Faster to the Fun?

[kokoko]

You earned the right by choosing carnival for 10 criuises instead of sailing on all sorts of other lines. It pays to be faithful. I know I wished I would have went with Carnival each time instead of going with different lines. Now that I finally have my Platinum level it helps me to choose Carnival over the other lines because I love being VIP. I could have been diamond by now but I was unfaithful. If they take the perks away I will be back to not caring who I sail with. In my opinon they are all great in there own way

[justjim312]

FTTF is the best value (like VIP) when you arrive at the terminal BEHIND the 5 transport buses from the airport.....

 

folks flying into Miami get the same embarkation perk for free when they use the Airport Express table at the airport....

 

and you have to look at things like...

 

does your itinerary have a port where you tender? If not, then this would not be a benefit you would use.

 

do you go to Guest Services a lot? If so, this would be a great benefit.

 

I will warn that Priority Debarkation is a zoo.....and it will only be more of a zoo with FTTF added to it...so do not expect any GREAT benefit from that portion.

 

You are so right. As I said in a previous thread, debarkation was a joke at Port Canaval from the Dream. I blame the Cruise Director (she was calling the zones), the Port Authority, and Carnival for agreeing to the design of the new Port terminal.

[justjim312]

People are just crotchety about this because they don't want to pay the money and don't feel anyone else should either. There are plenty of good reasons to pay the 50 bucks for it. And it sounds like it's a good value for certain situations. We are on two cruises in January and purchased it for the priority embarkation, debarkation, and priority tenders.

as we need to get off the ship fast get into a rental car drive up to port Canaveral to make our other cruise. I for one am so glad this option was available to us, it makes it much easier to guarantee we get there on time. as we aren't in a rush to get on or off the second cruise we didn't worry about it for that one.

Ignore the haters, do what makes sense for your cruise and above all Have a fantastic time ! :)

 

Don't count on debarkation being fast getting off the Dream. Stampede is a better word. Like someone else said, "what a joke"

[topofE]

More haters....

We choose to vacation 6 or 8 night cruises 2-4 times a year. When we vacation, we like to get on board without lines. I could choose other cruise lines but I like being loyal to Carnival. I am loyal and I have met the requirements of the loyalty program! When I am on vacation, I want to have fun and enjoy every minute of it. I have stayed in Junior Suites to interior cabins and lately Aft Balconies. There is nothing wrong with listing our cruises. If I was writing a list, it would be much longer than this.

It is quite funny how people must tear down others to feel good or knock them because of their vacations or how they spend their money. I am looking forward to my cruises in March and July on the Breeze. I hope that anyone cruising soon will have a great vacation!

 

You quoted me so i assume you are talking to me...I am defintiely not trying to knock down or tear down anyone. I am sorry if it came across the way. The opposite actually. Someone asked about it. Someone said they did it and loved it. And then people jumped on them and called them a line cutter. I dont think anyone thinks that platinum members SHOULDNT get the perks or that they shouldn't use them. My question was on the phrase, "I have earned them, FTTF people haven't.". In which case, I dont know how paying to vacation more often means you have "earned" the right to be in front of everyone. I think it's an awesome perk. I know a lot has been taken away from the platinum and diamond cruisers and getting to board first is the last thing that should be taken away. It's just the elitist thinking and people acting like they have done something above and beyond paying for a perk. But honestly, I think you get and should get what you pay for. It's not worth $50 for me to wait in line a little less. It's also not worth it for me to pay twice as much for a suite for the same perk. But I certainly don't hate anyone who does use it or has paid for it. I would care if people were just randomly cutting in line. Or hogging chairs. But paying for a perk...everyone does it.

[shadowdiver]

Line breaking....get a life!!!!!! Added perk for $49.00. ...Buy it or not!!!! But line breaking???????? Ridiculous!!!!!;):D

 

It's not line breaking if carnival is selling it, and besides it's carnivals line so if there ok with paid line breaking stop crying bozzo r bambozo wha ever it is.

