Fascination - anniversary

[ChuckLL]

Back in 2006 I went all out and planned a big anniversary surprise for the wife. Actually, "scheme" might be a better word than "surprise". The result would probably have made an okay script for a sitcom or a drama. After that fiasco I said that I would never plan another surprise. Well, I'm thinking of changing my mind.

 

I'm debating about booking a surprise 5 day on the Fascination for this anniversary. I have two questions. The first concerns the balcony cabins near the rear of the ship. I'm not talking about the aft balconies, but the ones near the rear on the side of the ship. Is there much vibration, noise, and/or movement in these cabins? We've never had a cabin near the rear of the ship. I always try to book near mid-ship to lessen her chance of seasickness. The second question might be better answered by the ladies. If I do decide to do this how many days before the cruise should I clue her in?

[laumicmah]

I don't know about the cabins on that ship yet, but I was in a aft-ish (rear) OV cabin on our Disney cruise and all was well (I get seasick and really feel the motion, but on our Disney cruise it wasn't bad).

As far as when to pop the surprise. If it were me, I'd like it to be as last minute as possible, but with plenty of time to pack and clean and prepare. So, maybe...about 2-3 days prior. I can get a lot done in 3 days. If she doesn't need to take off work, that is. And if you have pets to kennel, if you can arrange that (I do that for our vacations, so my DH would need to remember that). And if she doesn't need prescriptions filled or anything like that. If you have kids you need to leave with grandparents, can you arrange that also? Cover all those basses and you can do a last minute surprise. That would really be awesome, for DH to say "guess what? Pack a bag. We're going on a trip in a couple of days. Bring shorts, a swimsuit, a few nice outfits and a nice dress. It's going to be hot."

[Tapi]

The result would probably have made an okay script for a sitcom or a drama. After that fiasco I said that I would never plan another surprise.

 

So what happened that made it a fiasco...??!!

[ChuckLL]

I don't know about the cabins on that ship yet, but I was in a aft-ish (rear) OV cabin on our Disney cruise and all was well (I get seasick and really feel the motion, but on our Disney cruise it wasn't bad).

As far as when to pop the surprise. If it were me, I'd like it to be as last minute as possible, but with plenty of time to pack and clean and prepare. So, maybe...about 2-3 days prior. I can get a lot done in 3 days. If she doesn't need to take off work, that is. And if you have pets to kennel, if you can arrange that (I do that for our vacations, so my DH would need to remember that). And if she doesn't need prescriptions filled or anything like that. If you have kids you need to leave with grandparents, can you arrange that also? Cover all those basses and you can do a last minute surprise. That would really be awesome, for DH to say "guess what? Pack a bag. We're going on a trip in a couple of days. Bring shorts, a swimsuit, a few nice outfits and a nice dress. It's going to be hot."

 

I can take care of everything EXCEPT putting her clothes in the suitcase. Personally, if someone told me that everything but the packing was taken care of I could be packed in less than 30 minutes, but ladies seem to be somewhat different when it comes to packing.

 

We're driving distance from the port so there would just be packing for the cruise. I've been thinking about telling her three days ahead of departure.

[ChuckLL]

So what happened that made it a fiasco...??!!

 

It's kind of a long story, but I should have time to type it out tonight. I'll try to post it before in the morning.

[laumicmah]

I can take care of everything EXCEPT putting her clothes in the suitcase. Personally, if someone told me that everything but the packing was taken care of I could be packed in less than 30 minutes, but ladies seem to be somewhat different when it comes to packing.

 

We're driving distance from the port so there would just be packing for the cruise. I've been thinking about telling her three days ahead of departure.

Well then you could even tell her 1-2 days before. If all she has to do is pack, 24 hour notice should be plenty. So exciting. Hope this time the surprise goes swimmingly.

[ChuckLL]

Well then you could even tell her 1-2 days before. If all she has to do is pack, 24 hour notice should be plenty. So exciting. Hope this time the surprise goes swimmingly.

 

Thanks. I hope so too. It's not set in stone yet. I'm still price checking. I'll probably make the decision by next week.

[ChuckLL]

So what happened that made it a fiasco...??!!

 

For a long time the wife had been wanting a new stove. I had always told her no. Finally one day she got me to go stove shopping. She wanted a glass top with knobs on the front. I don't know if this is the same elsewhere, but the price on a glass top stove with knobs on the front is kind of high. We could find glass tops reasonably priced. We could find stoves with knobs on the front reasonably priced. Glass tops with knobs on the front, however, were up there. Then she saw the slide-in (I think that's what they're called) stoves and fell in love. But because of the price I once more I told her no.

 

A few months pass and it nears our anniversary so I decide to bite the bullet and surprise her with a stove. Now before folks say that a stove is not a good anniversary present you have to understand that my wife doesn't really care for jewelry or shoes or any of that stuff. But back to the story. I sneak off and check out the stoves on my own. I find out that the slide-ins will not work with our counter tops. For some reason our tops are an odd-ball width. So NOW to get her a stove I've got to get new counter tops.

