Faster to the Fun program announced today

[barbatkins]

Not all the perks. The best one is still unlimited wash and fold. and the Captain's invitation. and the cocktail party. and the luggage tag and passport wallet. and the ship pin. and special recognition. and...

 

the "best perk" is relative to the individual........I have never used the free laundry because I don't want my clothes ruined in a dryer........ and I have a LOT of ships pins..... I really enjoyed the priority embarkation and #1 debarkation with out lines...... so its all relative....

 

Barb

[kwagmyre]

Oh, brother. I can see it coming.....

Faster to the Fun: $49.95

Lido lounger: $20

Bathrobe: $20

Shower: $5/day

Good weather guarantee: $100

Gentle seas guarantee: $100

Etc........

 

Where can I buy the "Gentle seas guarantee"? I am not seeing that on the website... does that mean they like, put the stabilizers closer to my cabin or something? And is this one per cabin or per passenger... totally loving this new program.... :cool:;)

[Smart Arsenal Fan]

When you book the excursion, it says that there is limited availability. I booked this morning literally as soon as I heard about it on another website; at that point it said that 15 were available. I can't imagine that hundreds booked it ahead of me, so I'd say that the capacity is very low (20 - 25????)

 

15 cabins is not much "dilution" to platinum perks.

 

I don't think the longer VIP lines than "normal" lines are going to happen. :rolleyes:

[moxie99]

We are Platnium but I would gladly pay this so we could get into our stateroom earlier! Hats off to Carnival - in the overall what's another $50 - to me.... would gladly pay it!

[nonna5]

yes I'm sure you do love it We have ALL read....many times....how you felt about that

 

Not so much fun when the shoe is on the other foot - is it.

 

Oh and by the way in one more cruise I will be Diamond on RCCL.:D

[Topo Gigio]

On the positive site now diamond and platinum members will have early cabin access and express luggage delivery at no additional cost?

[floridabum]

sounds a like a tax on the stu..., ah nevermind;)

[USNUZULOOSE]

I would pay for that, just for the convenience of getting into my room a little quicker. I would love to eat with out my carry on. I don't sail much so I would be thrilled.

[kwagmyre]

the fire doors? you should have reported that immediately to the coast guard. it is illegal to lock fire doors.

 

Sure. We will just go find one of those roving coast guard officers who are all over the ship, or if that fails, will just use the portable shortwave radio I always carry with me to report it over the marine radio bands... :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

[H82seaUgo]

Sure. We will just go find one of those roving coast guard officers who are all over the ship, or if that fails, will just use the portable shortwave radio I always carry with me to report it over the marine radio bands... :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

 

no need for technicality. a text message would suffice. or a tweet.

[barbatkins]

Not so much fun when the shoe is on the other foot - is it.

 

Oh and by the way in one more cruise I will be Diamond on RCCL.:D

 

why you you say the shoe is on the "other foot"?? I'm a Diamond cruiser who got screwed with the new loyalty program just like everyone else..... I am a solo cruiser who got screwed when they took away the 1A cabins for 150% and made me pay 200% to cruise.

I am also a solo cruiser who got screwed when they recently decided that now I get to pay 200% deposit when I cruise solo........ and who the hell knows whats next for the solo cruiser?? double tips? who knows?

 

so I'm not sure why you think the shoe is on the other foot........ You've been preaching to the choir........... I just didn't complain about all the other changes as much as you did......

 

but this one was sorta like the final straw.......

 

"oh and by the way"......good for you to be diamond on RCCL.....

 

Barb

[dclark]

So let me see if I understand...Carnival makes it harder to become platinum and takes away perks because there's just too many of them. Now they're selling platinum perks? Brilliant Carnival, just Brilliant. Another way to screw over your loyal customers

 

Remember when the CCL Minister of Propaganda, John Heald, was explaining why they changed guaranteed seating times to "preferred seating"? He knew that CCL was going to do this.

Guaranteed seating is pretty easy to do when there are only 40-50 plat people on board,much harder if 200-300 are "plat".

[Gailerina]

I wonder if it is only available say a month or two before the cruise?

 

Platinum and Diamond are still top of the food chain, they will always still be first and won't have to associate with the lower class sailers.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ~ sign the awesome Gailerina!

[CorvetteLady]

I hope they improve the priority debarkation. We were platinum on our last cruise and the priority debarkation was what we were excited about, we drive so we are always happy to get an early start. We went to the assigned room at the assigned time and it was already crowded but we found a seat. As more people kept coming they wanted those already there to move to the back of the room, yeah we all know how that works out. The crew member was next to useless in getting anyone to do what she asked, I don't think she even bothered to check anyone's card to see if they really belonged there.

 

I would say there were around 100 people by the time we got called to leave, we were towards the front but there were some people who should not have been doing self assist. It was still the earliest we had ever gotten off a ship but there was also some confusion. If they add a lot more people then the priority debarkation could really turn into a bad mess.

[flgatormom29]

I would totally buy this just for the room being ready early! With 2 lil ones it'll make things much easier to be able to drop off everything and unpack before dinner/camp carnival stuff!

 

I am not platinum and understand why you all are upset, but it is limited...not everyone on the ship will be able to do it...

