kctwinmommy

The FTTF icon in the shore excursion part of the website for my sailing doesn't even show up any more. Was there up until a week ago saying SOLD OUT. Now it's gone.

Yeah, it disappeared the next day, after I bought it for ours. I thought maybe because I had already booked it. But my other excursions still showed up.

Good question! We got it for our cruise in the fall because we're traveling with Platinum friends, so we want to be able to hang with them as soon as possible. We only see them on the cruises!

The one in the summer we'll be going solo, so we'll want to explore for sure. But it'll be nice to be able to get some lunch without having to fight for a seat! LOL! And whatever else we want to do!

Yep! Totally random! I would check early in the day, late at night, in the middle of the day, etc... And then I just happened to get it one evening.

Good luck!

Our main and biggest reason for buying FTTF is because of the Guest Services line. Standing on that line when an unexpected issue comes up is horrible, no matter what time of day or night you go. The second reason is being able to access our room early to drop off our carry ons.

I agree! I never think we'll need G.S., and yet every time there's been a reason to stop by. When we're with our friends, who are Platinum I believe, they're lucky, since they can get that G.S. quick access. She always waits in line with me though. ;) So since there's always a chance of needing it, it's good to have it.

And like you, having the room ready is also the nice perk. We always stay in our port city the night before, so we're always early to the ship. It'd be nice to not have to wait in the extra long lines (especially in the heat of FL), and hopefully get on a little quicker.

As I keep saying, from someone else's description, it's an insurance policy basically. Just like you're own home/car insurance. You may pay or it your whole life and never need/use it! Think of the thousands of dollars you spend on that!!?? This $60 is nothing!

We didn't per say go through customs (but it was the term used by the CD) , we were cleared to unload the ship. Many experienced cruisers do not book their excursions through Carnival for obvious reasons, Carnival gets a piece of the action, while saavy cruisers book their own excursions bypassing big bucks paid to Carnival.

 

If the $$ you paid to get on the ship earlier is your cup of tea, go for it, but the future beenies are questionable. Clearly FTTF, platinum, and diamond rated last. Don't get your expectations up too high, that's all I'm saying. FTTF people have paid forward, platinum and diamond expect what Carnival has offered us. Educate yourself.

OK... I guess it's each person's opinion and experience. I don't "expect" things to begin with. It's a vacation, things happen. Trust me, in our life we've dealt with serious loss and disappointment. So the little things aren't the worst in our life. As I said before, it's a nice little extra insurance though, if needed and it works. Just like anything else, nothing is perfect. ;)

We just got back from the Carnival Legend Alaskan cruise. Don't get your expectations up too high. The FTTF along with platinum and diamond cardholders took it in the shorts this cruise. We arrived in Juneau 2 hours late. It was chaotic. We were told that we would be the first ones off the ship but that was a lie. We waited in a lounge for 2 hours. We were cleared by customs 1.75 hours after docking. We hear Groups 1 and 2 being called to disembark. We all said WHAT? These were the excursion people but the CD denied that they disembarked. We sat looking out the window watching the tenders going back and forth. I asked the security on shore who disembarked first and he said the shore excursion people. Why does Carnival have to lie like that? We had several FTTF people and platinum people who had excursions too but were not allowed in the "Carnival" groups 1 and 2. It's obvious that they paid and Carnival got a piece of the action, and those who self reserved an excursion were punished. So, FTTF paid but were punished along with us.:mad:

I'm not quite sure what happened, your explanation is a little confusing to me. We booked all our excursions through Carnival anyway. And I'm not sure why you went through customs in Juneau, when you hadn't been to a foreign port by then, correct?

The biggest reason we wanted to get it is so we can get on the ship a little earlier.

