Surprise NCL cruise itinerary (to me)

[havanadaydreaming]

Has anyone ever taking a cruise and not know where they were going? 

 

That's a pretty ludicrous question without context...my wife is surprising me with a trip mid summer, one that should be of fairly significant length or new to us itinerary.  (I just had one of those iconic birthdays that ended in a "0").  My best friend's wife is a TA so they arranged all the flight and cruise details unbeknownst to me. My wife even ensured with my 2nd in command at my office that I was ok to take vacation during that timeframe.  

 

I don't know where we're departing from, where we're going, who we're sailing with, etc.  I'm not really tempted to learn more details as I appreciate her and the effort she's put into the planning. 

 

I think it would be cool if a cruise line could pull off the same surprise sailing concept but I doubt it would be very popular with cruisers - who I bet want to know exactly where they're going before committing significant money to booking.  but....it would be fun to be surprised by the dailies and learn last minute where one was headed. 

 

 

[PlayCousin]

There are travel agencies that specialize in these surprise vacation packages although I've mostly seen weekend type getaways - no cruises.  While I think it's a cool idea I would be able to give up the control.  I like to plan.  How do you plan when you don't know what you are planning for?  

[Langham1865]

Aside from knowing what to pack (cool to warm to hot weather cloths) I thinking this is pretty fun

[deladane]

What a wonderful surprise from your wife!  I am too much of an OCD planner to give up that much control haha  I like to know what I am doing each day/night of my vacation so I can plan/pack accordingly.

 

Funny enough, John Heald (brand ambassador for Carnival Cruises) posted nearly this exact same question as a poll on FB last week.  He asked if people would be interested in booking a cruise on the Carnival Breeze with 3 mystery ports of call, and the response seemed positive.  I think most of those people just liked sailing on the Breeze and knowing that they had lots of fun options to enjoy their vacation on the ship alone, even if they never got off at any of the ports haha  

 

Either way, I hope you have a wonderful birthday celebration on your mystery cruise!  Come back to tell us how it went! 

[havanadaydreaming]

14 minutes ago, deladane said:

What a wonderful surprise from your wife!  I am too much of an OCD planner to give up that much control haha  I like to know what I am doing each day/night of my vacation so I can plan/pack accordingly.

 

Funny enough, John Heald (brand ambassador for Carnival Cruises) posted nearly this exact same question as a poll on FB last week.  He asked if people would be interested in booking a cruise on the Carnival Breeze with 3 mystery ports of call, and the response seemed positive.  I think most of those people just liked sailing on the Breeze and knowing that they had lots of fun options to enjoy their vacation on the ship alone, even if they never got off at any of the ports haha  

 

Either way, I hope you have a wonderful birthday celebration on your mystery cruise!  Come back to tell us how it went! 

thank you!

 

I am very much a preplanner/researcher.  I like to know as many details as I can about the ship, ports, things to do, etc, etc in order to make the best decisions possible. However, on coastal trips on the mainland some of our favorite "finds" are when we just wing it and explore.  that said, I struggle to not know everything I can about a place i'll only be 6-8 hours and possibly never again. 

 

 

[larry_s_taco]

We took a cruise in 2005. It was right after Katrina had hit. We were due to sail out of New Orleans and that got changed to the port of Houston. We made it to Cozumel which was on our schedule, but during the cruise two other hurricanes popped up. I believe it was Rita and Wilma. We overnighted in Cozumel and left just as the bands came in. We missed all other scheduled ports trying to avoid the two hurricanes. Our course kept changing and they announced we would port in several places we never made it to. We ended up porting in Veracruz. The port was great. It was really an adventure. We did really enjoy it.