Upgrade Offer to Suite - cancel FTF?

[treasured1]

I received an upgrade offer!  We originally booked a Balcony and received an offer to upgrade to a Suite for our upcoming cruise on the Liberty 1/6/2020.  I've never stayed in a suite before and considering we have 4 people in the cabin, I think it might be worth the extra money for the larger space.  I also originally purchased FTF, but since the suites have priority boarding and debarkation, I'm not sure I will need this.  Am I missing anything major that I'll be missing out on if I cancel FTF?  If I cancel, will it I see it as OBC?

 

Thanks in advance!  Super excited for this trip.  

[Organized Chaos]

The only perk that Suites share with FTTF are priority boarding (and I guess debarkation?). You still get other perks with FTTF that you might be interested in. For one, your Suite will not be available immediately after you board if you do not have FTTF. Other nice perks that come with FTTF are priority luggage (although how soon you get your luggage varies), the priority line at Guest Services, and priority tender (if you have tender ports). So if you're interested in those other perks, it's worth keeping FTTF.

 

If you do cancel FTTF, I believe it'll be refunded to the original form of payment used to buy it.

[Shaded Lady]

The biggest issue to me that Organized Chaos listed above is the fact that we wouldn't get access to our cabin right away... that's one of the biggest perks to us that makes FTTF worth the cost. (I know- not worth it to everyone so feel free to diss on me for it, all you regular FTTF haters!)

 

treasured1- if the items in Organized Chaos' list are not that important to you, then saving the money may be more important to you.

[evandbob]

If the Jan 6 itinerary is 4 days with Nassau and Princess Cay, there will be the 1 tender port at PC.  Only the OP can decide if that perk and the priority guest line will be worth the cost of the FTTF.

 

Anyway, congrats to the OP for the upsell and enjoy your cruise.

[groundloop]

4 hours ago, Organized Chaos said:

.... For one, your Suite will not be available immediately after you board if you do not have FTTF. .....

 

Maybe a fluke, but the one time I had a suite our room was ready very early.  I had just taken a stroll to look around and ran into our steward who told me the room was ready. 

 

AND, the one time we purchased FTTF our luggage didn't show up until very late.  

 

Of course your mileage may vary.

[john91498]

How much was the upgrade? My offer was $946 and we didn't take it since we're already in a balcony room.

[Organized Chaos]

10 hours ago, evandbob said:

If the Jan 6 itinerary is 4 days with Nassau and Princess Cay, there will be the 1 tender port at PC.  Only the OP can decide if that perk and the priority guest line will be worth the cost of the FTTF.

 

Which is why I said, "if you're interested in those other perks." Meaning, if the OP finds value in them. And don't forget immediate cabin access. That's a big one for most people.

 

Trust me, with all the debates on here about "is FTTF worth it?," I'm the first to say it's value is subjective.

 

7 hours ago, groundloop said:

Maybe a fluke, but the one time I had a suite our room was ready very early.  I had just taken a stroll to look around and ran into our steward who told me the room was ready. 

 

AND, the one time we purchased FTTF our luggage didn't show up until very late.  

 

Of course your mileage may vary.

 

A fluke, but a pleasant one. Technically, immediate cabin access isn't a perk of Suites, but I'm sure there's plenty of times when people's cabins are ready before they even realize it. They have to start somewhere, so those will obviously be done earlier. Priority luggage is another wild card. If there are a lot of priority passengers onboard, it's that much more they have to sort through.

[treasured1]

6 hours ago, john91498 said:

How much was the upgrade? My offer was $946 and we didn't take it since we're already in a balcony room.

The upgrade offer was for $308.  It’s only a 4 day so maybe that’s why it was so much lower.  

[treasured1]

Thanks for all the input.  I did take the upgrade since it was only $308 and have not cancelled FTTF.  All very good points made.  We will be tendering to Princess Cay and I do remember that process was a little hectic on our last cruise (some time ago).  I still have a few weeks to decide.  

[mslhb]

We were in a suite on our last Carnival cruise. For our tender port the letter in our stateroom told us to go to one of the restaurants when we were ready to get off the ship and when we arrived a rep escorted us directly onto a tender. Was super fast and hassle free.

[treasured1]

On 11/28/2019 at 8:27 AM, mslhb said:

We were in a suite on our last Carnival cruise. For our tender port the letter in our stateroom told us to go to one of the restaurants when we were ready to get off the ship and when we arrived a rep escorted us directly onto a tender. Was super fast and hassle free.

WOW!  That's awesome!  Thank you for the info.