When does FTTF Open for your Cruise?

[cloudninecat]

My November 2020 cruise just opened up this week so about 11 months out for this one. I've heard that about 12 months out is average. 

 

[MrsKC08]

On 12/23/2019 at 5:55 PM, Sean_B said:

The first 8 sailings on the Mardi Gras have been cancelled.

Yeah, I read that as I mentioned in my post. Thankfully that does not effect our cruise. I will be keeping an eye on it for sure though.

 

On 12/24/2019 at 5:27 AM, grandmarnnurse said:

In my personal opinion, it is definitely worth it! I get it whenever it is available for a cruise of mine. Just having a priority check in, boarding, and cabin ready makes it a no brainer for me. My hubby and I are not big drinkers, maybe 3 each in a whole day, so we never buy the Cheers package, so I’m not factoring that in. I know many people disagree with me, but this is my personal opinion. We hate waiting in any long check in lines, and dragging our carry ones around ship, so definitely worth it for that alone. 

I agree that it is worth it. I have only sailed Carnival ONCE since they started offering this (we normally sail other lines), but having the priority embarkation, cabin ready so we can drop off carry on items really are key for us too. We are also going to be driving back home after the cruise, so having the early debarkation without having to lug all our luggage off is a plus too.

[Hoops_Baller]

On 12/23/2019 at 8:15 PM, Hoops_Baller said:

FTTF has just opened (or re-opened) on the Sunrise out of Ft. Lauderdale for our cruise leaving on 1/20/20.  I checked when booking about 4 months ago, checked when I completed online check-in 90days out and have checked a few times since.  Finally see it now.  

 

I'm on the fence...We have used before, and in general I like the benefits.  This time we have a Noon-12:30 appt time and aren't doing any excursions, and don't need to disembark early so the only real benefits to us this time are the day 1 advantages.  Nothing else really does anything for us.  I'm listing them here to help me make my decision.  It's $80 for the stateroom.  Here are the bennies as I see them.

 

1.  Likely on board by 10:30 rather than 12:30. 

2.  Ability to go straight to the room and drop everything off rather than check luggage and lug a backpack around. 

3.  Get a good seat on the Lido deck...we enjoy the party atmosphere that first afternoon and watching all the people board and begin their vacation. 

4.  Get lunch early and avoid the crowds.

5.  Get a head start on the Cheers Package!

 

My thinking...it' worth about $20 bucks just to get on, drop stuff off immediately at the room and have access to everything.  It's worth about $20 bucks just to be able to avoid the crowds, get a good seat and get to the food early.  Finally, I'm pretty sure that I can drink at least 3 maybe four drinks (those first few go fast) in the extra hour and half/two hours.  My partner maybe only 1 or 2, so to be conservative, we will call it 4 combined.  That's worth about 30-40 bucks.  By my calculations, that pretty close to breaking even...thus my dilemma...lol. 

 

If we have a later arrival time, it would be a no-brainer.  Also, I've never cruised out of Ft Lauderdale, so not sure how smooth that is in general.  Just thought I would share my thoughts as I know everyone views this differently. 

 

For anyone wondering, I just booked FTTF for our upcoming trip out of Fort Lauderdale.

 

For anyone who has cruised out of FLL recently, is 10am a reasonable arrival time for FTTF?  I assume they will board the Plats and Diamonds starting right around 10, so we should be able to get right in line after them.  Just trying to confirm that this timing is fairly consistent (barring unforeseen problems) in Fort Lauderdale.