Confused About S & S Cards and FTTF

[Shaded Lady]

1 minute ago, coevan said:

sorry, We never had to bug, bother , or insist, usually the porters are running over to our Taxi or Uber as we approach the port. 

You are correct... have you ever had to remind them to put the orange priority stickers on though? I have, almost every cruise...

[handbellplayer]

2 minutes ago, coevan said:

sorry, We never had to bug, bother , or insist, usually the porters are running over to our Taxi or Uber as we approach the port. 

I meant - making sure that the porters put the special sticker on our luggage.  So that's never been a problem for you when you had purchased FTTF?

[handbellplayer]

4 minutes ago, Shaded Lady said:

You are correct... have you ever had to remind them to put the orange priority stickers on though? I have, almost every cruise...

What did you show them to get the special stickers?  

[coevan]

We are Platinum and print our luggage tags in color as well. Usually when I mention the priority they automatically put the orange sticker on.

[coevan]

1 minute ago, handbellplayer said:

What did you show them to get the special stickers?  

 

 

either FTTF or Platinum or above priority

[Shaded Lady]

3 minutes ago, handbellplayer said:

What did you show them to get the special stickers?  

 

2 minutes ago, coevan said:

We are Platinum and print our luggage tags in color as well. Usually when I mention the priority they automatically put the orange sticker on.

Your luggage tags have a non-descript circle at the top that says FTTF (or something to indicate priority for the VIPs)…  as Coevan says, just pointing out you have FTTF should be enough for them to reach for the orange sticker, but if they don't, just ask them to please add them.

 

As to your earlier comment about 'dogging them', I actually understood immediately what you meant, and I wasn't raised in the south! and I'm not sure you need to be pesky about it, normally just asking is sufficient...

Edited July 20, 2019 by Shaded Lady

[handbellplayer]

Just now, coevan said:

 

 

either FTTF or Platinum or above priority

I'm a little confused.  The only thing I have documenting FTTF is our boarding docs - so I need to show them to the porters?

[Shaded Lady]

Just now, handbellplayer said:

I'm a little confused.  The only thing I have documenting FTTF is our boarding docs - so I need to show them to the porters?

no- when you print your luggage tags there will be a small circle that says FTTF on it... that should be enough for them to put the orange stickers on.

[handbellplayer]

2 minutes ago, Shaded Lady said:

 

Your luggage tags have a non-descript circle at the top that says FTTF (or something to indicate priority for the VIPs)…  as Coevan says, just pointing out you have FTTF should be enough for them to reach for the orange sticker, but if they don't, just ask them to please add them.

Thanks - I'll show them whatever documentation I have.  I'm puzzled why Carnival doesn't tell you about these extra steps you need to take to get what you've already paid for.

[coevan]

There really should be no extra steps. When you arrive a porter will approach your vehicle and ask if you want help. He looks at your boarding pass and technically should do his job and recognize your status. If for some reason he doesn't see your FTTF, jus mention it, not a big deal

[handbellplayer]

3 minutes ago, Shaded Lady said:

no- when you print your luggage tags there will be a small circle that says FTTF on it... that should be enough for them to put the orange stickers on.

OK - just checked our luggage tags and there is a symbol that says FTTF (didn't see it before) - thank you!  I will watch to make sure we get the stickers.

 

[Shaded Lady]

I have a photo of my luggage tag showing FTTF on it... I'll try to attach it here... it's all you need with the porters- you'll need your boarding pass a few minutes later when you enter the port building, but not before.

 

Edited July 20, 2019 by Shaded Lady

[Shaded Lady]

4 minutes ago, handbellplayer said:

OK - just checked our luggage tags and there is a symbol that says FTTF (didn't see it before) - thank you!  I will watch to make sure we get the stickers.

 

Good! Because I can't figure out how to edit the pic to remove my name!!!

[handbellplayer]

Thanks to all of you who made helpful suggestions - I  am not usually this clueless - I am a RCCL cruiser who is very comfortable with their procedures.  I purchased FTTF for this cruise because it is a family celebration for my granddaughter's high school graduation.  We have another grandchild who is a very active (and not very patient) 3-year old and I'm trying very hard to make this a happy vacation for all.

[declansdad]

On 7/19/2019 at 8:37 AM, wms99 said:

FTTF: We've had it, and not had it. It doesn't speed things up much, other than disembarking on the last day. The best way to get your luggage early is to give the porter a heavy tip. No tip gets you at the back of the line. $5 a bag gets your luggage by 2 or 3. $10 a bag gets your luggage on the first load into the ship. Is this fair? No. But it works. I can buy my way ahead of you in line. BBwwwaaaaHAHAHAHAHAHA.

