Future of FTTF...when?

[Joe817]

3 minutes ago, hurricane0226 said:

I am on the Magic, Aug 7th, and had purchased the FTTF, it has not been canceled yet. The 

reason I bought it was,  we are Platinum's, but at the time, they did not know if they were going to

be having priority for Diamonds, and Platinum. So bought it, but will be canceling it in the next

day or so, unless Carnival cancels it first. 

Well, prepare yourself for a BIG disappointment just as we were. We purchased FTTF back in January for our Aug.21, 2021 sailing on the 7 day Vista cruise. We just received the dreaded email this past week that ALL FTTF purchases for August sailings are being refunded back to the original form of payment...We are still awaiting the refund. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. 

[hurricane0226]

1 minute ago, Joe817 said:

Well, prepare yourself for a BIG disappointment just as we were. We purchased FTTF back in January for our Aug.21, 2021 sailing on the 7 day Vista cruise. We just received the dreaded email this past week that ALL FTTF purchases for August sailings are being refunded back to the original form of payment...We are still awaiting the refund. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. 

Yes, I probably suspected it to happen, but like I had said, we are Platinum's so we will get the '

priority boarding check in times.

[Joe817]

10 minutes ago, hurricane0226 said:

Yes, I probably suspected it to happen, but like I had said, we are Platinum's so we will get the 'priority boarding check in times.

If you are Platinum, why in the world would you even pay for FTTF, since it is included in your status, anyway???  

 

I admire you for having that distinction. But I've heard that the D's/P's priority is being done away with with this restart that will be starting early next month. But according to the Brand Ambassador for Carnival, it will be only temporary....short lived. I pray that's the case. 

 

And if I'm off base, I invite someone to correct me if I'm wrong ,  that has better info than I do. 

Edited June 24, 2021 by Joe817

[hurricane0226]

3 minutes ago, Joe817 said:

I admire you for having that distinction. But I've heard that the D's/P's priority is being done away with with this restart that will be starting early next month. But according to the Brand Ambassador for Carnival, it will be only temporary....short lived. I pray that's the case. 

 

And if I'm off base, I invite someone to correct me if I'm wrong ,  that has better info than I do. 

We will get to select a boarding time two days prior to the rest of the guest for the sailing, instead of 14 days out for check in we have 16 days out for check in.

[Joe817]

5 minutes ago, hurricane0226 said:

We will get to select a boarding time two days prior to the rest of the guest for the sailing, instead of 14 days out for check in we have 16 days out for check in.

Yes, yes, of course. We all understand that. BUT, even though you are able to do the online checkin in, which gives you the options for boarding times, those are NOT priority boarding times. Those are boarding times when they begin allowing passengers to do the  pier check in. 

 

Again, I invite those more knowledgeable than I, to step up, correct me, and set me straight. 

 

As an afterthought, if you consider that a "priority check in" , I wish you the best, and happy sailing!  

Edited June 24, 2021 by Joe817

[BoozinCroozin]

4 hours ago, Joe817 said:

Yes, yes, of course. We all understand that. BUT, even though you are able to do the online checkin in, which gives you the options for boarding times, those are NOT priority boarding times. Those are boarding times when they begin allowing passengers to do the  pier check in. 

 

Again, I invite those more knowledgeable than I, to step up, correct me, and set me straight. 

 

As an afterthought, if you consider that a "priority check in" , I wish you the best, and happy sailing!  

I think Diamond and Platinum are still going to get the earliest boarding windows. They will consume the 10:30-11:00AM boarding slots. This means they won't have to go to an exclusive Diamond/Platinum special entry. They will be able to go to all entries with much fewer people in each line. Then, when available again, the FTTF group will be able to consume the 11:00AM - 11:30AM boarding group. Assume FTTF consumes all of this boarding window as well. To me, that is priority boarding. Then, at the 11:30AM boarding windows, the entry is back to normal with all people going through the congested line (for lack of better term), FTTF and Dia/Plat have their exclusive check-in lines open to them only so no waiting in the longer line with the general boarding group.

 

This is just how I envision it. 

[ProgRockCruiser]

9 hours ago, Joe817 said:

If you are Platinum, why in the world would you even pay for FTTF, since it is included in your status, anyway???

The poster decided to have a backup plan in case the relevant-to-them D&P perks of boarding early (and maybe other things) were going to be suspended, but perhaps the FTTF perks weren't.

 

It was a no-cost investment if the D&P perks remained or were at least no worse than FTTF, which is what appears to be the case, and now they can cancel FTTF and get a refund.

[Joe817]

2 hours ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

The poster decided to have a backup plan in case the relevant-to-them D&P perks of boarding early (and maybe other things) were going to be suspended, but perhaps the FTTF perks weren't.

 

It was a no-cost investment if the D&P perks remained or were at least no worse than FTTF, which is what appears to be the case, and now they can cancel FTTF and get a refund.

