Would you sail without FTTF?

I have heard many people sing praises to FTTF, even saying that they will not cruise without it. Really? Is this just rhetoric, or are they really serious?

Knowing a little bit about economics and the law of supply and demand, at what point would FTTF be too much to pay. When they raised the price from $50.00 to $60.00, it did nothing to affect demand. What if they raised it to $80.00 or $100.00/ Would you still buy it?

I purchased it when it first came out, and I am now a Plat, so I know the value of the perks it offers, but I was just curious as to the market value of the program.

Really? No way would I not go on a cruise just because FTTF was not available. That is crazy. Went on an awful lot of cruises before it existed. Only purchased it once and did not get much benefit from it.

"What ifs" are hard to answer so I don't know at what price I'd stop paying . DH has ADHD and hates waiting around in crowds so he will NOT cruise without FTTF now that he is used to having it.

We did cruise before it was available but we have gotten used to the perks and are not platinum(yet)

We always fly in a day early and stay at a hotel. Most hotels make you check out by 11 AM. That meant that we usually went to the pier before 11. Before FTTF was available, we had to lug our carry-ons around with us until our cabin was ready at 1:30. Now we just go straight to our cabin and usually within an hour, our luggage has arrived and we can unpack and start enjoying our vacation. At what point would we stop getting it? We'll have to play it by ear. Going from $50 to $60 didn't bother us. $10 is one drink that we probably didn't need anyway. ;)

I have heard many people sing praises to FTTF, even saying that they will not cruise without it. Really? Is this just rhetoric, or are they really serious?

That is just pompous people making foolish declarations.

I prefer to purchase FTTF, but am doing the Vista Trans-Atlantic in October. Carnival is not offering FTTF for the Vista European sailings, so this time I shall sail without it. I'm sure we will survive. :eek:

Obviously thousands of people sail without it. I don't see the need for it, have never bought it, so I would always sail without it, it would have to go down in price for me to buy it. But for those people who love it I'm sure they would still pay $80-100 for it, it would probably still sell out as well.

I don't know the price point where I would hesitate. For now, at this price, I will always get it if it is available. I actively stalked my booking several times a day waiting for it to become available and I pounced immediately when it was, so I am definitely a FTTF fan.

Not sure how anyone can even say they "won't cruise without it" because you can't even know if it's available to purchase until after you have already booked your cruise.

It's a perk I love, and I would be disappointed not to have it, but I certainly wouldn't cancel my cruise if I couldn't get it.

We have only cruised once, and had it. We are booked on another cruise and it's not available yet. I've been checking constantly, and will buy it if it becomes available, but no, it won't make me cancel if I can't get it. :) I just want it. :)

The only reason I could be enticed to do so is if I had a time sensitive non Carnival excursion in a tender port. (Follow that logic?!)

I can wait an extra hour before I get in my cabin that I will inhabit for the duration of my cruise. And the wait in line feature, ehh...I've had so few needs to stand in line in over 20 cruises...if I need to, I find an off hour to get my business done.

FTTF a need and a fixation to check daily...no thanks, I can find better ways to donate money to Carnival!

I have only considered buying it once. I am booked on the Breeze in Oct with my sister's and niece. 4 people, 3 different states, all doing online check-in at different times. I was concerned about us getting different check-in times (leaving from Galveston). We were able to coordinate check-in times so don't need FTTF. For me the only benefit was all 4 of us checking in together. I know some people have different priorities and that is fine with me.

It is true that you won't know if it is available until you book your cruise. So far we have always booked far enough out to get it. DH says that if we book and it is not available before final payment we would cancel the cruise. So far that has not been necessary!

Would you sail without FTTF?

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No. :P

For me, its 59.95 wasted so I wont be buying it. Being mobility impaired, I was already on the ship pretty fast. Also being mobility impaired got me off the ship in a timely manner too. It is not important to me to have my cabin ready when I board the ship and I just dont need a special line at Guest Services as Im hardly ever there and the couple times I did visit GS, there was no line. I know there are a few other benefits included with FTTF but none of them important enough to me to spend the money. Thats about six drinks or almost the whole fee for two at the steakhouse.

No thank you to FTTF.

