Leaving cruise before final port?

[luvncruisn]

i have a question I’m hoping someone can help with. We are planning an 11 day cruise that starts and ends in Rome, with the last port being Florence. Are we allowed to leave the cruise in Florence? The cruise is entirely in the EU, so I’m thinking this will be permissible. We’d like the spend a few days in Tuscany before heading home, and that would be easier to do from Florence than Rome, obviously.

 

Any constructive input is appreciated!

[CruiserBruce]

This has been discussed here many times. Yes, you can do that, in most cases. You must have the approval of the cruise line...get it in writing in advance of your cruise and take it with you on the cruise. Remind the Front Desk when you are onboard. You will not get any reduction in your cruise fare.

[John Bull]

Just confirming Bruce' post.

 

The ports of both La Spezia and Livorno (Florence is nowhere near the coast ;)) have customs & immigration, plus you're travelling entirely in the Schengen freedom-of-movement area (?) - altho it's unlikely to be important to you, EU countries aren't exactly the same as Schengen countries https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/e-library/docs/schengen_brochure/schengen_brochure_dr3111126_en.pdf

And of course both of those ports and Rome are all in Italy.

So there's no regulatory reason why you can't disembark early.

 

But cruise lines do have the last word, and although they usually give permission that's not always the case - and some denials don't seem to have any rhyme nor reason.:rolleyes:

So it is imperative to get the cruise line's permission before you commit to accommodation etc. And get it in writing (e-mail is easiest for all concerned) because communications between head office and ship aren't always as good as they should be.

 

Some cruise lines charge a fee.

$25 pp or thereabouts?? Enough to annoy you, but not enough make you change your minds.

 

You don't quote a sailing date, but don't delay asking cruise line's permission.

 

JB :)

[luvncruisn]

Thanks so much! My cruise isn’t until next summer, so I have plenty of time and can plan accordingly. I appreciate the help

[Travelling2Some]

We made a request of NCL very recently to do something similar on our upcoming cruise and were turned down for no real reason that they would elaborate on besides "our company policy". We only wanted to spend a night ashore and catch up with the ship the next day (within the same country). You shouldn't have a problem unless your cruise is with Norwegian. We may cancel the cruise and go by land instead since this is important to us and we were very put off by the rude way we were spoken to. When I asked for a reason for the denial the woman got quite testy and told me that "NCL is not running a ferry service!" I was trying to be considerate but we should have just kept quiet and "missed" the ship!

[dateacher]

We are doing it in Naples which is our last stop. We were told by Celebrity just to tell them when we board. We have to pay $75. Not sure why because they are saving money on us.

[hehny]

Certain cruise lines only allow a restricted number to do this if at all...it does affect the final manifest they are required to submit at disembarkation. As for saving money, they are losing any of the incidentals (alcohol, casino, photos) may have enjoyed. There is also always the possibility of missing the port and then you are stuck. It’s not as easy to leave a cruise early as you may think. That’s why many choose not to allow it.

[basenji56]

We are doing it in Naples which is our last stop. We were told by Celebrity just to tell them when we board. We have to pay $75. Not sure why because they are saving money on us.

 

I am doing the same thing in Naples on Celebrity. Did they tell you if you are limited to departing at a particular time?

 

Michael

[dateacher]

I am doing the same thing in Naples on Celebrity. Did they tell you if you are limited to departing at a particular time?

 

Michael

No but my husband is calling tomorrow to make sure we have all the details and there are no surprises. When are you doing it? We are doing it on Sept. 30.

[basenji56]

No but my husband is calling tomorrow to make sure we have all the details and there are no surprises. When are you doing it? We are doing it on Sept. 30.

 

That sounds like a good idea.

 

We will get to Naples in October 6th on Constellation.

 

Michael

[dateacher]

That sounds like a good idea.

 

We will get to Naples in October 6th on Constellation.

 

Michael

 

If you don't mind, I would love to talk to you offline about your plans. I am still trying to figure out what we are going to do and in what order. We are spending three nights in Sorrento after Naples and then going back to Rome to fly home. I just sent you a friend request (not sure how that works on CC)

[ollienbertsmum]

Certain cruise lines only allow a restricted number to do this if at all...it does affect the final manifest they are required to submit at disembarkation. As for saving money, they are losing any of the incidentals (alcohol, casino, photos) may have enjoyed. There is also always the possibility of missing the port and then you are stuck. It’s not as easy to leave a cruise early as you may think. That’s why many choose not to allow it.

 

And it does seem like such a good idea on certain itineraries - Naples/Rome/Livorno being a good example where it is actually easy to get between the ports by train. But you can imagine what sort of a nightmare it would be to keep tabs on the passengers. It is important that they know who is on board for security sake.

 

We were once on a ship that had a girl jump overboard. This was very sad for all involved, but witnessing what security had to do going repeatedly over the ship to be sure she was not hidden somewhere, it made me realise the importance of knowing who exactly on board.

 

What seems like an easy enough thing for one individual to do might not be so easy if lots of people start making plans.

[basenji56]

If you don't mind, I would love to talk to you offline about your plans. I am still trying to figure out what we are going to do and in what order. We are spending three nights in Sorrento after Naples and then going back to Rome to fly home. I just sent you a friend request (not sure how that works on CC)

 

I'm not sure either. Anyway, I have a comcast.net email address. User name is michaelswan.

 

I'd be happy to compare notes.

[dateacher]

Here's an update for anyone who wants to jump ship early. You have to be off by 3:30 PM. You have on and off privileges until then. It's $65 per person and you have to send an email to Celebrity's Emergency team.

[basenji56]

We did this in Naples.  No problem.  Didn't pass through customs.  We told Guest Relations when we boarded.  When we left the ship in Naples, they looked up our name on a paper list.  Interestingly, they took our sea pass cards when we disembarked.  I think they charged us $65 rather than $65 per person.

We stayed two days in Naples before flying home from the Naples airport.

Naples was very dirty and dangerous but we enjoyed the time to tour Capri, Pompeii, Positano and Sorento.

 

 

[Hlitner]

We have done it several times (in Europe and Asia) on several different cruise lines.  The procedures can vary by line, but in nearly all cases one should seek written permission from the cruise line well in advance of the cruise.   As far as we know, only the RCI family of lines (RCI, Celebrity and perhaps Azamara) charge a fee for early disembarkation.  Our most recent two early disembarkations have been off Princess cruises (in LeHavre and Yokohama) and it was not a problem.  But we did ask in advance, always received permission, and then notified Guest Relations early in our cruise of our intentions (it seems like they were never notified by the home office).  Princess is very nice in that you can put your luggage out the night before and they will take it off the ship.  Or course if you prefer you can drag off your own luggage...but depending on the port the gang plank might be difficult with luggage.  Our norm is to get off in the morning although we like to wait until the initial rush is over.

 

As far as the OP's specific situation (getting off in Livorno) that will not normally be a problem...but you still should seek permission.  Just keep in mind that Livorno is more then an hour from Florence and you will be responsible to handle all of your own luggage.   There are no Italian government restrictions on this early disembarkation and you will not even pass through any immigration or customs at Livorno.  Of course we are talking about Italy which means anything can change at any time :).

 

Hank