cruises as gifts?

[indykaren]

It’s the holiday season, and I was just wondering if anyone has ever given or received a cruise as a gift. We’ve never cruised before, but I’m giving one to my DH as a Christmas/Anniversary gift. Before we met, he spent 5 years in the Navy. He loved being at sea, and says that he just wants to be on a ship without having to work. I’ve always said no when he suggests going on a cruise because I am prone to motion sickness. Over time, my resolve against cruising has weakened, and I decided to give in. I like planning surprises, so I didn’t tell DH anything. For almost a year now I’ve been secretly saving and planning for our cruise. Everything is arranged, and I’ve even decided how to break the news to him. I’m going to give him the cruise for Christmas disguised as a CD. I created a professional-looking CD cover from cruise brochure pictures and scrapbooking supplies. There’s a picture of the cruise ship on the front cover, and a map of the itinerary inside. I burned several of his favorite sailing songs (think Jimmy Buffet) to the CD. On the back cover, I listed the songs, and added as the last entry “15th Anniversary Caribbean Cruise – Celebrity Zenith, Feb 2-6, 2006.” I’m going put it in his stocking. I can’t wait to see him open it on Christmas morning, and see how long it will take him to figure the whole thing out. I’d love to hear if anyone else has done anything similar, and how it worked out.

[Happy ks]

What a wonderful surprise!

 

I've never given or gotten such a gift, but I'm sure he will be thrilled. Have fun with the rest of the planning :) .

[CaptData]

I have given two cruise as surprizes. Both to each of my adult children for their honeymoons. They have worked out well. One is coming up on Freedome of the Seas in Oct.

 

You are ready have the biggest hurdle out of the way. You know he wants a cruise.

 

Now try out Bonimine for your motion sickness. Take one pill a night before bed then go out the next day and do something that would make you only a little sick and see the difference. Take another one that night and do something a little longer. Now you know Bonimine works and you can relax a little more about your choice of a cruise.

 

Oh there is a warning label for your CD "CAUTION: Cruising is additive, please use with a smile. The only known cure is to plan another cruise within one to five years. Enjoy".

[Cotton]

Wow, what a clever girl you are! You have done so much to make this a special surprise for your DH. He will be thrilled, I'm sure. If he still doesn't get it after seeing the CD, you could have a little gift bag of cruisin' goodies to hand him...... sunglasses, suntan lotion, a tiny bag of sand and shells, cruise brochure for the ship.

 

I will be very surprised if this isn't the biggest hit of any gift you could give him! I'm happy for both of you. (Take Bonine, and you should have no prob with your seasickness.) Have a wonderful anniversary cruise!!!:)

[Bonnie J.]

Yes, about 20 years ago, I gave my husband our 1st cruise- 40+ cruises ago!(Watch out, its easy to get hooked on cruising!!) I put the tickets and the cruise brochure in a box. Then put an old bathing suit on top. This was a Christmas present under the tree. When he opened it, he could not figure out why I was giving him his old bathing suit. I told him to take it out of the box. Wow, when he realised what I was giving him! He still laughs and says he doesn't know which surprised him more, getting a cruise or the fact I'd already paid for it! Needless to say, we've been cruising ever since!

And on the big ships I get don't get seasick but small ones I sort of do. Take Bonine with you but also get the bracelets. You just put them on, don't have to think about when to take next pill, etc. If it gets REALLY rough you and you start to feel ???y you can take the Bonine but only if you need to. Let us know his reaction when you give it to him! Know you'll have a great time!

[jcanino]

It’s the holiday season, and I was just wondering if anyone has ever given or received a cruise as a gift.

 

A couple of years ago we gave all of our family members and some close friends a cruise (33 people). We had gift bags to give them with a cruise brochure, deck plans showing them where their cabin was, info on cruising, etc. I had also prepared a video with photos from a previous cruise on the ship as well as from ship inspections and set the video to Jimmy Buffett singing "Sea Cruise". You know the song with the lyrics "won't you let me take you on a sea cruise". At the end of the video were three frames telling them to join us on that particular cruise and that our Christmas gift to them was the cruise including air. Needless to say, both family and friends could not believe the gift they received and some even began to cry.

 

Everyone of us on the cruise had lost a loved one that year (prior to Christmas gift giving) and this was a way for us (my wife and I) to celebrate the lives that my father, her mother, my uncle and a very good friend had all led; and to bring some happiness back into our lives.

[RizzoLee]

Jcanino-that's one of the nicest things I've heard in awhile. 33 people though-that much have been quite a pretty penny!

 

My DBF bought me a 7 day cruise in the Elation for last Christmas, complete with airfare (flying in on the same day, different thread-but we will never do that again!). He bugged me for months beforehand saying that he had spent a ton of money on my present-but wouldn't tell me what it was. He showed me the Carnival book and our Itinerary on Christmas day. Neither of us make a lot of money-so this was a very unexpected surprise!

