Faster to the Fun - addition

[koss78b2]

Just booked 2 cruises with Carnival . I noticed they offer a "Faster to the Fun" option, is it worth it and does the cruise live up to its standards?

as having your cabin ready faster? getting first to a tender etc?

[snc_cam]

Just booked 2 cruises with Carnival . I noticed they offer a "Faster to the Fun" option, is it worth it and does the cruise live up to its standards?

as having your cabin ready faster? getting first to a tender etc?

 

You will find many opinions regarding this and it really is a personal choice. We have purchased it for each of our cruises since it came out. We like getting on early and having the room ready where we can toss our carryons and not carry them around until 1:30. We have also used the priority Guest Services area as well as having the ability to get off the ship quicker so we can get back home and settle in prior to have to getting back to the daily grind.

 

The tender issue is only for a small handful of ports and you need to get off the ship quicker.

 

Fortunately, the upcoming Sept cruise will be the last time we need FTTF (unless they change the VIFP "grouping" policy) since we will be Platinum after this cruise.

 

Good luck. I hope you find the answers you seek for this.

 

Steve

[Davey Wavey]

I have had FTTF for every cruise and only 1 did I not use it. The cruise line does do as noted. Once they did not have my room ready, but we just dropped our bags off in the room and headed to the Lido for lunch. The room was ready when we returned and we were having a nap at 11:30 to be ready for the sail away party and late night fun on the first night. They have been great at having our luggage outside the room before noon and they have a separate line for tender ports (usually they have you report to guest services and someone personally escorts you down to the next tender). I have had times when I would have been happy to pay $300 for it, like when the billing system went nuts and we bypassed the hundred people in the customer service line. Only time I won't get it is when we get Platinum this November.

[PortSideCruzan]

Hi Koss :)

 

My wife & I have had quite a few positive experiences on sailings with the FTTF program.

 

We enjoyed the priority security/check-in (benefit), along with the priority boarding (benefit), the access to your stateroom after you board (benefit) & we EXTREMELY like the express luggage delivery (benefit).

 

Receiving our luggage 'HOURS BEFORE' the muster drill is a tremendous (benefit). It's nice to have our luggage delivered approximately between 11:30am to 12:30pm, rather than 2pm, 3pm, 4pm or sometimes even later. Expedited luggage delivery in regards to my wife & I is a huge plus.

 

The dedicated 4-digit phone line (benefit) to guest services is a nice touch too! Often eliminating the FTTF priority line (benefit) at guest services, unless of course we need to do a transaction in person.

 

The priority tender (benefit) is wonderful. When we tender, we simply go to guest services & are escorted to the front of the line & placed onto the next awaiting tender.

 

We haven't used the priority dining reservations (benefit) yet, because we typically use your time dining.

 

The early 'or' late debarkation choices (benefit) has been very helpful. We either visit guest services or use the dedicated 4-digit phone line the evening prior to request luggage tags with a zone number (of our choice).

 

For example:

During our last sailing we had a 4 hour airport wait time, we requested late debarkation zone number luggage tags so that our luggage was not sitting too long in a luggage pick up area or going round & round on a luggage carousel for a couple hours.

 

Was nice to spend much of the wait time on the ship rather than in the airport & being one of the last passengers to disembark the ship.

 

Of course FTTF being beneficial to somone & their sailing is very individual.

 

One thing is for certain, FTTF has far more benefits than merely boarding faster...

 

All in all, so far, in regards to my wife and I, FTTF has been money well spent and very beneficial.

 

Faster To The Fun Info @:

https://www.goccl.com/~/media/Files/Irman/bookccl/shipboard_knowledge/FastertotheFunPackage.htm

 

Have a terrific voyage!

 

 

:)

 

[koss78b2]

ok great so if i were to get a FTTF

what time would we all be allowed to board on first day?

what time you think cabin will be ready? as well have the cabins been already nice and clean too.

would Carnival at front desk check in, if i had FTTF would they tell me if my cabin is already ready? or do i just go there once i board? thanks

[snc_cam]

ok great so if i were to get a FTTF

what time would we all be allowed to board on first day?

what time you think cabin will be ready? as well have the cabins been already nice and clean too.

would Carnival at front desk check in, if i had FTTF would they tell me if my cabin is already ready? or do i just go there once i board? thanks

 

It depends on when they start boarding. But generally with FTTF, you are onboard by 1130. Your cabin will be ready when you board, you don't need to go to the GS desk. So you can go there on your own.

[Zevo]

My cruise is 7 months out of Miami and tickets are sold out.

[BattyL]

We booked a cruise for August 2016 and FTTF was available so I got one. We've had it for every cruise except 1. I think it is well worth the money. I wanted to get one before they were all sold out- they do go fast.

[KLD1019]

we wont sail without it until we reach Platinum! so worth it to us!!

 

My cruise is 7 months out of Miami and tickets are sold out.

 

KEEP CHECKING!! they will continue to add handfuls more from time to time! you can snag one if you keep checking!

 

last year, we booked our cruise within a month of sailing. at the time, i didnt know about FTTF, so i didnt look. when i did learn about it, it was sold out. then one day i accidentally stumbled upon it and low and behold, there were some available!

[leenieweenie]

This is the first time we will have FTTF. I am really looking forward to boarding the ship early and going right to our cabin. Not having to lug our carryons around is worth it to me. And , add in that we can leave the ship on debarkation day either early or late, whatever works best for us! I think we will feel we got good value for the price. We may get to use the priority tendering on this cruise also, so I think it is a great deal for us.

[Rudyard]

You'll see a lot of people saying it's not worth it because "If you just wait a few more minutes you can practically walk onto the ship". I found that it's not so much the boarding where you benefit, but at security and check in.

 

One cruise without it we breezed through check in, which had almost no line, and boarded quickly. Next cruise with FTTF, we got to the port about the same time and it would have been much longer as the line was huge. I'd estimate about 150-200 people ahead of us if we didn't have priority boarding.

 

I didn't have to use the guest services desk, but it was nice to know that I could use the priority line if I had to as the regular line always seemed to have half a dozen or more people in it. I can also see the benefit if you have a tender port. It was also nice to be able to pick Zone 1 for debark and be on the road thirty minutes after they started letting us off the ship.

 

The naysayers would have you believe it's all about early boarding, but it's so much more than that.

Edited August 23, 2015 by Rudyard

[whittfamily]

FTF, Was it worth it? My husband says, YES!!! We were on the boat slightly after 11. Our room was ready and luggage there by 12:30. Leaving the boat we carried our own luggage, which we had to be in crimson dining by 6:15 am. But had a elevator to ourselves, so no problem with luggage and off boat by 6:50. In car driving at 7:05. They unloaded diamond/platinum, then FTF self-luggage (which we were all in Crimson dining, and they were checking), then they unloaded self-assist not FTF after us (which were in another place), then by zones. Our other option was to put our luggage out and they would take it night before. Then meet at 7:45 zone 2. Which was a upgrade with FTF. Everyone else on hall had zone 35 and meet later. The BIG thing why FTF was worth it! My husband had library books to return to guest services on last sea day. We went down to guest services and no joke the regular line was over 50 people long. FTF line no one, he walked right up and was waited on. He turned to me and said that was worth the $50 bucks. We had a excursion in Belize so didn't use the FTF tendering. But they gave us all the info for it.