Catching a flight from Rome Airport

[Cruizer Bill]

We are booked on a HAL cruise that ends in Civitavecchia. I see all the good flights home leave before noon - 11:45 and 11:50 at the latest. Our ship docks at 7 AM and I assume passengers disembark starting around 7:30. Is it safe to book an 11:45 or 11:50 flight out of FCO Airport?

 

Some of the flights are with European airlines and the first leg flies to other European cities. Other flights are with American carriers and fly straight to the USA. I see the flights to Europe leave out of Terminal 3 and the ones to the USA fly from Terminal 5. That should make a difference, right?

 

Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks!

Bill :)

[KirkNC]

If you do self disembarkation and the ship gets cleared on time, you will be fine. We docked at 7:00, did self disembarkation and were at hotel in Rome by 8:10.

[bishop84]

We are booked on a HAL cruise that ends in Civitavecchia. I see all the good flights home leave before noon - 11:45 and 11:50 at the latest. Our ship docks at 7 AM and I assume passengers disembark starting around 7:30. Is it safe to book an 11:45 or 11:50 flight out of FCO Airport?

 

Some of the flights are with European airlines and the first leg flies to other European cities. Other flights are with American carriers and fly straight to the USA. I see the flights to Europe leave out of Terminal 3 and the ones to the USA fly from Terminal 5. That should make a difference, right?

 

Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks!

Bill :)

 

I agree with KirkNC about using the Self-Disembarkation it is a relatively short distance from the ship thru the terminal at Civitavecchia.

 

A pre-booked Taxi or Car would probably be your best option. Last year the cost was around the same price that HAL charges for two on the direct bus transfers to the airport and more than worth waiting for the bus to fill up. Although cheaper I wouldn't recommend the train at that time of the morning!

[CruiserBruce]

If you do self disembarkation and the ship gets cleared on time, you will be fine. We docked at 7:00, did self disembarkation and were at hotel in Rome by 8:10.

 

The only problem with this explanation is you went to the hotel. FCO is a different story.

 

Some reading over on the Italy board would find a 11:30 flight to be OK, if, as others have mentioned, private transport is arranged, and there aren't any complications. If you are on a direct to US flight, you must use Terminal 5, and the process is very slow- taking two hours frequently.

 

The problem that has come up in the past is the change of departure times. Your flight might be 11:45 now, but what happens when they change it to 10:45?

[kyriecat]

My husband and I had a flight from Rome to Heathrow in October. It took us over an hour just to get our bags checked in. There weren't very many people in line before us, maybe a dozen. I'm not sure if there was a security concern that day. The agents asked several questions about where we had been, what we did, what was in our suitcases before taking our bags. We were flying British Airways. There was a long line for security and passport checks before the long walk to the gate. It took about 2.5 hours from the time we arrived at the airport to the time we got to our gate. We thought we would have time to get breakfast at the airport before our flight, but we didn't have enough time to grab more than a pastry to take on the plane.

 

I have flown from Rome a couple times previously and don't remember there being questions like that as part of the check-in process. The most recent flight was on a Saturday vs. Friday and Sunday for the previous ones. I don't know if it being the weekend and a popular day to fly made a difference.

[Cruizer Bill]

Thanks very much for your responses, this is helping us a lot! :)

[kazu]

Cruizer Bill - definitely do private transfer (ie Rome in Limo or any of the other highly reputed companies).

 

I would be nervous with this time to fly.

 

There can be traffic jams and accidents. (ok, call me cautious).

 

If you can find a time later to fly I would do it.

 

If you can't I would do an overnight and go in the morning.

 

That airport can be very hectic and the different terminals do make a differenc in my experience.

 

I rarely leave the day of the cruise - but for our Tilbury embarkation I have done it - our flight is at 3:30. I wouldn't have risked the 1 pm because of warnings of Traffic jams.

 

anyways, those are my words of wisdom for what they are worth.

 

have a great cruise:D

[Cruising-along]

Cruizer Bill - definitely do private transfer (ie Rome in Limo or any of the other highly reputed companies).

 

I would be nervous with this time to fly.

 

There can be traffic jams and accidents. (ok, call me cautious).

 

If you can find a time later to fly I would do it.

 

If you can't I would do an overnight and go in the morning.

 

That airport can be very hectic and the different terminals do make a differenc in my experience.

 

I rarely leave the day of the cruise - but for our Tilbury embarkation I have done it - our flight is at 3:30. I wouldn't have risked the 1 pm because of warnings of Traffic jams.

 

anyways, those are my words of wisdom for what they are worth.

