Vista FTTF question galveston

[vettecruiser1]

What has been the experience with disembarking with fttf in galveston on Vista? What was the location for meeting for early departure with self assist luggage and what was the average time to leave.  Did it on breeze and was pretty smooth and we left out of the theater which had the fixed seats, wondering if they used liquid lounge and it was as smooth since the there are no isles with fixed seats.

 

also had did fttf work with tendering?  Not a fan of walking past people in line getting the stink eye.

[jbethel11]

2 hours ago, vettecruiser1 said:

What has been the experience with disembarking with fttf in galveston on Vista? What was the location for meeting for early departure with self assist luggage and what was the average time to leave.  Did it on breeze and was pretty smooth and we left out of the theater which had the fixed seats, wondering if they used liquid lounge and it was as smooth since the there are no isles with fixed seats.

 

also had did fttf work with tendering?  Not a fan of walking past people in line getting the stink eye.

I have heard priority disembarkation with sailings stoping in Honduras has been longer than other sailings, even with FTTF.

[vettecruiser1]

That has been the case for as long as I remember.  Roatan always is a little longer for Customs.

[Shaded Lady]

We just got off Vista a week ago and had FTTF. They told us all to be in the Liquid Lounge with our luggage by 7:45... it was a mess from the beginning! They had everyone put their suitcases in the middle area, supposedly in rows, but people just put them wherever... and the folks who showed up at the end were allowed to disemabark with those who'd been waiting since 7:15! It was the messiest FTTF disembarkation we've ever experienced!

 

I don't know if the CD has anything to do with it or not, but Matt Mitcham was off for our week and we weren't very impressed with Cookie... someone who'd cruised on Vista with Matt 6 months ago told us it was much smoother and a lot more organized on their cruise!

[princess76021]

4 minutes ago, Shaded Lady said:

We just got off Vista a week ago and had FTTF. They told us all to be in the Liquid Lounge with our luggage by 7:45... it was a mess from the beginning! They had everyone put their suitcases in the middle area, supposedly in rows, but people just put them wherever... and the folks who showed up at the end were allowed to disemabark with those who'd been waiting since 7:15! It was the messiest FTTF disembarkation we've ever experienced!

 

I don't know if the CD has anything to do with it or not, but Matt Mitcham was off for our week and we weren't very impressed with Cookie... someone who'd cruised on Vista with Matt 6 months ago told us it was much smoother and a lot more organized on their cruise!

Matt was on when we disembarked and it was still a mess.  and we had to walk down  to the next level with our bags because all the elevators had others without FTTF!!!!

[Shaded Lady]

27 minutes ago, princess76021 said:

Matt was on when we disembarked and it was still a mess.  and we had to walk down  to the next level with our bags because all the elevators had others without FTTF!!!!

Well I guess that solves that question! I wonder who's responsible for organizing the disembarkation... is it the hotel director? If so he probably got an earful from a lot of us on that cruise, via the survey!!!

[TNcruising02]

I cruised on the Vista in January of 2018 and Matt was the CD.  It was the most organized disembarkation I had ever experienced.  Priority guests met in one of the restaurants and were told to line up their bags.  The FTTF and early flight people lined up their bags in one line and the platinums/diamonds lined up their bags in another line.  Matt said that he was doing it that way so that the first people to arrive will be the first ones to leave and that he didn't like it when the last people who arrived were the first ones to leave.

There was coffee, juice, and continental breakfast type food available.  People could sit wherever they wanted to sit because their luggage held their place in line.  I have no idea why this isn't done for every single cruise on all of Carnival's ships.

I just got off of the Magic and had FTTF.  Everyone was directed to the theater and it was a mess.  It was hard for people to get their luggage between the seats and the last people who entered were constantly being told to come all of the way into the theater and quit blocking the hallway.  Of course there were people who completely ignored the staff and just stood in the hallway. We were told to arrive at 6:30 am and were off of the ship at 7:30.  It was the most crowded I have ever seen it for early disembarkation.  I don't know if it was due to Carnival or the people working in the port area, but the lines were very long.