 

Luckily, my dad had a cabinet shop so he could get me some tops at a good price. The problem was that I had to lure her to his shop. Then I had to "stumble" across his top samples. Then somehow work the samples into a conversation without her getting suspicious so I could find the one she liked. This ended up being the easiest part of the entire scheme as dad was working on a set of cabinets when we visited. Right after we walked in she picked up the samples and asked what they were. It wasn't long before she found two that she seemed to be fixated on. I filed those two away in my memory and the scheme was now almost fully afoot.

 

The next stage of the scheme involved sending the wife to town and sneaking my dad into the house so he could measure the counters for the tops. We had 2 straight counters. One "L" shaped counter. And one bar to measure.

 

So now the tops are ordered, and the stove is picked out (though not yet purchased). I've just got to figure out a way to get her out of the house when the time comes so that my dad and my brother can install the tops and the yet to be purchased stove. Since our anniversary falls in the first part of November I figure what's more romantic than the mountains in the fall time. I decided that's what we'll do. Go to the mountains.

 

I plan a route that will take us to Cloudland Canyon in north Georgia, then on to Chattanooga. We'll stay in Chattanooga and visit Ruby Falls and Lookout Mountain. To top it off for each place we would stop I'd write a poem about us and the place. I would read each poem to her as we were at the stop. Then I had made a little booklet containing all of the poems along with photos that I would give her before we headed home The last poem in the book would refer back to the previous poems with clues about what was actually going on.

 

With all of this done and the counter tops at my dad's I went to pay for the stove. It wasn't in stock. Uh Oh. We were leaving that Friday. They said it should be in by then. Now I'm nervous.

 

Two days before we leave I tell the wife that we're taking a 3 day trip. She has a fit. What about this? What about that? I tell her it's all taken care of that all she has to do is pack. She's not happy. I finally tell her where we're going. She's never been to the mountains and doesn't know if she'll like it. I tell her to pack.

 

During the trip every time we stop to stretch our legs or whatever I have to sneak off to call my dad to make sure everything is going okay. Thankfully the stove did arrive.

 

As we reach the hilly country we discover that my wife doesn't like hills and mountains nor does she like roads that twist and turn over and around hills and mountains. Well, that's not exactly true. She likes the views of the mountains. She just doesn't like the roads to get to the views. By the time we reach Cloudland Canyon (beautiful by the way) she is crying and I'm a nervous wreck. I don't know whether to keep going. Turn around and go home. Or what. Since we are so close to Chattanooga I decide to keep pressing on and hope for the best.

 

By the time we reach the motel she has calmed a little bit, but not much. The next day she says that she wants to try to go to Ruby Falls. We make it there even though her fingerprints are still in the armrest. She has a good time. Then there's the trip back to the motel down a winding road. In an attempt to keep her calm I'm going so slow that a bicycle passes us. I don't mean he pulled out, pedaled harder and went around. I mean he went...ziiiiipppppp...like he was a race car, but we once more made it the motel.

 

I spent part of the night programming a route in the GPS that would take us through the Chattanooga Valley in the hopes of missing as many hills as possible.

 

The next day we went to Lookout Mountain which she enjoyed. Then it was the long trip home. I did go through the motions with all of the poems and the little poem book. We didn't say much on the way home. I could have used a stiff drink. We made a stop about an hour from the house and I made one of my secret calls. Dad told me everything was done and they were gone.

 

We arrived home. She walked in and put her purse on the counter top. She took two steps and stopped. She stood there still for a minute then turned around. As soon as she turned around she started crying. She ran and hugged me. All she could say was that she was so mean to me the whole trip and she was so sorry.

 

We can laugh about it now, but I since then I've avoided surprises and winding roads on mountains.

 

The sad thing is that for the next anniversary I booked a suite on the Celebration (not a surprise to her) and we sailed into the open arms of Hurricane Noel. She stayed sick the entire time.

[Megan_Strick]

OMG that is so sweet. Ruby Falls is really nice. Where in GA are you? I live in Brunswick. Southeast corner of Ga. About 45 mins to Florida line.

[ChuckLL]

OMG that is so sweet. Ruby Falls is really nice. Where in GA are you? I live in Brunswick. Southeast corner of Ga. About 45 mins to Florida line.

 

Not far from Jesup.

[nodogkisses]

OMG, you are so precious. And, I would have to know a minimum of 3 days ahead to pack for the cruise. Packing is half the fun--it starts the vacation in my head with all the planning. My family and I were just on the Fascination two weeks ago and had a great time and I am sure you and your wife will, too.

[laumicmah]

That is a great story. We're going on the Fascination in August and can't wait. Maybe you should give her 2-3 days to prepare. How far are you from Charleston? They have a ship there now. Did you check that out?

[Megan_Strick]

Not far from Jesup.

 

 

Ok cool. You know where Brunswick is then.

[ashxoxo89]

Ok cool. You know where Brunswick is then.

 

 

I'm in Georgia too. Lawrenceville and Athens - UGA student