 

have a great cruise:D

 

Kazu is right. Better safe than sorry. We usually stay another night and see more of Rome if we can't get a later flight time. :)

[starjumpr]

My Husband and I did a costa cruise last year that came in and out of that port and we flew out FCO. Maybe if your the first one off the ship, you may make it BUT I think its going to be taking a huge RISK. Just to get from Rome to the port on a good day takes at least an hour if not longer. When we were there we finally got off our ship around 930am (because customs held up the cruise ship from disembarking) and we made it back to Rome and where checked in our hotel around 2pm... I would recommend playing it safe and spend a night in a Rome and leave the next day.

[Cruising Ham]

We did this last August. We did just fine with a 12:15 departure time (delayed to 1:30...don't ask) and using the HAL transportation from the port to FCO. But a couple of caveats. First, it was a Sunday morning, which no doubt made a difference. Second, we were in business class (not bragging, we just cashed in miles), so that probably helped the check-in process a bit. Third, I don't know about anyone else, but the check-in process seemed confusing. We weren't sure where to go. Finally figured it out, but it's not terribly intuitive.

 

We had plenty of time before the flight. Again, your mileage may vary, especially if it's not a Saturday/Sunday.

[starjumpr]

We did this last August. We did just fine with a 12:15 departure time (delayed to 1:30...don't ask) and using the HAL transportation from the port to FCO. But a couple of caveats. First, it was a Sunday morning, which no doubt made a difference. Second, we were in business class (not bragging, we just cashed in miles), so that probably helped the check-in process a bit. Third, I don't know about anyone else, but the check-in process seemed confusing. We weren't sure where to go. Finally figured it out, but it's not terribly intuitive.

 

We had plenty of time before the flight. Again, your mileage may vary, especially if it's not a Saturday/Sunday.

 

You are so right about their checking in process being confusing! We had never seen anything set up that way before and had no idea what we were doing and what post we had to stop at next...

[cruisemom42]

I've done this route many a time.

 

The airport is a scant hour from the port. Often it's more like 45-50 minutes.

 

If you are getting underway early, e.g., as soon as the ship will let you off, you'll be ahead of any significant traffic. Italians don't generally rush to work early.

 

I believe even the cruise lines, cautious as they are, will advise that any flight after 11:30 has limited risk.

 

I like to have 3 hours at FCO in order to not feel rushed, but 2.5 hours is generally fine on a less crowded day (or one when there aren't several large ships in port disembarking passengers!).

 

So....for an 11:45 flight, you'd need to be at the airport by 8:45 am. Reliable private drivers are the way to go here.

 

Granted, there are no guarantees in this world. But I've been reading these forums day in and day out for over 7 years now -- particularly anything having to do with Rome -- and it's been very, very rare indeed to hear of someone missing a flight with a relatively comfortable window like yours.

 

Now if you're one that will worry about a 2-3% likelihood of something going wrong, then don't book the flight. Staying in Rome for another day is never a bad thing. :)

[Hertz Von Seasider]

After London and Paris, Rome is the best city in Europe, stay for a few days.

[Tarpeian Rock]

Be aware that things happen. On our Eurodam cruise in 2010, the HAL-arranged airport driver dropped us at the wrong terminal. Confusion ensued. You owe it to yourself to prepare for the unexpected. You also owe yourselves some time in Rome!

[Mickb]

I fly through this airport approx every 3 weeks and the only thing that you can be sure of is that it will never be as you expect. Sometimes you can breeze through and sometimes for no apparent reason they do extra checks etc and it can take ages. In particular the queue for security can be very long around mid morning. If you are in business or have a high level

Frequent flyer card you can use the fast track lane which is usually very quick. However the layout of the airside is confusing and you are frequently bussed to the airplane which can also take a long time.

If I were you, Iwould book an afternoon flight via a European gateway or spend the night in Rome - it really is a wonderful city.

Whatever you decide - have. Great trip!

[Taxguy77]

After London and Paris, Rome is the best city in Europe, stay for a few days.

 

You are from the UK, so you are biased, but you really picked 3 cities one should not be in a hurry to leave!

Book a flight 3 or 5 days after your cruise, then you;ll be ready to find your way around and get in the right line.

I found it was a long way to the gate from the ticket counter, so I requested a wheelchair. By all means do so if you use a cane to walk!

[sandij]

We've done it before and just booked it again for april. I use RomeCabs to pick us up and drop us at T5 and with fingers crossed have always made it. We love Rome and stay a few days before the cruise but one does have to go home especially if a job is waiting.