Help me make it special!

[jlynch924]

My 70-something mom is joining us on our upcoming Alaskan cruise. She's never cruised DCL and I'd like to make it super special. I've already ordered a bottle of wine for her room and a Rainforest Room pass. Any other fun/creative ideas to make it really special?

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

Are you planning a Palo brunch? That could be nice, especially on a day when cruising somewhere scenic.

 

[cgolf]

What does she enjoy doing? Is she a frequent cruiser? Do like the Palo brunch idea which is a favorite of ours.

Honestly on each of our cruises the something special or unique usually just happens

 

[dcassetta]

Get her a First Cruise button from guest services!

 

[jlynch924]

Tried to get her in on our Palo brunch, but they were sold out. I'll be heading to Guest Services as soon as we board to see if I can add her. Thanks for the First Cruise button idea. I didn't know they had those!

 

[mevelandry]

My 70-something mom is joining us on our upcoming Alaskan cruise. She's never cruised DCL and I'd like to make it super special. I've already ordered a bottle of wine for her room and a Rainforest Room pass. Any other fun/creative ideas to make it really special?

Book a dinner in Palo AND Palo Brunch!

When we cruised with the family (my in-laws), we made and wore matching shirts with our "family logo". We also offered them magnets for their doors.

 

[CanuckOnaBoat]

when we cruised with my MIL - i decorated her door with her favourite disney characters.

 

[DIS_MIKE]

Some great ideas already. Maybe book her a massage?

 

[jlynch924]

These are great! Keep them coming!

 

[mmmears]

We did the same thing a few years ago (took my Mom on to Alaska and it was her first time sailing with DCL) and we did tea (but since they don't offer than anymore I suggest Palo brunch), made some door magnets with her name on them, and offered to send her for a massage or to the rainforest room. Honestly, she just enjoyed all the "normal" things DCL has to offer, like the rotational dining, the evening shows, and the fun classes (like towel folding, drawing the characters, etc.).

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

Tried to get her in on our Palo brunch, but they were sold out. I'll be heading to Guest Services as soon as we board to see if I can add her. Thanks for the First Cruise button idea. I didn't know they had those!

Keep checking on that cruise. I booked our December cruise only 60 days out, so all the brunches were booked, but a time popped up about a week or two after I started looking.

 

[ahain]

When we took my Mom & her husband on DCL to Alaska, here are some of the things we did to try to make it special for them - may of them started before the cruise:
- scheduled a limo to transport the family from the airport to the hotel (fun to see a chauffeur holding a sign with your name on it!)
- booked a very nice hotel with rooms that viewed the harbor/cruise port pre-cruise so that they could wake up and see the DCL ship (PanPacific in Vancouver)
booked a verandah room
- booked really nice "once-in-a-lifetime" excursions that we knew they would appreciate (i.e. Taku Lodge Feast & 5 Glacier flight-seeing (sea plane) excursion in Juneau)
- put some on-board credit on their room so they could buy some stuff on the ship
- had matching cruise t-shirts made for them (and us) to wear on embarkation day
- made personalized magnets for their stateroom door & decorated it on the first day for them
- had everyone bring formal-night clothes in coordinating colors so that we would get a really nice family portrait taken which we would later have made into framed/canvas picture for their Christmas gift - and really nice pictures of them alone as well
- had Mickey give them a phone call prior to the cruise (they thought this was fun, and it caught them by surprise)
- we gave them each one of our old DCL lanyards so they would have one
- gave my mom one of our DCL Castaway Gold gift totes prior to the cruise so she could use it as her carry-on tote
- made certain that they entered the ship first so that they could have their names announced (otherwise they would have just followed us in under our name)
- made them a light-switch card - we took one of our old KTTW cards, used solvent to erase the printing on it, used a sharpie to write their last name on it and attached a small magnet to the end of it so they would stick it on the cabin wall above the light switch when not in use
- After our return, I created a really nice photo book (I use Sams Club Photo) as remembrance which we gave to them at Christmas, along with the framed family portrait