Has anyone ever been on a SUPER early purchased transfer from the ship to the airport?

[Sleep7]

🙋‍♀️Hello!

We have a 4:10am flight from Istanbul to Paris and then connecting to our transatlantic flight home on the last day of our cruise.

The Sky will be in Istanbul the whole day before so I felt comfortable booking that early morning flight.

I'm assuming we will have to leave the ship around 1am or so?

Has anyone ever been on such an early transfer?  If we are only a few people do they send a small van or if only 2 of us put us in a taxi?

Thanks for any insights on this.🙋‍♀️

 

[duquephart]

Two of us were hauled in a van from the hotel in Vancouver to the airport at about 3am. So much for air plus.

[Sleep7]

20 minutes ago, duquephart said:

Two of us were hauled in a van from the hotel in Vancouver to the airport at about 3am. So much for air plus.

Oh so then they tailor the vehicle to the number of people I suppose.

Well they got you there on time so that's a big plus!😃

[keokukjoe]

This is my first Viking cruise booking and I'm very happy that we chose Air Plus. The outgoing flights to BCN from CHA were ideal (Delta and Air France, great times and routing) but the original return flights from SJU were awful. The assigned return booking  was on United and left SJU at 8:40AM, connected through ORD and then returned south to CHA. Problems with this routing:  (1) it left too early in the AM (would have to be out of the ship at least 3-4 hrs earlier  -- did this in Budapest on another line's river cruise, not fun), (2) connection in Chicago in late December iffy at best (we lived in Chicago for 35 years so believe me, this is not ideal weather-wise), (3)why fly north to Chicago and then back  south to Chattanooga? I found great flights on American SJU-Charlotte-Chattanooga so I called Air Plus and Voila-- changes made without any additional cost. We leave SJU after 4PM and arrive home only an hour later than the original itinerary. $100pp well spent!! Especially since our airfare was included in the promo we booked! They didn't even charge us extra for flying out of/into our little airport in Chattanooga! I was truly impressed. 

[Cienfuegos]

Viking runs multiple buses for routes ending in Barcelona. Flights from BCN to the east coast of the US leave 7-9 am (or did, when we went).

 

Our bus departure was 5.30, cafe opened at 4.30 am for light breakfast. Other buses departed 6 am, 6.30am, etc

[TayanaLorna]

5 hours ago, Sleep7 said:

🙋‍♀️Hello!

We have a 4:10am flight from Istanbul to Paris and then connecting to our transatlantic flight home on the last day of our cruise.

The Sky will be in Istanbul the whole day before so I felt comfortable booking that early morning flight.

I'm assuming we will have to leave the ship around 1am or so?

Has anyone ever been on such an early transfer?  If we are only a few people do they send a small van or if only 2 of us put us in a taxi?

Thanks for any insights on this.🙋‍♀️

 

We were the only people arriving at 4:00 pm in Barcelona last Fall and Viking sent a Mercedes sedan with driver to get us.  Driver spoke no English but when he learned I spoke Spanish, he gave us a tour on the way to the hotel.  We were quite happy.  They will have an appropriate sized vehicle for the number of people with early flights.

[Sleep7]

4 hours ago, keokukjoe said:

This is my first Viking cruise booking and I'm very happy that we chose Air Plus. The outgoing flights to BCN from CHA were ideal (Delta and Air France, great times and routing) but the original return flights from SJU were awful. The assigned return booking  was on United and left SJU at 8:40AM, connected through ORD and then returned south to CHA. Problems with this routing:  (1) it left too early in the AM (would have to be out of the ship at least 3-4 hrs earlier  -- did this in Budapest on another line's river cruise, not fun), (2) connection in Chicago in late December iffy at best (we lived in Chicago for 35 years so believe me, this is not ideal weather-wise), (3)why fly north to Chicago and then back  south to Chattanooga? I found great flights on American SJU-Charlotte-Chattanooga so I called Air Plus and Voila-- changes made without any additional cost. We leave SJU after 4PM and arrive home only an hour later than the original itinerary. $100pp well spent!! Especially since our airfare was included in the promo we booked! They didn't even charge us extra for flying out of/into our little airport in Chattanooga! I was truly impressed. 

That's awesome that you had such a great experience with Viking Air.  I have never used them but it's good to know that they are responsive when a routing doesn't make sense or is inconvenient.  And that it was included too?  Even better!😃

4 hours ago, Cienfuegos said:

Viking runs multiple buses for routes ending in Barcelona. Flights from BCN to the east coast of the US leave 7-9 am (or did, when we went).

 

Our bus departure was 5.30, cafe opened at 4.30 am for light breakfast. Other buses departed 6 am, 6.30am, etc

Thanks for your help.  I'm sure our bus or van will be the first one of the day! That's for sure.

I think the cafe might be open for a light breakfast from the night before actually.😛

3 hours ago, TayanaLorna said:

We were the only people arriving at 4:00 pm in Barcelona last Fall and Viking sent a Mercedes sedan with driver to get us.  Driver spoke no English but when he learned I spoke Spanish, he gave us a tour on the way to the hotel.  We were quite happy.  They will have an appropriate sized vehicle for the number of people with early flights.

Ahh.. interesting that if it's a very small number of people they send a car.

I posted this on my roll call too and another twosome are actually on our 4am flight too so maybe a van instead of a car.  Thanks for the info.😊

[molymoo]

We often have very early flights and have often been the only ones leaving either the ship or the hotel at whatever ridiculous hour.  The last two times we were picked up by very comfortable limos.  We enjoyed our boxed "breakfast" in comfort as we were whisked to the airport without the hassles of rush hour traffic.  The drivers were courteous and assisted us with our luggage to the airport doors. 

 

 It's a bear to get up and have to leave in the wee hours but on the upside we generally get home to O'hare in Chicago at a reasonable hour and home before dinner!

 

[Sleep7]

28 minutes ago, molymoo said:

We often have very early flights and have often been the only ones leaving either the ship or the hotel at whatever ridiculous hour.  The last two times we were picked up by very comfortable limos.  We enjoyed our boxed "breakfast" in comfort as we were whisked to the airport without the hassles of rush hour traffic.  The drivers were courteous and assisted us with our luggage to the airport doors. 

 

 It's a bear to get up and have to leave in the wee hours but on the upside we generally get home to O'hare in Chicago at a reasonable hour and home before dinner!

 

Yes..  I suppose not too much traffic at 1am to the airport.😁

Nice about the breakfast boxes!

I know what you mean about when you leave early you get home early as our flight lands before 11am at JFK.  Lots of time to get laundry done before we collapse! 😴

[Sunflower & The Scientist]

"Lots of time to get laundry done before we collapse! "  No, no...you've got Viking confused with those other cruise lines.  On Viking you go home with all clean clothes rather than mounds of dirty laundry.  You slip into the laundry room while starting to organize packing to go home, get it all done there...and arrive home only to put them away.  

[Sleep7]

1 minute ago, Sunflower & The Scientist said:

"Lots of time to get laundry done before we collapse! "  No, no...you've got Viking confused with those other cruise lines.  On Viking you go home with all clean clothes rather than mounds of dirty laundry.  You slip into the laundry room while starting to organize packing to go home, get it all done there...and arrive home only to put them away.  

Funny you say that! Actually on our last Viking cruise this past November I did just that.  2 loads of laundry and brought home mostly clean clothes.  Laundry room was empty.. a true pleasure.😁