Early Disembarking of Celebrity Reflection in Rome

Hi fellow cruisers ,

I need some experienced Celebrity REFLECTION help !

My wife and I will be on the Reflection and disembarking in Rome on July 30 , 2018 to fly home.

Our United Air Flight departs 9:45 am from FCO .

The ship docks at 5:00 am and then , I understand , has to go through customs !

Please advise if you have been in a similiar situation and how did you manage to get off the ship as close to 5:00 am as possible ?

PLEASE HELP WITH SUGGESTIONS.

Aron ( the worrier ):D:D

Take a later flight. The port for Rome isn't in Rome - its in civitaveccia (spelling?) Which is about 1.5 hours from the airport. Two hour preboard check-in plus that transfer with a 9:30am flight? Never gonna happen.

BTW the "best" way to get off the ship at the earliest possible time is self debarkation, meaning leave with all your luggage and arrange your own transfer

(One MORE reason to travel with ONLY carryon luggage.)

Keep in mind that docking at 5 does not mean people can leave the ship at 5. There are many things that can cause a later time. Even if on time we have been in a very long line of people getting off and it has taken over an hour.

Worst time for us is when the seas were rough and the ship had to dock at Naples and bus everyone to Rome. Rare but can happen. You need a later flight

The earliest we have got off in Rome is about 6.30 and that was walk off, those who left baggage outside their rooms had not started to disemark at that time.

Beg to differ but the transfer to Fumacino is less than an hour, done it a number of times in private transfer. It is slightly longer to Ciampino.

Does your ship stop in Naples the day before? Maybe you should disembark there rather than change your flight. Not a big deal.

You have cut it too close. Not only do you have to get to the airport but once there you are likely to have a very long walk to get to the gate. Switch to a later flight if you can.

You can’t get off at 5 so dont even think about that.

You have about an hour drive to the airport.

You should probably look into paying whatever fee it will take to change to a later flight

Beg to differ but the transfer to Fumacino is less than an hour, done it a number of times in private transfer. It is slightly longer to Ciampino.

You ARE right - I was estimating to the other airport (ciampino?). DaVinci airport is 50-60 minutes.

Nevertheless, that 9:30am flight is unreasonable.

Beg to differ but the transfer to Fumacino is less than an hour, done it a number of times in private transfer. It is slightly longer to Ciampino.

Thanks for giving me hope ! What time did you get off in Rome ?

Hi fellow cruisers ,

I need some experienced Celebrity REFLECTION help !

My wife and I will be on the Reflection and disembarking in Rome on July 30 , 2018 to fly home.

Our United Air Flight departs 9:45 am from FCO .

The ship docks at 5:00 am and then , I understand , has to go through customs !

Please advise if you have been in a similiar situation and how did you manage to get off the ship as close to 5:00 am as possible ?

PLEASE HELP WITH SUGGESTIONS.

Aron ( the worrier ):D:D

I agree with the other posts. You really should change your flight. You don’t state where you come from but for non EU citizens passport control at Rome airport can be a very long line. You would also need Premier Access with United or business class to miss the long check in line and Fast Trak Security as well. To have any real chance of getting a 9.45 am flight you would need to be at the airport at least 3 hours before or even longer. That means leaving the ship around 5.45 am, with a car waiting for you for the hour journey to the airport. I don’t even think you could get off that early but if so you would have to take your own luggage off yourself. There will be no customs when you disembark as the ship has already been in a EU port before . i can’t imagine the stress attached to that, the worry would totally waste my cruise. Sorry to be so pessimistic but really I think it’s not worth the risk.

Sandra

Self disembark starts around 7-7:30, not 5:45. The ship may list 5:00 am as arrival but that is NOT an indication that you can disembark then.

As others have said, you are cutting it way too close for any comfort. If the ship gets in on time you can expect to start walking off with your luggage about 7am. So make it 7:15am to meet your driver and get moving, that gets you to the airport about 8:15am assuming there is no traffic. That gives you 90 minutes to check in, clear security, clear passport control and make it to your gate. Not an easy task in an airport that they tell us to allow 3 hours just in case. If you have priority check in--biz class or Elite status that will help your chances at check in but not at security etc. If you are going to try it, make sure you have a private transfer arranged so you an walk off and just go. Romecabs.com is a great company for reliable transfers. One last thing you need to be aware of, if you run into bad weather or other delays the ship could come in later....

