FTTF and tendering

[Pugster4]

My wife and I will be doing a cruise that goes to both Grand Cayman and Belize and I wanted to do independent excursions instead of going through carnival to save money and I was just wondering if it would be recommended to have FTTF since we will have two tender ports where we would be doing independent excursions? Thank you!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[NightOne]

My wife and I will be doing a cruise that goes to both Grand Cayman and Belize and I wanted to do independent excursions instead of going through carnival to save money and I was just wondering if it would be recommended to have FTTF since we will have two tender ports where we would be doing independent excursions? Thank you!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

You'll be fine getting to your private excursion without FTTF. Just make sure you go down and get your tender ticket as soon as they are available.

 

However, you should get FTTF because it make you cool !!! :cool:

[Pops, Esq.]

I can only give you my experience in Grand Cayman with FTTF. Carnival excursions get off the boat first, then Diamond, Platinum and FTTF. I guess D&P cruisers have "been there, done that" for the most part, because there weren't that many on our tender. So, when we hit the port, we were pretty much out the door first, as the folks on the Carnival excursions were all stopped waiting for the excursion folks. We were renting a car, not doing an excursion, and were easily the first to the rental car place.

 

I would recommend it for a cruise with a tender port, especially since you are not doing Carnival excursions. If you were doing Carnival excursions, you would be getting off first anyway, so why pay extra? I would probably qualify that to say if you are not going out on your own or going on a private excursion, because if some people on your excursion did not have preferred status, the FTTF might not be all that helpful. Why pay to get off the ship early, only to wait 45 minutes for the rest of the folks to get in?

[wanderlust0713]

Why pay to get off the ship early, only to wait 45 minutes for the rest of the folks to get in?

 

This is a great point. Just make sure you get a tender ticket when they become available and you'll be fine.

[BNBR]

For the minimal cost of FTTF. No brainer. Get FTTF. It's a lot more than just tender priority.

[Pugster4]

Thanks for the replies. I'm just asking because I don't necessarily need to be the first on the ship and I don't go to guest services a lot. I just wanted to know how much time it saves with rendering since I like to make the most of my time in port. Thanks again!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[originalgeek]

It was nice for us on conquest last year. Went down to guest services and they walked us right to a tender and we went into Belize and caught or bus to Butts Up cave-tubing and had a blast. Same deal in GC, but we caught a local tour van that took us around the island for like 25 bucks each. Saw everything we wanted. I'd say those two ports are ideal for FTTF in our experience. I can't promise it always works that way but it was well worth it to us.

 

Sent from my SM-N920T using Forums mobile app

[gilligan8]

Can someone explain how getting off the ship with tenders work? We can't get FTTF because we just had to switch from the Fascination to Glory and they're sold out.

We want to do a non-carnival excursion and we're newbies to cruising. What's the procedure in the morning?

Thanks

[mrpayroll]

If you are doing a NON Carnival excursion, your entire group will have to go to specified place to pick up a tender ticket. The ticket will have a number on it. They will call your number when time to go to the tender. If you aren't in a hurry, you can just wait until they announce that tenders are now available for anyone. :)

[chicchic325]

We've really enjoyed having the FTTF for tender ports. It is very helpful when you have an early meeting time with your tour provider. It gets you to the island so much quicker.

 

In Belize, we got off and met with our private tour guide and started off immediately. In Grand Cayman, we walked off the tender, got our rental car and were out an about while others were still waiting for tenders.

 

It isn't that much cost for time savings. Now, for us, the benefit is also the guest services which we use a lot.

 

Now, if you are a more relaxed person, you probably don't need it. But I don't remember how long it takes without FTTF. We bought it once and even planned our next cruise around being able to get it.

[camijo]

I like FTTF to all the perks it offers. Guest services line, priority tender, luggage in your room when you board. I got it for my first cruise, not my second and do have it for my upcoming cruise.

[maryred]

Look at it this way if you feel you need to get FttF to guarantee that you make it to a privately arranged tour on time is that tour saving you as much off the Carnival list price as FttF will cost you?

If the price works out the same or higher you might as well just go with the Carnival excursion because they get the highest priority in tender ports o get on the ferries, since you do not care for the other benefits. If the price is lower and FttF is available why not get all the perks that go with the priority tender and use only the ones you want. Now if you are talking about a tour that is not offered by the cruise line or is so significantly different than the one described by the cruise line to the same attraction then you really do have a quandary.

