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Freedom with 54 Surprise Guests, $6513, and Justin Bieber :)

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nlktx49

nlktx49

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Your husband must be one helluva guy to have that many friends that all committed to going on the cruise! And you are amazing in your tactical and organizational skills. Are you an event planner in real life? Looking forward to the rest of the story!

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AryMay

AryMay

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This is one of the most amazing starts to a review! I will definitely be following your review...and am looking forward to photos so I can "meet" this wonderful group!

 

(Still wondering how in the world you could pull this off!!!) :confused:

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harleymouse

harleymouse

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we saw you guys on the ship. we to where zone 2 getting on the ship. we had a great trip sounds like you all did too.

Well, my huge surprise birthday cruise for my DH has now come and gone. I want to start my review by saying that I owe so many of you out here on CC a huge “thank you” for all the help and assistance I received in planning this giant surprise cruise. I had so much help with a giant ES dilemma back in February, and the help I garnered here on CC culminated in our group receiving over $6513 in credit/price reductions. I also had excellent logistical help in selecting rooms- and we our group ended up with rooms all along the aft together that were incredible! I also received many helpful details that allowed us to pull off the surprise of a lifetime for my DH. I coordinated shore excursions, Chef’s tables, steakhouse dinners, and cocktail parties- and all went off perfectly- thanks to the help and advice I received here. It was truly a week we will never forget- so THANK YOU!

 

I have hundreds of pictures that need to be sorted and uploaded from 10 different cameras. I actually cannot wait to look through them all. So, I will eventually add “color” to this review by adding them in. But for now, while everything is fresh in my mind- I wanted to start my review. I apologize in advance for what I think will be a lengthy recount of our experience. There was SO much that happened, and so much information I learned that I want to pass on to help others. And, it will be fun for me to relive it!

 

Oh, and I will explain the Justin Bieber part later, because that was REALLY fun. J

 

Pre-Cruise Background-

 

My DH knew that our family of 6, and one other family of 4 were going to sail the Carnival Freedom. We selected the 8 day itinerary to St Thomas, Antigua, Tortola , and Nassau, and began planning in May of 2011. What he was not aware of was that 44 other people were coming to surprise him, as he turns 50 this year! I spent the last 14 months planning, preparing, and organizing. It was overwhelming sometimes, but the process was really fun too. My kids were in on the surprise (now DS 21, DD 14, DS 12, and DD 9)- as was the other family. The kids really enjoyed helping with the planning.

 

My goal was for everyone to have a wonderful time, and have it be as organized as possible, so there would be little stress. I planned shore excursions, and emailed everyone who wanted to participate ahead of time- giving them the option to do so or not. We stuffed beach bags with gifts collected throughout the year that were ultimately shipped and delivered to everyone’s staterooms upon embarkation. We made calendars, so that everyone would know where and when our group events were taking place. We made custom T-shirts for the surprise. We chipped in an paid for our athletic trainer and his girlfriend to come, so that we could do group workouts in the morning every day. (He is also really a friend of ours as well). All our planning came together really well.

 

The most challenging thing, was keeping all of the above a secret! I was starting to feel a little dirty hiding so much from my DH. J I had to wait to pay certain bills until I knew he wouldn’t see it, I had to hide things at our friends’ houses, I had to call people late at night, and I knew I was going to be relieved when it could all be out in the open!

 

 

We had a couple near misses, one in particular that almost blew the surprise. We were in Las Vegas in May with a few couples and ran into a gentleman who somehow (and I am still not sure of the connection) - ask my husband to his face if he was getting ready for his cruise with our athletic trainer. My DH looked confused- and I was making the “slit throat” sign behind him, and then the guy backed off. Luckily it was loud in there and we had been drinking by the pool that day. Somehow it went over his head. J

 

Departure-

 

Both our families left for Ft Lauderdale on Thursday morning, and we planned a stay at the Hyatt Pier 66. The rest of our group was arriving on Friday, and we had arranged group rates at the Embassy Suites. (Which got rave reviews from all of our guests, by the way). I used Eagle Shuttle to coordinate a pick up at the airport for us, and our driver brought us by 3 different liquor and wine stores to get our supplies, and then dropped the 10 of us off at the hotel. Incidentally, they were great to work with, and I hired them for many legs of this trip with varying numbers of passengers- to the hotel from the airport (several groups), from the hotel to the pier (both groups), as well as all different iterations of airport pick up and drop offs the last day. The drivers were friendly , accommodating, and prompt.

