LifeTimeTraveler

This is a very common misconception from people who have previously only cruised from US ports.

 

In Europe, customs and immigration are often not an issue because you don't leave the EU. Even when you do, any immigration issues are usually dealt with onboard (on a number of cruises we have had countries immigration staff board at a previous stop and do checks whilst we sail).

 

It isn't just that customs/immigration isn't an issue, it doesn't even exist at the port (except in exceptional circumstances which I am yet to encounter). You basically walk off the ship, pick up your luggage if appropriate and then go.

Of course!!! I hadn’t thought of it being EU. An important detail I totally missed. That settles my concerns! Thank you!

Jetlagged, thank you. I will look closely at those times and destination. I didn’t notice the Pisa destination. Worst case we would just get on the next regional to Firenze out of Pisa.

Thank you Jetlagged and BaWBarmy:

Yes, it is the 11:15am train. We do plan to self disembark. My original plan was to walk to the train station since it was only a mile. We are arriving a day early before the cruise via the train and this will give us time to check the distance to the port. I just don’t want to be rushed whether I walk or talk the bus to Civi’s train station.

Initially, we did look into transfers and for the distance the prices are very responsible. As we planned our itinerary, we added Florence and Milan visits before returning to the U.S.

Jetlagged, I see you live in Portugal. Next year, we plan to travel through Spain and Portugal.

BaWBarmy, London is a favorite place to visit. We were there last June with 2 of our grandchildren. For this cruise, we are meeting up with a couple who live in the U.K. We met them on a trip to Australia.

Thank you, Kochleffel and KeithJenner.

We plan to self disembark. Our next destination is Florence and we planned to take the train from Civitavecchia to Roma Termini to Firenze Santa Maria Novella train station. I was considering the 11:15am train out of Civitavecchia.

I am surprised that disembarkation is a non event. I was concerned with long lines through customs and then lines for the bus to the port gate.

You mentioned taking the bus at the Civitavecchia port gate for €2 each to Civitavecchia train Station. I assume you can pay in cash euros when boarding. The larger cities prefer you buy bus tickets at tobacco stores. We were considering walking to the train station as it less than a mile if we are rested.

Thank you for the quick responses. This is our first cruise leaving from an international port.

We dock in Civi at 6 a.m. and we were looking forward to a nice, relaxing journey to the airport for our flight at 5.05 pm. Now it seems that it will be a mad dash, as our airline have brought the departure forward to 12.45!

 

I think that now we need to catch a train at 8.01 from Civi and wonder what disembarkation is like at Civi. We had a nightmare time in San Juan last year when it took four hours to get off the ship and queue in a blisteringly hot hangar-like building to pass a checkpoint manned by only two staff for a ship of over 2,000 pax. Please tell me that it will be quicker this year.

Jetlagged: we are traveling on NCL out of Civi in September 2018. I have similar concerns on disembarkation when the ship returns and docks at 6 am. We are U.S. citizens and not sure how much time to allow for disembarkation. How was your experience! I wanted to book an 11:00 train to Florence. Thank you in advance for sharing.