Help: First Time on Celebrity and Multi-port Cruise

[Cangie]

Hello,

 

I have just signed up for a cruise with Celebrity leaving and returning to Rome (Civitavecchia) and doing multiple ports in Greece and Turkey. This is my first time and I plan to do mostly DYI at each of the ports, so I would very much appreciate guidance on the following three points so that I can plan appropriately for my family:

 

(1) If the cruise departs from Rome (Civitavecchia) at 5pm, what is the latest time by which we must be present at the ship?

 

(2) If the cruise disembarks at 5am at Rome (Civitavecchia), by what time must we be ready to get off the ship and around what time can we expect to be off the ship?

 

(3) For ports where the ship is docking (vs. tendering), how soon can we expect to be off the ship? For example, if the ship arrival time at Naples port is 7am, can we expect to be off the ship by 7:30am? Note that we would DIY so no priority getting off the ship, but we can commit to be ready/get ourselves together as early as needed to get off the ship as possible.

 

Thank you so much in advance for your help.

[leaveitallbehind]

(1) If your departure time is 5:00 PM, you must be on board no later than 90 minutes prior (3:30 PM) for them to close and submit the final manifest.  Typically check in begins around 10:00 AM and boarding begins around 11:00 AM.  Your assigned boarding time determined 45 days prior to sailing with your on line check in will dictate that.

 

(2) The ship will not begin to disembark at 5:00 AM - that is likely the arrival and docking time.  Typically early disembarkation begins around 7:00 AM and you typically need to be off the ship by about 9:30 AM.  You also typically need to be out of your stateroom by about 8:00 AM.

 

(3)  The ship has to be "cleared" by the port prior to any disembarkation but also typically if you are docking at 7:00 AM that usually would have first disembarkation beginning around 30 minutes later, or about 7:30 AM.  But that can vary.

 

 

Edited August 29 by leaveitallbehind

[Cangie]

Thank you so much for the prompt and super helpful response! So in terms of getting off the ship at ports, it sounds like the earliest possible would likely be 30 minutes after docking and so to be on the safe side, we should build in about an 1 hour buffer (i.e., don't count on getting off the ship at 7:30am but assume you will be off at 8am to be on the safe side, particularly for purposes of booking off-ship transportation)

[leaveitallbehind]

55 minutes ago, Cangie said:

Thank you so much for the prompt and super helpful response! So in terms of getting off the ship at ports, it sounds like the earliest possible would likely be 30 minutes after docking and so to be on the safe side, we should build in about an 1 hour buffer (i.e., don't count on getting off the ship at 7:30am but assume you will be off at 8am to be on the safe side, particularly for purposes of booking off-ship transportation)

I would agree to probably allowing an hour after docking for the ship to clear and passengers to start to disembark and meet their transportation, etc., as there will be many passengers wanting to get of ASAP.

 

I want to add regarding reboarding ships at ports of call the latest time to be back on board is usually 30 minutes before departure.  The 90 minutes prior originally mentioned was for the initial departure port of call.

 

Since you mention planning on DYI sightseeing, also be certain to be aware of, and have a timepiece set to, ship time when in ports of call as that may vary from the local time.  All boarding and departure times in ports of call will be based on ship time.  This will be well announced and published on board in ports where the times may vary.

Edited August 29 by leaveitallbehind

[tribbs1]

Also, if you are doing your own touring keep in mind that certain tender ports (Santorini for one) can be a huge problem as there is only 1 cable car up to the towns and it doesn't hold a lot of people.  I had friends on a Royal Caribbean ship that could not get on the cable car as they would not have had enough time to make it back.  They had to walk the very long, very, very slick steps down and said the encountered many people who were having issues on the steps and several who had fallen. 

[Cangie]

Thank you so much, Philly burbs and tribbs1!!

 

Last time to get back onto the ship at ports was going to be my next question and you beat me to it! Thank you so, so much!!

 

And thanks for the tip on Santorini tribbs1!  Our ship departs port at 10pm at Santorini. I think our plan will be to plan to board the ship much earlier to beat the crowds. My old folks will not be able to do the stairs there - bad knees.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

20 minutes ago, Cangie said:

Thank you so much, Philly burbs and tribbs1!!