People book Carnival to save money, then they pay $60.00 to obtain items that are free. :D:D

The immediate access to our cabin is what really makes it worth it for me. I remember schlepping around with all of my carry-on items (plus those of the rest of the family). It's so much better to go straight to the room and BOOM! Nothing to lug around.

I recall the days before FTTF when I would be stuck sitting with everybody's stuff rather than being free to explore the ship or just move around. Maybe that's just a mom problem, come to think of it.

It is also very nice to go through the faster check in lines, but the early room availability is my favorite perk.

I'm thankful for people who don't see the value in FTTF, though. More of a chance for me to get it. :-)

FTTF is $60 now? Is that per stateroom or per person?

Either way, doesn't really matter because we've never bought it and don't plan to. We're usually on the ship by noon or around there, so the staterooms aren't ready until 1:30 but that doesn't bother us. We have rolling carryons so they're not that much of a problem to drag around. We normally head up to the buffet for lunch, one person sits at the table with the carryons while everyone else gets their food then when they come back that person gets theirs. We usually sit at the table (we try to get one outside) with a drink of the day and just relax and enjoy lunch before the staterooms are ready. Shortly after 1:30 we drop the carryons off in our room and go off to explore the ship. Come back around 3:00 or 4:00 and most of the time our luggage is there so I do some or all of the unpacking before muster drill.

We just can't see spending $$ for FTTF, we don't feel it's worth it.

FTTF is $60 now? Is that per stateroom or per person?

 

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59.95 for cruises 5 days or longer. Per stateroom

FTTF is $60 now? Is that per stateroom or per person?

 

Either way, doesn't really matter because we've never bought it and don't plan to. We're usually on the ship by noon or around there, so the staterooms aren't ready until 1:30 but that doesn't bother us. We have rolling carryons so they're not that much of a problem to drag around. We normally head up to the buffet for lunch, one person sits at the table with the carryons while everyone else gets their food then when they come back that person gets theirs. We usually sit at the table (we try to get one outside) with a drink of the day and just relax and enjoy lunch before the staterooms are ready. Shortly after 1:30 we drop the carryons off in our room and go off to explore the ship. Come back around 3:00 or 4:00 and most of the time our luggage is there so I do some or all of the unpacking before muster drill.

 

We just can't see spending $$ for FTTF, we don't feel it's worth it.

The cost for FTTF has always been PER CABIN, not per person.

I have heard many people sing praises to FTTF, even saying that they will not cruise without it. Really? Is this just rhetoric, or are they really serious?

 

Knowing a little bit about economics and the law of supply and demand, at what point would FTTF be too much to pay. When they raised the price from $50.00 to $60.00, it did nothing to affect demand. What if they raised it to $80.00 or $100.00/ Would you still buy it?

 

I purchased it when it first came out, and I am now a Plat, so I know the value of the perks it offers, but I was just curious as to the market value of the program.

We haven't reached Platinum yet, so being able to get the benefits that FTTF offers is nice, but it's not a requirement. If Carnival raises the price again, I may decline to purchase it. With several of the ports now using staggered boarding times, should Carnival raise the price of FTTF (again), I'd be inclined to pick a boarding time of around 1:00, so that by the time we got on the ship, we wouldn't have to wait too long to drop off our carry-ons. And I'm sure we'd manage without the other benefits of FTTF too (we managed before there was such a thing).

People book Carnival to save money, then they pay $60.00 to obtain items that are free.

Thank you once again for the gross generalizations. :rolleyes:

As long as it is available, I will not sail without it. I had a cruise booked and when I could not obtain FTTF, I cancelled the cruise and moved it to another port.

Yes, I would sail without it, although I do like having it. But if I can get a late checkout time at my hotel (noon) and get to the port when the lines are already moving and only have half an hour or so to wait to get in my room then it does not seem worth it to me.

We cruised before FTTF & would cruise without it. However, as long as it is available between now & May 2018, when we reach Platinum status (knock on wood), we will still be purchasing it regardless of additional cost. It has made our personal cruising experience much better.

We cruised before FTTF & would cruise without it. However, as long as it is available between now & May 2018, when we reach Platinum status (knock on wood), we will still be purchasing it regardless of additional cost. It has made our personal cruising experience much better.

We feel exactly as you do. Luckily we're scheduled to hit platinum in April 2018 lol

FTTF was not available until after we turned platinum, and we survived before that just fine.