Disembarking in Genoa

[mom4mom]

This is our first cruise on MSC and I know that there is frequent embarkation and disembarkation in European ports.  We are on Davina’s transatlantic and are arriving in Genoa 4/3. We are trying to arrange a private shuttle to take us to Milan after debarking. Would a 9am pick up be reasonable for 4 different cabins to get off, get our luggage and go through customs or should we allow more time for this procedure?  We want to book tickets to see The Last Supper which have a timed entrance.   Thanks for any insight you can provide. 

[Skier52]

11 hours ago, mom4mom said:

This is our first cruise on MSC and I know that there is frequent embarkation and disembarkation in European ports.  We are on Davina’s transatlantic and are arriving in Genoa 4/3. We are trying to arrange a private shuttle to take us to Milan after debarking. Would a 9am pick up be reasonable for 4 different cabins to get off, get our luggage and go through customs or should we allow more time for this procedure?  We want to book tickets to see The Last Supper which have a timed entrance.   Thanks for any insight you can provide. 

I have disembarked at Genoa many times and I think that if you do a self disembarkation you should be OK. if you get the four cabins  all making the effort to be on time. Last time we disembarked the procedure was timed to start at 08:15., there was no slot for self disembarkation. so you will have to carry your cases of yourself as you won't have a coloured label for your luggage that indicates self disembarkation.

You will all have to pay your on board account with a credit card so that there are no hold ups trying to settle your account.

I hope his helps

 

Pete 

[mom4mom]

Good to know that disembarkation doesn't even start until 8:15.  Maybe we should shoot for a 10am pick up.  Thanks for the info.

[hamrag]

13 hours ago, mom4mom said:

This is our first cruise on MSC and I know that there is frequent embarkation and disembarkation in European ports.  We are on Davina’s transatlantic and are arriving in Genoa 4/3. We are trying to arrange a private shuttle to take us to Milan after debarking. Would a 9am pick up be reasonable for 4 different cabins to get off, get our luggage and go through customs or should we allow more time for this procedure?  We want to book tickets to see The Last Supper which have a timed entrance.   Thanks for any insight you can provide. 

 

Definitely not, as your scheduled docking time is not until 9am!! Being a transatlantic cruise will mean a different dynamic inasmuch as the huge majority of passengers will be disembarking in Genoa. Doubtless some will do so in Valencia and Marseilles, but this is not the regular type cruise with embarking at various European ports.

 

Many will be desperate to disembark immediately, having been on board for a long number of days. Another factor is there will likely be a high number of non-European passport holders so it could take longer for the ship to clear customs (no-one moves meantime) and it will definitely take longer to go through passport control.

 

Genoa can be a nightmare to disembark on a good day, with everything going to plan and passenger flow manageable......

 

Edited January 13, 2019 by hamrag

[mom4mom]

4 hours ago, hamrag said:

 

Definitely not, as your scheduled docking time is not until 9am!! Being a transatlantic cruise will mean a different dynamic inasmuch as the huge majority of passengers will be disembarking in Genoa. Doubtless some will do so in Valencia and Marseilles, but this is not the regular type cruise with embarking at various European ports.

 

Many will be desperate to disembark immediately, having been on board for a long number of days. Another factor is there will likely be a high number of non-European passport holders so it could take longer for the ship to clear customs (no-one moves meantime) and it will definitely take longer to go through passport control.

 

Genoa can be a nightmare to disembark on a good day, with everything going to plan and passenger flow manageable......

 

Your insight had me looking again for the disembarkation time and you are right.  What might you suggest as a pick up time as we are 7 people who will need to go through customs since we are US citizens?

[Tapi]

One thing that I learned when we sailed MSC in the Mediterranean is that your scheduled arrival time as it appears on your itinerary may vary from your actual arrival time. Our arrival time was changed every single day (Barcelona, Marseille, Genoa, Civitavecchia) and you may not find out that it changed until the previous night. I was sweating bullets when our time was changed in Civitavecchia where we finished our cruise and we had an early flight back to Atlanta. So I’d recommend planning accordingly to allow for this possibility.

 

Another thing was that they didn’t post any self assist disembarkation information, but you can figure it on your own. I don’t know how it will be for you, but in our case only about 20 people lined up to do self assist debarkation, probably because nobody knew about it. We were off the ship and outside the terminal within 5 minutes after receiving clearance to disembark.