Early Flight - (Citavecchia to airport)

[MSPCUBS]

We have a 10:10 am flight home from our cruise. (Carnival OK''d the flight time.) Would it be better to take the ship's transfers to the airport or arrange our own transportation? I am worried about the crowds that will all be disembarking at the same time. Anyone with personal experience on either method?

Thanks.

[Fblack]

I would never take such an early flight. I highly doubt Carnival would give you transfers and guarantee you will make that flight. It's an hour from the ship to the airport and you need to be there two hours early.

 

You might make it if you carry your own luggage off, have a private driver, and pray there are no delays in letting passengers off the ship. Plus, you will be worried the whole time as to whether you can make the flight. I would search for a noon flight no earlier than noon.

[seapenarth]

We have a 10:10 am flight home from our cruise. (Carnival OK''d the flight time.) Would it be better to take the ship's transfers to the airport or arrange our own transportation? I am worried about the crowds that will all be disembarking at the same time. Anyone with personal experience on either method?

Thanks.

10.10 flight means off the ship latest 06.30. I think you are cutting it very fine. :mad:

[seapenarth]

I would never take such an early flight. I highly doubt Carnival would give you transfers and guarantee you will make that flight. It's an hour from the ship to the airport and you need to be there two hours early.

 

You might make it if you carry your own luggage off, have a private driver, and pray there are no delays in letting passengers off the ship. Plus, you will be worried the whole time as to whether you can make the flight. I would search for a noon flight no earlier than noon.

 

You`re right. Ship has to be cleared and you hope officials turn up on time which they do`nt always. How many ships in port ? Too many imponderables I think. I would not risk it.

[ddoc]

There ws no later flight that same day. We would have had to stay overnight and I didn't have the vacation time. We are doing private

transportation.

[asnp]

Just returned on the Carnival Freedom on 6/15/08. Had a 9:55am flight from FCO and had absolutely no problems. Ship docks in the middle of the night and we were the second group off at 6:10am. Spoke to the pursers office to make sure we were off early- we also carried our own luggage though I know others that did not and had no issues. We chose a private transfer so that we wouldnt have to wait for the bus to load and unload. We were at the airport by 7:20 with plenty of time to kill. Of course, there can always be unexpected issues but I would not hesitate to do it again. There were others on the cruise who had even earlier flites and everyone made their flite. Carnival starts debarking at 6am and it went very smoothly

[Coolcruise02]

In May we were off the ship at 6:00. We did self-debark but others in our shuttle had color tags for 6:15. We had a private shuttle scheduled for 6:30 and he was there at 6:15. Believe me there was NO crowd of people waiting to get off the ship.

 

We were at the airport in 50 minutes on a Thursday morning. Lines were very quick for us. We were sitting at the gate at 9:00.

 

Hope that helps!

[mpbmark]

The flight I am looking at also leaves Rome at 10:10 a.m. RCCL provides transportation from the ship to the airport on the day of departure and I have checked with RCCL on 2 occasions. Both times I have been guaranteed to make the flight using their transfers. Their cutoff is 10:00 a.m.

 

I recognize the "guarantee" is no better than the company making it, but nevertheless, the cruise lines have been doing this along time and seem to feel comfortable making the promise. On my Baltic cruise last year, RCCL would not allow me to purchase their transfer because they could not guarantee my making a 11:30 a.m. flight back from London. The trip from Harwich to Gatwick would take too long and I was required to spend an extra night in London, post cruise.

 

I will be taking the ship’s transfer with the understanding they will be able to deliver. Hopefully I’m not being naive.

[MSPCUBS]

Thanks for the info. For those of you who used private transportation - which company did you use? Did you beat the ship's bus to the airport? For those of you who used the ship transfer, was there a long line at the airport once everyone got off the bus?

[mpbmark]

Based on my limited experience, taking a very early morning flight does have an advantage. Most people getting off cruise ships are concerned about early-morning flights and tend to book later in the day. The few times we have actually used ship’s transportation to the airport at the end of the cruise, we have arrived in plenty of time and there have not been a large crowds. Of course, that can vary depending on the airport and the date of the week.