 

We'd been together for almost 5 years at that point in time-I teased him by saying 'It was just him getting out of buying me an engagement ring for another year'. Neither of us are ready for marriage yet, so it makes a cute joke between us! I'd like to see what he tops with with this Christmas!

[SailAways]

We gave our son and his wife a Twenty Fifth Anniversary Cruise.

 

They had such a wonderful time. It would have been worth going

into debt to have this joyful reaction. (Didn't though).

 

Months later, they are still wrapped in the glow of that marvelous

cruise.

 

We were on the same cruise, celebrating our Fiftieth, but we didn't

see them too often. We had several dinners together, and went on a

few excursions with each other. We found that this gave us time to

explore, then share with each other of our experiences.

 

Of course, we are looking forward to our next cruise too, perhaps

for our fifty first anniversary!! Any old occasion will do for us.

[jcanino]

Jcanino-that's one of the nicest things I've heard in awhile. 33 people though-that much have been quite a pretty penny!

 

Yes it did and now some of my wife's relatives think we are rich. :( If it weren't for a small inheritance from my father's will and an unexpected bonus my wife received at work, we would never have been able to afford it. You cannot imagine how good we felt between Christmas and August the following year when we went on the cruise. We had with us my daughter's best friend, brother and their mom. The dad was the friend we lost. He was a firefighter and had been in a very smoky condition a week before he passed away. He had a major heart attack the day after our daughter's birthday party. We were the last ones to see him before he died other than his wife and kids. The daughter sent us a note when we returned saying that she had not seen her mom smile in the previous nine months before the cruise and this just took her mind off of the past if only for just one short week.

[wrp96]

As my Aunt's 50th birthday present, and my mom and Aunt's Christmas present I'm taking on the Rhapsody next week. They obviously know about that part. But there are little things I haven't told them, like the fact that I upgraded us to a Grand Suite, that will make it even more special. This will probably be my last time in a long while to spend long periods of time with either of them and I wanted to make it special.

[travelkeys]

Yes it did and now some of my wife's relatives think we are rich. :( If it weren't for a small inheritance from my father's will and an unexpected bonus my wife received at work, we would never have been able to afford it. You cannot imagine how good we felt between Christmas and August the following year when we went on the cruise. We had with us my daughter's best friend, brother and their mom. The dad was the friend we lost. He was a firefighter and had been in a very smoky condition a week before he passed away. He had a major heart attack the day after our daughter's birthday party. We were the last ones to see him before he died other than his wife and kids. The daughter sent us a note when we returned saying that she had not seen her mom smile in the previous nine months before the cruise and this just took her mind off of the past if only for just one short week.

 

I love this thread.

 

Jcanino I almost cried when I read this, having lost my father (mom's husband)/grandfather (mom's father)/uncle (mom's brother) all within a 1 year timeframe when I was younger. My mom truly smiling was/is a wonderful treat. This is a fabulous thing that will be remembered forever by the family's included.

[lagrutke]

Both of my parents are celebrating their 75th birthdays this year, so my brother and his family, my sister and her family, and my family are all taking my parents on a cruise on the 17th of this month. We surprised them with this gift at the beginning of the year. The best part was that we were all going with them, 15 of us!

[momofmeg]

My sister is disabled and on a limited fixed income-every time I would talk about a cruise she would be so wistful-so we surprised her by paying her passage and tips for a cruise-ofcourse we came along too-that just gave us another excuse to cruise.

 

 

Your hubby will be thrilled-and my and my hubby's first cruise was our 15th anniversary gift to each other. That was 7 years ago-we have done 9 more cruises and will be on Celebrity Zenith (our 11th cruise)9 days after you.

 

Ginger is great for sea sickness too. You can get it in capsule form at any herbal shop. also a trick with the bonine is to start taking it 2 days before you leave-don't wait until you get nauseaus. It works great- I was on the old Pacific Princess-an old small ship in the Atlantic going to Bermuda from New York with the remains of Floyd giving us 25 foot waves and I was fine.

 

Also go easy on the alcohol. If you feel even feel slightly queezy-stay away from the booze-that will make it worse.

[beth4652]

Before I tell my story, I have to say to Jcanino that I think you must be one of the kindest and most caring people alive. It would be a privilege to be your friend.

 

Two Christmases ago we gave our five children a trip. At the time they were 23, 21, 19, 19 and 18. In four weeks time, we left Georgia, driving across the southern part of the U.S.; up the west coast to Seattle, where we visited my brother; on to Vancouver, where we boarded the Celebrity Infinity for a 7-day cruise to Alaska. Back in Vancouver, we piled into the car again and drove east across the northern part of the U.S., down through Nebraska, etc., and home to Georgia.

