Anyone surprised their kids on the day of an Allure sailing?

[klepton]

We have the allure booked for December, and planning to spring the surprise on DD as late as possible. Ideally, I was hoping to go to overlook to "see" the Allure (she's completely fascinated by the ship) and wait for her to say she wishes we were going on it. At that point we can tell her we are.

 

Problem is, it doesn't look like there's anywhere we could park and see the Allure the morning it's in Ft. Lauderdale. Is that correct? Anyone else have any ideas on how to surprise her as late in the game as possible?

 

Are there any places/restaurants within walking distance of Terminal 18? I was also thinking I could drop the family off at a restaurant, then go park the car for the week and meet up with them at that restaurant. We could tell DD there and then just walk over.

 

Would love to hear other ideas.

[id1scott]

Middle aged drama queen surprised her daughter all the way up till check in! Go read her review (the 2nd one). She did a great job with it.

[918baker]

Middle aged drama queen surprised her daughter all the way up till check in! Go read her review (the 2nd one). She did a great job with it.

 

It was on her review of Freedom, and it was great!!! Search for the review :) have a fabulous cruise!

[Bernie by the sea]

sounds like a fun surprise. There is a small park under the 17th street bridge. i have been there to see the Oasis. Allure and Oasis use same terminal. i have included a picture from the park.

 

to get there, simply cross the bridge and at the first light make a right, then another quick right. the park is at the end of the road under the overpass.

 

don't know much about restaurants in the area(i live further north in Coral Springs), but i do know that the Park &fly also services the port and has decent rates. you could all go there together and shuttle back to the terminal. i would check them out www pnf com for fort lauderdale

[bigfig63]

Take a helicopter tour or charter a small boat to tour port everglades from the water. http://www.yellowpages.com/port-everglades-fl/boat-rental

[time4u2go]

There are boat tours from the Las Olas riverfront area that go past the cruise ports (and past a lot of other areas).

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

Not a cruise, but DS and DIL told the kids they were going to Wisconsin Dells but instead surprised them by going to WDW. They didn't know until they got to the airport....they were young enough (plus being 3 am) they didn't know the way.

 

I think it would be a blast to surprise them!!

 

***

[maureencruiser]

HAHA _ Sounds like fun! :D Lucky Girl! :D Will you adopt me? :)

[shrimp0]

I was hoping to surprise DS last year when we went on the Allure. He is a cruise fanatic ( wonder where he gets THAT from.. LOL)... he wanted to go on the Allure as soon as they started giving out the bits and pieces of information. Well, we booked the cruise, DH and talked in all kinds of codes about what was booked and flight info and stuff. Thought we had it all under control. We were going to let him know the morning of the flight that we were going somewhere.... our original flight had a connection in Texas and then on to Ft Lauderdale... we were going to make him think that we were getting off in Texas.. and then we knew he would figure it out once we got on the connecting flight to Florida...

Well... what happened????? DS was 13 at the time and thought something was up ( it was about 4 months out from spring break) and he decided to look on cruise critic... he didnt know what roll call to look under... so mr smartie pants just searched for posts by ME!!! and low and behold he found out all about the cruise. Did he say anything??? NO... but he kept talking all about the Allure and how great it would be to someday go on it!!!

Well, by the time the holidays came a month later, I decided to switch the plan and surprise him with the cruise for the holidays. We have promised him tickets to see Blue Man Group.... so I gave him a "voucher" for tickets to see Blue Planet for now... and blue man at a later date...

It was at that point that he told me exactly when we would be seeing Blue Planet, and all the other information I had shared with the roll call group... I thought I was giving HIM a big surprise... but in the end he was the one who gave ME a big surprise....

It was a GREAT cruise.... so great we are taking part 2 next weekend!!!! ( this one he knew all about from the start)

[jermaine1509]

My parents suprised me and my sister when we went on the Disney Wonder, it was my first cruise (I was only about 10yrs old). I thought we were just going to Cocoa Beach for a night, the morning of the cruise we got in the car and my dad said..we have a suprise for you guys, look out for clues along the way...before I knew it we were pulling into the port. I was amazed. We still talk about it to this day and its something I shall never forget. :D

[alprice]

We surprised my niece and nephew with a Christmas cruise on the oasis. Told them on thanksgiving day. They were 10 at the time. My brother n law and Sister had clues for them such as sandals and a new bathing suit wrapped. Then she had a you tube video of the cruise and they were so excited. It was so hard keeping this from them but it was worth it. We had a blast!!