 

The thing is cry baby's, is that this is a service your beloved cruise line Carnival is offering to customers, Blame them not the people who are paying for what they offer .Carnival earned your loyalty by giving you VIP for your cruise loyalty, so Carnival sold you out. Cry and whine to them like the little baby's you all are. OH and like i said i'll be the guy in the white t shirt with Shadowdiver on it so i will be happy to talk to any of you if you see me on your cruise. and i'll be on the Carnival Miracle June 25th out of Seattle for Alaska cruise.let chat in person I'll be at the roll call in my T shirt.

[shadowdiver]

your right bamboozel a paid perk.

[cruzn buckeye]

Just for the record I am complaining and most of my cruises have been 7 and 8 day cruises. Right now I have 87 days with Carnival

You have a right to complain. VIP earned this perk . The thing that is funny is the ones that say, Hey.. you want it.. buy it! Well guess what, there are only so many FTTF passes available for purchase. So Not everyone has the opportunity to do so.

And by the way, I , just like you, have earned my VIP status, not by purchasing a bunch of 3 and 4 day cruises... the majority have been 7 day cruises... a couple in suites, many in balconies... so yes, just like you , I earned this perk. My Platinum ( should be Diamond, but thats a whole nother story) status, comes with 177 cruise days. Doesn't matter to me about those who want to yell at us about the days we cruised... we did it, we earned it, and I still think it is wrong to sell our perks to others , just to make a buck.

[joe bucker]

Just bought this for the wife and myself. Like Rett Butler told Scarlet " Frankly my dear I don't give a damn."

If the f2f works for us cool, if it doesn't I cool with that also. I can waist 50 bucks.

We don't care about the port shopping for diamonds or the cheap gold chains that they sell by the foot.

We want to drop our junk off at the cabin early and get off of the ship early at the end, so we are giving it a shot.

[tootsiebit]

Buying the FTTF is such a touchy subject for some..and I honestly do not understand why there are some that want to throw a fit about it..... perks like this are offered all over....airlines "sell' you 1st class...ya know "first boarding, big comfy seats, good food and drinks...etc.....then we have the Disney parks, that "sell" "early entrance" into the parks.....Concerts "sell" front row seats, for that all too special non interrupted view.....I could go on....the difference is there doesn't seem to be the "elitists" in these areas....because it is ridiculous!!!! Simple...if someone PAYS for a perk, YAY for them...actually I am one that sometimes does pay for a little extra perk, be it flying, a concert, and NOW on my next cruise.....

So yes weI will be one getting on a little earlier than we usually do, but what is all the whiners beef with that..you are AHEAD of me anyway!!!

There are some on here, NOT ALL, platinum and diamond cruisers on these boards that think because there are some of us that don't have umpteen cruises under our belt (we don't by choice, because we like to do other vacations besides cruising) that we should be down in "steerage" or something...because we haven't EARNED anything....trust me I EARNED it...I PAID FOR IT!!!!!

[jlb1484]

I would like to thank this thread for convincing me to purchase F2F for my January cruise. What are your thoughts on painting my sail and sign card silver?

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[blondietink]

We had it on our Liberty cruise in October. It was well worth the money for this family of 4. Getting right into the cabin right away without losing somebody or something and unpacking was priceless. Took a lot of stress out of embarkation process. Liked the priority tender to HMC also, even though the tender broke at the dock and we had to wait what seemed like an eternity to get off of it. Didn't use the priority debark ... just stayed on the ship as long as we wanted and found our luggage right away as our luggage was #1, but we got off with #21. So, our luggage was waiting all by itself. Only went to guest services once .... to ask where we wait for the priority tender.

[footballbabe3]

Think of how much money you could save if you skipped the suite and got the FTTF?

To me this has nothing to do with money. I paid for the Suite because we wanted the suite. This has to do with the me me me attitude.

Other posters are the ones that said because they paid $ 50.00

they have the right to jump in the line.

Maybe you could tell me what you would do if you were in my postion.

I don't want to get on the ship just to be first. I have already commented

on the reason I do it.

[bamboozel]

No crying here shadow diver!!! I'll be smiling really soon when I bypass the big lines...got f2f for my january cruise!!!! Great perk!!!!

[Catrin]

but what is all the whiners beef with that..you are AHEAD of me anyway!!!

