Enough Time to Catch Fight Home

My friends are traveling on Celebrity Reflection with us, but leaving Rome at the end of the cruise in Civitavecchia. The ship docks at 5 am and my friend's flight is 10:10 am. Their flight is on American Airlines nonstop to Philadelphia. Do you think this is an unreasonable timeframe considering the security measures now in place? I am thinking that this transfer is going to be quite tight for them! Any help would be appreciated!!! They have never been on a cruise with a flight before!:eek:

I do understand that the port is Civitavecchia and they will be making the transfer to Rome as the airport, since my post wasn't quite clear!!!

A flight that early does take some planning. Their flight will require checking in at the somewhat remote Terminal 5 (there is a free bus from the main terminals). Ideally, they would want to be at FCO by 7 or perhaps 7:30 and it takes about 50-60 min to drive from the Port to FCO. This means they should plan on doing express disembarkation (carry all their own baggage off the ship) and book a private transfer. If they post on the CC Roll call they will likely be able to find some others who would want to share their transfer (this really reduces the cost). Our recommendation for a transfer company is Romecabs (romecabs.com) and I think they might charge a little extra for a pre 7am transfer...but so be it!

Hank

I've never flown out of Rome, but a 10am flight certainly wouldn't be in my comfort zone. There's no wiggle room at all. Any delay and they're screwed. What would it cost if they miss the flight ?

I'd stay an extra day rather than end my vacation in panic mode, wondering if I'll make the flight.

And A LOT OF security screenings ex Italy to the USA.

Forget about anything other than private, pre booked transport. And still that is incredibly tight. Any delays disembarking or on the road and you be stuffed

We are in a similar situation. Delta switched our flight from 12:30 to 10:30 am. RomeCabs says it's doable with a 6:30 am pickup. Ship docks at 5:00 am and we will self disembark. Anyone actually do this? Only alternative is to stay over until next day.

We are in a similar situation. Delta switched our flight from 12:30 to 10:30 am. RomeCabs says it's doable with a 6:30 am pickup. Ship docks at 5:00 am and we will self disembark. Anyone actually do this? Only alternative is to stay over until next day.

Again, not in my comfort zone. I wouldn't consider it.

The ship is scheduled to dock at 5am .... what if its later, what if there's a mixup with paperwork and disembarkation is delayed. Too many what ifs and no wiggle room for any kind of delay.

I would n't end my holiday in panic mode. Plus OMG, what would the walk up fare be if you miss the flight ?

We are in a similar situation. Delta switched our flight from 12:30 to 10:30 am. RomeCabs says it's doable with a 6:30 am pickup. Ship docks at 5:00 am and we will self disembark. Anyone actually do this? Only alternative is to stay over until next day.

Another example of what can go wrong.. last year when we arrived in Civitavecchia, we were greeted with a big thunderstorm, which delayed the start of disembarkation by over an hour and slowed the process once it started.

I'm sure many missed their flights......

We have done a similar transfer from Civitavecchia to FCO in Rome. We had an 11:00am flight. This was accomplished by using Romecabs with a 7:15am departure from the port. We reached the airport at 8:05am because it was on a Saturday. This gave us enough time to make the flight easily.

As Hank has advised, things must go smoothly during debarkation. Although the ship arrived at 5am, no one was allowed off the ship until 7:00am. We were ready with all of our luggage & carry-ons to leave the ship. Upon doing so we found our limo driver immediately, loaded the lugguage & headed to the airport. No delays on our end. However at the airport we were greeted with very long lines & felt better about having the extra time.

Your window is quite short. If I were to do it again from Civitavecchia, I would want a longer window to allow for any time delays. You can cut expenses by sharing a ride with another couple from your roll call. These limos are large & handle 4 adults & all the luggage nicely.

Happy Travels, John

Decided not to risk it. Changed our flights to the next day. Thanks for the responses.

Rick

Decided not to risk it. Changed our flights to the next day. Thanks for the responses.

 

Rick

Hi Rick,

did Delta charge you anything for changing the flights to the next day ?

Hi Rick,

did Delta charge you anything for changing the flights to the next day ?

No. We bought our tickets through Celebrity Choice Air for about half the Delta price so I was concerned. Very easy call to Delta, asked for reissue desk, told them what flights we wanted to change to and a few minutes later had new flights and seats. Dealt directly with Delta, not Choice Air.

No. We bought our tickets through Celebrity Choice Air for about half the Delta price so I was concerned. Very easy call to Delta, asked for reissue desk, told them what flights we wanted to change to and a few minutes later had new flights and seats. Dealt directly with Delta, not Choice Air.

Thank you

Interesting...we are also on an 11:10 am flight direct from Rome to Detroit on the day we disembark. I'm a bit concerned about the timing, but the flight was offered through Celebrity Choice Air so I thought we should be ok. I know Celebrity Choice guarantees that you won't miss your cruise, but do they guarantee that you won't miss your return flight if the cruise makes you late? Thinking I should call. If I could change the flight to the next day and spend a night in Rome w/out any change fees, am thinking of doing that.