Again, like many others have said, it's like buying insurance. It's nice to have it, if you need it and use it. :)

We're one of those rare parents who actually pulls their kid out of school in November to go on vacation. It just happens that way because of when my husband can get his vacations. He's a pretty good kid though, and just wants to hang out with other kids. He doesn't need a big group either, just a couple of boys. We've done Key West right before Thanksgiving, and then a cruise this past November, over Veteran's Day. There weren't many kids on either vacations, and it was great. We don't take him to any "adult" places/restaurants either. Although he'll be a teenager this summer, so he's getting older and wants to try more things.

Don't worry about it; no one else is.

 

My dad brought his dress shoes on our cruise but when he put them on, he found them too small and they were pinching his feet. He didn't even make it out of the cabin with them. He ended up wearing his baby blue crocs with his dress pants, dress shirt, tie and vest.

 

If no one fainted or expired from such a heinous fashion faux pas, no one will even bat an eyelash at your boys dark sneakers.

Love it!! :D

Haha! This is why I've told my son I won't buy him the crazy, neon colored shoes he always seems to want. I don't totally mind them, but when we need to look a little nice, the darker gym shoes just blend in better. So he agrees to get darker Nike's with some colored trim instead! ;)

And like everyone else said, nobody's going to turn you away. For our Alaska cruise, he'll bring his gym shoes for sure. We have too much to pack.

I've lost $50 on a bad blackjack hand. FTTF is worth it just for the peace of mind.

Haha! Great point!

So we haven't done it in the past, but our friends we travel with are a much higher status, so they're always on before us. This last time, in November, they were on for about 2 hours before us, we didn't have the FTTF. It took us at least an hour to get through the line, check-in, etc... Plus, our rooms weren't ready for another hour or two.

Having said all that, we did buy the FTTF for both of our future cruises. One we'll be traveling with the other couple again, so we want to get on with them. The other one, we won't, but we'd like to be on as soon as possible. Plus, then our room is ready. You also get a dedicated line for guest services, which could be handy if you need it. There are also a few other benefits, so read through Carnival's site and see if it's worth it for you.

I posted the other day about getting this finally for our July trip and like someone said, it's like a little extra insurance. If you don't need it, you'll feel like you wasted the money, but if you do, you'll be happy you bought it. So for the $60, it's no big deal to us, we bought it.

I think it's probably like insurance if you don't need/use it, it's going to seem like a waste of money. So if you happen to get on an off fast and you don't really need guest services then you are going think why did I waste money on this pass? But if there are delays and you get on faster due to FTTF and there are issues where you have to go to GS and get to skip the long lines because you have the FTTF pass you are going to say OMG I'm so glad I bought it.

 

I just bought it for our Dec cruise. I had to decide if I wanted to buy it for our Oct one or our Dec one first. The Oct one was still showing 21 available so none sold yet. The Dec one was down to 2 available, figured I'd grab one before they were all gone, plus it's a bigger ship with more people. If I wind up only getting one, that seems to be the smarter one to have.

Exactly! It's like Southwest Airlines charging $12/person, per flight, to board earlier. You take your chances when you check in that you'll get something early, or you pay a little extra. It's all up to each person as to what they feel is best for them! :D

A BIG waste of $$$.

Thank you for sharing your opinion. Again, the good thing is Carnival doesn't force anyone to buy it. :)

I didnt stand in any lines on Silversea. Whats your point?

That's great! I've never sailed on their ships, so I can't speak to anything about them.

As far as Carnival, which I have sailed, I guess the bottom line is that people are willing to pay extra for a variety of things. Some people book excursions through Carnival to make things easier, others use outside companies to save a few bucks. Some people pay a much higher price for certain cabins while others go with the cheapest one just to be on vacation. The best thing is that nobody is required to purchase FTTF. ;)

Still checking every day. Up until a week ago the FTTF option was still showing in the excursion section. It was showing SOLD OUT. Now its not there at all, gone completely. I'm thinking our sailing has an abundance of Diamond and Platinum cruisers.

That's odd! It doesn't show up on my excursions anymore either. But I just assumed that it was because I already bought it.

