We have a Disney trip we've had planned for NOv that has been planned since almost last Nov. After awhile it's almolst like they don't believe we are actually going, so they stop talking about it. I wished we would have told them later so they could really enjoy the planning and then going soon after.... Just my opinion. :)

[Luxuriate]

Christmas used to be painful in the waiting department for me when I was a kid. I would tell them about the cruise but not until about 1 week or so before. It will give them plenty of time to dream about it and ask all of there questions.

 

Cheryl

[shancan911]

Good Evening Mommies,

I'm really leaning towards surprising him. With lots of "hey come here and look at this big huge ship on tv, wouldn't that be cool to go on?", and so forth. The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo has an attraction called "Touch!", where they have a pool with stingrays that you can interact with and touch. I will take him there before school goes back into session, give that a cheap trial run, and of course "maybe we can do that again someday, somewhere else";)

Have a great weekend, everyone! And thanks for all the replies!

[crusinmama06]

I have a 3 and 7 year old and I always tell them so they can join in the planning. Then when we get down to day 30, I create a cruise calendar for them with pics from the ship we are going on. And every morning they get up and mark off another X on the calendar.

 

The reason I tell them is so I can get their opinions on the excursions. I figured my 7 year old would love to swim with the stingrays...nope...she vetoed that idea. She said she would be too afraid.

 

But if you want to wait till Christmas for a cruise in February, then I don't see anything wrong with that.

[PHXscuba]

My DH and I always go back and forth between the anticipation/surprise decisions. We took our daughter to Disneyland when she was four and didn't tell her until we pulled into the parking garage! But she is good with surprises... When we took her older brother at age 4, we told him the night before and watched a video about Disneyland together, so that if he had any questions or concerns he could ask us. His personality at that age was such that what we thought was a fun surprise could have overwhelmed him.

 

As for your 6-year-old, I'd think about his personality before deciding. Is he the type who would drive you crazy asking "is it today?" every hour? Does he like to look at pictures of a destination, or ask lots of questions about it?

 

If it were me (and I wish it were!:p ) I would wait until Christmas like some of the others have suggested. You won't have to "lie" about the gifts (for some kids that's a trust issue when they find out) and it will be in the range you can use a countdown method without him losing interest.

 

Plus, I know I've had well-meaning friends and relatives almost spoil a few surprises when they started talking too much around my too-observant kids. No matter who you tell to keep it a secret, it always seems to slip out somehow (my DH is notorious for that!)

 

Have fun!

 

PHXscuba

"You can't have everything -- besides, where would you put it all?":D

[familycruising4us]

Good Evening Mommies,

I'm really leaning towards surprising him. With lots of "hey come here and look at this big huge ship on tv, wouldn't that be cool to go on?", and so forth. The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo has an attraction called "Touch!", where they have a pool with stingrays that you can interact with and touch. I will take him there before school goes back into session, give that a cheap trial run, and of course "maybe we can do that again someday, somewhere else";)

Have a great weekend, everyone! And thanks for all the replies!

Oh yes, the cruise shows on the travel channel!!! I have watched several with my kids, and everytime they say the same-"can we please go on a cruise one day?!" ;) Heehee, I can't wait til they find out they are!!

GOOD LUCK, enjoy your surprise planning!!!!! :)

[momofmn00]

I would say either way! I just don't think I would be able to make it...although I did suprise my daughter about a trip to disney she was taking with her grandparents. But, that was THEIR idea, because they didn't want her asking when can we go???? for three months! But ths time around, they are taking my son, and at first they said it would be a suprise, but an hour later they wanted to tell him because THEY just couldn't stand the excitement he woulld have!:rolleyes: Plus, they would be leaving in a MONTH! So, either way, I think it will be great! Have a great trip!:o

[cloverseeker]

We are leaving in about 3 weeks for a 4 day cruise with DS (16) & DD (13) and haven't mentioned anything to them. We have been planning it for about 2 months already and mentioning to them about going next year for spring break to get ideas about what to do and where to go so it helps us plan things that they want to do without letting them know they are actually planning this trip.:p

 

Its starting to tempt me on telling them or not, but I think the surprise element will be worth it. We went school clothes shopping over the weekend and they were told to go ahead and buy cruise type stuff too since it was a "tax free" week.;)

 

Another bonus surprise will be my daughters birthday will be out at sea too.:D

[girlfriendtoo]

Santa surprised our kids on Christmas morning 2 years ago (DS-10 & DD- 7), the last package they opened was the beginning of a scavenger hunt. The package had a clue which led them throughout the house hand in hand to each hidden package which had another clue (chocolate sea shells, sun screen, stickers of boats and sun & beaches etc.). They had the best time and it took a good 20 minutes! The last package was addressed to Mr. Royal under our tree. Mr. Royal invited our kids on a 5 day Royal Caribbean cruise on 12-26 courtesy of the man in red.

Our TA decorated a folder addressed to them with photos of the ship and the itinerary. The beginning was a letter to Santa from letting him know how good our kids had been.

 

They loved it! Santa rocked that year.

[Flipflopsnfrozendrinks]

There are so many great stories on this thread. We surprized our 2 kids (5 and 7 at the time) with their first cruise. My in-laws came with us, so the kids thought that we were driving Meme and Grampy to their ship and waving goodbye. We were literally waiting in line to check in when we told them. I had my FIL videotape us telling them thinking about their reactions, but they were dumbfounded and just stared at us for a minute until in sank in. Oh, but the reaction once they realised it! For our next cruise they have been very involved in the planning. Since their first cruise was 10 days, they didn't want to do less than that, and that was very important to them when choosing the cruise we are taking.

Enjoy your vacation!

Kim

[bdink921]

We surprised DS8 last year with a combo Disney World/Disney cruise. He kept saying how much he wanted to go on a Disney cruise. I booked it a year out and I was so excited I could barely keep it a secret!! About 1 month before the trip I made a paper chain and told him he could break one link per day and ask a question about the surprise. I should have known how it was going to turn out when all of his questions had to do with getting a new video game :rolleyes: . The day before we were leaving he broke the last link. I sent him on a pirate scavenger hunt for things to use on the cruise--gum for the flight, disposable camera, sunglasses--he didn't have a clue. Then he got to the last clue which was a box with a tshirt that said "Surprise you're going to Disney World". The cruise docs were under the shirt. I stood there camera in hand to capture the magic moment--he looked up and then....NOTHIN' :eek: . He REALLY wanted a new video game. I was sooo disappointed. He did love the cruise though.

[momonthego17]

Great stories on surprises! My DH and I are taking our DDs (5 & 7) on their second cruise in a little over 4 weeks. So far, we have been keeping it a surprise, but we chat about how much fun it would be to visit Jamaica and feed stingrays in Grand Cayman, how much fun we had on our last cruise and how great Adventure Ocean is. I'm not sure when or how we will spill the beans, but I know they will be soooo excited!!

I know I am!:D