 

There are some on here, NOT ALL, platinum and diamond cruisers on these boards that think because there are some of us that don't have umpteen cruises under our belt (we don't by choice, because we like to do other vacations besides cruising) that we should be down in "steerage" or something...because we haven't EARNED anything....trust me I EARNED it...I PAID FOR IT!!!!!

 

My beef is not the FTTF it is that Carnival has said over and over that the FTTF people will get on after the vips. I can tell you this does NOT happen. While myself and all the others were being led out of the vip lounge to get on board I witnessed many FTTF people from our roll call ( who were not vips) in line in FRONT of the vips. Carnival did not have any control of the boarding situation. As soon as the vips were let out of the lounge the people who purchased fttf jumped in front of the line with their "ellitest" attitude that I PAID FOR IT SO I AM GETTING ON FIRST.

 

Like I said before it did not ruin my cruise. I did complain to carnival on the comment card emailed to me after the cruise, however I doubt it will do any good.

 

I also never said anyone should be down in steerage. In fact I have been down on the riveria deck MANY times as We usually have our 3 kids with us.

 

Oh and believe me cruising is not our only vacations that we take. We only have earned platinum status with carnival because we have been cruising for over 20 years.

[kingoftheicedragons]

Wow, this does seem to be such a touch subject for some people.

 

Would I buy the FTTF? I don't know, maybe. I can see some benefits to it, but at the same time, I wonder if it would be worth it in my case--there are just two of us, and at this point, we have tendered very infrequently, and when we have, we've had no problems yet with getting off the ship when we wanted to. Being able to drop our carry on luggage as soon as we board would be nice, but taking the time to go to the cabin first may mean more people trying to find places to sit to eat lunch on Lido.

 

Is it line cutting? No. If I don't buy or miss out on buying, would I think bad of the people who did buy it who can board in front of me? No. We'll all get on the ship before it sails. It's not like the ship is just going to pull away while there is still a line of people waiting to get on.

 

I can somewhat see the Platinum people upset that people can buy some of the perks that they feel they've earned. But in the end, a perk does have a dollar value--the price of x number of loads of laundry, for example. I think, for the most part, those who have earned the perk are probably upset that the value of priority embarkation, debarkation, and tenders is valued so low. Actually, it's probably about right for the $. Yes, you can contend that you paid to sail with Carnival 10+ times and it cost you more to "earn" this perk. But keep in mind, the price you paid for those cruises gave you all of the perks of being on a cruise. If you take the $50 per cabin rate, and divide that by your ten cruises, you paid exactly $5 per cruise to now have those perks, whereas someone who buys the perk needs to pay $50/cabin/cruise.

 

Now, is Carnival always handling this in the right way? No, probably not. If there is a mad rush when the Platinum members board and FTTF are getting on board ahead of them, then it's an issue of Carnival needing to be in better control of the situation. However, when you're dealing with so many people, it is hard to control, and so easy for a small issue to get out of hand if Carnival tries to control a crowd. A crowd of 1000 people could easily become a mob with just a slight provocation, and that is something I'm sure Carnival is well aware of.

[cruzn buckeye]

My daughter and I are Platinum. Three friends who cruised with us in a different cabin in Sept. were not. I encouraged them to purchase the FTTF.

I actually went online and did it for them. It was a good perk for them. They were able to debark with us in the tender ports. We traveled together. We rode to the airport together, flew on the same flights, arrived at the same time in Miami. We took a van to the port together. We went through security together. Then we had to go to seperate lines. Us in the VIP line, them in the FTTF line. We were waiting for our name to be called to get our sail and signs and get checked in, and they called us. From the lido deck, headed to the buffet for lunch. We boarded half an hour later. They had finished lunch.

FTTF was good for them.

Just remember, in a sense, FTTF can be called line jumping, but not in a bad way. They paid for it. The only thing I see is that people that defend it were lucky enough to get it. Remember, there is a limited number of guests that can purchase this. So they are letting a limited number of guests have this so called perk. It is there to increase their profit... pleasing 45 or so people, and frustrating those that are VIP, is kinda silly if you ask me, it also frustrates the other passengers, that are not VIP, but have been in line for an hour, to watch those 45 or so jump in front of them. Really? Does the cruiseline really need that money that badly?

