FLArmyWife

GAH!! It is almost single digits!!

Thank you both

Wow, I don't know how you can do it! My wife already has knows that I ordered her surprises from the fun-shops, including cotton candy on the first night, and sea salt dark chocolate. Have you thought about contacting John Heald on facebook? I have heard that he likes to do special things for folks and your story is definitely amazing!

I have. The problem with that is it's not a private message, it's public on his page, and therefore I run the risk of him seeing it or someone else on our mutual friend list seeing it and saying something. I wish there was a private way to do it or I definitely would.

oh boy oh boy. only 2 weeks to go!!! It of course gets increasingly harder to keep the secret the closer we get. I've been working on getting together some last minute stuff (travel size toiletry/toiletry holders, powdered non dairy creamer, etc). While hubs is at school I've even started to put together everything for the big reveal.

On Thursday I printed out all of our cruise documents. SOOOO crazy that it's almost here

I used packing tape on ours, checked bags, then flew NY to Vancouver to Fairbanks Alaska and onto the 1st hotel of 4 we had on our land tour through Princess. The tags were as good as new after all this handling when we arrived at the ship in Whittier.

 

Whatever process makes you happy will be the best one you should choose.....I recently read where someone takes a pic of their stove handles on their phone so that they won't worry if they left a burner on midway through their vacation. I thought that was insane, but if it works for them, why not?

I have an anxiety disorder and this is something I deal with daily. If I leave my house upon my arrival my heart always starts pounding and my breathing gets harder as I approach my home because I'm worried I will have left something plugged in or on that will cause a fire. Like you said, if it works for them, why not?!

I can never figure out why people would stay on board in Nassau. This is one of those great ports that has so much to do within walking distance. Beaches, shopping, restaurants, bars are all close and very nice. I have enjoyed Nassau every time I have been there. Definitely get off the ship in Nassau. I may give the British Colonial Hilton a try the next time I am there. That sound like a fun day.

We are staying on the ship because there is only 1 sea day that would present us the opportunity to explore the ship. We have been to Nassau several times so we will be using this as an opportunity to check out the ship while it isn't quite as crowded. To each their own

lurker, what day are you sailing? sounds like you could very well be on my sailing.

we also do not plan to get off the ship in naussau

easyboy- his other ear only has like a 5 or 10% loss and so it is considered his 'good ear'. The sad part is.. I can't for the life of me right now remember which one is the bad one and which is the good one. :(

yes we are getting soo close and yet every day seems to drag by!

Thank you very much for the suggestions!

Should we try to request a special muster?

First....My thanks to your husband for his service and thanks to you for your service to him. As a veteran, myself, I understand the sacrifices that you both have made.

Thank you for your service as well

 

Second...I am so happy that it all seems to be falling into place and that you've managed to keep this incredible secret. I booked a surprise cruise for DW a few years ago. I booked about a year out, even talked with her manager at work to secure the time off she would need. But I am a weak man ;p and didn't make it very long before I broke and told her about it. In my defense, I had bought her a few summer dresses for the cruise online and she found the package at the door before I did (she was home from work sick) and was very curious about why I had bought them. Regardless - It was still a great surprise and an amazing cruise. I am sure your cruise will be an amazing and much needed get away and well worth the sacrifices you made to get here.

I am sure she still loved the idea of you wanting it to be a surprise. Glad it was amazing and thank you. I do hope it is a much needed getaway.

 

On a side note.. I read that you coupon to help cut costs around the house - have you tried some of the rebate apps? I use these in conjunction with coupons to help cover the costs of our cruises. Personally, I use Ibotta, Checkout 51, and SavingStar. I have also recently started using the app EasyShift to help bring a little extra $$$ also. If you haven't already, check these out. If they help, you're welcome. If they don't, It was worth a try.

I do have Ibotta which I just recently started using. I have never heard of checkout51 or savingstar though so I will definitely look into those.

I do use a site called Swagbucks where I can print grocery coupons. I save the $$ the coupon gives but I also get 10 points for every coupon I redeem. I also do things like answer surveys, watch videos, etc. I use the points for paypal money which pays for Christmas. Currently I'm sitting at almost $400 to go towards Christmas. My husband has an account and we use the points he gets to redeem for money towards gas.

For us, I buy gift cards at my local Kroger's store. Everyday I get 2x fuel points, and most of this summer they had a special where I got 4x gas points on travel gift cards. The discount percentage is based on how many fuel points you get and how big your gas tank is.

:loudcry: I miss kroger for this most of all.

Is this about your Carnival Splendor cruise? You can email the Maitre D' a couple of weeks before sailing and explain your situation, and request a table in a corner, if possible. Do you have fixed seating, or anytime dining? Check on the Carnival board here, but I believe the email will be spmaitred@carnival.com. It's the first two letters of the ship, and then the rest. EM

Correcting myself: Splendor is SLmaitred@carnival.com. Sp would be spirit...EM

Thank you! Yes I should have specified it was for my Carnival Splendor cruise.

We have fixed seating for 6pm.

Yesterday was DH's birthday and it was so hard not to spill the beans early. I kept strong though and managed not to give up even a hint that something more was to come.

