I keep going back and forth on FTTF.

[hereisjohnny]

Amen!

 

:D:D

 

 

 

Again, of all the things you spend money on to cruise, this has to be at the very bottom.

 

 

 

You're paying money to get on the ship a few minutes early to spend more money. Brilliant marketing by Carnival.

 

It's obvious that you don't read very well from what people have posted as to their reasons why they purchase this. There is a greater value than just getting on early but as a poor reviewer of past cruises I wouldn't expect anything less.

 

 

 

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[RWolver672]

FTTF is in the same category as the Steakhouse. Some like it, some don't. The only way anyone will ever know for sure if they like it or not is to try it. If you like it, get it again. If not, don't get it again. Don't get it or not get it just because someone else says they liked it or didn't like it.

[FiveAce]

Your insurance analogy is a bit off. This is not like weather or a medical emergency or something unforeseen.

 

Carnival is selling you a solution to a problem that they created. Could they let you stash your bags in the room? Could they maybe put an extra staff member at guest services during peak times? Could they have a better system for tendering and disembarking?

 

They could, or they could save money (less staff) and then charge you for the privilege of skipping lines. Win-win for carnival! And if you choose not to particiapte in this scam (oops, I mean FUN!) then you can save your money and plan your arriving/tendering/embarking/visiting guest services in a way that minimizes waiting. Cruise critic is all about sharing these strategies.

 

Of all the responses from bitter cruisers opposed to FTTF and want you to know why you're stupid for buying it - this takes the cake. A scam is when you are deliberately denied a good or service for which you've paid. FTTF gives you what you pay for. Some people pay more for extra leg room. Some people pay more for a nicer car. Some people pay more to sit closer to homeplate. Some people can afford to pay for first-class service and wish to take advantage of it. That is what FTTF is: first-class treatment at a premium.

 

The insurance analogy is spot on. A lot of people say FTTF isn't worth it because they never need customer service....until they do. I have pictures of how long the lines are, especially on embarkation day. For many people FTTF is worth it just to avoid that frustration alone. Of course, there will be times when there is no line at all, or times when you don't have to wait to board the ship or for a tender so congratulations if you win that lottery.

 

You can smirk at those who buy FTTF because that $50 could be better spent on alcohol or an upscale restaurant, and I will do the same to you because the money you waste on the scam that is alcohol or the steak restaurant can be used on an extra hand of blackjack or a whatever *insert name* believes is the best way to spend your money.

[rhfish3]

Lol I love it. You are so right. No one is forcing anyone to buy fttf it is a premium and those that want it buy it those that don't--- oh well-- if you want the steakhouse go and enjoy u r paying a premium there

 

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[Cinders411]

We did FTTF once on our Dream sailing. Thought it would be worth it with a ship that size. Really didn't think it worked that well, at least on our cruise. We got to the port about 10:30. We waited where we were told to, then a staff member came over and told us we should move all the way across the room. We did and then another staff person came and told us we should not have been moved and to go back. We waited a long time and then they called FTTF! We thought we were boarding but, they just took us to another waiting room (upstairs maybe?) already full of unhappy early boarders. Don't think we got on the ship until after 12 and maybe closer to 1. We didn't get our luggage any earlier although I don't care very much about that. I did go to Guest Services once in the shorter line. An elderly lady in front of me turned to complain about all those "Faster To The Fun people" and how they shouldn't be allowed to use that line.......When she asked if I agreed I said, "So sorry but, I am one of "those people"..............

[SunshineCruiser24]

We decided to skip FTTF this time. With only one tender port where we are doing a carnival excursion anyway... it's just not worth it.

[graphicguy]

OP was trying to figure out if it was worth $50. Some said yes, some said no. I was one of the ones who said no. I don't care what you spend your money on. Just posted for the OP. My, my....some are defensive!!!!!

 

It's all good. It's a cruise.

[SunshineCruiser24]

OP was trying to figure out if it was worth $50. Some said yes, some said no. I was one of the ones who said no. I don't care what you spend your money on. Just posted for the OP. My, my....some are defensive!!!!!

 

It's all good. It's a cruise.

 

FYI I enjoyed your breeze pics.

[graphicguy]

FYI I enjoyed your breeze pics.

 

Thank you.

