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Early boarding on Carnival

Bluemoon319

By Bluemoon319,
in Ask a Cruise Question

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KirkNC

KirkNC

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I think Carnival has some thing that allows passengers to pay a fee to board the ship first. Not sure how this affects previous experience, but it may negate it.

 

Yes they call it Faster To The Fun of FTTF. What a concept, getting people to pay extra to board:rolleyes:

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jerseygirl1977

jerseygirl1977

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We purchased it since we are traveling with our 4yr old. Gets u on&off quicker and your room is ready when u board. Also one of first to get luggage. If we didn't have her with us we probably wouldn't have bought it.

 

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Bluemoon319

Bluemoon319

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We purchased it since we are traveling with our 4yr old. Gets u on&off quicker and your room is ready when u board. Also one of first to get luggage. If we didn't have her with us we probably wouldn't have bought it.

 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Forums mobile app

 

Yes, and it's more than a 20 minutes quicker embarkation. You use the VIP embarkation line which can save a couple of miserable hours in line depending on when you show up to port. You also get to use the VIP line at guest services. For $50 per cabin, I think FTTF is well worth it. I also appreciate that Carnival is keeping FTTF meaningful by only selling a limited amount of these per sailing. I don't need FTTF because I already have Platinum status, but believe me, if I didn't, I would be scrambling to get one of those before they were sold out.

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Bluemoon319

Bluemoon319

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I purchased it for my sailing on the Breeze next year Brenda. :D

 

Smart move. I'm glad you were able to get it.

 

I'm watching your Freedom of the Seas sailaway from Port Canaveral at the moment. Can you tell I'm getting excited for my next cruise (which is leaving out of that port)?

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Bluemoon319

Bluemoon319

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We purchased it not so much for the early embarkation (which is nice though) but more importantly for us the priority tender in Belize. We are taking a private all day excursion and want to get started as early as possible.

 

I know you will greatly appreciate the priority tender (BTW, that's only off the ship, not back on as well :(). Of all the tender ports I've dealt with, Belize is the worst by far! How it worked for me in the past was to simply go to guest services when I wanted to leave, & I was escorted to the next tender. Not sure if it is still that way. I ope so though, because I will be going there in a couple of weeks.

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Bonnie J.

Bonnie J.

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As a Carnival Diamond we kind of resent this. We do not want to wait behind someone who is paying for the privledge of getting on before us if they are in front of us to check in. We have earned the ability to not have to wait to get on, the Diamond line at the purser's desk, priority tendering, chocolate covered strawberries and a free carnival logo gift (currently Tervis glasses!). Guess you could say we paid for it but we paid by buying Carnival Cruises. (We have 285 days on Carnival!) This does not mean you can get to your cabin earlier or will get luggage faster. Our luggage tags say Priority but we don't get our luggage any faster then anyone else.

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HeatherC430

HeatherC430

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Hi Bonnie. I agree with your post. After MANY years of working on being Platinum (used to be just VIP), I will finally be Platinum on my upcoming Alaska cruise. I'm not sure if purchasing the faster to the fun is available on this ship or not, but I truly hope that others who pay for this are not boarded before me in line. Honestly, early embarkation is the only benefit I'm most looking forward to.

 

However, that being said...if years ago you could purchase the option of paying $50 to board early, I would have paid it in a heartbeat. Waiting in those lines on embarkation day is the only bad part of cruising IMO. I think they should charge people way more than $50 to limit the number using it. And I think it should be a charge per person. Not $50 for a whole Brady Bunch family to cut in front of you.

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Cruising Golfer

Cruising Golfer

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Bonnie,

I think that boarding should be done on a first come first served basis!!!:)

Why should it matter how many times you have cruised Carnival?:confused:

You have paid to board early, just not up front... Should someone that has been to a sporting event get early admission just because they are regulars?

Stand in line, wait your turn and deal with it, the ship won't sail until you are on it...:D

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paul929207

paul929207

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Bonnie,

I think that boarding should be done on a first come first served basis!!!:)

Why should it matter how many times you have cruised Carnival?:confused:

You have paid to board early, just not up front... Should someone that has been to a sporting event get early admission just because they are regulars?

Stand in line, wait your turn and deal with it, the ship won't sail until you are on it...:D

Most of the Cruise lines allow their better customers priority boarding. Just like the airlines do. I also suspect that the people with the Sky Boxes get to enter the sporting event first too.

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Bluemoon319

Bluemoon319

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As a Carnival Diamond we kind of resent this. We do not want to wait behind someone who is paying for the privledge of getting on before us if they are in front of us to check in. We have earned the ability to not have to wait to get on, the Diamond line at the purser's desk, priority tendering, chocolate covered strawberries and a free carnival logo gift (currently Tervis glasses!). Guess you could say we paid for it but we paid by buying Carnival Cruises. (We have 285 days on Carnival!) This does not mean you can get to your cabin earlier or will get luggage faster. Our luggage tags say Priority but we don't get our luggage any faster then anyone else.

 

I have to say, that I was a bit upset too when I first found out about FTTF program for the same reasons you mentioned. I also thought it would create longer lines for those of us that have earned these privileges. (I've experienced this at amusement parks that sell "fast passes". My son gets special assistance passes which now put us into these "fast pass" lines, which have become so long at times that they are rendered unusable for us.) Carnival was unable to tell me how many FTTF tickets they sell & believe me I tried hard to squeeze an answer out of them. The best they would say is that they sell a limited amount & that it varies from sailing to sailing. However, hearing form other Diamond/Platinum members & going on a cruise last month, there doesn't seem to be a noticeable difference in the lines. So apparently Carnival is being true to their word (at least at this point) to limiting their FTTF passes. I have to admit that it does still irks me a bit, but that's my problem to deal with.

 

I don't know how recently you have cruised with Carnival, but the immediate access to cabins was added to Diamond/Platinum benefits when they started the FTTF program. It isn't listed separately as a benefit, but is part of the "Priority check-in and boarding". This is a great perk that I enjoyed last month. We also had our luggage in our cabin as soon as we got there. I'm sorry this has not been your experience. Maybe it will get better now that FTTF has been added. My thinking is that maybe the luggage handlers are more conscientious of priority tags now.

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