😕😕​​​​​​​Puzzled 😕😕​​​​​​​

[Jamericannn]

Here is the situation....

 

I have 2 side by side rooms booked since January for my cruise coming up in just 19 days. I have been trying to grab two FTTFs ever since but could not find any until one day in September I saw one opened up. I bought that one for my room but still cannot find another. I check daily/nightly and afternoonly (new word). My PVP also regularly checks for me but nothing. I thought maybe I would have found one on final payment day but even then nothing opened up. I call the carnival reps a few different times to see if anything opened up that they are seeing and I am not. still nothing. I always ask them if they think they will allow the people in the other cabins to board with me.  I got mixed answers. Most reps say they will not. I have a couple reps who told me that Carnival would not want me to start off my vacation on a bad note so they would allow  the people from the other room to board with me. The reason why I cannot leave the people in the other room is because I have my children in it and I definitely would not want to go on the ship unless they are coming on too.

 

Question.....

Do you think I should take a chance and keep the FTTF and hope they let them come in with me or do you think they absolutely won't so I should cancel it and get reimbursed? I have up to 2 days before the cruise to do this.

 

If I know for sure they will not get to come in with me I will give up the FTTF. Has anyone else here ever had this experience or know about this dilemma?

[Nic6318]

hi

 

Very likely they will allow your  "minor" children on board with you, not the adults. If this was the only reason you wanted FTTF, I would say return it and arrive later.

 

If everybody arrives at the same time, they will get to board, just not with you. They will get on board not necessarily long after yourself. The benefit there would be that they would have a place to store their luggage until the other cabins are ready.

 

have a great cruise

[Keys2Heaven]

1 hour ago, Jamericannn said:

Here is the situation....

 

I have 2 side by side rooms booked since January for my cruise coming up in just 19 days. I have been trying to grab two FTTFs ever since but could not find any until one day in September I saw one opened up. I bought that one for my room but still cannot find another. I check daily/nightly and afternoonly (new word). My PVP also regularly checks for me but nothing. I thought maybe I would have found one on final payment day but even then nothing opened up. I call the carnival reps a few different times to see if anything opened up that they are seeing and I am not. still nothing. I always ask them if they think they will allow the people in the other cabins to board with me.  I got mixed answers. Most reps say they will not. I have a couple reps who told me that Carnival would not want me to start off my vacation on a bad note so they would allow  the people from the other room to board with me. The reason why I cannot leave the people in the other room is because I have my children in it and I definitely would not want to go on the ship unless they are coming on too.

 

Question.....

Do you think I should take a chance and keep the FTTF and hope they let them come in with me or do you think they absolutely won't so I should cancel it and get reimbursed? I have up to 2 days before the cruise to do this.

 

If I know for sure they will not get to come in with me I will give up the FTTF. Has anyone else here ever had this experience or know about this dilemma?

If the second cabin is all adult (i.e. not children), then they will not be allowed to board with you using FTTF.

P.S. FTTF is one of those subjective upcharges. We had it once...it was o.k. Not sure it was worth the money for us. Even without it, we still get on the ship quickly. We're not huge "rush to the buffet after boarding" people, so trying to be first to grab lunch is no big deal. We'd rather check out the ship. And we try to only have a small backpack as our carry-on to the ship, as we know we might have to lug it around for a bit. No problem there.

Where we did find "value" in FTTF was guest services. It was nice to have a dedicated number and use the D/P line if we had to go down there. It still didn't prevent those D/P folks from giving me a snooty look when they saw my lowly "gold" card status though. Ahhh, got to love elitist attitudes on a cruise. I digress.

My advice...can FTTF and walk on together. Take that money and spend it on a nice steakhouse dinner instead!

[sixesandeights]

FTTF is not worth it in any way IMO.  Cancel and use that money elsewhere.

 

6&8

[Jamericannn]

1 hour ago, Nic6318 said:

hi

 

Very likely they will allow your  "minor" children on board with you, not the adults. If this was the only reason you wanted FTTF, I would say return it and arrive later.

 

If everybody arrives at the same time, they will get to board, just not with you. They will get on board not necessarily long after yourself. The benefit there would be that they would have a place to store their luggage until the other cabins are ready.

 

have a great cruise

 

I am getting it because of the other benefits. Sometimes the lines at GS are long so if I need to go there I can use it. I have used it before at certain ports where I got to come off the ship before the crowd.

[Jamericannn]

1 hour ago, Keys2Heaven said:

If the second cabin is all adult (i.e. not children), then they will not be allowed to board with you using FTTF.