 

Breeze was fun. For a Carnival cruise, where everything is going on all the time, it was probably the most laid back cruise I've ever taken. Again, no long lines for anything (maybe for the BBQ place outside being the exception). The flow of the ship was good. They put some thought into it. Really liked the staff on the Breeze, too. They were quick to help, and always with a smile.

 

I really, really enjoyed all of the outdoor areas where you can sit, eat, have some drinks, or just watch the water. That was the one biggest complaint I had about the Allure of the Seas cruise I took. It was almost like they didn't want you to see the water. What's the point of cruising if you have a hard time seeing the water?

 

Got my marriage and honeymoon coming up this weekend on the NCL Breakaway. Sailer her before my Breeze cruise. Loved all the outside areas of her, too. My bride to be should love it. She's never cruised before.

[cruse2loose]

I have never bought FTTF. I usually get to terminal around 10, on ship 11 ish. I don't need to go to guest services, and I didn't have any tender ports. I self assist to get off ship, so am off early anyways. It may be worth it to others, just not to me

[BlancaNoir]

Ok, ok. I apologize for the tone of my comment. It came off way too strong and I'm sorry people thought I was smirking. It's not a "scam" - I was just expressing my thoughts on the structure of it. Enjoy your cruises.

[kona_wahine]

OP was trying to figure out if it was worth $50. Some said yes, some said no. I was one of the ones who said no. I don't care what you spend your money on. Just posted for the OP. My, my....some are defensive!!!!!

 

It's all good. It's a cruise.

 

When you used it what didn't you like about it? I assume you used it, or how else can you know for sure?

[Wayfairers]

Just as I suspected, end of August sailing when families are not vacationing unless you're from Europe. Try sailing the same ship at peak times in June or July and you wouldn't be walking right on the ship at noon at all, but an experienced cruiser like yourself would already know this. Think of FTTF as a cheap insurance policy for worst case scenarios when lines can be long at peak times. Not everyone can sail at off peak times.

 

 

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We sailed a few weeks ago in May right after most kids got out of school and walked right on the ship at noon no problems at all without FTTF. We also were on the first tender at Grand Cayman by walking down 5 minutes before the tenders started. And every time we needed guest services there wasn't a line.

 

Maybe we have good timing, if that is the case I hope that continues on our cruise next week. We've never cruised in the Caribbean in June...hopefully it won't be a mad house.

 

 

Done..

7d Royal Caribbean

7d Celebrity

10d Princess

14d Carnival

75d Holland America

 

Next..

7d Carnival Conquest

21d Carnival Triumph

[b_cruise]

This is very interesting to me.

 

I agree, a great marketing plan by carnival. I bought it for my cruise in July. Do I think I will see a huge difference with it, probably not...again great marketing.

 

I have sailed on carnival 2 PEAK times and have boarded pretty fast both times.

 

I think it may be like gambling, lol... I hope I get onboard faster ( probably a whole half hour). I hope there will be lines at guest services and I'll skip the line ( probably won't use guest services)...lol!!

 

Why did I but it... I really don't know ( donation to carnival), haha. But honestly, 50 bucks is not a lot in regards to the cost of the vacation.

[hereisjohnny]

We sailed a few weeks ago in May right after most kids got out of school and walked right on the ship at noon no problems at all without FTTF. We also were on the first tender at Grand Cayman by walking down 5 minutes before the tenders started. And every time we needed guest services there wasn't a line.

 

Maybe we have good timing, if that is the case I hope that continues on our cruise next week. We've never cruised in the Caribbean in June...hopefully it won't be a mad house.

 

 

Done..

7d Royal Caribbean

7d Celebrity

10d Princess

14d Carnival

75d Holland America

 

Next..

7d Carnival Conquest

21d Carnival Triumph

 

 

May really isn't peak time yet, only college age kids are out of school in mid May. Most families with young children can't sail until June. The June 7th cruise I'm on has all suites and balconies sold out with only inside and outside available.

 

 

 

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[graphicguy]

When you used it what didn't you like about it? I assume you used it, or how else can you know for sure?

 

Again, I do not care what you spend your money on. It doesn't matter to me. The OP is trying to make a decision to buy or not to buy. I gave/give my opinion.

