Imagineer Posted June 27, 2011 #1 Share Posted June 27, 2011 OK, guys and gals, we need to know just how early we need to get up, and I mean EARLY, today we received the air itinerary from Lufthansa for our next O cruise, our flight leaves FCO for Frankfurt at 6:05 am, like I said, an EARLY start to the day, has anyone experienced a transfer from the ship to the airport at Rome where it was this early? My wife isn't what you would call a 'morning person', so this will be a bit of a challenge. The biggest benefit to this timing is we get back home mid day instead of at midnight. Any advice is always appreciated, thanks... cheers, the Imagineer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted June 27, 2011 #2 Share Posted June 27, 2011 All I can say is YIKES :eek: If anyone expected me to be on a flight that early they would not live to tell the tale :D I would go to Rome the night before if it was me I am guessing the ship overnights in Civitavecchia? Lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orchestrapal Posted June 27, 2011 #3 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Your best bet would be to spend the night before at the airport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nparmelee Posted June 27, 2011 #4 Share Posted June 27, 2011 My husband would KILL me if I booked a flight that early, and we are morning people. When are you supposed to get in to Civitavecchia? Going within Europe means you want to be at FCO by 4:05, that means on the road by 3 am, but you shouldn't have any traffic worries at that time of day... Good luck!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comcox Posted June 28, 2011 #5 Share Posted June 28, 2011 The first thing I would do is contact Oceania to be sure you can get off the ship that early. I assume you arrive in Civitavecchia the day before? You may find you have to carry all your own baggage off as the porters and the luggage storage location may not be available. As someone suggested one option may be to go to the airport the previous day. There is a Hilton Hotel right at FCO airport although it will be a bit of a walk to Terminal 3 where Lufthansa is located. The hotel is connected to one of the terminals (not 3) by a walkway of some sort. There are probably other hotels nearby. Just be sure they have a shuttle service that operates that early. The airport website is http://www.adr.it/web/aeroporti-di-roma-en-/pax-fco-fiumicino. I flew last month on Lufthansa from Rome after a cruise. I used the following shuttle service from the port to the airport: http://www.airportshuttle.it/. They were right on time and it was a very comfortable ride. You prepay at time of reservation. Travel time from port to airport is 45 minutes. With Lufthansa you can select your seat and print a boarding pass 23 hours in advance. The Lufthansa check-in desk opens 3 hours before departure normally and the deadline for check-in is 45 minutes before but this is cutting it really close. Look for Counters 261-268. Security lines at FCO can be very long unless you are an elite member. I am a United Gold Star member and discovered after checking in at the Priority Line at Lufthansa that I got a special pass to go through priority security where there was no line. If you are a Star Alliance Gold member by any change this will make a difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmgmd50 Posted June 28, 2011 #6 Share Posted June 28, 2011 I flew last month on Lufthansa from Rome after a cruise. I used the following shuttle service from the port to the airport: http://www.airportshuttle.it/. They were right on time and it was a very comfortable ride. You prepay at time of nce. Do you recall how much the shuttle service charged per person? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imagineer Posted June 29, 2011 Author #7 Share Posted June 29, 2011 ...let me answer a few questions and clarify some points. We're using Oceania's "free" air for this cruise, so this itinerary was sent to us from Oceania's air division, it's their own selection, transfers from the ship to the airport are included in the deal so I'd say its obvious that we can get off the ship at an early time and it would also seem obvious that O is supplying a shuttle of some sort. Our ship arrives at Civitavecchia at 8am the day before, so we have lots of time to 'prepare' ourselves. Seeing as this is an itinerary that is being set up by O themselves, and we'll probably not be the only ones heading back to North America on Lufthansa that morning, I don't imagine we'll be alone at that early hour... ...what we're looking for, I guess, is pointers on actually doing it with as little stress as possible, which would appear IMpossible. The best thing about the itinerary is it has connections that contain no layovers, adequate time to change planes in Frankfurt, and it gets us back home 12 hours earlier than an alternative that would cost us more money. Last time we had five hours in Frankfurt, three in Toronto and another four in Vancouver BC before we boarded our last leg and arrived very bleary eyed in Victoria BC at 1 in the morning... cheers, the Imagineer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimandStan Posted June 29, 2011 #8 Share Posted June 29, 2011 The first thing that I would do is to speak to the Concierge at some point fairly early in the cruise and be certain that he is VERY aware of your disembarking plans. With sufficient notice, Oceania will move mountains to accommodate you, in the line of having bellboys available when you need them; making sure that you get a hot breakfast to send you on your way; even coordinating wake up calls and alerting you when the transfer coaches get to the ship. You are probably saying to yourself that since Oceania made these air arrangements for you, then the Concierge should know all of this without your saying a word; and you are right. In fact, he may know all about your situation before you ever approach him. Still, why take the chance? Knowledge is power, both for the Concierge AND for you. The peace of mind that you will have, in knowing that everyone is on the same page is worth everything. After all that bother is settled, you can really relax and go about the business of enjoying your cruise to the fullest. Have a great time! