Is FTTF always worth it?

We're sailing Carnival for the 1st time and trying to decide if we should try to get FTTF. There are only 2 of us, sailing on Liberty out of PC, no tender ports. We plan to carry our luggage off. we have anytime dining.

The only benefits would be:

we could avoid some lines (?) when boarding the ship

Our room would be ready so we could drop off our carry ons before heading to lunch

If we need guest services via phone or in person, we'd have a dedicated line.

Worth it or not? please be honest, thanks!!!

Being able to go straight to my room upon boarding would be worth it to me.

I hate dragging a carry on around!!

We have sailed on different ships out of PC many times so if you have any questions let me know.

Have a wonderful cruise!!

is it worth it to you, it's not our money

Being able to go straight to my room upon boarding would be worth it to me.

 

I hate dragging a carry on around!!

 

We have sailed on different ships out of PC many times so if you have any questions let me know.

 

Have a wonderful cruise!!

I have an 11:30 check in time at PC... in your experience, how much time do you think FTTF would save me? And for disembarking, with FTTF, are you one of the 1st to get off of the ship, or you just all owed to get in line before they call the others? I have no idea what to expect so I don't know what FTTF will and won't "do" for us"

Thanks for any more insight!!!

Worth it to me. We like going straight to our room and I have taken advantage of the line at guest services a few times. I have seen as many as 25 in line especially the last night. Only way to decide is do it at least once and decide for yourself. What’s another 60 bucks or so when you’re already spending that much...good luck.

In my opinion, it is worth it.

There is a separate line for check-in.

You can board the ship before the general public, but after the cruisers who have reached priority status.

Your cabin is ready as soon as you board the ship, so you can drop off carry-ons before hitting the buffet, pool area, or exploring the ship.

There is a special line at guest services.

If you carry your luggage off yourself, there is a special area to wait and you will be able to carry your luggage off before the general public, but after the priority people.

Yes, I think it's worth it. It's often sold out.

Worth it to me. We like going straight to our room and I have taken advantage of the line at guest services a few times. I have seen as many as 25 in line especially the last night. Only way to decide is do it at least once and decide for yourself. What’s another 60 bucks or so when you’re already spending that much...good luck.

Hi

That's the spirit...what's another 60 bucks or so. :)

Yes, it's only money.

So if you want to avoid lines and still be able to go directly to your cabin after checking in, arrive around 1 p.m. or so. The long lines are pretty much gone by then. Since boarding would have started around 11:30-noon, you will be able to board right away after checking in. By the time you get on the ship 1:30-2:00p.m. the cabins should all be ready for occupancy, you won't have to wait to drop off your carry-on before lunch.

Again with debarkation, if you have any preferred status with self assist, you would be able to get off first. Without it you would be able to get off "next". I have got to admit if you are in some kind of hurry, these people tend to start waiting in line for this option and sometimes it's a long line. However, you don't have to wait in line. These people are waiting in the lobby area, sometimes for hours before they start letting people off the ship. You can choose to wait somewhere else, such as the Lido deck, having your last cup of coffee, etc...and once they announce self assist debarkation has started, wait about 15 min. That will give that initial rush off people that had been waiting a chance to thin out. You will still be among the first people getting off the ship, without some of the frustration.

As far as the guest service desk...If you did have a problem on the last night, the lines are long. Most issues are in regards to billing. If you check your account regularly, you shouldn't have any last minute surprises. At any other time, if there is a long line at guest services, just come back later. Let's just say, most of the 24 hr. day there is nobody waiting.

There you go, you can try it for yourself and decide, it's up to you.

have a great cruise

Unless there are tender ports, it’s not worth it to me. If you arrive a little later, there usually is not much of a wait and you can go straight to your room. Maybe I am lucky, but I rarely have a need to go to guest services, so that isn’t a huge factor for me.

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For me...No, Never

I get to the ship later, do a carry on. Room is always ready when I board.

Have never used guest services.

Some sware by it, not me.

I am hoping it is worth it for us. We are trying FTTF for the first time for our family group of 10 with 4 young children. We are cruising out of Long Beach and arrive at LAX that morning just before 0900. So we are hoping to get checked in and boarded as soon as possible since we will have had a very early start in the morning. No place for us to hang out after arrival at LAX, so might as well get on the ship and into our rooms to drop luggage/carry-ons and then start exploring the ship and eating! A little concerning to hear that Long Beach may not be enforcing staggered checkin or boarding times as otherwise the only advantage for us might be immediate room access to drop our things. Would prefer not to drag around our things along with the little people in tow!