I'm sorry if this has been answered in other forums. I am juggling my toddler at the moment and just trying to get a quick answer.

My DH has 80% hearing loss in 1 ear due to some military things. He has a hearing aid but it currently isn't working.

I am surprising him with a cruise for his graduation. Are there any special requests I should make? Anywhere there is lots of background noise (restaurants and such) he has a really hard time hearing correctly. I imagine we'll be together about 90% of the time so I can always repeat what someone says if needed, but I'm sure there will be a few times we aren't together (I like to nap in the afternoons and he doesn't).

He doesn't like people making a fuss over it so if there are just subtle things I should request to make our trip easier would be greatly appreciated.

I just read this entire thread, and I am so excited for you. I sail the day after you on what was supposed to be a surprise Sweet Sixteen cruise for just my daughter and I (we actually leave on her birthday). I booked it last August and I was so proud of myself for keeping it a secret until I let it slip 7 weeks out. As disappointed I was to have the secret out, I quickly got over it seeing how excited she is. She's read about our ports, and was able to give input on excursions. We've had so much fun planning and shopping that it's actually making the time go faster. Happy sailing to you and your husband :cool:

How awesome! I think keeping it secret even until 7 weeks out is amazing. How fun!

Part of me does wonder if telling him early and having him help plan things would help, but I've kinda got myself in this "nope, I decided to wait and I am gonna stick with it!" mindset

Thank you and happy sailing to you and your daughter as well.

Absolutely!

I just read through this long thread, and I'm so excited for you! I love planning surprises but do not appreciate it the other way around. It works for us since I'm very type A and plan every detail that I can and probably wouldn't appreciate giving up that control. :cool:

 

Our cruise next year on MSC is a surprise for both my dh and kids. I'll have to let dh know about three months beforehand so he can take off work. He always appreciates the surprises but is perplexed at how I can pay for it without him knowing. Its easy to do when you pay a little each month for over a year. ;)

 

It would be fun if you took a video of the moment you let your dh know!

I am very much the same. I do not enjoy not having control and it actually causes my anxiety disorder to kick into overdrive. My poor dh, family, and in-laws. It means for birthdays/holidays almost 98% of gifts I end up knowing ahead of time because I start to get completely distressed.

Oh how fun! I agree. My dh is going to wonder how in the world I managed to pay it. Thankfully there is 1 bank account he doesn't have a log-in for as all it is usually for is so we can have checks just in case, so he will be very shocked.

I do hope to take a video. I video everything lol.

oh goodness. Today marks/marked 30 days until DH's graduation. Which means 30 days to the big reveal! I'm nearing that final stretch and getting SO anxious.

I too am keeping our cruise on the Fascination over Thanksgiving a family secret. I paid our TA $$ here and there as I had it starting in January of 2016. Cruise was paid in full in eleven months with $$ from Ebay sales. I am working on paying for excursions directly with the different port vendors. So far, I have paid for Bernards in St Marteen, Brenda's Fun Tours in St Thomas, and Thenford Grey in St Kiits. It has not been easy getting them to understand that the way I am doing this is to keep the secret but also as the cruise is a 5 port cruise and no way will I carry that much cash (11 people), but also that the extra credit card charge is expensive as well as a great way for unscrupulous vendors to charge your credit cards more later and they may also pass the numbers to someone else. Happened to me on a cruise in 2005. Still trying to find someone in Barbados ( The Boatyard) and St Lucia.

How fun! I have been to St Thomas and St Maarten twice. If you have time in St Thomas I recommend the tour of blackbeard's castle. http://www.blackbeardscastle.com

We did one that involved the rum tasting (my DH loves rum) and had a lot of fun.

Hope you are able to get all your vendors worked out and don't have your CC # passed on! How terrible!

elruth- well he has no idea when the cruise would be because we have been talking about taking our toddler once he reaches a certain age. Also, there is so much going on right now between him finishing up this current semester, getting things set up to attend a new school, and moving, I feel like he has definitely forgotten all about it.

I am also surprising a family member with a cruise, lol but mine is an adult. HOWEVER, he is a kid at heart.

I definitely think a scavenger hunt is a great idea (I did that for my dh's 22nd bday). The way we set it up was that at each new clue point he collected an item he would need for the final reveal.

You could do something like the first clue be "Find something you need to go in the pool". They can go and get their swimsuits and at that place will be the next clue.

Can't wait to hear what you decide to do!

Thanks!

By Holiday yes I meant July 4

The reason they wanted to do it on their own was because it will be their portion of the surprise gift for my dh's graduation. I guess I could try to find a day to facetime/skype with them and walk them through purchasing it online.

I guess I can also recommend purchasing the GC, mailing it to me, and then me making the purchase. Then I could work with them on how to reveal that's what they paid for when the surprise is revealed

Over the holiday we saw some family. They expressed interest in purchasing some stuff for us on the ship (an excursion to be exact). I told them for most things just handing us cash is probably the best way to go (since carnival has that tricky refund policy with carnival cash) but I worry about an excursion being sold out before we cruise.

So.. Should I just give our confirmation # to our family along with our PVP and have them purchase it that way?

got a little bit of a tan. Still need to work on getting a bit better of a base tan though.