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Fttf

peppy3143

By peppy3143,
in Princess Cruises

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cubfan63

cubfan63

Posted
Posted

As I recall, on of the features of this for Carnival is that your stateroom is ready when you board and you can go to the room. On Princess, everyone's stateroom is ready and everyone can go to their room right when they board.

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skynight

skynight

Posted
Posted
Can anyone tell me if Princess has FTTF or something like it? Thanks.

 

At most U.S. ports if you arrive at the pier around 11am you should be on board by 12:30pm, maybe sooner. Go directly to your cabin it will be ready, no cabin ready announcement. All cabins are ready on boarding. Drop your carry on, place your valuables in the safe and start your fun. The boarding sequence starts around noon with those that require assistance, then full suites, elite, platinum, then everyone else in order of arrival at the pier. It goes very quickly.

One DR open for lunch from noon to 1:30, plus many other food serving areas.

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freetocruise

freetocruise

Posted
Posted
The boarding sequence starts around noon with those that require assistance, then full suites, elite, platinum, then everyone else in order of arrival at the pier.

 

This order of boarding has not been my experience in any of the cruises I've been on. Those requiring assistance board with their group, not before. They might go to the head of the line for that group but I've never seen all those in wheelchairs, etc board first before everyone. For example, last week on the Crown, all passengers requiring assistance (in wheelchairs) and there were many, were in one section. As the announcement for individual boarding groups was made, they were wheeled into line where it appeared that their boarding order cards were checked and turned in.

 

The order I've witnessed has been

BtB cruisers

BVE passengers and Wedding Groups

Elite and Suite

Platinum

All others in Groups based on their arrival time

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skynight

skynight

Posted
Posted

 

The order I've witnessed has been

BtB cruisers,

BVE passengers and Wedding Groups

 

I didn't mention these groups since their boarding does not really effect nor delay general boarding. Having been on many b2b's I have been back on board roughly an hour before any general boarding starts, and sometimes as early as 10am.

I have seen those with special assistance boarded early. I think it must depend on the ship, the gangway, and the amount of assistance they require.

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Pam in CA

Pam in CA

Posted
Posted (edited)
Can anyone tell me if Princess has FTTF or something like it? Thanks.
All Princess passengers can go to their cabins upon boarding. No need for FTTF. Priority is given to full suite, Platinum and Elite passengers who do board first but general boarding starts immediately afterwards. General boarding is based on first come, first to board so the earlier you get there, the earlier you can board.

 

Boarding usually starts some time between 11:30-Noon. If you're in the waiting area, you'll probably be in your cabin and ready to start your cruise in about half an hour, or less, after boarding starts.

Edited by Pam in CA
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freetocruise

freetocruise

Posted
Posted
I didn't mention these groups since their boarding does not really effect nor delay general boarding. Having been on many b2b's I have been back on board roughly an hour before any general boarding starts, and sometimes as early as 10am.

I have seen those with special assistance boarded early. I think it must depend on the ship, the gangway, and the amount of assistance they require.

 

You are correct. As with most things discussed here, it all depends on the ship and port and the only consistency is inconsistency!

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  • 3 weeks later...
peppy3143

peppy3143

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Thank you, everyone, for your responses!

 

Has anyone done the BVE? We might invite our niece and her husband to do it with us but have not heard much about the experience. There are six of us traveling together. Can we all pay our BVE fee and get on earlier or do they limit the number of people who can get on with the BVE guests?

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Thrak

Thrak

Posted
Posted
Thank you, everyone, for your responses!

 

Has anyone done the BVE? We might invite our niece and her husband to do it with us but have not heard much about the experience. There are six of us traveling together. Can we all pay our BVE fee and get on earlier or do they limit the number of people who can get on with the BVE guests?

 

We've done the BVE twice. Once just to be able to buy more FCC and the second time we were actually cruising but took our son onboard for the BVE as a thank you for driving us to SF.

 

If you are actually sailing you don't pay the BVE fee - only those who aren't actually sailing do that.

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JF - retired RRT

JF - retired RRT

Posted
Posted
Thank you, everyone, for your responses!

 

Has anyone done the BVE? We might invite our niece and her husband to do it with us but have not heard much about the experience. There are six of us traveling together. Can we all pay our BVE fee and get on earlier or do they limit the number of people who can get on with the BVE guests?

Not positive.... but I think that anyone who has their cabin linked to the BVE guest will be allowed to board with the BVE.

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Thrak

Thrak

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Not positive.... but I think that anyone who has their cabin linked to the BVE guest will be allowed to board with the BVE.

 

That sounds correct. However, I don't know if you can link more than one cabin to the BVE people. I think the best bet would be to call Princess. Ask them directly. Then call back and ask a different person. :)

 

Actually, the trick to this with Princess is to get connected to the proper department. If you get someone who actually works with the BVE stuff they will know the answer.

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LeeW

LeeW

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Wouldn't bother paying for BVE unless you have somebody who is not sailing doing it. Assuming you arrive fairly early you probably will only gain 15 minutes or so getting onboard (unless there are a huge number of elite and platinum people on the cruise). We have seen lots of case where general boarding was less than that after the special groups and in cases where they use multiple gangplanks they have even beaten us.

 

What you do gain with BVE is a special lunch in the dining room with wine and a photo. BVE participants can also do a future cruise booking with reduced deposit and the $39 is returned then as an OnBoardCredit, but you don't need this - you can buy a FCC onboard ($100 Future Cruise Credit applies as full deposit on a future cruise plus you get varying amounts of onboard credit depending on type of cruise you book). You don't need to actually book the future cruise while onboard. With RCI you get a reduced future onboard credit if you don't actually book onboard.

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RickEk

RickEk

Posted
Posted
Thank you, everyone, for your responses!

 

Has anyone done the BVE? We might invite our niece and her husband to do it with us but have not heard much about the experience. There are six of us traveling together. Can we all pay our BVE fee and get on earlier or do they limit the number of people who can get on with the BVE guests?

 

If you're sailing, you can't pay for a BVE.

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