Cruise gifts for my wife (and kiddos)

[lookin4calm]

Hi everyone. We are going on our very first cruise (Rhapsody) in about 10 days. I want to give my wife (and kids) some surprises of a few gifts sprinkled throughout the cruise (like sneak into the kids room during the day and place a little something on their bed). Kids are 12, 14 and 16. Wife is older than that. :)

 

What ideas do y'all have for me? What would be some nice surprises for them?

[pach]

Disposable underwater cameras for the kids. Flowers from the onboard flower shop (I know voyager class has one but don't know about Rhapsody) for the wife. Have them waiting for her in the room before you check in. Check to RCCL website for other goodies for the kids. Enjoy!

[Nessa1dc]

What a lovely idea. I'm sure that you all will enjoy yourselves.

 

 

I'm not to sure about the kids, they may just enjoy some extra cash for the ports or maybe things they'll need like goggles, towels, etc.

 

For your wife, she may enjoy a nice lounging robe, a spa appointment, a good book, etc.

 

I'm not sure if my ideas will help, but, I wish you the best.

 

Have a great vacation.:D

[nc_roberta]

We ordered flowers from the RCI website for delivery to our room the first day. They were very nice and stayed fresh for our entire cruise; I hated leaving them behind. If your wife likes flowers as much as I do, she'll love them! Not sure about the kids..the other posters seemed to have good ideas. A disposable camera for each of them to document their cruise fun would be neat.

[pinkrosesdeb]

If you go to the rccl website they have quite a few gifts you could schedule. We ordered the wine and chocolate covered strawberries for sail away. Also ordered flowers. For the kids you can order a pack that has beach towels and visors etc. with the rccl logo. I agree with the camera idea though. We have a digitial camera but find the disposables much easier, just remember to put an address label of something on them in case they lay them down. What a nice dad, husband you are, enjoy your cruise. I know your wife and kids will. Deb

[MariTenor1]

Don't know if the children are boys or girls (or both), but how about a small journal for them to imortalize their trip!

[dc-snoopy]

I think a cute idea would be to research your ports of call before you go and order things related to either shore excursions or the port and leave them for DW and DKs the night before each port call. Something like a beach towel with "Cozumel" the night before you are going to Paradise Beach in Cozumel. Or maybe a stuffed stingray before you go on the Stingray snorkel in Grand Cayman, etc. Not only is this a treat, but it helps build the excitement for the trip...kind of advance souvenirs!

[horsecrazygirl]

For our cruise last spring, I did a search on these boards & found a company that delivered bon voyage gift baskets. The one I ordered for my kids came in a large tote bag (which they used as a beach bag later in the week), had a 6 pack of pop, assorted chips, cookies, and a bottle of jelly beans with a personalized label. The label had the name of our ship, dates of sailing, and we could added our own special greeting. I ordered this over the internet, but can't remember the name of the company -- sorry! I also ordered flowers, and a "snack bag" for my husband & I. My kids were so surprised, you'd have thought it was Christmas! They were thought it was "cool" to get a "delivery" on the ship with their names on it! They also tend to miss junk food when on the cruise for a whole week! Good luck!

[LenaDaLlama]

That is so sweet of you....I will have to remember to do that when we go with the children!!

 

love the camera idea!!

[lookin4calm]

These are some really good ideas. I kind of wanted to avoid the ship-purchased things in favor of some small thing that I could pack for them, but I like the flowers idea a lot, so I'll probably do that. dc-snoopy, I like the port-related idea. I could put together like a "top 10 facts about <port>" or a "10 things you always wanted to know about <port>". A journal is a good idea. We have the underwater cameras already. These are very good.

[Murphy]

I don't know if they are out in the stores yet, but last year they had some neat fluorescent tubes of sunscreen and lip balm that had belt clips on them.

Other trinkets:

Sunglasses

Decks of playing cards

beach bag with swoosh ball to play in the pool

sun visors

new flipflops or aqua shoes

fanny packs

[Cindyrella]

lookin4calm,

 

Can I sail with YOU?:D I want presents too!

[Hoosier Cruiser]

On each day of the cruise I hide a greeting card somewhere for my husband to find. They don't take up any luggage space and I love shopping for them in anticipation of our cruise. I usually hide the first one in his magazine that I know he will read on the plane and end with a Thank You type on debarkation morning. It is fun to try to find interesting and unexpected places to hide them. I know it is simple and inexpensive, but it has become very meaningful for us both.

[wannacruise655]

How very thoughtful.......

 

I always do cards for my husband when he travels, but I have never thought to do it when we travel together. ML

[RCIcruzer204]

For your wife, I say flowers and a nice bottle of wine would be nice. A spa appointment would be a great one, too! For the kids, I say you should collect things from the ports everyday when at port. My daughter got a keychain for every port we went to and also at the shops they had a keychain of the picture of the ship. Cameras are also good so they can take pictures of their friends, the ports, and the ship so they can reminisce when they get home and laugh at their friends and brag about what a great time they had while they were at home! :p I hope this helps you out! :)

[Boo's Mom]

Lookin4calm....

 

Are you sailing with us on March 13th????

 

If so, we have a roll call on the RCI Meet and Mingle Board!

[suezyq50]

When we stopped at Key West during a cruise, there was a shop that had a small wooden ship similair to a Christmas ornament. With a black pen, my husband and I had our names and "Happy 30th Anniversary" on side and the other side had the ship's name along with the ports of call. The ornament sits on top of a printers drawer. It was one of the best purchases I made!:D

[CJHouston]

I know this doesn't help with gifts for your family, but we buy Christmas ornaments in every port; sometimes even if we return there another time. We also make sure we get the ornament for the ship/cruiseline; not always attractive, but very rememerable. Sometimes, they are the dollar ones that are so cute and sometimes alot, hand painted or crystal and expensive. And then when we get the ornaments out every year it so much fun to remember where we have been and the ships we sailed on over the years. Some are so beautiful, I keep them out all year on the shelf and reminisce.

[dc-snoopy]

These are some really good ideas. I kind of wanted to avoid the ship-purchased things in favor of some small thing that I could pack for them, but I like the flowers idea a lot, so I'll probably do that. dc-snoopy, I like the port-related idea. I could put together like a "top 10 facts about <port>" or a "10 things you always wanted to know about <port>". A journal is a good idea. We have the underwater cameras already. These are very good.

 

You can research on-line. For example, if you are going to Dolphin Discovery in Cozumel (or any of their locations), they have a pdf version of their brochure that you could print out and leave.

 

Have fun! Sounds like you are doing a nice job of looking after your family.