Listen! Linda...

So....

theres no way in heck im paying $79.00 for FTTF. And i bought it every cruise i have gone on since its been a thing.

My question is this:

Since they are doing the check in times at the port is it even really worth it anymore?

Check in time at port does not apply to FTTF

Check in time at port does not apply to FTTF

Be careful, JaxPort gate checkers (not terminal check in personnel) are still trying to determine what "PRIORITY" actually means.... other ports may be in the same "boat"....

Call the port and complain if you do have problems at the gate.....

There are quite a few things Carnival sells that aren't "worth it" to me. Plated gold by the inch, Cheers, and a suite come to mind instantly.

Pay for whatever you value. Skip everything else.

That's the whole point in raising the price.

If the price is too low, then everyone buys it and it has no value.

Keep raising the price until the price point is where you barely sell out. Then re-evaluate after 6 months

If FTTF is no longer in your price range for value provided,,,, then don't buy it.

It's not worth it to us anymore, ESPECIALLY with staggered check-in. That money could go toward excursions, Cheers, etc for us.

Leaving out of Miami I checked in at the airport got of transfer bus right onto boat. No faster to the fun. And in San Juan 3 times, check in time didn’t matter, got there early every time no lines and walked right on

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Just checked and Fttf is being sold for $89.99 for my July cruise

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There are quite a few things Carnival sells that aren't "worth it" to me. Plated gold by the inch, Cheers, and a suite come to mind instantly.

 

Pay for whatever you value. Skip everything else.

Love it. I could add a few more things but if folks don't get it with that then they won't.

So....

theres no way in heck im paying $79.00 for FTTF. And i bought it every cruise i have gone on since its been a thing.

My question is this:

Since they are doing the check in times at the port is it even really worth it anymore?

Check in times have nothing to do with FTTF.

I'm sure those of you arguing about Cheers can find lots of threads to argue on... this thread was about FTTF...

To the OP- since the price was increased almost 30% last week I'm struggling to find enough value in it to warrant its purchase... but my DH & DD outvoted me for our next cruise.

But in answer to your question, if the port you're leaving from enforces Staggered Checkin times, and you can get the time you want, then FTTF has less value. If you have minimal carry-ons, or don't mind lugging them around til the cabins are ready, FTTF has less value. If you have few tendered ports then FTTF has less value...

As someone else suggested, you just have to decide for yourself if it's worthwhile. I'm kinda torn, as I said, but the family has voted!

So....

theres no way in heck im paying $79.00 for FTTF. And i bought it every cruise i have gone on since its been a thing.

My question is this:

Since they are doing the check in times at the port is it even really worth it anymore?

I believe it was because the staggered check -in times eliminated the bottleneck of people trying to check in at once.

It's late and that is the best sentence structure i could create... sorry.

Basically after these past 2 cruises(1 in New Orleans, the other in Fort Lauderdale) I won't buy FTTF anymore. 1. Because the price has been raised and 2. I don't think it is worth it anymore.

At least for check in times

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So....

theres no way in heck im paying $79.00 for FTTF. And i bought it every cruise i have gone on since its been a thing.

My question is this:

Since they are doing the check in times at the port is it even really worth it anymore?

Is it worth it? Only you can answer that. What if you have a 1:30 - 2:00 checkin time, but you are one of those people thats gotta be first. Is that worth $79 to you? :confused:

One of the advantages of FTTF is not necessarily being first to board but having a shorter line at check-in. In our experience with the staggered check-in times there are no longer long check-in lines, everything moves quickly now. So from that point of view yes, FTTF is affected by staggered check-in times. The only benefit remaining for us would be cabin access upon boarding but I am okay schlepping one carry on around until then.

I don't know if I would buy it now. When we first bought it, it was like 35 or 40, totally worth it. I think they even raised it maybe to $49, still worth it. At that time our DD was small and in a stroller and we would bring on water. We would stay in a hotel near port, so a later arrival is not really ideal, because we would be checked out of the hotel with little to do. So it was really worth it for early boarding and early cabin access. And we also liked it for debarkation, because we could get off the ship and on the road quicker, without having to use self debarkation. Since we drive we would always end up with a later debarkation time. Unfortunately for us, it is a 12 hour drive and we usually do park and stay with a hotel, so we have to wait for hotel shuttle or get a taxi to the hotel and then get our car, load it up and start driving home- making it more like a 13 hour drive.

But NOW, DD is 7 so she can walk on her own. By the time we go on another cruise she will be 8 or 9. And it sounds like carnival started offering cases of water at a decent price, so we would probably just preorder that and not carry on any drinks, but the two bottles of wine. Which means we could probably get down to one or two carry on bags. So the early cabin access is not as big of a deal. As far as debarkation, we would probably just do self debarkation. We did it on our last RCCL cruise and it was not that bad. It would not have been doable when DD was in a stroller, but now, she can walk on her own and possibly even push a light suitcase or carry a smaller bag (maybe- I am not sure I am confident in her ability to not lose something).

So- long story short, I just talked myself out of needing FTTF.

Ive been buying FTTF since they rolled it out . My most recent sailing was $70 and I found that difficult to justify, especially after the cruise. We carry our own luggage, dont need to be first on the ship, use the kiosk for most GS transactions. The terminal was pretty smooth at noon even if you didnt have FTTF. Early self assist and priority tendering used to be our chief reasons for buying it. On my March cruise, we sailed with a group of 35. 31 of those people were doing a non carnival excursion together in Belize that required us to be off the ship asap. About half of us had FTTF. The only real difference for our group was that the non fttf people had to present themselves about 30min before us to get 1st tender tickets. We all wound up together on the first tender. So that leaves early self assist. I still like having this option, but as the years go by, I have really come to dislike waking up at odark thirty to get off a ship, so after analyzing the process of regular self assist during this cruise and figuring out that it doesnt make that much difference in the time we get home... I doubt well pay $80 for fttf in the future.

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If you don’t like the price, don’t buy it. Someone else will or they’ll lower the price.

Don't forget that getting onto the ship faster is not the only benefit to FTTF. It's not why we buy it. You need to evaluate for yourself is the new price point is a deal-breaker for you. I'm going to have to evaluate myself for our next cruise, and I have considered it a "must-have" for previous cruises.

It could be $20 and I wouldn't buy it so there is no value in FTTF for some people. But they aren't trying to get me to buy it, they want the people who don't want to wait at all and those people will happily shell out $20-50 more to do it. So you have to decide if the value is still there. I doubt it will ever go back down as it will most likely still sell out.

We purchased FTTF our last two cruises and felt it was worth it. Now that the price has gone up I’m out. We won’t be buying it anymore!!

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Even at $100 it's still well worth it to me. I'll continue getting it and enjoying it.

I just used it last week on the Vista at port of Miami. It’s was insane lines I was extremely happy we got it. It also paid of for the LONG lines at guest services. So yes it was worth every penny to me

Who is Linda?

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Its the line at guest services and priority tenders I am willing to pay for,. Everything else in FTTF I can work around. And when we start to get in the 75 buck range, I can live with the other 2 also. And I'm not on a budget. Its just too offensive to me at that point.

There are quite a few things Carnival sells that aren't "worth it" to me. Plated gold by the inch, Cheers, and a suite come to mind instantly.

 

 

 

Pay for whatever you value. Skip everything else.

Exactly!!! Well put.

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