FTTF - Late Disembarkation?

[Cyn874]

Has anyone ever used the late disembarkation option with Faster To The Fun? I searched all over google, the FAQ section on Carnival.com, various blogs, customer reviews etc but no one has ever mentioned using it to disembark late instead of early. 

 

Our flight out of Long Beach doesn't leave until 5pm. I'd like to stay on the ship as long as possible, and wondering how that works with FTTF and how late we generally can stay onboard. And most importantly, if we can stay in our stateroom later in the morning than  people who have regular disembarkation. 

[Organized Chaos]

You won't be able to stay in your cabin because the stewards and their teams have to start turning them over for the next one. They want everyone out of their cabins around 8:30-8:45. We've never used the late debark FTTF option because we always have a long drive home ahead of us and like to debark ASAP. I think the latest they'll let people stay on board is around 10am. Someone else can correct me if I'm wrong about that.

[mikenbon]

If you don't want the early debarkation that goes along with FTTF,  perhaps ask at a Guest Services for a later time. You will still need to be out of your room quite early so the room stewards can clean and prepare the room for the next guests. 
Long Beach has a wonderful aquarium downtown that you could spend several hours at, while you wait you go to the airport, but I'm not sure if they could store your luggage. 

[Purvis1231]

I not read that FTTF allow you to stay in your room any longer but normally we stay on the ship until around 9:30 without FTTF. 

[mikenbon]

8 minutes ago, Purvis1231 said:

I not read that FTTF allow you to stay in your room any longer but normally we stay on the ship until around 9:30 without FTTF. 

We have had FTTF on all 9 cruises, and we have had to be out of our room at the same time as everyone else.

[ATL_Miami_Cruiser]

They kick everyone out of their cabins by 8am. Diamonds, Platinums, FTTF, everyone. Your best option is to go to breakfast in the MDR before 8am and hang out on the promenade deck until the lines of people exiting the ship dwindle down, typically by 9:30am or 10am.  

Edited December 22, 2019 by ATL_Miami_Cruiser

[skrufy]

1 hour ago, Cyn874 said:

Has anyone ever used the late disembarkation option with Faster To The Fun? I searched all over google, the FAQ section on Carnival.com, various blogs, customer reviews etc but no one has ever mentioned using it to disembark late instead of early. 

 

Our flight out of Long Beach doesn't leave until 5pm. I'd like to stay on the ship as long as possible, and wondering how that works with FTTF and how late we generally can stay onboard. And most importantly, if we can stay in our stateroom later in the morning than  people who have regular disembarkation. 

You cannot disembark before your zone number is called, but you can leave anytime after it’s called. We are usually up early leave the cabin around 730am and have breakfast. We also get a cup of coffee and go sit down and relax for a short time, leaving the ship around 930am.

[Organized Chaos]

32 minutes ago, ATL_Miami_Cruiser said:

They kick everyone out of their cabins by 8am. Diamonds, Platinums, FTTF, everyone.

 

If I remember correctly, last year we had to be out of our cabin by 8:30. We were on the Valor (with FTTF) a couple weeks ago. If we had chosen to check our luggage the night before, we didn't have to leave our cabin until 8:45, which is when we were to go to the MDR.

 

18 minutes ago, skrufy said:

You cannot disembark before your zone number is called, but you can leave anytime after it’s called.

 

If you choose to do express debark (self-assist), you'll debark before your zone number. With express debark, they call deck by deck. After all those are called, then they start with zones. For example, we had FTTF a couple weeks ago and were assigned zone 2. But we did express debark and was off long before they ever started calling zones.

[ATL_Miami_Cruiser]

29 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

If I remember correctly, last year we had to be out of our cabin by 8:30. We were on the Valor (with FTTF) a couple weeks ago. If we had chosen to check our luggage the night before, we didn't have to leave our cabin until 8:45, which is when we were to go to the MDR.

The cabin stewards have gotten more aggressive and will usually knock several times before 8am. You can stay longer.  

 

[Organized Chaos]

23 minutes ago, ATL_Miami_Cruiser said:

The cabin stewards have gotten more aggressive and will usually knock several times before 8am. You can stay longer.

 

We haven't experienced that yet. If their official debarkation paperwork tells us to be out of our cabin by 8:45, which is did a couple weeks ago, I wouldn't expect the steward to force us out much earlier.

[Cyn874]

3 hours ago, skrufy said:

You cannot disembark before your zone number is called, but you can leave anytime after it’s called. We are usually up early leave the cabin around 730am and have breakfast. We also get a cup of coffee and go sit down and relax for a short time, leaving the ship around 930am.

