Faster to the Fun program announced today

[Cyn7]

I hope this works...lol

 

Nope let me try again.

 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

CAPACITY CONTROLLED... that is like when Carnival stopped the overnights in Nassau for the Sensation in May (which they have resumed for at least the month of August). For that the reasoning was something along the lines of "OPERATIONAL REASONS" or other similar corporate speak - they never would say WHY. Sure, they reserve the right to alter the itinerary to their hearts desire - but it would be kind of them to give a real reason.

 

We'll likely never be privy to how many of these they intend to sell. Will "priority" tenders become a joke? Will the "Diamond/Platinum" line at guest services have more people with red/blue/gold cards than platinum or white, and will the "special" phone number ring busy more often?

 

Yes, CAPACITY CONTROLLED is probably the number of people that they can sell this option to without totally crippling the system which is in place now. Once they start selling this, they won't want to give it up...

 

Tom

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

...

I would rather express my opinion with my money.

 

That's what counts in the end (though there are always going to be NEW dollars coming their way... plenty to replace those who they've lost).

 

Tom

[barbatkins]

CAPACITY CONTROLLED... that is like when Carnival stopped the overnights in Nassau for the Sensation in May (which they have resumed for at least the month of August). For that the reasoning was something along the lines of "OPERATIONAL REASONS" or other similar corporate speak - they never would say WHY. Sure, they reserve the right to alter the itinerary to their hearts desire - but it would be kind of them to give a real reason.

 

We'll likely never be privy to how many of these they intend to sell. Will "priority" tenders become a joke? Will the "Diamond/Platinum" line at guest services have more people with red/blue/gold cards than platinum or white, and will the "special" phone number ring busy more often?

 

Yes, CAPACITY CONTROLLED is probably the number of people that they can sell this option to without totally crippling the system which is in place now. Once they start selling this, they won't want to give it up...

 

Tom

 

 

and this makes me really sad..... I really wish I did not have 3 carnival cruises booked right now. I am very disappointed in them....and it gets worse with every thing they've done in the last few months....

[denas]

Well, at least then they can't complain that they didn't get priority debarking. lololol

 

Seriously though, there seems to be some confusion as to whether the FTTF folks are going to be WITH the Platinum/Diamond folks, or going AFTER them. It seems to me that it's AFTER but it would be nice to have some clarification as to that point. This seems to be the stickler. If it is indeed AFTER the Platinum/Diamond folks, then there is simply no reason for all this hubbabaloo as it won't affect the service nor experience of the Platinum/Diamond cruisers!

 

I went online today to see if I could book. It specifically says AFTER platinum/gold. It also says that if you arrive after general boarding has already started you will be directed to your own FTTF line. So basically platinum guests are still getting FOR FREE a better perk than the FTTF crowd who is paying for a lesser advantage.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

and this makes me really sad..... I really wish I did not have 3 carnival cruises booked right now. I am very disappointed in them....and it gets worse with every thing they've done in the last few months....

 

I've had our October cruise on the Legend booked for months. I have three additional cabins booked for my office staff (I take them on a cruise each year.. last year we sailed on the Epic... GREAT cruise)!

 

At any rate, I had to make the final payment TODAY - with a total of about 7 grand for 4 cabins. Don't think that I had not considered "jumping ship", but they are all looking forward to it, and I am sure we'll have great time anyway (being in our favorite cabin doesn't hurt)!

 

We added in the Conquest a month or two ago for next February because some great cruising friends are going on it with their family. We encouraged them to sail Celebrity in the past (and they loved it), but the rest of their family will only sail Carnival... so... Also, they have GUY'S BURGERS (or will have) on the Conquest! :D

 

I suppose it's time to START PACKING for our cruise tomorrow and get off here for a bit! ;)

 

Tom

[MuffyKismet]

OK, I just talked to my PVP (I had to call for another question, so I slipped this one in as well) .....the 2 new perks for current Platnium and Diamond cruisers are not going into affect fleet wide only on those two sailings on those two ships for the trial run.

 

So I guess we will wait to see when they do it fleet wide (if they do it fleet wide). I do like to be able to go into the room when we board the ship (we usually get on pretty early) but no biggie , we grab a drink and head to the serenity hot tubs and wait until we can go into the rooms!

 

Just wanted to share since it was not addressed yet in this thread. by the way it has been very amuzing reading this thread , boy do folks get riled up. I am very pleased to be able to use the perks given to me for my platnium status but if people want to pay for them....then so be it! They are limited anyway and I am sure the trial run of all this will give them a real good idea of how this will really affect the cruisers and the staff all in good time!