Just remember you can buy the FttF now and if you decide to not to use it as long as you cancel it more than 2 business days before departure you will get a refund back to your original payment type, the same as any other pre-purchased excursion ticket cancelled prior to sailing.

[Pyrate13]

I like FTTF to all the perks it offers. Guest services line, priority tender, luggage in your room when you board. I got it for my first cruise, not my second and do have it for my upcoming cruise.

 

Just a quick FYI, you might want to re-read about luggage. There is no guarantee with FTTF that luggage will be in your room when you board. What it offers is "expedited" luggage service meaning your luggage should be among the earlier deliveries but it's not guaranteed. Learned this from experience. We enjoy the other perks and usually do FTTF whenever possible but have had trips where our luggage came long after most others in our area, while on others it arrived very quickly.

[parkesyau]

Sorry if this sounds silly as I will be first time cruiser and have FTTf. How do we get the tender tickets? Do they get sent to us a night before in our room? Or are we suppose to go somewhere before that port of call to collect? There’s a few ports I’m keen to get off asap

[LittleYiaYia]

If you have FTTF you do not need a tender ticket. I have had a note sent to our room telling us where to meet with other priority passengers and we were all put on the first tender leaving. I have also gone to guest services and they took us immediately to the next tender.

 

Belize is a long tender ride and the wait can be long for a tender. Cayman Islands not as long a ride.

[maryred]

Sorry if this sounds silly as I will be first time cruiser and have FTTf. How do we get the tender tickets? Do they get sent to us a night before in our room? Or are we suppose to go somewhere before that port of call to collect? There’s a few ports I’m keen to get off asap

I'm not sure of which ports you are visiting but only a few are reached by tender. For most ports of call you will be docked and when docked no one gets priority, not even diamonds. The 1 rare exceptions, there are a precious few ship purchased excursions will have instructions to meet aboard the ship, when that happens only people with those special instructions will get escorted off the ship. Usually these special tours will depart through the crew gang plank as not to impact the line of passengers already queued at the normal dock gang plank.

Here's some tender ports. These are off the top of my head, but I may miss a couple :

Half moon cay

Princess cay

Grand cayman

Belize City

Cabo San Lucas

Catalina island

A port or 2 in Hawaii

A port of 2 in Alaska

 

 

Sent from my STV100-2 using Forums mobile app

[pacruise804]

Just a quick FYI, you might want to re-read about luggage. There is no guarantee with FTTF that luggage will be in your room when you board. What it offers is "expedited" luggage service meaning your luggage should be among the earlier deliveries but it's not guaranteed. Learned this from experience. We enjoy the other perks and usually do FTTF whenever possible but have had trips where our luggage came long after most others in our area, while on others it arrived very quickly.

 

We got FTTF for our next cruise in part because the room is to be ready when we board, so we can carry all of our luggage on and take it directly to the room. Looking forward to the priority tendering also.

 

BTW - are you a Pyrates Royale fan? I'm not used to seeing the spelling that way except that band.

[camijo]

Just a quick FYI, you might want to re-read about luggage. There is no guarantee with FTTF that luggage will be in your room when you board. What it offers is "expedited" luggage service meaning your luggage should be among the earlier deliveries but it's not guaranteed. Learned this from experience. We enjoy the other perks and usually do FTTF whenever possible but have had trips where our luggage came long after most others in our area, while on others it arrived very quickly.

 

 

Let me rephrase, your room is ready and should be able to go there right away.

[Pellaz]

My wife and I will be doing a cruise that goes to both Grand Cayman and Belize and I wanted to do independent excursions instead of going through carnival to save money and I was just wondering if it would be recommended to have FTTF since we will have two tender ports where we would be doing independent excursions? Thank you!

 

With two tender ports and a desire to do non-Carnival excursions, I'd say getting FTTF is practically a no-brainer. Belize in particular is a "bear" of a tender port; the one-way tendering distance is 2 miles, as I recall.

 

....Plus all the other benefits. You mentioned you weren't too interested in boarding early and getting immediate access to your stateroom, but we've found it to be really awesome to start "our FUN vacations" that much faster. :)

 

Remember also that the price for FTTF is per cabin, not per person -- it's amazing how many people overlook that on the website -- so purchasing it once would cover you and your spouse.

[Pyrate13]

BTW - are you a Pyrates Royale fan? I'm not used to seeing the spelling that way except that band.

 

No sorry, never heard of them. Just an old fashioned way of spelling it and from a group of friends that used to get together.