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Poll About Airport Transfers To Ship Upon Arrival - All Lines/Itineraries


ewizabeff
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Hoping to do a poll of folks who have taken varying itineraries with different companies. Curious to see how this varies.

 

Company:

Arrival Airport:

Arrival Ship Location:

Year of Trip:

How long was the wait in between your arrival at the airport and the time you boarded your transfer to the boat?

How many people were with you on the transfer?

What sort of vehicle was provided?

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I'll start with my answers and then provide the context as to why I'm asking the question

 

Company: Uniworld

Arrival Airport: Vienna

Arrival Ship Location: Vienna

Year of Trip: 2014

How long was the wait in between your arrival at the airport and the time you boarded your transfer to the boat? Maybe 25 minutes

How many people were with you on the transfer? About 8

What sort of vehicle was provided? 10-passenger van

----

Company: Uniworld

Arrival Airport: Hanoi

Arrival Ship Location: Hanoi (hotel)

Year of Trip: 2015

How long was the wait in between your arrival at the airport and the time you boarded your transfer to the boat? 0 minutes. Instant, driver was waiting

How many people were with you on the transfer? Just us

What sort of vehicle was provided? Sedan

----

I just got our documents for our Emerald trip. We're flying into Nice (NCE) and meeting the boat in Arles, which is apparently a 2.5 hour drive. From what I can tell in the documents, the only transfer provided is at 2:00 p.m., and my travel agent is making me think it will be a coach transfer. Our flight arrives at 12:20 p.m., so we'll need to sit around in the small arrivals area until we're to meet the Emerald representative at 2:00 p.m. Looking at the flight schedule at NCE, other passengers could certainly be arriving at 9, 10, or 11 a.m.. I wonder if they're expected to sit around all day waiting for the transfer.

 

I realize this arrangement may be because of the distance from the airport to the docking location, but it's a big difference from what I was used to with Uniworld. I'm curious to know if others on a similar itinerary have had this transfer experience.

 

I'm now going to research if I'll be able to access any of the airside lounges upon arrival with my Priority Pass so we have a relatively calm place to spend our 90 minute wait.

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Company: Uniworld

Arrival Airport: Basel

Arrival Ship Location: Basel

Year of Trip: 2014

How long was the wait in between your arrival at the airport and the time you boarded your transfer to the boat? 10-15 minutes

How many people were with you on the transfer? maybe 6-8

What sort of vehicle was provided? Bus (coach)

 

Company: Uniworld

Arrival Airport: Delhi

Arrival Ship Location: NA (Kolkata, but a week later)

Year of Trip: 2017

How long was the wait in between your arrival at the airport and the time you boarded your transfer to the boat? None; drivers were waiting

How many people were with you on the transfer? just us

What sort of vehicle was provided? BMW 7-series (Transfer was by Oberoi Hotel on Uniworld's behalf).

 

For our other two Uniworld cruises we did not use the included transfers upon arrival.

 

Ewizabeff, why are you flying into Nice and not Marseilles? Nice is so far from Arles. Marseilles would be about an hour's drive.

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Because the itinerary said to fly into Nice, the travel agent (who I will never us again) didn't mention Marseille as an option until well after I booked the air, and all the Emerald literature said Nice. I knew nothing about this area when I booked and didn't think to look for an alternate airport. I learned later on from the TA that they also offer transfers from Marseille, but this was not in the literature or on the website.

 

As you know, I usually research itineraries extensively before I book them. I considered this one for all of 3 hours when a friend from a past cruise emailed to tell me he got a great group deal we could join (it is a great deal).

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Hoping to do a poll of folks who have taken varying itineraries with different companies. Curious to see how this varies.

 

Company:

Arrival Airport:

Arrival Ship Location:

Year of Trip:

How long was the wait in between your arrival at the airport and the time you boarded your transfer to the boat?

How many people were with you on the transfer?

What sort of vehicle was provided?

 

Airport AMS

Ship Location? Downtown

Year 2016

I did not take a transfer......got a cab from the airport to the hotel

I did use the transfer at the end of the cruise though....it was great....me and 1 other couple

were taken from the ship to the airport in a bus:)

 

This was on AMA Waterways..........out of Amsterdam.:D

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Company: AMA

Arrival Airport: Basel

Arrival Ship Location: Basel

Year of Trip: 2012

How long was the wait in between your arrival at the airport and the time you boarded your transfer to the boat? 10-15 minutes

How many people were with you on the transfer? 11 all in our group traveling together from Berlin

What sort of vehicle was provided? Van

 

Company:AMA

Arrival Airport: Basel

Arrival Ship Location: Basel

Year of Trip: 2014

How long was the wait in between your arrival at the airport and the time you boarded your transfer to the boat? 10-15 minutes

How many people were with you on the transfer? Private

What sort of vehicle was provided? Sedan

 

Company: AMA

Arrival Airport: Porto

Arrival Ship Location: rto

Year of Trip: 2016

How long was the wait in between your arrival at the airport and the time you boarded your transfer to the boat? 10-15 minutes

How many people were with you on the transfer? Private

What sort of vehicle was provided? Van

 

Company: Scenic

Arrival Airport: Bordeaux

Arrival Ship Location: Bordeaux

Year of Trip: 2016

How long was the wait in between your arrival at the airport and the time you boarded your transfer to the boat? 10-15 minutes

How many people were with you on the transfer? Private

What sort of vehicle was provided? Van

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We're flying into Nice (NCE) and meeting the boat in Arles, which is apparently a 2.5 hour drive...