Edited July 2, 2019 by TNcruising02

[vettecruiser1]

I figured with the liquid lounge it could get like this. 

 

What was the procedure using FTTF for tendering?

[TNcruising02]

1 hour ago, vettecruiser1 said:

I figured with the liquid lounge it could get like this. 

 

What was the procedure using FTTF for tendering?

On the Magic last week, we had tendering to Half Moon Cay.  Since I had FTTF, I received a letter the day before arriving at that port.  The letter stated that we could meet in a particular restaurant at 8:00 am.  We did and when everything was set to let people off of the ship, we were led to the tender boat.  It was a very simple process.

There was also a letter for everyone stating they could get a tender ticket (or whatever it's called) at 7:45 am the morning of arrival to that port in order to get a tender number.  I believe that's what the letter said, but I am not positive since I didn't pay too much attention because I had FTTF.

[travelling_txgal]

When tendering in Grand Cayman with FTTF, we were given instructions the night before to meet up in one of the main dining rooms. Initially it seemed chaotic, as there were people everywhere. However once the go ahead was given, staff led the group through the dining room, down the stairs, out to the tender exit, and we were loaded onto a tender boat fairly quickly. We were in the first group of about 50 people, however, we had to wait as they loaded the tender boat, which took about 15 minutes (felt like much longer). We arrived at shore a short time later. It was my first tender experience and I overestimated how awful it would be. It wasn't terrible.  

[pianoplayerla]

We are Platinum...on the Vista in January we met in the dining room and everything was pretty organized. They did the "luggage train" but every body followed instructions and it flowed pretty smooth. There were at least 3 Carnival crew giving directions. 

On the Dream in May, was a totally different experience! We were in the dining room again, but it was total chaos. There were signs for P & D on one side and FTTF on the other side. The crew member in charge told the FTTF to "go on around" and they did. There was only one crew member and no way he could control that many people. Some of them ended up all the way to the front of the line!! 😳 It was very chaotic for that early in the morning!!!!

[Crusin Hogs]

On 7/1/2019 at 8:28 PM, TNcruising02 said:

I cruised on the Vista in January of 2018 and Matt was the CD.  It was the most organized disembarkation I had ever experienced.  Priority guests met in one of the restaurants and were told to line up their bags.  The FTTF and early flight people lined up their bags in one line and the platinums/diamonds lined up their bags in another line.  Matt said that he was doing it that way so that the first people to arrive will be the first ones to leave and that he didn't like it when the last people who arrived were the first ones to leave.

There was coffee, juice, and continental breakfast type food available.  People could sit wherever they wanted to sit because their luggage held their place in line.  I have no idea why this isn't done for every single cruise on all of Carnival's ships.

I just got off of the Magic and had FTTF.  Everyone was directed to the theater and it was a mess.  It was hard for people to get their luggage between the seats and the last people who entered were constantly being told to come all of the way into the theater and quit blocking the hallway.  Of course there were people who completely ignored the staff and just stood in the hallway. We were told to arrive at 6:30 am and were off of the ship at 7:30.  It was the most crowded I have ever seen it for early disembarkation.  I don't know if it was due to Carnival or the people working in the port area, but the lines were very long.

Same way when we were on The Vista  , Best ever system , and they enforced the late  arrivers ,go to the end of the line 

 

[LuckyStar]

On 6/30/2019 at 2:05 PM, vettecruiser1 said:

What has been the experience with disembarking with fttf in galveston on Vista? What was the location for meeting for early departure with self assist luggage and what was the average time to leave.  Did it on breeze and was pretty smooth and we left out of the theater which had the fixed seats, wondering if they used liquid lounge and it was as smooth since the there are no isles with fixed seats.

 

also had did fttf work with tendering?  Not a fan of walking past people in line getting the stink eye.

I don't know about that.  But I WILL never sail from Galveston without FTTF.  Our embarkation in April was a pure nightmare.  It's normally not worth it to me but I will buy it from Galveston.