 

But, since you asked, FTTF doesn't offer me anything for my money. Why would I buy it? I've been on 3 Carnival Cruises. Never waited any significant time to embark, debark, at customer service, for my luggage, for anything. Matter of fact, on my last Breeze cruise, one day there were two people in the general line for Customer Service. I was the 2nd in line. We had two Customer service reps helping us. The seperate FTTF line had 4 people in their line. They had one Customer Service person helping them. Guess which line moved quicker?

 

So, let's look at this differently. Using my situation with Customer Service, there used to be one line, with 3 Carnival people helping. With FTTF, there are the same 3 people helping, except there are two lines. Difference is, you paid $50 to get in a 2nd line. I paid nothing.

 

Take it a step further. This is a marketing ploy by Carnival....and a good one (for them) at that.

 

Using round numbers (give or take), Carnival sails roughly 20 ships/week. Let's say that each ship makes 50 trips per year, again, give or take. That's 1,000 trips/year.

 

Not sure how many FTTF they sell on each ship, but let's say it's roughly 100, give or take.

 

Follow me now.....100 FTTF/ship@$50ea. That's $5,000

 

$5,000@1,000 trips/year=$5M

 

That's right....$5,000,000 extra per year....and that's a very conservative number.

 

Carnival didn't have to add one penny to their operating costs to do that. They didn't add one more person per ship. That's pure profit that they didn't have before. That's not a bad thing. But, they've given nothing and got $5M in return. Not a bad gig if you can get it.

 

I'm sure someone has a spreadsheet within Carnival that shows those 100 FTTF also generates extra drink purchases per cruise, given you might be on board 5 or 10 minutes before everyone else, and head right to the bar before anyone else can.

 

Whoever came up with that scheme should have received a huge raise. When I first heard about it, I thought...."no way they're trying to make money out of nothing like that? No one will buy it."

 

How wrong I was.

 

Do whatever you want. It's a cruise.

Edited June 4, 2014 by graphicguy

[Wayfairers]

Well said. Most people don't do the math or wonder what the ship gets out of these things. We do and thus won't buy the FTTF or the alcohol package at $50 a day.

 

 

Done..

7d Royal Caribbean

7d Celebrity

10d Princess

14d Carnival

75d Holland America

 

Next..

7d Carnival Conquest

21d Carnival Triumph

[cruzinlisa]

We sailed a few weeks ago in May right after most kids got out of school and walked right on the ship at noon no problems at all without FTTF. We also were on the first tender at Grand Cayman by walking down 5 minutes before the tenders started. And every time we needed guest services there wasn't a line.

 

Maybe we have good timing, if that is the case I hope that continues on our cruise next week. We've never cruised in the Caribbean in June...hopefully it won't be a mad house.

 

 

Done..

7d Royal Caribbean

7d Celebrity

10d Princess

14d Carnival

75d Holland America

 

Next..

7d Carnival Conquest

21d Carnival Triumph

 

Maybe you do have good timing or I don't. The last time we went to Grand Cayman it was a nightmare. I think they may have arrived a little later than normal, I am not sure. I know we did not rush toward the tender line or anything. When we finally did get a tender ticket, we had number 42 or something like that. And then we waited, and waited and waited, another hour or more. We did not get to Grand Cayman until around 12:30 I think. It definitely turned me off to tendering. Last cruise we did have FTTF but we had a Carnival excursion booked in Belize so we did not need to worry about priority tenders.

 

This upcoming cruise does not have a tender port. My big thing is early debarkation and having a place to put my stuff right away. If it were DH and I, we might try self assist. But with a 3 year old- its not happening.

[kona_wahine]

Funny, for people who don't care how I spend my $50, you sure have LENGTHY reason why you actually do. :rolleyes:

[graphicguy]

Funny, for people who don't care how I spend my $50, you sure have LENGTHY reason why you actually do. :rolleyes:

 

(SIGH!!!!!).

 

YOU ASKED ME what I didn't like about FTTF. I told you. Geez-Louise!

[bury me at sea]

This is an option I have found worth paying for. The Cheers Program is an option that for me is not worth paying for since I rarely have more than 3 drinks a day. The specialty restaurants are an option I don't care to pay for.

 

It amazes me FTTF is so contentious when other optional programs aren't.

[kona_wahine]

(SIGH!!!!!).

 

YOU ASKED ME what I didn't like about FTTF. I told you. Geez-Louise!

 

No, I asked if you used it why you didn't like it. You never used it so have no first hand experience with it. thats my point.