P.S. FTTF is one of those subjective upcharges. We had it once...it was o.k. Not sure it was worth the money for us. Even without it, we still get on the ship quickly. We're not huge "rush to the buffet after boarding" people, so trying to be first to grab lunch is no big deal. We'd rather check out the ship. And we try to only have a small backpack as our carry-on to the ship, as we know we might have to lug it around for a bit. No problem there.

Where we did find "value" in FTTF was guest services. It was nice to have a dedicated number and use the D/P line if we had to go down there. It still didn't prevent those D/P folks from giving me a snooty look when they saw my lowly "gold" card status though. Ahhh, got to love elitist attitudes on a cruise. I digress.

My advice...can FTTF and walk on together. Take that money and spend it on a nice steakhouse dinner instead!

 

Yes, there is an adult in the other room (who relies on me. lol) and 2 children. You cannot book a room unless an adult is in it. I am thinking of canceling and use the money elsewjhere as you said but I am also thinking about keeping it and hope they will allow my other room to get the benefits seeing that they are my kids and the booking is also under my name. I guess I will not know my final decision until the last day to cancel. I will see what everyone thinks and then I will go with the consesnsus.

[mscinmia]

It is simply not acceptable nor is it right to ask for an exception.  Your non-FTTF cabin will be sent to a separate seating area to wait for boarding.  You could wait and board with them.

 

[bingomamma19]

FTTF is per room, not per family.   If these types of exceptions would be made, then people would be doing this all the time.   Put some family members in each room then say "we are all together, so we have to board together"...that's not how FTTF works.

 

If you have minor children in that other room and there is an adult in there with them, they are able to board with that adult.

 

I say just cancel it, get to the port around 1230pm...you all can check in and board right away.  Super easy.    The guest services line can be managed by going on off times.    There are plenty of times that nobody is in line.

[rukkian]

2 hours ago, Jamericannn said:

 

I am getting it because of the other benefits. Sometimes the lines at GS are long so if I need to go there I can use it. I have used it before at certain ports where I got to come off the ship before the crowd.

If you think the value is there for the other benefits, then just keep it, and use the other benefits.  You could always see if they let you go together, and if not, just sit with them, and go on when they do.

[ObstructedView2]

2 hours ago, Jamericannn said:

 

I am getting it because of the other benefits.

 

Sometimes the lines at GS are long so if I need to go there I can use it. 

 

 

With FTTF you are given a dedicated phone line to guest services as well. You don't even have to wait in the dedicated FTTF, VIFP Diamond & Platinum line at guest services if you don't want to. You can call the dedicated phone line from your cabin.

 

FTTF info located @:

https://help.goccl.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1374/~/faster-to-the-fun-(fttf)

 

 

 

☺️

Edited November 12, 2019 by ObstructedView2

[K&RCurt]

If the major reason is to use the priority services other than earlier boarding then keep it and board when the rest of your party does.  You will still be able to access your cabin and drop off all the carry on bags before rooms are ready for the rest of the passengers.  If the other members of your party have a fairly early check in time, it should not be too bad of a wait to go in with them.

[mkcurran]

If I were you I'd email cclsupport @ carnival and explain the situation. Tell them that's you've been trying to purchase the second FTTF for the cabin with your kids. Give them the booking numbers. I'll bet that they will sell you FTTF for the second cabin.

[pinto18]

My GUESS is that they would let you board together especially since your kids are in that room. One time we were " in line" waiting to board ( we are platinum) and standing around with our friends who did not have priority. The lady just waved us all in together. She knew they were not priority .(Sorry for those who hate exceptions...we weren't trying to pull one over on anyone, it just happened )

[purplephenom]

I would cancel it and spend the money elsewhere- FTTF isn't worth it (to me), so not being able to board early would mean its worth even less to me.

 

But, you said you want it for other perks besides boarding early- so If I were you, I'd keep it, but stick with the other cabin as far as check in/boarding.  They might allow your kids to go with you, they might allow the whole cabin, or they might allow no one from the other cabin.  If the answer isn't "sure other cabin, go ahead and board," that starts your vacation on somewhat of a sour note, so I'd say just don't take advantage of that part of FTTF, since that's not the only reason you're buying it anyhow. 

[Jamericannn]

2 hours ago, pinto18 said:

My GUESS is that they would let you board together especially since your kids are in that room. One time we were " in line" waiting to board ( we are platinum) and standing around with our friends who did not have priority. The lady just waved us all in together. She knew they were not priority .(Sorry for those who hate exceptions...we weren't trying to pull one over on anyone, it just happened )

A Carnival Rep is actually the one who told me that they would let us go in together because they are not trying to ruin anyone’s vacation. 