 

I look forward to reading more about it AFTER those cruises are over and people share the experiences good or bad.

 

Remeber everyone....you are on vacation on a cruise ENJOY it!:D

[Cruise4Music]

That's what counts in the end (though there are always going to be NEW dollars coming their way... plenty to replace those who they've lost).

 

Tom

 

My dollars will be coming their way as well as a number of my friends and co-workers.

 

Of course the 300 or so CC folks who don't approve will, of course, be leaving.

 

But they will continue to post to the Carnival board for the next few years.

[jonbgd]

I hope this works...lol

 

Nope let me try again.

 

Thanks HMMMMMMMM??????

So it looks like they will have maybe 3 colors for priority luggage

[vanityfur]

Your luggage tags stay the same... They just have the FTTF logo on them and have F2F written.

 

The boarding passes now have the same logo printed on the upper right hand corner near the port name...

[maggieworkman]

OK, I just talked to my PVP (I had to call for another question, so I slipped this one in as well) .....the 2 new perks for current Platnium and Diamond cruisers are not going into affect fleet wide only on those two sailings on those two ships for the trial run.

 

So I guess we will wait to see when they do it fleet wide (if they do it fleet wide). I do like to be able to go into the room when we board the ship (we usually get on pretty early) but no biggie , we grab a drink and head to the serenity hot tubs and wait until we can go into the rooms!

 

 

But it is not really just those 2 sailings. People are buying this perk all the way through cruises next year!

 

Maggie

[GROUCHPUSS]

I missed this.... where did you read it?

 

The article I read was wrong the author add his or her own perks in the mix. I did post a link to the article. I did confirm with John. John stated that the VIP boarding lines in port is something he has be requesting for awhile.

[PrettyHazardous]

Wow since I am pretty far from platinum I love this new plan. Well worth $50!!!!

[ATL2LAS]

The airline comparision people are using is not the same. Anyone can buy first class just like anyone can buy a suite. FTTF isn't giving you first class it is allowing people to purchase the perks of a first class passenger. This program would be the same as someone in coach paying extra for the meal and service offered in first class but are still in coach.

I have some bad news for you. Delta does it. Not only can you get zone 1 when boarding, you can add extra miles to your account. I did this for both legs of my trip to Miami for my cruise. It cost me 26.00 each way to get zone 1 boarding, economy comfort and 1000 extra miles each way:D.

[Guest LoveMyBoxer]

Although CCPLC owns all these cruise lines, there is no consistency anywhere! HAL already had the cabin available when you board promo. It just seems to me that when there are cut-backs it always starts with the Carnival ships! The HAL boards where alll-a-buzz about the increase in the cabanas at HMC. Again, all these changes started AFTER the Concordia incident, does no one else see the corralation???

[jenninkanata]

Make sure to black out your name and cabin #

 

Ok I would like to pipe in on this as someone who just bought this for our family of 4 on our first cruise that is also B2B.. We bought this for a couple reasons - a) we plan to get there early and with 2 kids getting access to our room early is important and so we can get on and off the boat quicker at ports since we take longer then most families as we have 2 visually impaired people in our party it means we have a smaller line to stand in. So to us a $12.50 per person cost is worth it. Same goes if you rent a cabana its expensive but it guantees you a chair on those busy beaches when 2- 3 cruises could be docked. Plus as a family of 4 paying for these few things (wish it included laundry as we are doing back to back cruises) helps our peace of mind.

 

BTW our boarding pass has the faster to fun logo on it. So maybe our sail away card will too I will take picks of it on the 25th the first cruise to offer this package. But won't post till after the 8th as we aren't paying for internet on the ship unless we have to

 

 

Jenn in Canada

[jonbgd]

Ok I would like to pipe in on this as someone who just bought this for our family of 4 on our first cruise that is also B2B.. We bought this for a couple reasons - a) we plan to get there early and with 2 kids getting access to our room early is important and so we can get on and off the boat quicker at ports since we take longer then most families as we have 2 visually impaired people in our party it means we have a smaller line to stand in. So to us a $12.50 per person cost is worth it. Same goes if you rent a cabana its expensive but it guantees you a chair on those busy beaches when 2- 3 cruises could be docked. Plus as a family of 4 paying for these few things (wish it included laundry as we are doing back to back cruises) helps our peace of mind.

