Airport transfers

[dwlmg]

Do all Viking airport transfers leave the ship at one time? If I have a noon flight out of Copenhagen, is my only Viking transfer option in the wee hours of the morning when others leave to make 6am flights?

 

[VolTravler]

Our experience has been that Viking will personalize the transfers according to your flight times.  They would never dump you in an airport for multiple hours before you depart (but they are definitely conservative so you don't miss your flight).

 

Peace!

[Cyber Kat]

Our flight out of Zurich on our Rhine Getaway, left at 1pm.  Our transfer bus with about 15 of us left the ship at 9am.  They were running all morning.  You will get a document in your cabin with all the transfer times and info.

We went out, identified our luggage prior to it being put on the bus, boarded the bus and we were off!  When we got to the airport, the rep walked with us to show us where to check in.

[Peregrina651]

23 hours ago, dwlmg said:

Do all Viking airport transfers leave the ship at one time? If I have a noon flight out of Copenhagen, is my only Viking transfer option in the wee hours of the morning when others leave to make 6am flights?

 

 

Sometime prior to disembarkation, Viking will ask you what time your flight is. From there, they will construction a schedule of departures and bus assignments. The day or so before departure, they will give you (i.e. deliver to your cabin) your bus assignment and color code luggage tags for the luggage that you are having them off-load. If you pack light and will carrying/wheeling everything off the ship when you depart, you do not need to use the tags.

 

If you are doing a post-cruise with Viking or if you don't have Viking transfers, there will be a space for that on the form as well. If you don't have Viking transfers, you may depart the ship any time you wish prior to 10am.

 

On disembarkation day, there will be no announcements of departing buses. You are expected to get yourself off the ship 15 minutes prior to departure, collect your luggage and get it to the buses (they want to make sure that your luggage is on the same bus as you are).

 

Viking will do its best to strike the balance between getting you there in time for your flight and not having you sit there for hours on end. However, the ship must be cleared of all departing passengers before they can start boarding arriving guests and the last buses to the airport will depart before 10 am. 

 

 

[dwlmg]

Thank you all for your responses.  Tuesday is 310 days prior to our return flight and according to Viking we can start working with Viking Air to set up our flights.  Knowing we have some flexibility on airport transfers allows to consider return flights later than 6am without extending our airport vigil.

[odblnt]

If I may add a question to this thread...

 

If someone has experience disembarking at Civitavecchia (after coming from Livorno - the Iconic Western Med cruise)...

 

What would be the earliest flight time to easily make at FCO?

 

I'm sort of looking at the 9am non-stop to LAX, and wouldn't be adverse to spending the night at one of the hotels at the airport.

[Peregrina651]

If you want to make a 9am flight, you will want to leave the ship by 5 am (an hour ride plus 3 hours before departure). The ship is not scheduled to overnight in Rome so you can't get off the ship until it docks and is cleared for disembarkation --and that is a bit of information that you should get directly from Viking so that you have the most accurate information available.

[Paulhc]

11 hours ago, odblnt said:

If I may add a question to this thread...

 

If someone has experience disembarking at Civitavecchia (after coming from Livorno - the Iconic Western Med cruise)...

 

What would be the earliest flight time to easily make at FCO?

 

I'm sort of looking at the 9am non-stop to LAX, and wouldn't be adverse to spending the night at one of the hotels at the airport.

 

It would be very hard to make a 9am flight. One idea, which we did, is to hire a car to take you to tour Ostia which is right by FCO. The driver waited with our luggage while we toured the site and then dropped us at an airport hotel. You can then easily make a 9am flight the next day.

[Peregrina651]

46 minutes ago, Paulhc said:

 

It would be very hard to make a 9am flight. One idea, which we did, is to hire a car to take you to tour Ostia which is right by FCO. The driver waited with our luggage while we toured the site and then dropped us at an airport hotel. You can then easily make a 9am flight the next day.

 

And Ostia is truly worth the visit!! If you don't know much about Roman history and culture, do a guided tour if you can.

[odblnt]

9 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

And Ostia is truly worth the visit!! If you don't know much about Roman history and culture, do a guided tour if you can.

 

Thanks all. That's what I figured about the 9am flight and it's a great idea about the extra tour.

[cmaasfamily]

Uh oh. 

