General Cruise question re FTTF and OBC

[4olivers]

We are going on only our second cruise in April to the western Caribbean and we booked with a neighbor who is a travel agent. Couple of questions, we only have one other cruise to compare this to and it was on the coral princess to Alaska so overall I am sure a very different experience.

 

Questions:

 

I have been trying to find out what FTFF is, is this something our travel agent should have told us about? I’ve looked around cc and have not yet found a description.

 

How would we go about receiving on board credits? I am signed up to see whenever price drops occur with our sailing and so far have not seen anything for a balcony room which is what we have booked.

 

Do travel agents often offer as a standard, onboard credits? We have done all of our own homework for excursions, etc. the agent for the Alaskan cruise “gifted” us quite a few OBC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Shaded Lady]

We are going on only our second cruise in April to the western Caribbean and we booked with a neighbor who is a travel agent. Couple of questions, we only have one other cruise to compare this to and it was on the coral princess to Alaska so overall I am sure a very different experience.

 

Questions:

 

I have been trying to find out what FTFF is, is this something our travel agent should have told us about? I’ve looked around cc and have not yet found a description.

 

How would we go about receiving on board credits? I am signed up to see whenever price drops occur with our sailing and so far have not seen anything for a balcony room which is what we have booked.

 

Do travel agents often offer as a standard, onboard credits? We have done all of our own homework for excursions, etc. the agent for the Alaskan cruise “gifted” us quite a few OBC.

 

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FTTF-

If getting onboard early is important to you, consider getting Faster to the Fun (FTTF). You purchase one FTTF and it is valid for everyone in that cabin. It allows you to check in at the terminal as soon as you arrive at the port (as soon as check in opens, of course, around 9:30), it allows you to be among the first to board the ship (after weddings and VIPs), it gives you preferred tendering if you have ports where the ship doesn't directly dock, and it gives you access to the VIP line at Guest Services onboard, should you need to go there for any reason. But the second most important benefit to me (after early boarding) is being able to go straight to your cabin and drop off your carry-ons. Otherwise you'll have to wait til about 1:30 to be able to access your cabin.

One other benefit is getting your luggage earlier than normal (sometimes!). If you get FTTF make sure you tell the porters to put the orange VIP tags on all your checked bags, or they won't get to your cabin early.



The cost varies- $69.95 for a 7 day cruise. As I said, you only need one per cabin, no matter how many are in the room. You can find it when you do your online check in with Carnival (filling out all your documents online) under Excursions. Look for it under your home port.



If I were you I would read up on it, and figure out in advance if you want it. And if you do, buy it as soon as you see it. Don't wait. They only release a certain number at a time, and there's no guarantee when or if they'll release more. If you don't buy it as soon as it's available, you'll have to check back often to the Excursions area on Carnival to find it.

[4olivers]

When is it usually available, Is this something our agent should be tracking for us? Or something that we just purchase on our own?

 

 

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[Shaded Lady]

As far as the OBC questions, price drops depend on the rate you booked under, plus the type & location of your cabin, the time you booked and the ship. I have a cruise booked on Vista (newest ship currently sailing) in June (busy time because schools are out) and have pretty much resolved myself to not getting any price drops.

 

I hear that some TAs will give their clients OBCs as an incentive for booking with them. Maybe ask your friend if they give OBCs or any other reward for the booking.

[Shaded Lady]

When is it usually available, Is this something our agent should be tracking for us? Or something that we just purchase on our own?

 

 

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When I used a TA, I always looked for it myself. Now that I'm using a Carnival PVP she is also watching for it for me as well and she'll let me know as soon as she sees it... I will book it myself. I wouldn't want to trust someone else in case they miss it.

 

Depending on when you're sailing, I'd probably start checking now...

 

Correction- just saw you said you're cruising in April... I'd be checking every day... it is hit or miss as to whether you'll find it.

[teknoge3k]

I honestly thought the only reason people used travel agents anymore was to get the obc they offered or some perk they had? If the travel agent isn't giving you any incentive to book with them, then I'd book directly with the cruise line.

[asalligo]

How would we go about receiving on board credits? I am signed up to see whenever price drops occur with our sailing and so far have not seen anything for a balcony room which is what we have booked.

 

Do travel agents often offer as a standard, onboard credits? We have done all of our own homework for excursions, etc. the agent for the Alaskan cruise “gifted” us quite a few OBC.

