Faster to the Fun Debarkation?

[Gatordad815]

Hi all! New Carnival cruiser here looking for info on FTTF. We bought this option for our spring break eastern itinerary on Carnival Breeze. I see that FTTF offers a choice of early or late debarkation. Does the late debarkation offer any time-saving benefits or is it really just the same as anyone waiting until others have departed the ship to leave? If we choose early debarkation and miss the window can we just join the line whenever we want? We will be in Port Canaveral if it makes any difference.

 

We are used to Royal Caribbean where no matter what time we have left the ship (early, late or in the middle of the process), we are through customs and in our car in under 30 minutes. I’m wondering how Carnival compares and if we should make the extra effort to be up & out very early? Thanks for any input!

[dlphn501]

1 minute ago, Gatordad815 said:

 

 

[dlphn501]

I am pretty sure with FTTF you can leave whenever you want, as long as you are out of your cabin by 8:30.  I had it on Liberty in April, and we zipped right through and to the car in probably 30 mins too.  I think we left as early as we could though.

[Shaded Lady]

I cruise out of Galveston... with FTTF they call for us to begin offboarding around 7:30 and I'm typically in my car, driving home by 8.

 

I've never taken advantage of the late debarkation, just the early one. Being in the middle, with the great hoards, does not appeal to me at all!

[LaskoGlitter]

On the Dream a couple of weeks ago, they had us meet in the Crimson dining room by 8:30 a.m., but we couldn't debark until 9:00 a.m. Only the people who did self-assist could leave earlier. It was annoying because I thought I would be off the ship by 9 with FTTF, but I didn't get off until past 9:30 a.m., missing the transfer bus I scheduled. I had to get squeezed onto another transfer bus that left at about a quarter to 11:00 a.m.

[RWolver672]

13 hours ago, Gatordad815 said:

Hi all! New Carnival cruiser here looking for info on FTTF. We bought this option for our spring break eastern itinerary on Carnival Breeze. I see that FTTF offers a choice of early or late debarkation. Does the late debarkation offer any time-saving benefits or is it really just the same as anyone waiting until others have departed the ship to leave? If we choose early debarkation and miss the window can we just join the line whenever we want? We will be in Port Canaveral if it makes any difference.

 

We are used to Royal Caribbean where no matter what time we have left the ship (early, late or in the middle of the process), we are through customs and in our car in under 30 minutes. I’m wondering how Carnival compares and if we should make the extra effort to be up & out very early? Thanks for any input!

 

With FTTF, you will receive a letter on the last night telling you where to meet.  After self debarkation, they will come into the room where you meet to escort you off of the ship.  In some cases, they take Diamond/Platinum first, then FTTF.  In other cases, they take all three at once.  It just depends on how many of each there is.   If you want to be "out very early", just make sure you at the designated meeting place for FTTF on time.

 

Oddly enough, for our last cruise on the Horizon, we were Platinum and was told to meet in one of the dining rooms for debarkation.  As we got off of the elevator, we tried to get into that dining room.  One of the workers told us to just get in line and get off the ship.

 

There are a few things that can throw off how early you can disembark.  Did the ship come back in time from the last cruise.  Did the ship clear customs on time.  Did customs officials show up for work.  (That happened to us in Tampa.  Only one showed up and we never made if off the ship until after 10 am and we had FTTF.)

[elcuchio24]

Its priority self-carry off, and if you have them take your luggage its zone 2

[elcuchio24]

3 hours ago, RWolver672 said:

 

With FTTF, you will receive a letter on the last night telling you where to meet.  After self debarkation, they will come into the room where you meet to escort you off of the ship.  In some cases, they take Diamond/Platinum first, then FTTF.  In other cases, they take all three at once.  It just depends on how many of each there is.   If you want to be "out very early", just make sure you at the designated meeting place for FTTF on time.

 

Oddly enough, for our last cruise on the Horizon, we were Platinum and was told to meet in one of the dining rooms for debarkation.  As we got off of the elevator, we tried to get into that dining room.  One of the workers told us to just get in line and get off the ship.

 

There are a few things that can throw off how early you can disembark.  Did the ship come back in time from the last cruise.  Did the ship clear customs on time.  Did customs officials show up for work.  (That happened to us in Tampa.  Only one showed up and we never made if off the ship until after 10 am and we had FTTF.)

 

Off the Magic last week. Not sure what happened, but debarkation took forever. Must have been some customs issue. We were in no rush so got off basically last.....at 11:15. Keep in mind, we got ON at about 11:15 during embarkation....

[CruisingAwayKatie]

We too have the FTTF for our upcoming trip.  Can anyone tell me the perks of late debarkation?  In the past we've always done the self debarkation and gotten off in the early group.  Our flight is in the afternoon so we're in no hurry this trip.

[Shaded Lady]

8 minutes ago, CruisingAwayKatie said:

We too have the FTTF for our upcoming trip.  Can anyone tell me the perks of late debarkation?  In the past we've always done the self debarkation and gotten off in the early group.  Our flight is in the afternoon so we're in no hurry this trip.

The main perk is you can hang out and leave the ship later (normally, no later than 10). But you must vacate your cabin with all your belongings by 8:30. We don't like hanging around waiting with all our luggage, so we typically have everything ready to go, head to the MDR or Lido to have breakfast, then head back to our room by about 8 AM, collect our stuff and get off the ship. If you have FTTF this works pretty well.