 

Thanks- I haven't sailed on Carnival since 2008 so I don't remember disembarkation then. I've cruised on 2 other cruise lines in the past year, and both of them sent us to a designated area based on our deck/muster, and we had to leave with our groups all at the same time. There was no wandering or going to areas outside of your designated spot, period, so I'm glad it's a little different on Carnival. 

[Cyn874]

2 hours ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

We haven't experienced that yet. If their official debarkation paperwork tells us to be out of our cabin by 8:45, which is did a couple weeks ago, I wouldn't expect the steward to force us out much earlier.

8:45 is super reasonable, honestly! I was afraid we had to be out by 7:30 or so.

[Wheels87]

With FTTF, I'm pretty sure you can leave any time you wish.  If you do self assist, you will be instructed where to wait and the FTTF folks will be called right after the Platinum cruisers.  If you wait until the casual debarkation, you can stay until they make the last call, which is typically around 9:30-9:45.

 

Good luck!
 

Brad

[WesternKansasCruiser]

Cyn874 - how did it go?  My group has the same issue flight out isn't until 6:00 pm 

[Cyn874]

7 hours ago, WesternKansasCruiser said:

Cyn874 - how did it go?  My group has the same issue flight out isn't until 6:00 pm 

 

I won't know for awhile! My cruise is in May.

[BaronArroz]

You have to be out of your stateroom by 8:30am. On the smaller ships the lines can be quite long- we’ve been off anywhere between 9am and 10:00am. 
 

The Queen Mary is right next door and free for Carnival passengers, might be a fun way to spend a few hours. They have luggage storages as far as I know. 

[bingomamma19]

9 hours ago, Cyn874 said:

 

I won't know for awhile! My cruise is in May.

You can get off as late as is allowed by all passengers , whether you have FTTF or not.   We do self assist and always wait to be one of the last off the ship.

 

We leave our room between 8-830, go get breakfast at the buffet and hang out on the lido deck until last call for all passengers is announced (usually between 10am-10:30am depending on when it all started in the morning).

 

Even if you have zone tags and did checked luggage, you don't have to debark with that group.   You can't go earlier than your tags, but you can always go later.   Your bags will still be waiting when you get off the ship.

 

 

 

[Sparky2]

If we want to stay on the ship longer due to checking into a hotel post cruise, I usually switch my zone 1 tags for last group.  We go to the MDR for breakfast, then to room to freshen up, then grab our carry-ons and find a place to sit till they kick us off the ship.

 

[rufflesmom]

You don't have to disembark early if you don't want to.  We have waited until almost 10 am before leaving, sometimes just to let the crowds die down.  That's about as late as you will be able to stay on.  They do need to get the common areas cleaned up.  And they can't start boarding again until all of the passengers have left the ship. 

[Cyn874]

That would be great. I haven't sailed Carnival since 2007 and don't remember much about disembarkation. But I've sailed on 2 other cruise lines in the past year and they basically herded us into a designated area and kicked us off as soon as our group was called. It was as strict as muster. They had people stationed in all the hallways and wouldn't even let you enter different areas unless it was for your  zone.

Edited January 14, 2020 by Cyn874

[Eli_6]

We hung out until almost the end on our last Vista sailing because we had a big group with elderly people and a wheelchair person.  Hung out in the Havana bar area.  We were delayed due to fog, though, so normal times didn't apply.  

[Organized Chaos]

57 minutes ago, Cyn874 said:

But I've sailed on 2 other cruise lines in the past year and they basically herded us into a designated area and kicked us off as soon as our group was called. It was as strict as muster. They had people stationed in all the hallways and wouldn't even let you enter different areas unless it was for your  zone.

 

I'd actually like to see more of that from Carnival. They, too, have designated areas for different groups to wait. That's designed to get people out of their cabins by a certain time so they can't be turned over. But so many people don't follow the rules, don't go where they're supposed to go, and don't wait their turn. As a result, debarkation ends up a disorganized mess. Then there are crew who don't enforce the rules, exacerbating the situation.

 

The more people that try to stay on the ship as long as they possibly can, the longer it takes to clear it. That just holds up boarding the next cruise. I don't think it's fair to hold up the next cruise just to spend an extra half hour or hour onboard the ship when my cruise is over. If they introduced a little more strictness, maybe they could get cleared sooner and bump up the boarding times a bit.