 

For each of them DH and I bought luggage embroidered with their initials, wrapped and put them under the tree. I then wrote a summary of the places we would go, along with maps; made one copy for each kid; cut them into "puzzle pieces;" boxed, wrapped and put them under the tree. They had to put their "puzzles" together to see what the gift was.

 

We had the most awesome time! Although we have always traveled with them, they got to see so much of our great and vast country, with all its similarities and differences.

 

This year we're all cruising the Caribbean over Christmas and New Year's. We leave two weeks from today and I can't wait.

[jcanino]

Before I tell my story, I have to say to Jcanino that I think you must be one of the kindest and most caring people alive. It would be a privilege to be your friend.

 

Thank you! :)

[Cotton]

Joe, I've always admired your comments on the boards. Now I know why I seem to have gravitated to any thread I see your name on. Whatta guy. I'd be your friend any day.:)

[jetskier]

I treated my Mom to a cruise this past Sept for her birthday. It was her first time on one in addition to going out of the country other than TJ. We were planning on going on one anyway so adding her was not a problem. Then we were hit by Katrina with our cruise out of Mobile 5 days away. Luckily we were still able to go.

 

Mom found herself a chair by the rail on the Lido deck where she could smoke and chat with people and had a great time. As long as you dont count that she panicked when we went snorkeling off the boat in Costa Maya. After she calmed down, I told her she could get back on the pontoon boat only after she at least stuck her face in the water to see how pretty everything was.

 

Dave

[indykaren]

Thanks, everyone, for sharing your wonderful stories of gift cruises. I was humbled by jcanino's and momofmeg's entries, and loved hearing about all the other posters' experiences. Thought BonnieJ's gift presentation was very funny. :)

Thanks, too for the helpful advice about motion sickness. I planned to try Bonine, but I hadn't thought of testing it out like CaptData suggested. Great idea, I'll give it a try!

[jcanino]

Joe, I've always admired your comments on the boards. Now I know why I seem to have gravitated to any thread I see your name on. Whatta guy. I'd be your friend any day.:)

 

Cotton, thank you. I really appreciate your comments. It's funny, because I usually read everything you comment on as well :) .

[Cotton]

Mutual admiration society....cool.:)

[jherrin3]

We just gave my parents their Christmas present early this year! We are taking my parents, my DW and my DD on Enchantment next October. My wife and I have been anxious to get back to cruising after the birth of our daughter last year, and my parents have never been on a cruise yet. She (DW) was the creative one who made a beautiful scrapbook with 2-3 pages of details on the cruise along with pictures of the ship and our family to give as the christmas gift. Really looking forward to this one!

Choirguy

[cruise.freak]

We gave my parents a cruise for thier anniversary. We had them open a box and had layers of stuff for them to look through to see if they could figure it out

First layer - beach towels

Second layer - roll of quarters for slots

Third layer - sunscreen

Fourth layer - sunglasses

Fifth layer - tie for formal night

Sixth layer - birth cert. for mom who we had to mail order for it

Seventh layer - scrapbook with cruise info

 

They were so surprised and we had so much fun doing it.

Then the weekend before they left we had a cruise bon voyage party and gave them more little goodies like snacks and pop on the road trip up there. We also had their motel the day before reserved for them. We also stuck 100.00 in their glove box which we told them about when they got off the ship for the road trip back. We had also ordered robes and drink coupons for their room.

They had such a great time!

[The4Cruisers]

We sent our parents cruising on the Triumph this past Fall in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary. For all they've done for us, it's the least we could've done for them. We gave them their gift (a one-sheet power point slide page detailing their gift w/ a pic of the ship inside a gift box). Both mom & dad actually shed a tear since neither one of them was expecting a big gift. I'll tell you, outside of volunteer work, giving never felt so good! On top of that, they had a great time. And we saw in the pic's they took, Carnival did a great job decorating the room for them.

[frestyl]

My DH and I received a cruise from my parents last christmas to go on a cruise this Jan 06. We leave on Jan 14 on the NOS. This is our first cruise and first vacation without the kids in 5 years. They also gave the same present to themselves, my sister and her DH, and my other sister and her DH. We are all going and can't wait. I have not been on a vacation with my sisters and parents in a long time. My mom sells cruises and she emailed each of us a brochure with the ship and itinerary that said our last name and family cruise on it. At first I didn't know what it ment, but the phone calls started and soon realized that we would be leaving on a cruise soon. I can't wait to go on my first cruise and never will forget it.:D

[Arwenmark]

I am taking a cruise Feb 4 and I am giving the same cruise as a gift to my daughter and her husband. They married a year ago Dec 18 and got no honeymoon. Then in this past year she has spent countless hours caring for and dealing with my 89 year old father and getting him into the nursing home, taking care of his personal business etc. in spite of holding several jobs. I am unable to do these things myself.

 

Anyway this is there anniversary/Christmas gift and will be their honeymoon as well.