 

Our last cruise we were delayed boarding by about an hour because the computers on Vista (I presume it was a ship-board problem, not a Galveston terminal problem) stopped working for a while and they had to stop debarkation. The folks didn't completely clear the ship until after 11 AM so we were later getting onboard.

[evandbob]

Seems to me that Carnival makes boarding and disembarking a chore and time consuming.  I've been sailing other lines the last few years and MSC, Celebrity and NCL don't seem to have the crowded issues that Carnival has.

 

I have Diamond status on Carnival and can be one of the first to board or leave the ship, but when I don't use the priority disembarkation,  Carnival's lines seem the longest of any of the other cruise lines I've been on.

 

I'll be sailing the Symphony of the Seas for the 1st time in January, and I'm anxious to see if RCCL handles a 6,000 pax load better than Carnival on a 3,000 pax ship.

 

At least Carnival has been attempting to streamline its boarding procedures with staggered check in, but their disembarking has been a cluster muck when I decided on a late leaving.

Edited November 27, 2019 by evandbob

[sanmarcosman]

On 11/25/2019 at 1:15 PM, dlphn501 said:

I am pretty sure with FTTF you can leave whenever you want, as long as you are out of your cabin by 8:30.  I had it on Liberty in April, and we zipped right through and to the car in probably 30 mins too.  I think we left as early as we could though.

Thank you for laughing along with my post about the lobster. You are the one and only who got it. 🙂 

[Nevada Jen]

Self assist early debark is the best way to get off and to your car in 30 minutes at Canaveral.  We used it on Liberty there and other than the 5 minute wait in the dining room before we left to walk through the ship on our way out there was not a time we stopped moving until we got to the customs agent which took all of 10 seconds from there.  Any other way and you are going to slow down the process.  We did late debark with FttF with full service luggage in Tampa and it was insane.  The line on the ship was way built up and customs was way built up and people were going on their morning breaks by then.  Huge mistake.  Probably took 2 hours to get off the ship.

[rukkian]

On 11/27/2019 at 10:38 AM, evandbob said:

Seems to me that Carnival makes boarding and disembarking a chore and time consuming.  I've been sailing other lines the last few years and MSC, Celebrity and NCL don't seem to have the crowded issues that Carnival has.

 

I have Diamond status on Carnival and can be one of the first to board or leave the ship, but when I don't use the priority disembarkation,  Carnival's lines seem the longest of any of the other cruise lines I've been on.

 

I'll be sailing the Symphony of the Seas for the 1st time in January, and I'm anxious to see if RCCL handles a 6,000 pax load better than Carnival on a 3,000 pax ship.

 

At least Carnival has been attempting to streamline its boarding procedures with staggered check in, but their disembarking has been a cluster muck when I decided on a late leaving.

Not sure how it compares, because this will be our first on Carnival in 22 years, but on Allure (out of FLL), disembarkation was really smooth.  We did have a bit of a line to get bags and go through customs, but the entire process from the time our number got called (we were later because we were in no hurry) until we were out in the parking lot was less than 30 minutes.

[jimbo5544]

On 11/27/2019 at 11:38 AM, evandbob said:

Seems to me that Carnival makes boarding and disembarking a chore and time consuming.  I've been sailing other lines the last few years and MSC, Celebrity and NCL don't seem to have the crowded issues that Carnival has.

 

I have Diamond status on Carnival and can be one of the first to board or leave the ship, but when I don't use the priority disembarkation,  Carnival's lines seem the longest of any of the other cruise lines I've been on.

 

I'll be sailing the Symphony of the Seas for the 1st time in January, and I'm anxious to see if RCCL handles a 6,000 pax load better than Carnival on a 3,000 pax ship.

 

At least Carnival has been attempting to streamline its boarding procedures with staggered check in, but their disembarking has been a cluster muck when I decided on a late leaving.

To make it apples to apples, debark at a totally different time and from location.  Let us know how it works out, any issues tell them you are Diamond on Carnival....that should help.😉

[dlphn501]

11 minutes ago, Nevada Jen said:

Self assist early debark is the best way to get off and to your car in 30 minutes at Canaveral.  We used it on Liberty there and other than the 5 minute wait in the dining room before we left to walk through the ship on our way out there was not a time we stopped moving until we got to the customs agent which took all of 10 seconds from there.  Any other way and you are going to slow down the process.  We did late debark with FttF with full service luggage in Tampa and it was insane.  The line on the ship was way built up and customs was way built up and people were going on their morning breaks by then.  Huge mistake.  Probably took 2 hours to get off the ship.

I was on Liberty in April 2019 out of Canaveral.  We went from the cabin to the car in about 30 minutes.  We had FTTF and disembarked at the earliest FTTF time from the MDR.

[jimbo5544]

Just to be clear, the process would be Diamonds, Plats then FTTF, usually but not always from the same location.

[katstoy]

Just off the Miracle this past Saturday.  Off the ship and through the terminal to the car in less than 30 minutes.  We got a letter the second to last night with luggage tags for zone 2.  Were told to meet in the aft dining room no deck three by 9:15.  We were out of the room at 8:30, to the dining room and immediately escorted to the "line" to get off the ship.  The dining room was already empty when we got there.  A staff member escorted us to the outside deck where we merged with the line of everyone else trying to get off.  Took us a total of about 3 minutes from the time we left the dining room to having our cards scanned and off the ship.  We needed to be a bit aggressive in merging with the line that appeared to be fairly long inside the ship, but it was not a problem.  We used a porter to take our bags through immigration and customs and circumvented the long line of those who didn't use a porter.  Totally worth the tip!  Easiest debarkation ever.