 

S&S cards on the door. Can some one steal this and charge your card? Cards have a picture that comes up on the register when scanned onboard. You better look like the person on the stolen card. Plus, all the shops are closed until international waters are reached so other than a drink or two in the worst case, it's not going to be a big problem.

 

We have used FTTF a number of times, never tipped the porter $5 per bag and we always have our bags between 1 and 2. 

[PhillyFan33579]

1 hour ago, Shaded Lady said:

You are correct... have you ever had to remind them to put the orange priority stickers on though? I have, almost every cruise...

 

I don't know what ports you cruise out of , but I have 11 Platinum cruises under my belt and they have never put an orange priority sticker on our luggage. We have received our luggage as early at 12:30 -PM and as late 3:30PM. 

[Organized Chaos]

5 hours ago, Shaded Lady said:

One thing a lot of people fail to do is get the orange priority sticker added to their luggage when they give their suitcases to the porters when they get to the port. Without that orange sticker it doesn't matter if the regular luggage tags you assigned say Priority or not. If the porter happens to notice it, he 'might' put the orange sticker on... but then again he might not! I always ask them to attach the orange sticker in my presence, with the tip he's going to get held conspicuously in my hand! The only times I failed to get my luggage quite early with FTTF were the times I didn't get the stickers added when I dropped my suitcases off.

 

There was some forum discussion about this a couple months ago and some were reporting that the porters have stopped putting the orange stickers on luggage. Have you had it done recently? If so, maybe only certain ports have stopped.

[Shaded Lady]

37 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

There was some forum discussion about this a couple months ago and some were reporting that the porters have stopped putting the orange stickers on luggage. Have you had it done recently? If so, maybe only certain ports have stopped.

 

Yes, Galveston 4 weeks ago...

[dave_k58]

On 7/18/2019 at 5:16 PM, Willwork4cruises said:

We’ve had FTTF several times.  Our luggage is never at the door early, usually shows around 3-4pm (we arrive to port around 11-1130. We have been asked to see our cards when entering the closed door twice but not on this last cruise. The cards are there waiting. I guess someone could take your cards and use them but hopefully staff would notice the picture.  I would suggest checking your balance the first night, if something doesn’t look right address it right away.  

 

We have always gotten FTTF and the luggage has never been expedited, that I can tell - usually 3:30 - 4 earliest.  The cabins were usually ready when we got there - but not always. If you need to see guest services - that is the only real advantage, plus the tender ports 

 

 

[dave_k58]

1 hour ago, Shaded Lady said:

 

Yes, Galveston 4 weeks ago...

yes - galveston is terrible about that

 

[Rudyard]

44 minutes ago, dave_k58 said:

yes - galveston is terrible about that

 

 

Now that I think about it, I had FTTF my last couple of cruises and don't remember seeing the orange sticker. I do recall it the times before that, but not recently. I still got my luggage before sail away though. 

[Organized Chaos]

57 minutes ago, dave_k58 said:

We have always gotten FTTF and the luggage has never been expedited, that I can tell - usually 3:30 - 4 earliest.  The cabins were usually ready when we got there - but not always. If you need to see guest services - that is the only real advantage, plus the tender ports

 

The cabins may not always be done (they have a lot of priority cabins to do) but they usually don't have a problem with letting you drop off your luggage if you ask. That's why we like it, since we immediately go eat lunch anyway, so it's ok if they need a little bit more time.

[RWolver672]

Our last cruise was on the  Horizon out of Miami.  When we got off of the shuttle bus and handed our luggage over to the porter, I told him that we needed the orange stickers.  He put them on my brother and SILs luggage because they had FTTF.  I told him we needed them too.  He looked at our luggage tags and said that because we were Platinum, we didn't need them because it already had Priority on the tags.   That was in February, 2019.

[MRSG29]

On 7/20/2019 at 6:25 PM, Shaded Lady said:

You are correct... have you ever had to remind them to put the orange priority stickers on though? I have, almost every cruise...

I've never had to remind them. They just looked at our luggage tags which had the FTTF sign on them and immediately put the priority sticker on our bags.

Edited July 23, 2019 by MRSG29
change wording

[BandBWCsmom]

On 7/20/2019 at 7:20 PM, Shaded Lady said:

I'm afraid so... the bright orange sticker is what makes sure that the luggage gets placed in the Priority bins for early delivery... without the sticker it may or may not happen. That's an issue of the port staff, not Carnival...

Do you know if this applies at all ports that carnival sails from? Wondering if I need to ask when going on the Breeze next month as we have FTTF...