 

We're on Italy, The Adriatic, and Greece May 27, 2020. Port arrival at Civitavecchia is 5AM June 10. I checked that before I booked air departing 9:45AM from FCO. However, I missed the footnote on the itinerary that says "...must not depart before 10AM".

 

It's only 15 minutes and we are booked in business nonstop to Atlanta. I would hope the 3-hour-before-departure guideline would be a little less rigid for business. 

 

Happy to book our own transportation rather than the Viking shuttle. It would likely be very expensive to change flights.

 

I suppose I'll need to discuss with Viking. Thoughts?

 

Edited September 2, 2019 by cmaasfamily

[Peregrina651]

44 minutes ago, cmaasfamily said:

It's only 15 minutes and we are booked in business nonstop to Atlanta. I would hope the 3-hour-before-departure guideline would be a little less rigid for business.

 

Devil's advocate here: 

 

Viking will certainly be very conservative in its response. They are not going to over-promise and under deliver--and certainly don't want to be responsible for you missing your plane. Definitely talk with them and see what they have to say-- and definitely contact them via tellus@vikingcruises.com (give name, booking number and phone number)

 

Dock at 5am. Off the ship by 6? Airport by 7.  Two hours till boarding and 2.5 hours until they close the doors. I guess my worry in all of this would be getting through airport security --and that can be so unpredictable. I would want to hear what other people have experienced with check in at FCO. Do business pax have priority going through security?

 

9:45 flight means boarding starts around 9:05 and door shut is it 10 or 15 minutes before boarding?

 

 

[razerbackmom]

May I ask another question about transfers?  We will be arriving in Venice and staying at the Hilton Molino Stucky Hotel on a Viking precruise extension. Are the hotel transfers done by water taxi?  Thanks. Don’t know if it makes any difference, but there are sixteen of us. 

Edited September 5, 2019 by razerbackmom

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, razerbackmom said:

May I ask another question about transfers?  We will be arriving in Venice and staying at the Hilton Molino Stucky Hotel on a Viking precruise extension. Are the hotel transfers done by water taxi?  Thanks. Don’t know if it makes any difference, but there are sixteen of us. 

 

Viking will know that there are 16 of you, especially if you are all arriving on the same flight. Some sort of boat will be involved in delivering you to the hotel but you don't need to worry about those details; Viking will take care of it all.

[razerbackmom]

Thanks for your reply. My thoughts are it will be a water taxi or vaporetto. I was hoping it will be a water taxi and thought someone here might know. I don’t relish having to deal with luggage after a long flight on public transportation. 

 

 

[Peregrina651]

4 hours ago, razerbackmom said:

Thanks for your reply. My thoughts are it will be a water taxi or vaporetto. I was hoping it will be a water taxi and thought someone here might know. I don’t relish having to deal with luggage after a long flight on public transportation. 

 

 

 

Usually, Viking deals with your luggage --unless it is a very small group and they are putting you into a taxi. I have not done Venice with Viking so I can't be specific as to how things are handled.

[vino100]

On 9/2/2019 at 2:47 PM, Peregrina651 said:

 

Devil's advocate here: 

 

Viking will certainly be very conservative in its response. They are not going to over-promise and under deliver--and certainly don't want to be responsible for you missing your plane. Definitely talk with them and see what they have to say-- and definitely contact them via tellus@vikingcruises.com (give name, booking number and phone number)

 

Dock at 5am. Off the ship by 6? Airport by 7.  Two hours till boarding and 2.5 hours until they close the doors. I guess my worry in all of this would be getting through airport security --and that can be so unpredictable. I would want to hear what other people have experienced with check in at FCO. Do business pax have priority going through security?

 

9:45 flight means boarding starts around 9:05 and door shut is it 10 or 15 minutes before boarding?

 

 

 

Is it possible to make a 9:45 flight ..... yes , but you should be prepared for plan B. We were on this same cruise and had a 11:00 am flight in 1st class. No special treatment going through security. We barely made our flight. 

[cmaasfamily]

15 hours ago, vino100 said:

 

Is it possible to make a 9:45 flight ..... yes , but you should be prepared for plan B. We were on this same cruise and had a 11:00 am flight in 1st class. No special treatment going through security. We barely made our flight. 

Thanks. I'm working plans B through Z! 

