Booking a surprise cruise - tips?

[WindyCs]

Does anyone have any tips/recommendations on how to book a surprise cruise? The Mrs. logs into her latitudes account fairly often since we have other cruises planned and we are making or checking plans.  I want to book another special cruise but I don't want her to see it on her account. I understand that often NCL will allow name changes without charge, but there's no official policy on that (other than it's actually considered a cancellation and rebook) and I wouldn't want to leave it to that chance. 

[ElizaSTN]

I’d call and ask…it can’t be that unusual of a request?  When I booked my mom’s bday cruise (we leave tomorrow!!) they sent the email booking confirmation to her email that they had on file. Not my finest hour. 🥴

Edited February 11, 2022 by ElizaSTN

[GeezerCouple]

1 minute ago, ElizaSTN said:

I’d call and ask…it can’t be that unusual of a request?  When I booked my mom’s bday cruise (we leave tomorrow!!) they sent the email booking confirmation to her email that they had on file. Not my finest hour. 🥴

 

The problem here is that she logs into her NCL account, not that she'd see any mail arriving.

 

GC

[WindyCs]

1 minute ago, ElizaSTN said:

I’d call and ask…it can’t be that unusual of a request?  When I booked my mom’s bday cruise (we leave tomorrow!!) they sent the email booking confirmation to her email that they had on file. Not my finest hour. 🥴

Yeah you wouldn’t think so….same thing happened to me last time 🙂 

[WindyCs]

1 minute ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

The problem here is that she logs into her NCL account, not that she'd see any mail arriving.

 

GC

Yeah I’m going to call and ask. I thought about creating a reservation for 1 and adding her later but then booking excursions wouldn’t work. And there is always the slim chance that our area of the ship is full and they don’t allow guests to be added any longer and that would be the worst.

[havanadaydreaming]

my wife did this a couple years ago for my 50th....she worked with a travel agent who pulled it off.   

[GeezerCouple]

Just now, WindyCs said:

Yeah you wouldn’t think so….same thing happened to me last time 🙂 

 

The one time I didn't want the passenger to know at first, I changed the e-address to be mine. 😉

Later, once they all knew, I forwarded anything they needed to know to them.

We were paying, as a gift, so I didn't want them dealing with the finances (or thinking something like, "oh, they shouldn't have spent so much", etc.).

GC

[GeezerCouple]

2 minutes ago, WindyCs said:

Yeah I’m going to call and ask. I thought about creating a reservation for 1 and adding her later but then booking excursions wouldn’t work. And there is always the slim chance that our area of the ship is full and they don’t allow guests to be added any longer and that would be the worst.

 

Very good to be aware of that potential "oddity"!

 

When do you plan to tell her?  Two days before, so she knows "Surprise! Pack warm weather clothes or cold weather clothes!" ?

IF it's before penalty time, when name changes are still allowed, you could create an account for "Ms/Mr Fake WindyCs" and your email (or a temporary Fake WC e-account?) so she doesn't see a thing.  Then if it's still within allowed time, THEN tell her and then switch the name?

It's really nice.  I wish they made this type of thing easier.  It was easier for us, as described, because there was no NCL account yet.  It was fun!  We told them well in advance, because the two adults needed to deal with work schedules.

 

GC

[WindyCs]

1 minute ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

Very good to be aware of that potential "oddity"!

 

When do you plan to tell her?  Two days before, so she knows "Surprise! Pack warm weather clothes or cold weather clothes!" ?

IF it's before penalty time, when name changes are still allowed, you could create an account for "Ms/Mr Fake WindyCs" and your email (or a temporary Fake WC e-account?) so she doesn't see a thing.  Then if it's still within allowed time, THEN tell her and then switch the name?

It's really nice.  I wish they made this type of thing easier.  It was easier for us, as described, because there was no NCL account yet.  It was fun!  We told them well in advance, because the two adults needed to deal with work schedules.

 

GC

 

Yeah it won't be until less than 1 week before that's why it's challenging. If it was before penalty time I wouldn't even worry. 

[GeezerCouple]

4 minutes ago, WindyCs said:

 

Yeah it won't be until less than 1 week before that's why it's challenging. If it was before penalty time I wouldn't even worry. 

 

So nice!

But tricky.

I'd suggest calling a major travel agent/agency, one that may have separate contacts with the cruise lines, etc.

We needed an unusual booking arrangement in terms of the number of cabins/suites, who would sleep where, and how the names showed up.   When our TA first inquired, he was told, "Impossible; we can't do that!"  I asked him to escalate it, and he said it was a bit time consuming (that's why he gets paid, right?), but he "made it happen".  [He had to go through a special person at the agency consortium, the person who "has the contacts", etc.]  Your situation isn't identical to the one of ours I'm thinking of, but it's similar enough that it would be worth having someone with some contacts "make it happen".  The "it" in this case is to somehow have a different new/separate account for your wife, or to arrange in advance (IN WRITING!) to make that last minute name change.

 

Note:  If you just try to set up a new account for her with a new e-address and allowing a new latitudes number to be assigned, you or she(!) will soon get an emails stating they noticed she has two latitude numbers, and here is the one they are using, and she should use it in the future.  So that wouldn't work. 😞 

 

Good luck!

 

GC