 

With an earlier flight, you will be one of the first getting off the ship which I think is great as opposed to sitting around in some public room, or even a platinum lounge, waiting for your number to be called. To me, the vacation is over and I want to get started as soon as possible, on what is usually a “downer”-- the flight back to reality :(

 

Frankly, if you are still concerned, I would take a later flight, even if it means staying overnight, just for the peace of mind. Otherwise, you may drive yourself nuts and spoil your vacation. :)

[Coolcruise02]

Thanks for the info. For those of you who used private transportation - which company did you use? Did you beat the ship's bus to the airport? For those of you who used the ship transfer, was there a long line at the airport once everyone got off the bus?

 

We used romashuttle.com. They were there early (6:15 and we had asked for 6:30) and the van had plenty of room for 12 of us and our luggage. The cost came to 25€ per person and that included our tip.

 

I know when we were loading our shuttle van the ships large buses just were pulling in the lot. When we left they had not started to load yet. So, yes we beat the ships transfer to the airport.

[floridasun lover]

Re: CARNIVAL FREEDOM

 

Wow- I never thought they would have you geting off so early- do you have to disembark at 6 or 7. I didn't make our return flight until 1:15 and paid a lot more for that!!! Can we stay on for a reasonable time and sleep a little later???

[mpbmark]

Generally, you need to be out of your cabin by 8 ish. Then you get to wait in a public area until your number is called. I find it kind of depressing. Nobody much cares about you at that time since they are getting ready for the next group of cruisers. Some ships allow you to pay cash for items but the sea pass/cruise card is no longer valid.

 

I like to get off as soon as possible and avoid waiting around. Just me.

[Fblack]

While it is quite possible to get an early flight, I guarantee that the last day or two of your cruise you will be worrying about whether the ship will dock early enough, clear customs early enough, etc. etc. I just prefer to allow a bit more cushion. Certainly, I would have a private driver available.

[Jayne315]

We have a 10:10 am flight home from our cruise. (Carnival OK''d the flight time.) Would it be better to take the ship's transfers to the airport or arrange our own transportation? I am worried about the crowds that will all be disembarking at the same time. Anyone with personal experience on either method?

Thanks.

 

Don't worry....our flight left at 9:50 a.m. on Continental on a Sunday, June 15th. We had blue ticket #1....Carnival had us in the theater at 5:45 a.m.....they finally called us at 6:10 a.m. .....we gathered our bags, brought our bags to the bus and at 6:27 a.m. we were on our way to the airport.......When we arrived at the airport they had little carts waiting for us to use for free.....we once again gathered our bag.....went in the airport to find no lines! Check in was a breeze!.... We were at the gate at 7:50 a.m. with time to spare for coffee & danish!

[denisega]

I just arrived back home on Wednesday 7/9. Our flight left FCO at 10:10 am on American. All of the Carnival docs say the ship does not port until 8am; however, this is not true. We were off the ship by 6:15 am with no problems whatsoever. We arranged for a private shuttle and we were at the airport by 7:15 am. The FCO airport has added an additional terminal and while we had 3 different lines to get in, they all went very smoothly. I would not think you will have an issue with getting on your early flight. We had friends on the same cruise a month before with the same flight and they had no issues either. Yes, we did beat the carnival shuttle there.

 

We used Discovery Tours discoveryguidedtours.com for all of our transfers and had no issues for our group of 8.

[jbeb]

We have a 10:10 am flight home from our cruise. (Carnival OK''d the flight time.) Would it be better to take the ship's transfers to the airport or arrange our own transportation? I am worried about the crowds that will all be disembarking at the same time. Anyone with personal experience on either method?

Thanks.

Just returned June 3Rd. Carnival had us off by 630AM. Just arranged for a romecab to pick us up. We met another couple on our roll call to share the cab as they were in same flight window. Just need to let Carnival know you wish to be expedited. No worries!

Jan

[jbeb]

Re: CARNIVAL FREEDOM

 

Wow- I never thought they would have you geting off so early- do you have to disembark at 6 or 7. I didn't make our return flight until 1:15 and paid a lot more for that!!! Can we stay on for a reasonable time and sleep a little later???

Everyone is off ship by 9:00. no snoozing allowed... They booked your room to other cruise criticsarriving by noon! lol

Jan

[MSPCUBS]

Thanks to all of you. You have made me feel better. I'm on the same flight that you were Denise. Now I just have to decide between Carnival transfers, which I have already booked or getting private transport.