Yes if there is not staggered boarding you can just show up whenever you want to. That is what we've always done. This will be our first experience with staggered boarding or FTTF if we purchase it.

This will be our first experience with FTTF! :)

We got it for our other cruise in November, since we booked it much further out. We wanted it for that one since the friends with travel with are at I believe a diamond level, so we had to wait to get on and they would already be settled in, eating lunch, etc... LOL!

Ok found the post it's in the umm awww shoot I already forgot the title of it, sorry my memory sucks, ok checked my history, the mandatory late boarding with FTTF thread on the first page. It was port authority that wouldn't let them in before the time on the FTTF paperwork. In their case it wasn't a big deal they still boarded together since it was only half an hour difference. But it would be an hour wait if I showed up at 10 and they wouldn't let me in until 11. I don't think I want to start the girls first cruise off with an hour wait outside.

 

Wait since you still keep your check in time I could just show them my cruise docks with the 10 am check in couldn't I and not even show them my FTTF? Wouldn't that solve any confusion the port authority might have since it would show I have permission to enter at 10am?

You're talking about ports that have the staggered boarding though, correct? We don't have that for our cruise.

How many days out did it pop?

We're like 50-something days out. I was checking around the time when deposits were due since many people said that's a good time. I'm guessing it's because people change their mind and don't pay their deposit. But nothing opened up at that time. Last night it did, just random, in the evening.

This post reminded me to check again. Same as you it's always not been available. Just got it this morning :). I really wanted it as I didn't want to lug around our carry ons. :)

LOL! I know what you mean. And when I looked it said limited availability, and I almost clicked off the page thinking it was saying sold out, because I was so used to seeing it!! :p

I've been checking almost every day, but it never opened, so I had stopped checking so much. I had just resigned myself to not getting it. Thought I'd check tonight and Bam! It was available! I know not everyone feels that it's all that much of a difference, but it'll be nice to have our room ready and the short times at guest services if needed. :D

Not sure what the All-inclusive was offering, but Grand Turk is a very small port. I mean, when on the beach, my son and husband were swimming out to where the ship was docked. We just picked some beach chairs and spent the morning on the beach. Then we walked over to Margaritaville, and spent the rest of the day at the pool there.

You'll probably get more information on the Alaska board. But here's a thread I was following. I know it says "ladies" but there is more information in there.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2342728

We're going on our first as well, but being from Chicago, we have clothes for all kinds of weather and seasons! ;)

Like someone else said, check the Alaska board on here. We're doing our first one this summer too. There are a bunch of threads there talking about different things to do. I already booked our stuff, for the most part. But we're still undecided about Ketchikan, so there are conversations there that are helping me decide.

Nope! Like others said, I guess there is the regular stress of traveling, and I get that. But also, like others said, we've mostly eliminated that by being smart about flying in the day before and staying at a nearby hotel.

The only thing I stressed about on this last one was our son. It was his first one, and he was 12. He really hadn't been given much of a change to really do things on his own, just for various life issues in the past. So I had no idea how it would be for him, for us, etc... But he loved it, which didn't surprise me. And I found out that he would check in on occasion, he'd find one of us, or one of our friends that was with us, I never felt worried that he was lost.

I also do think there are different type of cruises. For example, this Alaska one we're taking will certainly be a different experience. We're doing much more active type excursions, getting up early for things, etc... Not that it makes it stressful, just not quite as "laying around the beach relaxing" LOL!

I can only see cabana rentals by clicking the Rentals box on the far left.

 

First click on Grand Turk, then scroll down on the far left which shows different options ( water sport, beach, hiking) and click on Rentals

OMG! Thank you!!! I had looked for a couple of times and just thought maybe it wasn't there yet, for some odd reason, or just sold out. Or who knows!! :confused: But either way, it's there now! And limited availability, so I booked it! I figure I can always cancel, but I would love to do that this time. We have 6 people traveling with our group, so then we can all use it.