[Brenna's Mom1]

So they are letting a limited number of guests have this so called perk. It is there to increase their profit... pleasing 45 or so people, and frustrating those that are VIP, is kinda silly if you ask me, it also frustrates the other passengers, that are not VIP, but have been in line for an hour, to watch those 45 or so jump in front of them. Really? Does the cruiseline really need that money that badly?

 

Oh, I love frustrating the VIP that have a "superior" attitude. I'm not saying that all of them are acting entitled but some do and it is annoying. The fact that many have nothing but time and money to buy their way into VIP does not give them they right to say they earned it (and peeps really need to understand the definition of this word since it is being used totally wrong by many). As far as peeps in line being frustrated when people board before them...sure, that is part of the rule of the masses, you see it on airplanes every day, people just hate lines, even though they will get to the end eventually (basic physics). And if they are frustrated by the FTTF boarders aren't they also frustrated by the VIP boarders...to most of them it is just about money buying convenience for all the priority boarders (suite occupants included).

 

Do peeps really want Carnival to incorporate a boarding by "what you spent" mentality. You know most expensive staterooms board first and then on down the line....oh I can just hear the howls for that idea since I am sure many VIPs board cheap inside staterooms.

[Cruzin_Susan]

To me this has nothing to do with money. I paid for the Suite because we wanted the suite. This has to do with the me me me attitude.

Other posters are the ones that said because they paid $ 50.00

they have the right to jump in the line.

Maybe you could tell me what you would do if you were in my postion.

I don't want to get on the ship just to be first. I have already commented

on the reason I do it.

 

When I get to the port I am just going to follow the signs and go when I am told to go. This is a new program so I am sure Carnival will get a better handle on it so that FTTF folks are not in front of VIP's. The FTTF was a great option since my mom uses a walker. I wanted to be able to get to our room early and drop our things off. By then she might even need to rest. It is not my intention to "line jump" in front of VIP's. But like I said when FTTF group is called up I will be boarding.

[blondietink]

Just to add to my previous post .... when we got to the port and embarkation started, the VIP people were let on the ship first. The FTTF people (us) who were there were not let on ahead of the VIP's. The staff checked everybody's boarding documents and only let on VIP's. We sat there and watched a couple FTTF people try and get on with VIP's but it was not allowed.

[travlngrl1996]

When I get to the port I am just going to follow the signs and go when I am told to go. This is a new program so I am sure Carnival will get a better handle on it so that FTTF folks are not in front of VIP's. The FTTF was a great option since my mom uses a walker. I wanted to be able to get to our room early and drop our things off. By then she might even need to rest. It is not my intention to "line jump" in front of VIP's. But like I said when FTTF group is called up I will be boarding.

 

Nicely said and I feel the same way. I don't want to infuriate anyone. My intentions are not to do that. I just want to be able to drop my things off when I board the ship. I don't think it is THAT serious to get on 1st :rolleyes:. Like someone said, the ship is not going to leave until all passengers board.

[fuddrules]

i'll be on the Carnival Miracle June 25th out of Seattle for Alaska cruise.let chat in person I'll be at the roll call in my T shirt.

 

I'll see ya there :D

 

 

[linbobky]

I'll see ya there :D

 

 

my money is on you kid!!:)

[ripjerry95]

what the heck is FTTF? I know it means faster to the fun but you pay to get onboard faster? Is that the only benefit?

[Amy Giard]

what the heck is FTTF? I know it means faster to the fun but you pay to get onboard faster? Is that the only benefit?

 

Express check-in and boarding is one benefit...

you also get immediate stateroom access,

early luggage delivery, priority tendering, express lane at

guest services, priority dinner reservations and

early or late debark.

Excu

http://www.carnival.com/Activities/rsion/101031

[kiraryker]

what the heck is FTTF? I know it means faster to the fun but you pay to get onboard faster? Is that the only benefit?

 

No you get in to your cabin right away! That is what I'm looking forward too and also something about tendering faster also - I just want to get to my cabin and unload and hit my balcony with a drink