Interesting...we are also on an 11:10 am flight direct from Rome to Detroit on the day we disembark. I'm a bit concerned about the timing, but the flight was offered through Celebrity Choice Air so I thought we should be ok. I know Celebrity Choice guarantees that you won't miss your cruise, but do they guarantee that you won't miss your return flight if the cruise makes you late? Thinking I should call. If I could change the flight to the next day and spend a night in Rome w/out any change fees, am thinking of doing that.

When we booked our flights with choice air they said they would not book a flight before 11:00 am. Ours started out at 12:30 and then changed by Delta.

Interesting...we are also on an 11:10 am flight direct from Rome to Detroit on the day we disembark. I'm a bit concerned about the timing, but the flight was offered through Celebrity Choice Air so I thought we should be ok. I know Celebrity Choice guarantees that you won't miss your cruise, but do they guarantee that you won't miss your return flight if the cruise makes you late? Thinking I should call. If I could change the flight to the next day and spend a night in Rome w/out any change fees, am thinking of doing that.

You had better read the T&Cs for Choice Air a bit more thoroughly. They do not guarantee you won't miss your cruise - they will try to get you to the ship as quickly as they can. But, that may be 4 days later at the 3rd port... They do not guarantee you won't miss your flight if the cruise is late porting. They can't hold planes; they will try to get you on the next available routing that has seats available in the fare buckets they took your ticket from originally. That means your original non-stop from Rome to Smallville may be turned into a flight from Rome to Paris, change to Paris to Philly, change to Philly to Smallville. And, this availability is 2 days from your debarkation. You may also get lucky and Choice Air finds seats on another flight that day. It's a roll of the dice. And, you are usually at the back of the airline's reroute line because you booked through Choice Air - passengers who booked directly with the airlines would be at the top of the re-accomodation list, then booked through OTAs like Amex, then consolidators like Choice Air.

You must be prepared and do not rely on an advertising blurb from Choice Air if things go sideways. Know what flights to ask for already. Be prepared to accept any routing.

Update to my prior message. I called Celebrity Choice Air and they confirmed that if it's not our fault ie. the cruise gets in to port late, so that we miss our flight, the will work to get us onto another flight for no additional charge. It was (I think) a 10:15 am cutoff time for them to schedule flights. I called Delta to see if I could change it to the flight on the next day like the poster above did, but they were unable to even check what change in fare there might be since I booked through Celebrity Choice Air and it was part of a bulk package. Probably going to just stick w/ what we've got, plan on an early start and hope for the best.

Update to my prior message. I called Celebrity Choice Air and they confirmed that if it's not our fault ie. the cruise gets in to port late, so that we miss our flight, the will work to get us onto another flight for no additional charge. It was (I think) a 10:15 am cutoff time for them to schedule flights. I called Delta to see if I could change it to the flight on the next day like the poster above did, but they were unable to even check what change in fare there might be since I booked through Celebrity Choice Air and it was part of a bulk package. Probably going to just stick w/ what we've got, plan on an early start and hope for the best.

I assume I was able to change our flights directly with Delta because Delta had made the schedule change. If our flight had stayed at 11:00 or later I would have kept it. I would recommend a car service like RomeCabs and self disembarkation. For 11:00 flight I recall RomeCabs recommending a 7:00 am pickup.

I assume I was able to change our flights directly with Delta because Delta had made the schedule change. If our flight had stayed at 11:00 or later I would have kept it. I would recommend a car service like RomeCabs and self disembarkation. For 11:00 flight I recall RomeCabs recommending a 7:00 am pickup.

Thanks...that makes sense. I checked w/ Choice Air and there would be a $150 change fee for each of us and the fare has gone up over $260/ticket since I originally booked (for us to take the same flight the next day). In hindsight, I should have planned for us to spend a night in Rome, but didn't. Too pricy to change now. I definitely plan on arranging for a transfer ahead of time and have a message on my ship's Roll Call to see if there's any interest in joining us.

What do you think about a 11:55AM flight out of Rome to US, will we make it ? I have a driver picking us up.

What do you think about a 11:55AM flight out of Rome to US, will we make it ? I have a driver picking us up.

If you are scheduled to dock by 7 (many ships are docked much earlier)....not a problem :). In fact, we have often caught a 10:50 flight out of FCO. We did this on cruises that were docked before 7 and usually had Romecabs pick us up by 7:15. Figure on 1 hour for the drive (it is often a bit shorter) and try to give yourself at least 2 1/2 hours at FCO (although 3 hours is better), In your case you would want to be on your way to FCO by around 8.

Hank

What do you think about a 11:55AM flight out of Rome to US, will we make it ? I have a driver picking us up.

This time is fine.

Good you have a private vehicle picking you up.

I would just try to be in one of the earlier groups off the ship.

Keith