 

Plan to start by begging airline to let me change for free or minimal $ (working on my sob story and I've flown 2 million miles with them, so they owe me a favor).

 

I have found several services that, for a hefty fee, say they can get you the 'celebrity treatment' with escorts through private entrances and security areas. (Not finding many reviews good or bad, but maybe I just don't know where celebrities discuss such things.)

 

Lastly will discuss getting up early, walking out our bags ourselves, booking private transportation, and proceeding 'at our own risk' with Viking. 

 

[Peregrina651]

15 hours ago, vino100 said:

 

Is it possible to make a 9:45 flight ..... yes , but you should be prepared for plan B. We were on this same cruise and had a 11:00 am flight in 1st class. No special treatment going through security. We barely made our flight. 

 

vino110, do you remember how far in advance of your flight you got to the airport?

[tubeamps]

Just wanted to add a brief recap of our debarkation from Orion in Hong Kong , April 2019.

 

We had booked a red eye flight from Hong Kong to Seoul departing 12:20am in order to catch a non stop Seoul to Atlanta flight next morning. Our reasoning was the last night on board was all about getting ready to go home so if we left the ship around 9pm we would miss the big crowds.

 

Air was booked through Viking and we received a notice in our room a couple of days prior to departure to show up at the Explorers desk at 8:30 for transfer to airport.

 

We showed up with all our baggage, one other couple was there as well for similar flight arrangements.

The people at the Explorers desk had no idea why we were there. We told them we needed transportation to airport which was met with blank stares. After the staff disappeared for a few minutes they returned and said they would call a cab.

 

At this point I advised that we were on Viking Air and the transfer was on them. A few more minutes of confusion and were escorted off the ship with the other couple and had a very nice limo provided for our transfer.

 

My only point here is that if you have an odd departure time you should probably remind the staff a few days prior about your transfer needs.

 

 

[broker1217]

On 9/6/2019 at 12:18 PM, cmaasfamily said:

Thanks. I'm working plans B through Z! 

 

Plan to start by begging airline to let me change for free or minimal $ (working on my sob story and I've flown 2 million miles with them, so they owe me a favor).

 

I have found several services that, for a hefty fee, say they can get you the 'celebrity treatment' with escorts through private entrances and security areas. (Not finding many reviews good or bad, but maybe I just don't know where celebrities discuss such things.)

 

Lastly will discuss getting up early, walking out our bags ourselves, booking private transportation, and proceeding 'at our own risk' with Viking. 

 

 

Since you are non-stop FCO-ATL, I am going to guess you are flying Delta.

When you call Delta, make sure you find out if your business class tickets (or your status) will give you access to  Fast Track through security. Also ask them what time the check-in counters open and find out if they have kiosks for printing bag tags and boarding passes. That way you may be able to avoid check-in lines. In other words, let Delta give you as much information as possible on making the process quicker. Will you be able to check-in online the day prior and get your online (or print the paper) boarding passes the night before? 

 

Be aware that Delta advises being at international airports 3 hours prior to your departure--so 6:45 AM in your case. The port is approximately 50 minutes from the airport so you need to be off the ship and on your way no later than 6 AM. 

 

Good luck--I hope you are able to change your flight to the following day and overnight near the airport.

[vino100]

On 9/6/2019 at 10:38 AM, Peregrina651 said:

 

vino110, do you remember how far in advance of your flight you got to the airport?

 

Not really sure, but at least 3 hours. 

[vino100]

29 minutes ago, broker1217 said:

 

Since you are non-stop FCO-ATL, I am going to guess you are flying Delta.

When you call Delta, make sure you find out if your business class tickets (or your status) will give you access to  Fast Track through security. Also ask them what time the check-in counters open and find out if they have kiosks for printing bag tags and boarding passes. That way you may be able to avoid check-in lines. In other words, let Delta give you as much information as possible on making the process quicker. Will you be able to check-in online the day prior and get your online (or print the paper) boarding passes the night before? 

 

Be aware that Delta advises being at international airports 3 hours prior to your departure--so 6:45 AM in your case. The port is approximately 50 minutes from the airport so you need to be off the ship and on your way no later than 6 AM. 

 

Good luck--I hope you are able to change your flight to the following day and overnight near the airport.

 

We were in United first class and while we are normally fast tracked , there was no such line at FCO.