[tneah]

We surprised our kids with an Oasis cruise. We did tell them that we were going on a cruise, but we lead them to believe we were going on another ship at the same port.

 

However, my son started to suspect the night before at the hotel...maybe even before we left home. I think he was at least hoping we were really going on the Oasis.

At the hotel, the shuttle guy asked people in the lobby to sign up to get onto the shuttle the next morning to the port. Well, I stood there and was freaking that all this planning was going to be foiled in one moment.

 

I waited it out. I quietly went over to the man and explained our situation. He was so kind he played along. Not only that, he offered to transport us by shuttle before everybody else at the hotel. We pulled in and just asked the shuttle driver, if he wouldn't mind stopping by the Oasis so that we could take a quick look. We then told the kids. Of course, my son said he knew all along.

We were at the port by 10:15. Checked in and sitting down by 10:35.

[cruisinfanatic]

half the fun of going on a cruise is the anticipation

[cello56]

We surprised our son with a trip to Disney World for his 10th. birthday. Told him that we were going to go and stay at a cool airport hotel with Daddy before he left on a business trip the next day. Hotel had an indoor pool and water slide, so this was a huge hit. That night before bed, I suggested that son and I go and see Daddy off at the airport the next morning. (This was 1992 - so airport security was much more lax then today.) We got Daddy all checked in and then went to the lounge to wait to see his plane and wave goodbye. When boarding started I surprised son with special passes that allowed us to get on the plane and see what it was like! (He had not flown since he was in kindergarden, so really did not remember it.) Son thought that this was really cool, but then got nervous and said that we needed to get off before we got in trouble. THEN I told him that no, actually we didn't need to get off because we had tickets too that we were going to Disney World!! He was shocked! So shocked that he started to cry! Had a wonderful trip, and he still talks about his surprise trip. :)

[VillaHappy]

My parents suprised me and my sister when we went on the Disney Wonder, it was my first cruise (I was only about 10yrs old). I thought we were just going to Cocoa Beach for a night, the morning of the cruise we got in the car and my dad said..we have a suprise for you guys, look out for clues along the way...before I knew it we were pulling into the port. I was amazed. We still talk about it to this day and its something I shall never forget. :D

 

That is awesome! What a happy story! :)

[Beth C]

Are you by any chance going to FLL the day before the cruise?? If so you'd have a lot more time to go oogle the ships... Oasis being the main one on Saturday :)

 

Another option could be to tell her you're going on a cruise but on a different ship... a smaller ship... a not the Allure ship. Since she's obsessed with the Allure she ~should~ be extremely excited when you change the plan at the last minute and try to get on the Allure... ;)

 

If you read Gambee's review he has detailed info on how to get to a prime viewing location... if you haven't read it yet, be prepared to waste many hours going through the thousands of posts :)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1737751

[klepton]

I want to thank everyone for their great ideas! It really got me thinking beyond my initial plan. Still not sure what we'll do, but will try to remember to report back afterwards.

 

id1scott & 918baker - Thanks for pointing me to that review. It was a fun read, however our DD at 8 years old would definitely figure out what was going on before we got that far.

 

Bernie by the sea - Thank you so much for the info and picture. I had read about that park online, and checked it out on satellite images, but didn't know how good of a look we'd actually get from there. Your picture helped tremendously!

 

bigfig63 - I had not even considered a boat tour or helicopter, so thanks for mentioning. A helicopter tour probably won't work out, as we have a 1 year old son as well, but I'll keep looking at boat charters to see what I can dig up. If you know of any good ones who can go out early, let me know.

 

jermaine1509 - That's a good suggestion, and would be very fun. This isn't our first cruise surprise for her though, so I'm sure she'll see through it quickly. She's somewhat spoiled... :D

 

SeaUs - I don't disagree, but she'll already have a Disney cruise to anticipate, so this is more a surprise right before christmas. After this cruise, she can go back to anticipating the Disney Fantasy for spring break. (*see earlier reference to one spoiled little girl)

 

cello56 - that's great! If we decide to fly I'll have to seriously consider this one.

 

Beth C - We will be there at least one day early, and possibly two if we fly. I had thought about staying at one of the hotels near the port, like Lago Mar, and walk the beach the night before to watch Oasis sail away. Or maybe stay at a hotel with a view of the port to see Allure the next morning. And I'm certainly aware of Gambee's review. He started writing it right about the time I booked Allure, so I followed it closely and really enjoyed it. That guy should be a travel writer.