 

Last time to get back onto the ship at ports was going to be my next question and you beat me to it! Thank you so, so much!!

 

And thanks for the tip on Santorini tribbs1!  Our ship departs port at 10pm at Santorini. I think our plan will be to plan to board the ship much earlier to beat the crowds. My old folks will not be able to do the stairs there - bad knees.

Never mind the knees , it the donkey poop 💩 I would be worried about 🤣🤣

[lorimay]

35 minutes ago, tribbs1 said:

Also, if you are doing your own touring keep in mind that certain tender ports (Santorini for one) can be a huge problem as there is only 1 cable car up to the towns and it doesn't hold a lot of people.  I had friends on a Royal Caribbean ship that could not get on the cable car as they would not have had enough time to make it back.  They had to walk the very long, very, very slick steps down and said the encountered many people who were having issues on the steps and several who had fallen. 

We were on a cruise that stopped in Santorini a few weeks ago. The day we were in port there were about 7 other ships with a total of about 14,000 passengers (that's not an exaggeration). Unless you go on a ship's tour, the only way to get ashore is by tender to the old port and then wait in line for the cable car, which only processes about 600 people an hour so the waits are very long at the bottom and then returning at the top. Even if you take a ship's tour, they usually drop you at the end at the top and you have to wait in line for the cable car down or to walk. To be safe, you need to leave yourself several hours to get back to the ship.

[pattyj 1204]

Cangie, I think you probably know this, but Rome isn't a port city, if I remember correctly, it is a train ride about 1.5  hours to the port. You can get car transportation, but I enjoyed the train ride. This was a few years ago.

[denby]

If you have never been to Rome you should plan on spending 2 or 3 days before or after. Taking the train to and from the port is very easy.

[Liao]

3 hours ago, lorimay said:

We were on a cruise that stopped in Santorini a few weeks ago. The day we were in port there were about 7 other ships with a total of about 14,000 passengers (that's not an exaggeration). Unless you go on a ship's tour, the only way to get ashore is by tender to the old port and then wait in line for the cable car, which only processes about 600 people an hour so the waits are very long at the bottom and then returning at the top. Even if you take a ship's tour, they usually drop you at the end at the top and you have to wait in line for the cable car down or to walk. To be safe, you need to leave yourself several hours to get back to the ship.

For ports like this, it is really important to weight risk v reward of whether to pay for the ships expensive excursion, IMO it is .

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Last November we used https://www.civitavecchiashuttleexpress.com

it cost 125€ for 4 from Rome to the ship 

much cheaper than taking a train 

[omeinv]

1 hour ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Last November we used https://www.civitavecchiashuttleexpress.com

it cost 125€ for 4 from Rome to the ship 

much cheaper than taking a train 

The train is $7.75 USD per person from Rome Termini to Civitivechia, so $34.00 for four people.

 

Harris

Denver, CO

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Just now, omeinv said:

The train is $7.75 USD per person from Rome Termini to Civitivechia, so $34.00 for four people.

 

Harris

Denver, CO

For us it was better to take a service
We didn’t have to take a cab to  train station to caught the train , once in Civitavecchia we didn’t  have find the shuttle to the ship or cab to the ship 

It much easier 

 

 

[Cangie]

Thank you all so much for the helpful replies and input. To answer a few of your queries:

 

(1) The current plan is to spend a few days in Rome before boarding ship. The mother and I have been back in 2008, but it will be the first time for the dad.

 

(2) I plan to book a place to stay w/in walking distance of Roma Termini and the plan is to take the train from Roma Termini to Civitavecchia.

 

(3) I hear you about whether the excursions are worth it in Santorini - it looks like Celebrity offers a coach bus to Fira for about $45 each, which I may consider towards the end. I would prefer the arrangements to Oia, but those are close $100 per person and it irks me that they charge so much for these arrangements. Since the trip is so far out, I plan to keep my eyes on potential sales. We are not interested in other comprehensive tours as we prefer having the freedom to roam about and do our own thing.

 

ONE LAST QUESTION: If Mykonos is a tender port and the ship leaves at 6pm, what is a safe time to plan to be back at the dock to get on the tender?

[jwlane]

26 minutes ago, Cangie said:

what is a safe time to plan to be back at the dock to get on the tender?

Before the last tender time THEY tell you (probably 5:30).