Elvis1001

Thanks for the review, very helpful to know what to expect on my March 13 cruise.

Looking for experiences with FTTF on Freedom since restart. We have used FTTF on several ships and each seems a little different (all pre-restart). Some have been as advertised (early embarkation and debarkation, luggage arrived early, etc.), and some (like our last cruise) were not (luggage arrived late after almost everyone else, debarkation with the masses, etc). Any post-restart FTTF experience specific to Freedom. Most concerned about debarkation as early as possible (meaning after Plats and Diamonds and before the masses). Any feedback greatly appreciated.

It's been a few years, but we have stayed in Tampa twice and arrived several days prior to enjoy the area. 

We stayed at the Hampton Inn Ybor City our first visit. We really enjoyed walking around Ybor City and seeing the cigar shops and finding places to eat. It's close to the cruise port, but far from the museums  and other stuff to do in St. Pete/Clearwater.  

We stayed in St. Pete our second visit, to save some hotel $$$ and be closer to the museums and stuff to do in St. Pete. However, it is much farther from the cruise port (as noted in post above).

Busch Gardens is closer to Ybor City but still a bit of a drive.

Anyone done this tour through Carnival? Wondering what the attendance/capacity is for this tour (12, 25, 50, etc.) and the transportation (van, bus, etc.). Also curious how you would rate the tour. The Carnival website only has five reviews, all very favorable. Thanks for any feedback.

On a seven night cruise, do they serve bacon on three days or four days? (asking for a friend)

Thanks so much for the update! Very helpful for those considering whether to book later this week.

I know it’s a long shot (or Hail Mary pass in honor of Super Bowl Sunday) and it probably will not work for various legal reasons, but here is my crazy idea. There is one federally recognized Native Tribe in Alaska which governs the only Indian Reservation in Alaska.  The Metlakatla Indian Community (MIC) governs the Annette Island Reserve (AIR), located about 15 miles south of Ketchikan.   The AIR has a deep water port (Port Chester) adjacent to the MIC as well as an airport. The AIR also includes the seabed out to 3000 feet from shore. Maybe the lawyers in Miami and Juneau can get together and make a case that Metlakatla/Port Chester is actually a foreign port because it is on an Indian Reservation with its’ own territorial waters.  If successful, the MIC could generate significant revenue from port fees as well as helping save the tourism industry in Southeast Alaska. The MIC is very small so shore excursions would be very limited, but air/sea tour operators in nearby Ketchikan could provide excursions from the AIR for a licensing fee to the MIC. I also realize the CDC guidelines to return to cruising may not let any cruises happen until too late in 2021 for Alaska anyway.  Just a crazy idea.
 

Mobile may become more practical for ships larger than the Fantasy class after the channel between the port and the Gulf is widened so ships can safely pass in opposite directions and the turning basin is enlarged in 2024 or 2025. I think at least two Fantasy Class ships will remain in the fleet for several more years to serve Mobile and Jacksonville. Carnival will need every dollar they can generate after cruises restart (I predict July 2021) to pay down the debt from the virus and the newest ships as quickly as possible.

I was lucky enough to visit Havana in April 2019 just before Trump ended cruises to Cuba.  I think/hope Biden will return to the Obama policies regarding Cuba. Havana is the ideal replacement for Key West since they just voted to ban cruise ships. Of course none of this is possible until COVID is way behind us.

We enjoyed it, and we also try to avoid "disneyfied" excursions when we can, we like seeing the real thing. It is a "show" in a theater-like setting with audience participation, and part of the audience engagement is slapstick comedy. However, the lumberjack skills being demonstrated through a series of friendly competitions are real. They are really climbing poles and using chainsaws and balancing on logs and throwing axes. Many of them compete in international lumberjack competitions.