 

And as for the suite, I don't believe the only perk to having a suite is early boarding.... It's much more space, we loved having more room and a slightly bigger balcony on the freedom. And also LOVED the bigger bathroom and changing area! THAT'S what I paid more money for, the VIP boarding was just a perk...wish I could do a suite for the breeze...but just can't justify that much more money!

[Veneerdds]

I could go for a little Faster to the Fun!! :D

[BriLam]

I consider myself fairly cheap, but the perks offered here are absolutely worth it to my family. And this is coming from someone who will never spend more money than I have to on an airplane, in a hotel, etc. As such, my wife and I took advantage of the new offering for our sailing.

I view this as similar to what airlines are doing today. The airlines removed some standard benefits and sell them for an extra fee now and also offer some new benefits for a price, as well. This would normally get consumers angry, but Carnival didn't remove anything from anyone. They are offering something new and making additional money as a result. And I completely disagree with those who had these benefits already and maintain said benefits are now less meaningful to them because they lack the exclusivity they had before. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and mine is if I was in that position, I couldn’t care less as long as I still had the same benefits I had prior.

It's a business, folks. And this is benefiting Carnival and its passengers in the long run.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

That sounds good ...

[LamenLaur]

I would pay for that, just for the convenience of getting into my room a little quicker. I would love to eat with out my carry on. I don't sail much so I would be thrilled.

 

One of the reasons we're trying it, too. I don't see this as any different than being giving the option of upgrading for a better seat on a flight or a better room at a hotel.

 

I can understand the other views, though. However, I didn't know that people cruised just to gain diamond and platinum status! I thought people cruised so they would have a great vacation? ;)

[ladylikes2cruise]

I consider myself fairly cheap, but the perks offered here are absolutely worth it to my family. And this is coming from someone who will never spend more money than I have to on an airplane, in a hotel, etc. As such, my wife and I took advantage of the new offering for our sailing.

 

 

 

I view this as similar to what airlines are doing today. The airlines removed some standard benefits and sell them for an extra fee now and also offer some new benefits for a price, as well. This would normally get consumers angry, but Carnival didn't remove anything from anyone. They are offering something new and making additional money as a result. And I completely disagree with those who had these benefits already and maintain said benefits are now less meaningful to them because they lack the exclusivity they had before. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and mine is if I was in that position, I couldn’t care less as long as I still had the same benefits I had prior.

 

It's a business, folks. And this is benefiting Carnival and its passengers in the long run.

like:D

 

One of the reasons we're trying it, too. I don't see this as any different than being giving the option of upgrading for a better seat on a flight or a better room at a hotel.

 

I can understand the other views, thought. However, I didn't know that people cruised just to gain diamond and platinum status! I thought people cruised so they would have a great vacation? ;)

like:D

[mikel24m]

If everyone loves getting into their cabin so early why not just charge $20 early cabin fee and assign stewards to which cabins to be cleaned first.That I can understand

 

We always book lido anyway so we take our back packs and go sit at the bar order our drink and eat lunch and when we are done our cabin is usually ready and a few steps away.I can understand people with kids and having to lug bags all around the ship and catching elevators and crowds and stuff

[dchoney]

This makes sense to me and I see Carnival still trying to honor those that actually earned the perks:

 

This is from John Heald:

 

"I have seen your comments about the new faster To the Fun Program need to say thanks first of all for your comments so far. Some of you have asked about check in for Faster to the Fun during the testing period. VIFP guests will board first and still have access to the VIP lounge whereas Faster to the Fun guests will proceed to a check in station and not through the VIP Lounge - I think that’s very important to note. Also, please note that the Faster to the Fun is capacity controlled and will be strictly monitored and that the extra benefits that the Faster to the Fun guests pay for will be complimentary to Platinum and Diamond VIFP members, of course."

[H82seaUgo]

If everyone loves getting into their cabin so early why not just charge $20 early cabin fee and assign stewards to which cabins to be cleaned first.That I can understand

 

We always book lido anyway so we take our back packs and go sit at the bar order our drink and eat lunch and when we are done our room is usually ready and a few steps away.I can understand people with kids and having to lug bags all around the ship and catching elevators and crowds and stuff

 

hell, for $50, i could send my own cleaning lady on board to clean my room. and carry my bags!

[dclark]

And I completely disagree with those who had these benefits already and maintain said benefits are now less meaningful to them because they lack the exclusivity they had before. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and mine is if I was in that position, I couldn’t care less as long as I still had the same benefits I had prior.

 

It's a business, folks. And this is benefiting Carnival and its passengers in the long run.

 

The benefits are diluted. Would you care if they overnight, doubled the amount of dollars out on the market and devalued the dollar by 50%? Hey, they didn't take anything away from you, you are still getting the same of dollars each week in your paycheck, only problem is that everything now costs double!

Early tendering? Yup, you still get it, only you might have to wait behind a lot of people who bought the "ftf" package so instead of being on the first tender, maybe second or third or... who knows?

VIP boarding is not very VIP when you are massed with hundreds of other VIP's. I was on Princess last month, a cruise line known for cruiser loyalty and probably a third of the ship was plat and above and it took a while to get on board.

[bitemyfly]

This is funny stuff

I like the idea

May I also suggest

19.95 for a premium lounger per day

29.95 for tea / coffee with the captain

39.95 for priority tenders

I would also pay 49.95 to drive the ship for 15 min