 

BTW our boarding pass has the faster to fun logo on it. So maybe our sail away card will too I will take picks of it on the 25th the first cruise to offer this package. But won't post till after the 8th as we aren't paying for internet on the ship unless we have to

 

 

Jenn in Canada

The medical side of me would let you have front of the line privileges. The CCL platinum side of me would give it to you for free

 

Please post what your experience of it all is and your card

[alreadypacked]

:confused: OK, so can anyone guess how they are going to let us into our rooms early? I remember how we used to be able to go into our rooms as soon as we boarded. I don't know if it was technically allowed, but I remember doing it - because SO many other people did it too. It got so bad that they started physically blocking the halls with the fire doors - and on my recent cruises, those doors stayed closed until 1:30 or darn near close to it.

 

So how are they going to keep EVERYONE from going to the rooms if the fire doors aren't closed? They don't have the staff to keep watch on every floor - and from my early experiences, if the hall is open, every Tom, Dick and Harry will be going to their rooms early, even if they are told they can't.

 

As a Platinum cruiser, I am upset. It does indeed seem like they've taken some of the best Platinum perks and put them up for sale, which will make certain things more crowded, longer lines. If they keep it at 15 cabins per sailing, maybe it won't have too much of an effect - but as someone else said - can we really trust Carnival to keep that limit? I don't. Let's just say my opinion of them is turning more sour with each announcement.

 

Your post got me thinking. When I first started cruising, I remember going to our room right away... No fire doors closed or anything.

 

I've always carried my luggage aboard myself since about 2003.

 

Then suddenly one cruise (can't remember exactly what year--'05 or '06 maybe), fire doors were closed and we couldn't go to our rooms right away to drop off our luggage. Had to start dragging my bags around until 1:30 or 2:00.

 

Wonder why it changed?

 

Less staff (room stewards) to make up the rooms in a timely fashion, perhaps?

[MuffyKismet]

But it is not really just those 2 sailings. People are buying this perk all the way through cruises next year!

 

Maggie

 

sorry I meant to say those two cruise ships!!!!

[maggieworkman]

sorry I meant to say those two cruise ships!!!!

 

I hope you don't feel I was criticizing you. Because I wasn't. It is just that John Heald has made it sound like a "test" for those 2 sailings only. But from what people are posting, they are booking it all the way through April and maybe more!

 

Maggie

[DGP1111]

While it's all still pending and brand new, I suppose additional hypothetical questions are OK to ask??

.

 

Only comes into play if the test is successful, and it's rolled out fleet-wide.

 

This 'experience' is sold as a shore excursion, and is booked accordingly, with a designated time frame for the experience.

 

Shore excursions on CCL have a clearly written cancellation and refund policy.

 

If a ship arrived late (i.e. Tampa/Jacksonville) due to navigation challenges with a bridge . . . or numerous hours or even a day late (i.e. Galveston) due to weather/fog conditions . . . would this be considered a cancelled shore excursion and immediately credited back to the passengers who purchased?

 

.

[Cyn7]

While it's all still pending and brand new, I suppose additional hypothetical questions are OK to ask??

.

 

Only comes into play if the test is successful, and it's rolled out fleet-wide.

 

This 'experience' is sold as a shore excursion, and is booked accordingly, with a designated time frame for the experience.

 

Shore excursions on CCL have a clearly written cancellation and refund policy.

 

If a ship arrived late (i.e. Tampa/Jacksonville) due to navigation challenges with a bridge . . . or numerous hours or even a day late (i.e. Galveston) due to weather/fog conditions . . . would this be considered a cancelled shore excursion and immediately credited back to the passengers who purchased?

 

.

 

That's a great question because my excursion time for this is 8 am - 9 am and the ones they are selling online now are for 11 am - 12 pm....lol.

[funfamilyof6]

It didn't say anything about early tenders or early debarkation ......it said early embarkation and early luggage delivery and access to VIP at Guest Services for $50

 

actually as a Diamond guest....... it irks me that they would make these perks available to anyone who PAYS........when I had to sail over 200 days to get them

 

Barb

 

Actually it does come with early tenders and early debarkation, this is one of the reasons I purchased it for my family.

[twinklen01]

I've only been on 2 cruises but i do hope to cruise more in the future. I hope carnival doesnt start charging for everything:(

[mavis2222]

What if 90% of the people on the ship pay for this?? With all the people it will make the line twice as slow as the normal line.. Just like the 35.00 upgrade to business class on AirTran, that wasnt a bad deal, as i did it a couple times. Now that Im Platinum, the only advantage is the free laundry and the ocasional treats in cabin.