But, I digress . . . We arrived at the Hyatt, and found the property to be fairly nice. We booked an inexpensive room that ended up being on ground level right on the water- which was cool. We were tired from a long travel day, and decided to have dinner at Pelican Landing – which is walking distance from the Hyatt. I would highly recommend it as they have a great happy hour out on a deck overlooking all the yachts. We enjoyed the scenery and the food, and then went to bed, tired from the trip (and the vodka sodas)J. The next day we got up, had breakfast and found a great spot by the pool. The pool complex was fun for the kids- and they really enjoyed swimming and playing. After a long day relaxing, we had dinner that night at Grill 66 Steakhouse. The restaurant is very nice, and the atmosphere is terrific- right on the water. We were planning on a big steak dinner, but as it turned out they also have a wonderful happy hour, which we did instead. I would highly recommend going there!

 

I woke up the next morning a nervous wreck about all that had to happen to pull off our surprise. We packed up, had breakfast, and then Eagle Shuttle was scheduled to pick our 10 people up at 9:15 to go to the pier. I had them scheduled to bring a bus and pick up all our friends at 10:30. My hope was that we would be far enough along in the process as to not run into them at the pier. I had made bright turquoise T-shirts ahead for our large group to wear on embarkation day. They had a caption that “50 is the new 30” with my husband’s picture on it. And then on the back, we listed “10 things you need to know about my DH”. Those things were all pretty funny, some were inside jokes. But the shirts turned out great. So, they donned their surprise outfits and boarded the bus.

 

Meanwhile, we arrived at 9:30- and SAILED through the check in process. We received our Zone 2 cards and sat, anxiously awaiting boarding. It was actually pretty fun, as Carnival had a great employee in the waiting area who was asking trivia questions, telling jokes, and making the time pass by quickly. My nerves started to calm, and I then I got the text that our group had arrived! I felt butterflies in my stomach and then magically, they called our zone. Whew . . .

 

Once aboard, at an early 11am, we headed to the Freedom Restaurant. The kids were beyond excited, and had ice cream BEFORE lunch to calm their butterflies J. I got in line for the Mongolian Wok with my girlfriend, and we both thought it was delicious! But , I was too nervous to really eat. It was not but 20 minutes after we boarded that I received the text that our entire group was ON THE SHIP!!!!! They also sailed through embarkation! My DH was the only one who had not sat down to eat yet, he was still in the Mongolian Wok Line. I started to panic. So, our friend decided to tell him that the kids were driving us crazy, so he needed to eat fast so we could walk around. My poor husband- he was wolfing down his food to accommodate us.

Our group was hiding in the 70’s Disco- thanks to a wonderful Carnival Groups Planner, who scheduled it for us. The turquoise shirt wearing crew practiced the surprise a couple of times, and ultimately decided to have one of my DH’s closest friends sitting on the far end of the bar all alone. We walked in to what appeared to be an empty disco, and he yelled from across the room “Hey- what are you doing here?” We could see my DH’s face look so puzzled as he recognized the voice and the faint outline of the face, but couldn’t assimilate the information. And just then, all 45 people jumped out and yelled “SURPRISE!!!!!!”

 

I thought he was going to have a heart attack. He looked so stunned, and then person by person came up to him and gave him a hug. It was a very emotional moment. I have the greatest husband. He is generous and a caretaker- is always trying to do things for everyone else. I think it was overwhelming for him to realize that all these great people came there for him.

It took quite some time for him to greet everyone, and we had people go upstairs and get their lunch and bring it down. We had a “private function” sign out, and the disco reserved for 2 hours. So the music began to play, and the mojitos began to flow- and we got the party started!!!! J

 

I am going to have to do this review bit by bit over the next week or so, as it is going to take me longer than I thought- but will post more and pictures just as soon as I can. Thanks!

 

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glorialagos

glorialagos

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Can't wait to hear the rest. I remember this from the planning stages. How cool that you were able to pull it off!!

 

We stayed at the Hyatt Pier 66 also and definitely enjoyed the happy hour at the Pelican Landing. It was a very convenient area - easy to walk both directions - we even walked down to the beach.

 

Can't wait to hear the rest of the review!

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Doug910

Doug910

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VERY cool of you to do this for him! I did something like this (on a MUCH smaller scale) for my wife's 50th B-day, and I know how much planning THAT took. Congrats on the success of your surprise!

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alreadypacked

alreadypacked

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I know I am a sap, but I actually had to wipe away a tear as I read about the big surprise. I cannot wait to read more. You are a wonderful woman for getting all of this together for him! :)

 

Me too! Wow, what a nice surprise. Her DH must be awesome...and she is obviously an awesome DW too! Not sure I could keep a surprise like this from my DH though, but he is, without a doubt, equally worthy! Congrats on the ultimate surprise, well done!

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Jules7226

Jules7226

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Yep, brought tears to my eyes too. You are amazing for being to pull all of that together. Definitely a birthday that none of you will forget. So awesome!! Looking forward to the rest of the review and pictures. :)

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