I get it because we like the priority boarding, express luggage and dedicated customer service line. This cruise we have tender ports and will not be taking Carnival excursions. Priority tendering will be key as well. It’s your money, spend it as you like. We get it because we want to and have not regretted it.

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The price of FTTF seems to go up $10 per cabin each year.

I originally bought into it because I liked the idea of dropping off my stuff in my cabin, then getting lunch before the big crowds showed up, plus the "short line " at the Curser's, uh, guest service line.

As it is, I no longer have the need for it.

Is it worth it? For what they charge for it now, ($69.95)I don't think so.

We've gotten it both times we cruised. It has been worth it to us. I hate being on vacation and waiting in line. Last cruise we arrive at the port around noon and there was about a 30 minute wait for people just to get checked in at port. FTTF got us straight through. Same thing at the desk. I put cash on my son's account and had some issues with his card, went to the desk for help and no wait while the other line had people waiting a good 20 minutes. To us it's worth it. I wait in lines for lots of things, I refuse to do it cruising if I don't have to.

They should raise the price of it and expand the scope to things like food and punchliner.

My late SO was Platinum (I am gold) and I enjoyed his benefits for the four years we had together. Definitely hard to go back to keeping my carryon with me until the cabins are available and hoping the tender lines are not too long. I just booked a cruise 217 days out and saw that FTTF was available. Spent a lot of time thinking about it and finally grabbed it while it was still available. Check-in times are not even available yet, so I should be able to check daily and select an early time as soon as the option appears, so FTTF wouldn’t help that much. There is one tender port (Grand Cayman from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m) so it would be helpful then. I am still not certain that it is worth the cost, but I figure I can cancel it later if I change my mind. I am cruising with someone who had never cruised before he met me, and if FTTF will make cruising more desirable to him, it could be worth the extra expense.

The price of FTTF seems to go up $10 per cabin each year.

I originally bought into it because I liked the idea of dropping off my stuff in my cabin, then getting lunch before the big crowds showed up, plus the "short line " at the Curser's, uh, guest service line.

As it is, I no longer have the need for it.

Is it worth it? For what they charge for it now, ($69.95)I don't think so.

Although we're still at the Gold level, this pretty much sums it up for me. Hardly a week goes by that someone doesn't post the question "Is FTTF worth it?" There should be a "sticky" at the top of this forum that says "Here's everything you get when you purchase FTTF." Then the person reading it can decide if what you get for your money is "worth it". Since Carnival raised the price of FTTF, and the implementation of staggered check-in times at the home terminal, I'm thinking the $70.00 could be better spent somewhere else.

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Everyone is different, but it's well worth it to me and my family.

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Planning our 3rd carnival cruise for this summer.

Our 1st was out of Baltimore and we had FTTF and it was worth it because we had 2 12 packs, 2 bottles of wine and a 5 year old. The convenience of being able to go straight to the room was well worth it. We used none of the other perks on that cruise - no need for guest services and no tender ports. We still waited almost an hour to board after checking in, but that was before assigned check in times and we were probably at the port too early, but we were excited!

Our 2nd cruise was out of Port Canaveral and we did NOT have FTTF. We had the earliest check in time and were dropped off at 11:30 and were on board at 11:52. We were carrying on 2 12 packs, 2 bottles of wine, and a 6 year old. We sort of missed the convenience of being able to drop the carry on (not the child) in the room and DH was cranky from lugging around the weight of the drinks for a few hours. But once we got to the room that frustration was over. We had to visit guest services once, but there was no line so no issue.

This cruise we're out of Baltimore again and we have FTTF, but will most likely be canceling it. It is just the two of us this time and we're going to probably spring for Cheers. Getting Cheers eliminates the need to carry on 12 packs and bottles of wine. Our carry on will consist of some toiletries to freshen up before dinner, bathing suits, and sunscreen. We can lug that around in a small bag until the rooms are ready. We'll be happy to park it at a bar until the room is ready. Plus we have the earliest assigned check in time - I really do think these assigned times help. We do have a tender port, but it's HMC - we're not going to be in a rush. We've got all day to lounge on the beach :-)

I think it is worth it if you plan on carrying on a lot of heavy things and plan to visit guest services a lot. It is also worth it if you have a small child. It is hard to keep up with them and your carry on. But you said it was just the two of you.

is it worth it to you, it's not our money

Exactly this, FTTF is like a lot of things its subjective. For my DW and I it is NOT, Re-read question above.

