Birthday celebrations on board - tips?

[PugsNotDrugs]

My mom will be turning 50 & my nephew will be turning 5 on our upcoming cruise. I want to do something special for them, but here's the thing.. I'm doubting Disney's magic!

You see, about 10 years ago I was cruising with my family and we ordered a special birthday package for my mom. We paid for them to decorate our cabin with streamers and balloons and bring in a little cake or something. I can't remember exactly what the package was. I do remember though, ordering it, paying for it, and getting quite lack luster results! We told them a very specific time and they didn't deliver. We came back to the cabin...nothing. We contacted cruise staff & they said sorry, they don't know what happened & if we leave the cabin again they will decorate it. They told us to come back at an appointed time, and guess what? The cabin STILL wasn't decorated. Mind you, this was all supposed to be a surprise. Making excuses to drag my mom in & out of our cabin was kinda irritating for her. Anyway, the THIRD time was the charm...sorta. The staff came in and hung up some streamers and that's it. No balloons, no cake, and best of all we walked in (40 minutes after they said come back, just to be safe!) and CMs were still decorating the cabin.

Now, this was before those handy portable cabin phones so the only way to communicate with staff (that I was aware) was on our cabin phone in the actual cabin or walk up to guest services. I'm trying to be sneaky & frankly it was pissing my mom off haha. I was also 19 and really naive about things. I didn't complain to guest services.. I just kind of chalked it all up to a giant failure. We laughed about it, but honestly I wanted to cry and I wanted Disney to make it right. At the very least refund me. Again, it's my fault for not handling it that night.

So with that looong back story....
Have any of you experienced anything like this? Did you ever order anything & it not come or turn out to be a failure? Have you ever ordered birthday decorations and it went well? I'm thinking of bringing a lot of my own stuff but I still want to have them decorate it. I want it to be special because she will be 50! I want everything to be perfect!

 

[Bishoparc]

I surprised my wife with a cruise on the Dream a couple of weeks ago and ordered the birthday gift item package. It turned out great and my wife loved it. You can see the pictures in my trip report if you would like: http://www.disboards.com/threads/surprise-birthday-cruise-jan-16.3481609/

 

[Drusilla99]

I ordered the "Bon voyage" package for our first cruise back in 2007 and it was all set up with no problems, including the cake when we first entered the cabin on day 1. I had a floral centerpiece delivered to my in-laws suite on our 2011, since it was their 1st dcl cruise. It was there when they entered the cabin day 1. On our 2014 cruise we ordered cases of water & beer to be delivered to our room. It got there sometime the evening of the first night. Our neighbors next door told us later that all the drinks had actually been delivered to their room on accident and, thankfully, they alerted someone that it wasn't theirs. I am planning on having the "frozen" room decor done for my upcoming Alaska cruise, so I feel pretty confident in their delivery. I don't care about a specific delivery day or time though, if you want something more specific, it might be easier, and cheaper, for you to decorate yourself and just order the cake from them.

 

[Ana~n~Joseph]

I celebrated my son's 5 birthday aboard the Disney Magic 2 years ago. I got the Birthday Celebration decorations for the cabin but asked that they be setup the day we boarded. The moment we walked into our stateroom the decorations were up and my son loved it. We kept the decorations up the entire trip. I didn't order a cake because it was just 3 of us and I knew he would get a dessert at dinner 1 night. Since your mom is turning 50, how about you gift her a bottle of wine (if she drinks) or a Rainforest pass? That can be arranged for it to be in your room the day you board as well.

 

[TrySomethingNew]

We celebrated a big anniversary on the cruise, and ordered the romance package, some flowers, and robes (long cruise)- all were there when we arrived. DD was turning 9 last day of cruise, and we pre-ordered cake for dinner the last night. We pre-ordered a few weeks ahead. The cake was not exactly what we ordered, as we ordered "marble" cake and received a chocolate cake. It was good, and for a kid it is memorable to have a cake, and we were disembarking the next day, so did not make it an issue. For the record, no candles can be used on the cruise, therefore, my daughter had 9 very tall chocolate rolls stuck into the cake, which was a fun addition, and added to the handmade aspect.

In preparation for the birthday, I was on the Disney store website looking at some of her current fav character items (Big Hero 6), and saw birthday invites you can customize with date/time/name and so ordered the smallest pack (10 invites I think), and I ordered these for the day we requested the cake to be served. For the address, I used the place the cruise ship was at that day (a sea day, so I used the name of the ocean), time was "main dining", etc. We even gave our servers an invite each (daughter was excited) and they were unexpectedly surprised as they said no one had ever done that before. Anyway, the Disney website had a lot of customizeable options, shirts, etc for many characters. I considered buying tshirts for all of us to wear, but only ended up buying the invites.
Good luck with planning!

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I do not think that the DCL crew will decorate the room for you, with stuff you brought along. I think you would need to order a package from Disney. Or decorate the room yourself. (Remember, no adhesives)

I'd order a cake for dinner. They supply a chocolate mousse, which is adequate but not near as cool as a cake. (As noted above, there won't be any candles - no fire allowed)

 

[tinkerone]

they don't do balloons on the ship so you won't get that. if you bring your own they will not allow them either.
make sure you go to guest services and get birthday buttons, they are free. tell your room host about the birthdays and they will probably make you the best towel birthday cake, it really is amazing. of course you don't eat it but its lovely to look at and will be there your whole cruise. also, make sure to tell your wait team and they will sing happy birthday at dinner which is a nice touch.
have a great cruise! happy birthday to all.

 

[DISGRL13]

We ordered the birthday celebration decorations and they were up in the room when we entered the cabin the first time. (Even though the birthday was later in the week.) It was wonderful!! And the decorations were up all week to be enjoyed...very festive. Then on the actual day we ordered a cake to be brought out at dessert during dinner. The servers sang and it was nice.
Yes, get a birthday button from guest services for the birthday person to wear and they will be celebrated all day!

 

[valskate86]

Out of curiosity are the birthday buttons on the ship different than what you get in the parks?

 

[Bishoparc]

Out of curiosity are the birthday buttons on the ship different than what you get in the parks?

Yes, they are (at least on the dream). If you make sure to have them note the celebration on your reservation they will actually deliver the button along with a special celebration certificate to your room (left on your fish the day before the celebration).

 

[valskate86]

Oh that's so fun! We are on the dream. This will be an extra special treat! Thank you!