 

This is the reason I will never book another cruise with my neighbor who is a travel agent. I originally did it for her of course, she could get a commission and I did not get a discount, but I did not pay extra either. When I need to make a change, I call Carnival and they tell me to call her, not a real big deal, that works. Then price drops happen. Again, I need to go through her, but she seemed to have no clue what a price drop was and did not want to ask for it, then twice came back and said that there was no price drop. Finally I insisted she get me on the phone with her and Carnival and then getting my price drop was easy, took 3 minutes. No more middle man for my cruises.

[Schoifmom]

I have been trying to find out what FTFF is, is this something our travel agent should have told us about? I’ve looked around cc and have not yet found a description.

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https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1374/~/faster-to-the-fun-%28fttf%29

 

FTTF is purchased as an excursion from your home port. Your TA will not be looking for that for you unless you request them to. I would recommend checking out the link which shows you the benefits of the program. If you feel that it would be a good fit for you, log into your Carnival Cruise Manager and navigate to where you purchase excursions. Click on your home port and see if there are any available. They do sell out quickly, but also become available sporadically as people cancel them or Carnival makes more available.

[4olivers]

This is the reason I will never book another cruise with my neighbor who is a travel agent. I originally did it for her of course, she could get a commission and I did not get a discount, but I did not pay extra either. When I need to make a change, I call Carnival and they tell me to call her, not a real big deal, that works. Then price drops happen. Again, I need to go through her, but she seemed to have no clue what a price drop was and did not want to ask for it, then twice came back and said that there was no price drop. Finally I insisted she get me on the phone with her and Carnival and then getting my price drop was easy, took 3 minutes. No more middle man for my cruises.

 

 

 

Exactly! I work in sales and your reason is precisely why I went through our neighbor.... won’t again! When we initially booked the deposit was $49pp I found this on the carnival site.... she was telling me we needed to pay like $1400 up Front? What? So she called Carnival then we paid just the 49pp.... we have done all our own homework asked little of her but she did tell me (after I asked) that the FTTF is not worth the money. That’s her opinion, we are still researching.

 

 

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[teknoge3k]

Exactly! I work in sales and your reason is precisely why I went through our neighbor.... won’t again! When we initially booked the deposit was $49pp I found this on the carnival site.... she was telling me we needed to pay like $1400 up Front? What? So she called Carnival then we paid just the 49pp.... we have done all our own homework asked little of her but she did tell me (after I asked) that the FTTF is not worth the money. That’s her opinion, we are still researching.

 

 

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It doesn't sound like your neighbor quite knows what she's doing, that's my opinion.

 

Like her though, we all have opinions and you will get a mixed bag of them on here. For my family, we absolutely will have FTTF on every sailing. We carry 48 sodas on board with us. We have priority embarkation so I am not going to carry around 48 sodas for 2+ hours on lido while I wait for my room to be ready. I want to drop them off as soon as possible in my stateroom which is ready when I embark, with FTTF. Also we don't do excursions through Carnival, we do independent excursions through local operators so I want priority tendering so I can get off the ship priority at the ports to get to my excursions and get them started. Then we pay off our on-board spending with the discounted gift cards so I need to go to guest services the last night to pay off my bill. Let's face it, there are 9387432987 people in that line the last night and the kiosks suck. So for my family, FTTF is absolutely beneficial. I want to limit my wait times on the ship as much as possible because it's my vacation, not something I want to spend waiting around for everything during the week. There are those (like me) who love FTTF and those who don't like it (a lot of whom have never even used it, just automatically don't like it).

 

That being said, me personally, I would recommend it. Keep in mind it sells out fast (it sold out 13 months prior to my last 2 sailings, with a few slots opening here and there along the way) so if you can get it, buy it. It will sell out.

[Joebucks]

Carnival runs promotions time to time with OBC. I was eying a specific cruise, and waited until it went on sale. I had to click an offer in my offers section as it didn't show by default. Then again, I go in the off-season. For someone who doesn't have kids, going in April-May is a no-brainer.

 

FTTF is subjective. I'd say the biggest value is if you are someone who wants to get on/off as soon as humanly possible. If you're at a port and get off immediately, the lines can be annoying. If you're someone who waits an hour or two, you can usually walk right off. If you want to embark the ship asap and get your stuff in the room, it has value. If you should up whenever, don't worry about it.