[Jamericannn]

3 hours ago, mkcurran said:

If I were you I'd email cclsupport @ carnival and explain the situation. Tell them that's you've been trying to purchase the second FTTF for the cabin with your kids. Give them the booking numbers. I'll bet that they will sell you FTTF for the second cabin.

Great idea. I’ll try this 

[Roscoe13]

As said before, you CAN all board together.  Just at whatever time the other cabins boarding is called. 

[Keys2Heaven]

1 hour ago, Jamericannn said:

Great idea. I’ll try this 

Well, if it's for a family, I don't see an issue and I wouldn't think you'd need to purchase again.

FTTF is dealt out according to some wacky algorithm regarding booked cabins and how many diamond and platinum guests are on a particular sailing.

[Willwork4cruises]

I will give you our experience from May.  Our cabin was platinum. Teens cabin was FTTF.  Some reports said they could board with us as platinums, others said no.  Before we were platinum we always purchased FTTF to avoid the lines at whatever time we arrive (usually 1130-1200).  We decided to purchase FTTF for teens cabin just to avoid possibility of being denied quick boarding.  Both cabins were treated as FTTF for boarding and debark.  Didn’t matter to us because we still bypassed the line and had a quick orderly self assist debarkation.  

[Treyatl2006]

If that's your kids then they have to let them board with you unless the adult booked in that room is the other parent/mom. That is Carnival's policy. In other words... If the other adult in the room is non parent then they can board with you. Again assuming that the minors are your children.

[Organized Chaos]

17 hours ago, Jamericannn said:

If I know for sure they will not get to come in with me I will give up the FTTF. Has anyone else here ever had this experience or know about this dilemma?

 

We're in a similar situation for our March, 2020 cruise. We have two cabins...the first for my wife and I and the second for our son and his friend. I managed to snag one FTTF early one morning after checking for a few months after booking. We still need one more, but haven't had any luck. Final payment is in late Dec., so I'm still holding out hope that some will pop us since that's often a time when people cancel. But even if we don't get another one, I'd still like to keep the first one. For one, it'll give us one cabin to put our carry-on bags in when everyone does get on board. We can just put our son's and his friend's in ours for the time being. Plus, I'm sure I'll need Guest Services a time or two, so the dedicated phone line is nice and I really like having access to the priority line. Our son will be 19 by that time, so we can't use the excuse that he's a minor who needs to board with us, so if we don't get a second one, we'll deal with it. But the other perks are worth enough to me to keep the first one.

 

14 hours ago, Jamericannn said:

Yes, there is an adult in the other room (who relies on me. lol) and 2 children. You cannot book a room unless an adult is in it.

 

Just an FYI, you can put minors in a cabin without an adult. Kids 12 & under can be in a cabin on their own as long as it's directly across the hall or next door, and also as long as theirs isn't a balcony. Kids 13-17 can be up to three cabins apart.

 

Edited November 13, 2019 by Organized Chaos

[formerjerseygirl]

How old are your kids? 

I’d be more willing to let my children if they were teens wait with the other adult in their cabin than if they were younger. What is their boarding time?  If you can’t get a consistent straight answer from Carnival, consider keeping FFTF and just board when your kids do.  I hope it all works out for you.

[RWolver672]

21 hours ago, Jamericannn said:

 

Yes, there is an adult in the other room (who relies on me. lol) and 2 children. 

 

18 hours ago, mkcurran said:

If I were you I'd email cclsupport @ carnival and explain the situation. Tell them that's you've been trying to purchase the second FTTF for the cabin with your kids. Give them the booking numbers. I'll bet that they will sell you FTTF for the second cabin.

 

I agree with mkcurran.  If the adult in the other cabin relies on you, there is a slight chance that they may allow you to all board together with your FTTF.  If the do say it can be done, make  sure you have it in writing so that when you do go to board, if they give you any problems, you have proof that they said it could be done.

[TonyinMD]

Yeah I agree with the person that suggested if you are ok with not boarding immediately,   you can just wait with them and board with them when their boarding group is called.  You don't have to board with FTTF group if you don't want to/get to the terminal at a later time.

[xitappers2bx]

I'm guessing if your kiddos are in the room next to yours, one is at least 21 (and can therefore totally board on their own, and if they screw that up... well... they should know better) or your partner/friend/spouse is in one room with one child and you're in the other room with the other child.  

 

in either of these situations, they aren't going to let anyone board, they obviously wouldn't let a minor board alone, but there is no situation where a minor would be in a stateroom alone without a 21+ booked into that room.  

 

With that said, I randomly grabbed access to FTTF last night, so it's still totally possible.