Early boarding on Carnival

[Bluemoon319]

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.

 

I agree that even though I resent having to earn what others can now just pay for, if I hadn't earned the perks, I would ump at the offer as well. I'm sure that must sound hypocritical, but that's just MO. Carnival already limits the number of FTTF they sell. I could be very wrong, but I don't think they make all that much $ on selling the FTTF. I think it may be more of a marketing idea to get more customers in general to book their cruises through Carnival.

 

Do not worry about FTTF passengers boarding before you. The order goes: wedding parties, Diamond/Platinum, then FTTF. Also, the FTTF passengers do not have access to the VIP lounge for embarkation. You will love that area. It's just past the security screening. You get to sit down in a pleasant air conditioned lounge with cold drinks and coffee while taking care of the paperwork. Then it's straight onto the ship. Immediate access to your cabin is also wonderful. No more toting things around for hours while waiting for cabins to be unlocked. Last month we were unpacked & on the Lido deck by about 12:30. It was great! :D

 

Congrats on reaching Platinum for your upcoming cruise. I think you will enjoy many of the other perks more than you realize as well. :)

[Bluemoon319]

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

 

My, my, such harsh words.

 

It's called showing appreciation to loyal customers. Yes, appreciation perks to loyal customers are given all the time by many companies, including cruise lines. Frankly, the perks I've earned from Carnival is a major reason why I continue to book with them rather than other cruise lines.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Between 11 -12

[Athankfulheart]

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.

 

It is my understanding that on all ships with FTTF, that Plat/Dia cabins will be ready early along with FTTF cabins. I am not sure about luggage delivery.

[Athankfulheart]

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.

 

I purchased FTTF for my family (3 cabins/10 people) because we need a few of the perks and are not brand loyal. They do limit this feature to 15 cabins per sailing and I believe they reserve the right to open up 15 more if the plat/diam attendance is lower than expected closer to sailing.

 

My bigger than "Brady Bunch family" won't cut in front of you or anyone. We will wait where we are told and proceed when we are invited to. They make rude families in all shapes and sizes these days you know :rolleyes:

[Bluemoon319]

I purchased FTTF for my family (3 cabins/10 people) because we need a few of the perks and are not brand loyal. They do limit this feature to 15 cabins per sailing and I believe they reserve the right to open up 15 more if the plat/diam attendance is lower than expected closer to sailing.

 

My bigger than "Brady Bunch family" won't cut in front of you or anyone. We will wait where we are told and proceed when we are invited to. They make rude families in all shapes and sizes these days you know :rolleyes:

 

I'm glad you were able to get FTTF for your family. I don't resent the people that buy them. I just think Carnival should have added more to the Diamond/Platinum perks when they implemented FTTF. It just kind of takes away some of the special appreciation treatment I have felt for having earned these privileges. I realize that we get perks other than what FTTF offers, but actually, these perks were diminished somewhat right around the time they started the FTTF program. Again, my issue is with Carnival, not passengers who have FTTF. More power to all of you who are able to get them!

 

I'm curious how you found out the number they sell? I tried really, really hard to get an answer out of Carnival. Maybe it was 15 for your particular sailing? Is that on the Dream? If so, that is an amazingly low number for such a large ship IMO. Like I already said, I appreciate that Carnival is keeping this meaningful by selling only a limited # of these passes, at least at this point. I just hope this is not just a trial thing to see how well it goes over & then start selling them like crazy. Lines won't be so short anymore if that happens.

[Bonnie J.]

Ok, our last Carnival cruise was the Glory, May 26th. Before that it was April, before that end of Febuary. (We did 13 Carnival cruises last year and have decided we MUST cut down this year!) Next booked is August 27th - unless a good price comes up.

We always just go to our cabin anyway and don't wait until 1:30. But luggage? Our tag says 'priority' but we have never gotten them 1st. Other luggage without priority' tags are in the hall before we get ours.

Where do the FTTF people wait if Platinum & Diamond board before them? We had a lounge to wait in for the Glory and got our sign 'n sail card there. Then the rep took us up to board and we were the 1st to do that!

[Bluemoon319]

Ok, our last Carnival cruise was the Glory, May 26th. Before that it was April, before that end of Febuary. (We did 13 Carnival cruises last year and have decided we MUST cut down this year!) Next booked is August 27th - unless a good price comes up.

We always just go to our cabin anyway and don't wait until 1:30. But luggage? Our tag says 'priority' but we have never gotten them 1st. Other luggage without priority' tags are in the hall before we get ours.

Where do the FTTF people wait if Platinum & Diamond board before them? We had a lounge to wait in for the Glory and got our sign 'n sail card there. Then the rep took us up to board and we were the 1st to do that!

 

Sorry to hear that. We were on the Glory on May 19th. I don't know where the FTTF passengers wait because people were already boarding by the time we got to port. Perhaps they are escorted to the front of the line of people who register at the regular counter. I didn't happen to see any while I was in the security line & then as you know, the Diamond/Platinum lounge is right there on the right so we walked right in.

[HeatherC430]

I purchased FTTF for my family (3 cabins/10 people) because we need a few of the perks and are not brand loyal. They do limit this feature to 15 cabins per sailing and I believe they reserve the right to open up 15 more if the plat/diam attendance is lower than expected closer to sailing.

 

My bigger than "Brady Bunch family" won't cut in front of you or anyone. We will wait where we are told and proceed when we are invited to. They make rude families in all shapes and sizes these days you know :rolleyes:

 

I'm sorry if I offended you. I do realize that there are rude parties of 1 or 2 as well. My point was that they should be charging per person for this option. Out of curiosity, did you pay $50 per cabin? Or $50 total for the 10 of you?

[HeatherC430]

I agree that even though I resent having to earn what others can now just pay for, if I hadn't earned the perks, I would ump at the offer as well. I'm sure that must sound hypocritical, but that's just MO. Carnival already limits the number of FTTF they sell. I could be very wrong, but I don't think they make all that much $ on selling the FTTF. I think it may be more of a marketing idea to get more customers in general to book their cruises through Carnival.

 

Do not worry about FTTF passengers boarding before you. The order goes: wedding parties, Diamond/Platinum, then FTTF. Also, the FTTF passengers do not have access to the VIP lounge for embarkation. You will love that area. It's just past the security screening. You get to sit down in a pleasant air conditioned lounge with cold drinks and coffee while taking care of the paperwork. Then it's straight onto the ship. Immediate access to your cabin is also wonderful. No more toting things around for hours while waiting for cabins to be unlocked. Last month we were unpacked & on the Lido deck by about 12:30. It was great! :D

 

Congrats on reaching Platinum for your upcoming cruise. I think you will enjoy many of the other perks more than you realize as well. :)

 

Thanks! I'm looking forward to my first Platinum experience! This has been many years in the making! Also, I couldn't agree more with all your posts on this topic.