I used it my last cruise on the Paradise. Cost $69.95. I had to wait for the ships camera crew to set up before boarding and the Platinum and high up people got to board before us. Got on board at around 11:50. Gave a porter our carry on luggage and it got to the cabin say around 2 ish? Bad thing was I had a long sleeve shirt on as it was cold when I left Indy. As for the tender, we got on 2 mins before the others and they weren't going to let us on even then. Disembarkation was a joke. Had about 200 people standing around at 6:30am and I had to find someone and tell them I had an early flight. Got off the ship at 7:50. Would I buy it again for that? Sorry for the long version.

I have an 11:30 check in time at PC... in your experience, how much time do you think FTTF would save me? And for disembarking, with FTTF, are you one of the 1st to get off of the ship, or you just all owed to get in line before they call the others? I have no idea what to expect so I don't know what FTTF will and won't "do" for us"

 

Thanks for any more insight!!!

It really is a balance of whether your $60 or $70 is better served with a meal at the Steakhouse one night vs getting to your room right away, bypassing the Guest Services line should you need to, and getting priority tenders.

We also have an 11:30am check-in for our cruise on Liberty (this weekend!!!!), and because there are two cabins involved I decided it wasn't worth it - the primary benefit of getting on board a little bit earlier and to the cabins right away simply isn't enough to justify the added expense ($140, that's over half a Cheers! package) - we will minimize out carry-on, some of would stay with us as we wander about the ship anyway even if we got to the cabins right away, and although the priority tendering would be a nice perk at Princess Cays, again, not quite getting the value I would want. And buying for just one cabin really wouldn't work, if earlier boarding and priority tenders were the intent.

But, this is for me, my choice to balance dollars vs convenience. As always, YMMV, and you may find it very worthwhile, especially since it is just the one cabin.

We're sailing Carnival for the 1st time and trying to decide if we should try to get FTTF. There are only 2 of us, sailing on Liberty out of PC, no tender ports. We plan to carry our luggage off. we have anytime dining.

 

The only benefits would be:

 

we could avoid some lines (?) when boarding the ship

Our room would be ready so we could drop off our carry ons before heading to lunch

If we need guest services via phone or in person, we'd have a dedicated line.

Worth it or not? please be honest, thanks!!!

I buy FTTF to cut the line at embarkation. I do not buy it for anything else. I have had it for my last 4 cruises now and in most cases it appears to be saving me hours of sitting in the terminal waiting for my zone. In New Orleans on the Dream a friend of mine who did not buy it and arrived with me got on the boat almost exactly 3 hours after I did. That is why I buy FTTF. The other perks are nice and I have found myself skipping the line at guest services although I seldom need them, but the embarkation is the best.

I have an 11:30 check in time at PC... in your experience, how much time do you think FTTF would save me? And for disembarking, with FTTF, are you one of the 1st to get off of the ship, or you just all owed to get in line before they call the others? I have no idea what to expect so I don't know what FTTF will and won't "do" for us"

 

Thanks for any more insight!!!

All depends on the day and the ship. With an 11:30 check in, you could be on the ship by 1pm without FTTF or 12 with. Again depending on the port. For debarkation, you will get a note in your cabin on the last sea day that tells you where to meet and what time for FTTF self debark. As soon as cleared by customs you will be led off the ship by the staff. We were off the ship last cruise by 8:15.

We're sailing Carnival for the 1st time and trying to decide if we should try to get FTTF. There are only 2 of us, sailing on Liberty out of PC, no tender ports. We plan to carry our luggage off. we have anytime dining.

 

The only benefits would be:

 

we could avoid some lines (?) when boarding the ship

Our room would be ready so we could drop off our carry ons before heading to lunch

If we need guest services via phone or in person, we'd have a dedicated line.

Worth it or not? please be honest, thanks!!!

We did a 3 night on Liberty October 2017. We did not get FTTF as it wasn’t worth the cost. Our check in time was 1130-1200. We arrived at port at 1030, went through security and check in and received boarding zone 6. We boarded probably 30 min after FTTF guests. Our room was ready at 130pm so having it available sooner isn’t that big of a deal to us.

On last day I did have issue with a charge on account and did have to wait 45 min in line. It was inconvenient, but not worth spending an additional $70 when that money could be used for something else.

On a shorter cruise like this one, the benefits don’t equal price in my opinion. But to others, it may.