[hereisjohnny]

Again, I do not care what you spend your money on. It doesn't matter to me. The OP is trying to make a decision to buy or not to buy. I gave/give my opinion.

 

But, since you asked, FTTF doesn't offer me anything for my money. Why would I buy it? I've been on 3 Carnival Cruises. Never waited any significant time to embark, debark, at customer service, for my luggage, for anything. Matter of fact, on my last Breeze cruise, one day there were two people in the general line for Customer Service. I was the 2nd in line. We had two Customer service reps helping us. The seperate FTTF line had 4 people in their line. They had one Customer Service person helping them. Guess which line moved quicker?

 

So, let's look at this differently. Using my situation with Customer Service, there used to be one line, with 3 Carnival people helping. With FTTF, there are the same 3 people helping, except there are two lines. Difference is, you paid $50 to get in a 2nd line. I paid nothing.

 

Take it a step further. This is a marketing ploy by Carnival....and a good one (for them) at that.

 

Using round numbers (give or take), Carnival sails roughly 20 ships/week. Let's say that each ship makes 50 trips per year, again, give or take. That's 1,000 trips/year.

 

Not sure how many FTTF they sell on each ship, but let's say it's roughly 100, give or take.

 

Follow me now.....100 FTTF/ship@$50ea. That's $5,000

 

$5,000@1,000 trips/year=$5M

 

That's right....$5,000,000 extra per year....and that's a very conservative number.

 

Carnival didn't have to add one penny to their operating costs to do that. They didn't add one more person per ship. That's pure profit that they didn't have before. That's not a bad thing. But, they've given nothing and got $5M in return. Not a bad gig if you can get it.

 

I'm sure someone has a spreadsheet within Carnival that shows those 100 FTTF also generates extra drink purchases per cruise, given you might be on board 5 or 10 minutes before everyone else, and head right to the bar before anyone else can.

 

Whoever came up with that scheme should have received a huge raise. When I first heard about it, I thought...."no way they're trying to make money out of nothing like that? No one will buy it."

 

How wrong I was.

 

Do whatever you want. It's a cruise.

 

Unfortunately your logic is based on only a few assumptions that are incorrect, 1st false assumption - everyone has the same experiences as you when boarding or visiting customer service. 2nd false assumption - carnival sells 100 per cruise. Carnival sells between 25 - 50 depending on the # of platinum/diamond/suite members sailing. I know this because for my cruise on June 7th I spoke with Carnival about how many and was told only 25. So while Carnival does make money on FTTF not nearly as much as you portray. 3rd false assumption - people pay $50 and get nothing in return. Many people have discussed in this thread of getting real value from FTTF. 4th false assumption - people who purchase FTTF also spend more money just because they are on earlier. When reading the comments of people who have purchased FTTF, I don't see them mention getting a drink in their hand as a priority. They mention dropping off carry on bags and getting to the buffet first before the crowd. All of this equates to no extra revenue like you assume.

It's too bad that all your hard work and computations get lost in false assumptions.

 

 

 

 

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[j&tcruiser]

I purchased FTTF for our cruise in August. This will be our 22nd cruise and I have to say that we have never been fortunate enough to just board the ship, have always had to wait. At times, a long wait!

Having the room available as soon as you board will be wonderful....Not Having to drag around your carry on to the buffet for lunch and walking around until your room is finally ready...will be a blessing.

We are tendering in Belize and taking an excursion not thru Carnival and priority tendering gives us more time on the island.

I have stood in a line at the customer service desk that was 10+ people deep and waited forever.

Priority dining doesn't effect us since we are doing your time dining.

So....the answer is "yes" it is worth the $50

 

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Edited June 4, 2014 by j&tcruiser

[graphicguy]

No, I asked if you used it why you didn't like it. You never used it so have no first hand experience with it. thats my point.

 

I haven't rubbed poison ivy on my skin. I know I won't like it if I do, so I don't do it. There is no reason for me to spend $50 for something I won't benefit from.

 

Not playing the semantics game with you.

 

I give. You asked me questions. I gave you my answers. This isn't about you (as much as you try to make it so). I've made my answer quite clear.

 

The OP was trying to decide whether to but FTTF or not. I gave my experiences to help.

 

Again (for the last time), it's your money. Spend it as you like. I don't care.

 

Me? $50 for a really good steak dinner, that's worth it.

Edited June 4, 2014 by graphicguy