We are doing a Rome to Rome cruise in October and I was considering trying to make the then 10:10 United flight. Before I booked they changed it to 9:50am and I opted to stay over near the airport and just enjoy the day and not be rushed and worried for the last three days of my cruise...

Self disembark starts around 7-7:30, not 5:45. The ship may list 5:00 am as arrival but that is NOT an indication that you can disembark then.

I totally agree. In my post above I stated that it would be necessary to get off at 5.45 but that I didn’t even think that was possible. We have just returned from Reflection’s recent Transatlantic. Guest Services told us all luggage would be in the terminal by 7am. We left the ship just before 7am and collected our luggage, The ship did issue a letter with information for people who had early flights to contact Guest Services about early disembarkation but I don’t know what happened regarding that.

We have Premier Access with United Airlines. Can we do this if we walk off the ship WITH OUR LUGGAGE AT6:45 AM for a 9:45 am flight ?

As others have said, you are cutting it way too close for any comfort. If the ship gets in on time you can expect to start walking off with your luggage about 7am. So make it 7:15am to meet your driver and get moving, that gets you to the airport about 8:15am assuming there is no traffic. That gives you 90 minutes to check in, clear security, clear passport control and make it to your gate. Not an easy task in an airport that they tell us to allow 3 hours just in case. If you have priority check in--biz class or Elite status that will help your chances at check in but not at security etc. If you are going to try it, make sure you have a private transfer arranged so you an walk off and just go. Romecabs.com is a great company for reliable transfers. One last thing you need to be aware of, if you run into bad weather or other delays the ship could come in later....

 

We are doing a Rome to Rome cruise in October and I was considering trying to make the then 10:10 United flight. Before I booked they changed it to 9:50am and I opted to stay over near the airport and just enjoy the day and not be rushed and worried for the last three days of my cruise...

Where near FCO would you suggest staying over night ?

We have Premier Access with United Airlines. Can we do this if we walk off the ship WITH OUR LUGGAGE AT6:45 AM for a 9:45 am flight ?

I really doubt it. It would be really tight. It took us an hour to get to the Airport with Rome Cabs and that was with light traffic. That’s only 2 hours until the flight. Even with Premier Access and Fast Trak Security you have passport control. When we were at Rome last month the line for non EU citizens was very long. Then there’s also the walk to the gate. There’s also no guarantee you would be able to be off the ship and in a car to the airport by 6.45am. I truthfully would not attempt that but then I don’t know how easy it is for you to change your flight.

Sandra

Where near FCO would you suggest staying over night ?

We have stayed in the Hotel Tiber at Fiumicino. Close to the airport with a shuttle service. Very good reviews on Trip Advisor.

Sandra

Rome has been difficult this spring. Many friends who are airline crew and on flights to USA many people missing flights because check in, security etc are taking 3+ hours.

Where near FCO would you suggest staying over night ?

We are staying here

Hotel Seccy Via delle Scuole 32, Fiumicino, RM, 00054 Italy

Friends stayed their two years ago and really liked it. It is a short shuttle or cab ride back to the airport and they said the town it self was a nice place to just walk around.

The real question I ask myself in a situation like this is "do you really want to spend 5 to 8 thousand dollars on a wonderful cruise vacation and then have to spend half of your time worrying about making that early flight home? My answer is always nope..... We did it is Barcelona last year but the airport is a 15 minute drive from the port and the flight was at 11:15am. That one hour trip can be a killer.

Taking a flight from FCO direct to the U.S. was a goat-pull last time we did it. You have to go thru security 2-3 times at Terminal 5 then get bused over to one of the main terminals to catch your flight. I would allow at least 3 hours.

Much easier process taking a flight that stops in the EU before going direct to the U.S., i.e. Frankfurt, Munich, or Paris. Much easier security process at FCO.