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulchili Posted June 29, 2011 #9 Share Posted June 29, 2011 The first thing that I would do is to speak to the Concierge at some point fairly early in the cruise and be certain that he is VERY aware of your disembarking plans. You are probably saying to yourself that since Oceania made these air arrangements for you, then the Concierge should know all of this without your saying a word; and you are right. In fact, he may know all about your situation before you ever approach him. Still, why take the chance? Knowledge is power, both for the Concierge AND for you. The peace of mind that you will have, in knowing that everyone is on the same page is worth everything. In any case, you will be asked to fill out a disembarkation questionnaire several days before the end of the cruise - so the people that need to know about this should have plenty of notice of your plans. But, as J&S said, do not assume anything and do not take anything for granted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare jpalbny Posted June 29, 2011 #10 Share Posted June 29, 2011 O really loves those early flights out of FCO... Seem to remember doing that a few years ago, and checking my records, we did a 6:50 flight from FCO-MUC. Yours is even worse, sorry... We were in Rome, though, for a post-cruise stay so we had a shorter ride than from CVC. Left some time ~4:00 with another couple from the hotel on O's transfer - it was amazing to see how empty the streets were at that hour! I remember having lots of extra time at the airport that morning, so in that sense a horribly early flight is a good thing. Airports in Europe seem to become insanely overcrowded during the summer; at least this way you'll avoid some of the crowds, and the security lines should be short! Good luck, and hope you get some sleep on the Transatlantic flight. If you can stay awake for the first leg out of Rome, the sunrise over the Alps is magnificent, as the snowy mountains are colored gold by the first light. We were glued to the window and have the pictures to prove it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TERRIER1 Posted June 29, 2011 #11 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Your wife may not be an early riser so maybe you can look at it as though you are staying up real late the night before and not bother going to bed (lol). I don't know if they will be serving breakfast that early so you may want to order something from the 24 hour menu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted June 29, 2011 #12 Share Posted June 29, 2011 ...let me answer a few questions and clarify some points. We're using Oceania's "free" air for this cruise, so this itinerary was sent to us from Oceania's air division, it's their own selection, transfers from the ship to the airport are included in the deal so I'd say its obvious that we can get off the ship at an early time and it would also seem obvious that O is supplying a shuttle of some sort. the Imagineer That information makes a difference in the replies If it were me I would have paid the deviation fee & got a later flight but since you are already committed I would have a nap if you can in the afternoon & order room service fro a snack before the transfer time. You will get instructions a few days prior to the end of the cruise along with the bag tags I am sure they have done this several times before;) Enjoy the cruise Lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jms Posted July 2, 2011 #13 Share Posted July 2, 2011 I, too, would ask for a later flight for an entirely different reason than getting up early in the morning. Our family just spent a week in Rome with the last night at the Hilton Garden Inn at FCO because of a 10AM flight (didn't want to fight Rome traffic). Apparently flights between Rome and Frankfurt are often delayed. We didn't know this when we booked our connection of one hour in Frankfurt on LH using frequent flyer star alliance miles. To add to the normal delays, they had just opened up a new air traffic control tower in Frankfurt and they further delayed ALL flights going into and out of FRA. We barely made the flight. Instead of a 10:10AM departure, we departed at 11:30AM and still got to FRA at 12:40 (I don't know how!!!). There were about 20 of us who were met by a bus as soon as we exited the aircraft. We didn't even see the terminal - they took us down the steps and onto an awaiting bus along with passengers to Moombai and we danced around with passport control for an endless amount of time, then back on a bus and right up to the aircraft. Took an elevator up to the jetway, back into the terminal to swipe our boarding passes and on to the aircraft as they closed the door behind us. I think they only waited because there were so many people making that connection. It's just so stressful because if you miss your connection in Frankfurt, chances are slim to none that there will be seats for you on a later flight that day necessitating an overnight near the airport! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PurpleCow Posted July 2, 2011 #14 Share Posted July 2, 2011 I was on Insignia, Istanbul to Rome, in July, 2005. I was traveling with my aunt and we had O air and transfers. I was flying to Orlando and left around 9 AM. My aunt was flying to San Francisco and her group was called at 2 AM. I stayed up with her until she left the ship. Then I went up on deck to watch. By that time all the luggage had been off loaded and taken to the terminal. I could hear the barking of the customs dogs. I don't think she napped in the afternoon, but we did have room service that evening while she packed. She was an Auntie Mame sort of aunt and, while I vowed to never travel with her again, I do miss her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PVPATSY Posted July 7, 2011 #15 Share Posted July 7, 2011 As I understand from our travel agent, all planes have early morning departures from Rome for U.S. We are booked on Air France lv Rome at 10:30AM as opposed to taking the Liftsuana Flight which was earlier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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