I have sailed on Fantasy (twice), Elation and Paradise. I was planning a third Fantasy cruise in May when COVID hit. Fantasy was my favorite. I preferred the outside staterooms on the stern of the Fantasy and I was sad to see her leave the fleet. There was a stairwell at the very back of the Fantasy which led from the Empress Deck up two decks to the adult serenity lounge and from there up to the Lido buffet also at the back of the ship. The balconies added-on to the Elation and Paradise are unsightly and put my preferred cabins outside my price range for a quick 5-day get-away. I do like Elation and Paradise and enjoy the refurbished rooms and Guy’s Burgers, etc. I also like cruising from smaller ports like Jacksonville, Mobile and Tampa with one parking lot/garage next to or across the street from the ship. I haven’t had the heart to start planning another cruise until I know when I can actually count on going. 

I think they start with shorter 4-5 night cruises to build confidence that it can be done safely without the virus outbreaks and quarantining entire ships for 2 weeks again. After a few weeks of success the 7 night cruises can be added, but the itineraries may be fewer port days (2 private islands) and more sea days. I think cruising to traditional ports like Nassau/Cozumel is still doubtful in the near future. It would be great if Carnival, Royal, Disney, and Norwegian would share their private islands and have a 7-day cruise visit 4 or 5 private islands (but it will never happen). 

July 2021

We prefer these cabins because they are slightly bigger (longer) than other OV cabins and there is a deep shelf under the window where you can store the luggage. We also like being close to the serenity hot tubs and the deli/pizza/buffet for quick snacks. We also enjoy the view of the wake. There is some motion which does not bother us.

The issues in Mobile are the length of the turning basin and the parking. Fantasy barely had enough room to turn around and the parking deck was full when I sailed. There is a project already underway to lengthen the turning basin, and more parking can always be built later for a larger ship. My guess is the Fantasy will be replaced sooner than originally planned with another Fantasy Class ship retrofitted with balconies currently sailing from a port in Florida where Carnival has more ships than needed for some time.

I suspect Princess is making an independent decision from other Carnival Corp lines based on their bookings / cancellations and desire to minimize the financial risk. It’s a known cost to tie the ships to the dock for 60 days. The cost is not known to continue sailing with the potential for additional 14-day quarantines along with the negative press and the potential litigation by passengers exposed to the virus. Corporations dislike the unknown, they are better at managing the known hit to the bottom line by suspending ops for 60 days.

The way I started planning for Alaska was first determine which ports I wanted to visit, then where I wanted to depart and return, then pick the cruise line and itinerary that matched, which you have already done. Phase 2 was to see what excursions the ship offered to get an idea of what is available. Then I checked the excursions offered by all the cruise lines in Alaska to see if anything was different. Almost everything offered by the cruise lines can be booked independently in Alaska, because they all use local vendors. Then I researched what I and others travelling with me were interested in extensively on these boards and started narrowing the choices, then finally made decisions before the beginning of the Alaska cruise season and booked a combination of ship sponsored and independent excursions.

Last June we did the Bennett Lake Excursion through Chilkoot and throughly enjoyed both bus and train portions. We chose bus first because it left later at 9:30 in the morning. Since we were unsure of what would be open when we returned we got off the ship around 7:30 and walked about 1/2 mile from the Ore Dock to the WP&Y train station and the Alaska T-shirt Company. Both places were already open (in June) so we did some shopping and returned to the ship to drop our packages before our 9:30 pickup time. At the end of a long 8-hour day we returned to Skagway about 5:30 with enough time to walk five blocks to Skagway Brewing for a Spruce Tip Blond Ale then walk maybe 3/4 mile back to our ship at the Ore Dock before our all aboard time (around 7:30 I think). So in June the shops were still open at 5:30, but also keep in mind your ship may leave earlier than ours did last June. Unfortunately I don't know what hours the shops keep in May.

Just FYI we were not assigned the last car on the train on our visit, we were assigned the second to last car. I think Chilkoot had two cars that day since our car was only the 18 passengers on our bus and there was another Chilkoot bus. Because our car was only half-full there was plenty of space on the open platforms at both ends of our car for those wishing to stand outside and take photo's from the train. I also had a long conversation with the brakeman on our train, who was hanging out in our car because there were so many empty seats. BTW the railroad does not let passengers walk between cars or change cars and the cars ahead of ours were nearly full. Anyway the bus and train portions are both spectacular.