 

Hello Ewizabeff,

I am nit going to be much help but I thought I would share with you the following: I created a land-tour for my husband and I and another couple with the help of "my boyfriend" Rick Steve's (we never met but he is my boyfriend!). I should explain he us a famous American author that has been travelling to Europe for over 40 years. I just love him, we travel exactly like him...

 

We drove from a Paris to Normandy, to Mont-St. Michel, to Le Loire, to Sarlat (Dordogne), to Carcassonne, to Arles then Nice. All places were small except Paris and Nice. Sarlat was the highlight (canoeing in the Dordogne river). Arles was also GREAT. From Arles, we visited "Pont du gard", Orange, Avignon (sur le pont d'Avignon, on y danse, on y danse, sur le pont d'Avignon, on y danse tout en rond).

It is really too bad you are not arriving at least 4 days before your cruise to discover Nice and area. It is very nice, particularly Antibes. You don't need a car in Nice...

 

Have a wonderful cruise.

The Canadians!:cool:

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Company: Avalon

Arrival Airport: Paris

Arrival Ship Location: Paris hotel

Year of Trip: 2016

How long was the wait in between your arrival at the airport and the time you boarded your transfer to the boat? 45 minutes--waiting for two other couples arriving about the same time. We were met almost immediately as we left passport control.

How many people were with you on the transfer? 6 total including us

What sort of vehicle was provided? full sized bus

 

Company: Avalon

Arrival Airport: Nice

Arrival Ship Location: Cannes/Arles

Year of Trip: 2017

How long was the wait in between your arrival at the airport and the time you boarded your transfer to the boat? 30 minutes--driver and host were waiting for us, but we had to wait for two other couples who had checked luggage--we just had carry on. Trip to Cannes was about 30 minutes.

How many people were with you on the transfer? 6 total including us

What sort of vehicle was provided? small bus/large van.

 

Our situation in Nice was different since we spent a night in Cannes before being bused to the ship in Arles. Interestingly, Avalon had it set up so that the same buses that carried us to Arles had just deposited passengers at the hotel who had completed a southbound trip on the Rhone.

 

Don't remember all the details on 3 Viking cruises (arrivals in Paris, Budapest, and Amsterdam), but we were always met promptly in arrivals area. I don't think that we ever waited over an hour.

 

For the Rhone cruise, if I had it to do over again, I would have done the cruise only portion of the trip, flown into Paris and taken the train to Arles. Cruise ships dock a couple of blocks from the train station. Also, if you need to pick up any last minute snacks (I needed Diet Cokes for the week), there's a Monoprix very close to the docking area.

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Thanks everyone that has contributed - most of these answers seem to confirm that my past experience was standard. Having a scheduled 1 hour 40 min wait between landing and transfer is a bit annoying to me.

 

Just checked the website and Emerald is still advising all travelers fly to Nice rather than Marseille.

 

Cashmere - I'm very familiar with your "boyfriend." I read his guides before any trip. He'd be my Uncle Rick. We have limited vacation time, so adding time in Nice is not an option for us. We will, however, be doing 4 nights in Paris post-cruise.

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Company: Uniworld

Arrival Airport: Schipol

Arrival Ship Location: Amsterdam

Year of Trip: 2014

How long was the wait in between your arrival at the airport post baggage claim and customs and the time you boarded your transfer to the boat? Immediately upon clearing Customs

How many people were with you on the transfer? 10 or fewer

What sort of vehicle was provided? Coach

 

 

Will be on a Tauck Budapest to Amsterdam cruise later this year and will be arriving 2 days early in Buda. and staying 2 days longer in Ams.. I'm not using Tauck hotel package but they have still agreed to the airport transfers! I would assume we'll be in a van or car. Has anyone had a similar experience with Tauck?

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Five completed tours with Scenic three air and two Eurostar, transport in all cases was waiting for us, some car a couple were people carriers. No hold ups no fuss. Limo collection us at 6 tomorrow morning fingers crossed for no challenges, at least it should be cooler at that time of the morning. CA

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Thanks everyone that has contributed - most of these answers seem to confirm that my past experience was standard. Having a scheduled 1 hour 40 min wait between landing and transfer is a bit annoying to me.

Hopefully the time will go quickly. By the time you get through passport control and get your luggage it shouldn't be too bad. I'm anxious to hear how Emerald compares to Uniworld!

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Company: Uniworld

Arrival Airport: Cairo

Arrival Ship Location: Four Seasons Cairo for pre-cruise portion (ship was boarded in Luxor after another plane flight)

Year of Trip: 2015

How long was the wait in between your arrival at the airport and the time you boarded your transfer to the boat? Was met in arrival lounge, got visas, cleared immigration and we were off.

How many people were with you on the transfer? just 2

What sort of vehicle was provided? minivan

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  • 2 weeks later...

Company: Tauck

Arrival Airport: Basel

Arrival Ship Location: Basel

Year of Trip: 2015 (Basel to Amsterdam)

 

Arrived day before departure, Tauck transportation waiting as we exited baggage area, took 15 minutes to get to the Tauck assigned hotel.

 

Company: Tauck

Arrival Airport: Prague

Arrival Ship Location: Reagansburg

Year of Trip: 2017 (Prague to Budapest)

 

Tauck transportation picked us up as we exited baggage area, took 25 minutes to reach Tauck assigned hotel in Prague (part of tour). Reached ship two days latter by Tausck bus.

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