Ahhhh. That makes sense. I call that forward thinking. Thanks for the explanation ProgRock.

[Knights on the Beach]

9 hours ago, BoozinCroozin said:

I think Diamond and Platinum are still going to get the earliest boarding windows. They will consume the 10:30-11:00AM boarding slots. This means they won't have to go to an exclusive Diamond/Platinum special entry. They will be able to go to all entries with much fewer people in each line. Then, when available again, the FTTF group will be able to consume the 11:00AM - 11:30AM boarding group. Assume FTTF consumes all of this boarding window as well. To me, that is priority boarding. Then, at the 11:30AM boarding windows, the entry is back to normal with all people going through the congested line (for lack of better term), FTTF and Dia/Plat have their exclusive check-in lines open to them only so no waiting in the longer line with the general boarding group.

 

This is just how I envision it. 

There are a LOT of Platinum cruisers (and probably more Diamonds that I previously realized) so I don't know if all will be able to board in the first half hour.  I guess we'll find out when the first cruises actually start up.  For the time being though, Carnival is saying we'll have to arrive at our boarding time so I'm not sure the Platinum/Diamond lines will even be open later?  I thought it sounded like if we picked say a noon check-in time, we went through the regular lines at that time.

[ProgRockCruiser]

4 minutes ago, cruisemom2 said:

I thought it sounded like if we picked say a noon check-in time, we went through the regular lines at that time.

That is exactly how I understand it to be, for July and (early?) August:

 

D&Ps get a chance to pick an arrival / check-in time before the rest of the cruisers.  Regardless of their D&P status, they are expected to show up at their selected arrival time.

 

So if you pick 2pm as an arrival time, don't come earlier hoping your D&P status will get you in earlier - you should have picked that earlier time to begin with.

[Knights on the Beach]

10 minutes ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

That is exactly how I understand it to be, for July and (early?) August:

 

D&Ps get a chance to pick an arrival / check-in time before the rest of the cruisers.  Regardless of their D&P status, they are expected to show up at their selected arrival time.

 

So if you pick 2pm as an arrival time, don't come earlier hoping your D&P status will get you in earlier - you should have picked that earlier time to begin with.

OK, that's exactly what I thought.  I was starting to wonder if Boozin knows something no one else does.  😉

[BoozinCroozin]

21 minutes ago, cruisemom2 said:

There are a LOT of Platinum cruisers (and probably more Diamonds that I previously realized) so I don't know if all will be able to board in the first half hour.  I guess we'll find out when the first cruises actually start up.  For the time being though, Carnival is saying we'll have to arrive at our boarding time so I'm not sure the Platinum/Diamond lines will even be open later?  I thought it sounded like if we picked say a noon check-in time, we went through the regular lines at that time.

It was just an example on times. Obviously it scales with the number.

[hurricane0226]

11 hours ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

The poster decided to have a backup plan in case the relevant-to-them D&P perks of boarding early (and maybe other things) were going to be suspended, but perhaps the FTTF perks weren't.

 

It was a no-cost investment if the D&P perks remained or were at least no worse than FTTF, which is what appears to be the case, and now they can cancel FTTF and get a refund.

Yes, that was the reason I had purchased the FTTF, at the time, we did not know what was going on with the Diamond, and Platinum status.

[Wanna_Cruize]

Back in the day, as Platinum we did need to pick a time slot, but I would routinely pick a later time slot, knowing we could just board whenever we got there. I just wanted to leave more early spots to others who really needed them. I guess I will take as early as I can get and plan our drive accordingly. 

[AtSeaWithChris]

19 hours ago, BoozinCroozin said:

I think Diamond and Platinum are still going to get the earliest boarding windows. They will consume the 10:30-11:00AM boarding slots. This means they won't have to go to an exclusive Diamond/Platinum special entry. They will be able to go to all entries with much fewer people in each line. Then, when available again, the FTTF group will be able to consume the 11:00AM - 11:30AM boarding group. Assume FTTF consumes all of this boarding window as well. To me, that is priority boarding. Then, at the 11:30AM boarding windows, the entry is back to normal with all people going through the congested line (for lack of better term), FTTF and Dia/Plat have their exclusive check-in lines open to them only so no waiting in the longer line with the general boarding group.

 

This is just how I envision it. 

D&P will get access to check in and select times 2 days before everyone else. So technically it's priority check-in not priority boarding. But when I spent the night in Holiday Inn Express last night I did read that someone knew someone at the cruise line that said there would still be a priority line even though they said there wouldn't be. lol 

[happygirlchocolate]

I received my letter yesterday stating that my excursion had been canceled and would be refunded to my CC.  It was a generic email and did not specify FTTF.  However, it was the only excursion I purchased for the August 29th sailing so that's what it has to be.  Checked my cruise planner and it was gone.  Oh well!  I will keep all documentation until refund is received.