I am only comfortable with driving the morning of my cruise to my nearest port which is 3 hours away. I leave at 7 am, at least 4 hours before I should be able to park and board at 11 am. That allows me an additional 4 hours until 3 pm for unexpected emergencies along the way. If I am sailing from any other port I drive the day prior and stay anywhere from 15 minutes to 1 hour away, sleep in and enjoy breakfast.

We just completed a 5-day on Paradise (Key West, Havana, Cozumel) and noticed the Lido Buffet was under staffed compared to previous cruises on Fantasy and Elation. Tables were not cleared in a timely manner, many times only one side of the main buffet was open, and only one person was typically working the Deli with a long line. Our cabin attendant was great and very attentive, providing towel animals every day which we have not seen in several years. The bars seemed well staffed on the first day , then appeared to have fewer working and walking the Lido deck for the rest of the cruise. I found the CD somewhat annoying (probably personality and accent). The CD did not bother my wife. The CD made the same announcements and frequency as other cruises. I will eventually post a complete review of the cruise under reviews for those who may be interested in more.

Something else worth considering is photo storage capacity. It didn't seem like it while on our Alaska cruise last summer, but when we got home and looked at the photo's, my wife and I shot 2,348 photos with an 8-year old DSLR, 1,737 using a new cannon pocket point + shoot with a good optical zoom, and 850 using a new i-phone. All the photo's are fantastic. 

Go hungry, I think we had six or seven appetizers in the galley before dinner when we did Chef's Table on Fantasy.

On Ruby the messenger did not work all the time. It seemed to vary based on where you were on the ship and what was going on at the time. It seemed to work well on sea days but not well when entering a port or before dinner and evening shows when more passengers are trying to use it. It seemed to work better away from the dining areas. And as others have posted it does not notify you of new messages so you need to know someone is trying to message you or check often.

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Based on our FTTF experience on Fantasy we would not do itagain. Embarkation was 15-minutes in the FTTF line, friends travelling withoutFTTF made it through the regular lines in about 20 minutes. We did have immediateaccess to the stateroom, but most of our FTTF tagged luggage did not arriveuntil after muster drill at 4 PM, along with the other non-FTTF luggage,in-spite of complaining to guest services twice. At the end of the cruise FTTFwere instructed to gather at 7:45 am for debarkation at 8:00 am. Fantasy dockedat 7:15 am and at 7:25 am all Empress Deck passengers walking-off were allowed toleave (Empress is off first). We asked about the FTTF priority debarkation lineand were told there isn’t one. Since our stateroom was on the Empress Deck we joined the regular line with everyone else.

We did the Bennett Lake Journey through Chilkoot Charters in June. We chose Bennett Lake because I wanted to ride the train for entire length of railroad currently in service, which is 67.5 miles between Carcross and Skagway. We did bus up and train back, because bus up train back leaves later in the morning around 9 AM. I think the bus held 24 and there were 18 of us. Wife and I were picked up last (the bus will have folks from each ship in port), so we sat on opposite sides in the back of the bus and have pictures of everything on both sides. On the train our bus was assigned it's own passenger car, which again was not full so we could move freely from one-site to the other. The other advantage was fewer passengers competing for space on the open platforms at the end of each car. The conductor puts chains up between each car to keep the passengers in each car on the platforms on their car only. On our car out of the 18 passengers only about eight were actively on the platforms for any length of time. The scenery from Carcross to Bennett along Bennett Lake was amazing. The train stopped in Bennett and we had time to hike the last 1/4 mile of the Chilkoot Trail which ends at Bennett. The scenery from Bennett to Log Cabin was also impressive. Between Log Cabin (the Klondike Highway crossing) and Fraser its the same scenery seen from the bus on the parallel Klondike Highway. Between Fraser and Skagway it's cresting and descending White Pass which is just incredible. You want to sit on the right side for bus up train back. We had perfect weather, I can't comment on what it's like if its raining, etc.We had time to walk up Broadway to Skagway Brewing and enjoy a Spruce Tip Blonde Ale after the train arrived around 6 PM. Our ship did not leave until 8 PM.