Debarking in Civitavecchia

[MajestyCat]

Hello! Does anyone have any experience with MSC's debarkation process in Civitavecchia? I want to arrange for a transfer and am curious as to what time to tell the driver to meet us at the port. I called MSC and the woman I spoke with said to allow at least FOUR HOURS!! :O  That seemed a little excessive to me, but this is our first time cruising with MSC so I thought I'd see if anyone has any first hand knowledge on the efficiency and timeliness of their debarking.  Thanks, everyone! :) 

[DCGuy64]

Just now, MajestyCat said:

Hello! Does anyone have any experience with MSC's debarkation process in Civitavecchia? I want to arrange for a transfer and am curious as to what time to tell the driver to meet us at the port. I called MSC and the woman I spoke with said to allow at least FOUR HOURS!! 😮 That seemed a little excessive to me, but this is our first time cruising with MSC so I thought I'd see if anyone has any first hand knowledge on the efficiency and timeliness of their debarking.  Thanks, everyone! 🙂

Be debarking do you mean leaving the ship for good? Or just for the day? Four hours sounds about right for the entire process of final debarkation, so meaning they'll start letting people off around 7:30 and be completely done by 11:30. It doesn't mean 4 hours per person. I mean, they do some things more slowly in Italy, but not that slow! LOL When we've gone ashore in Civitavecchia, it took us about 20 minutes or so.

[MajestyCat]

6 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Be debarking do you mean leaving the ship for good? Or just for the day? Four hours sounds about right for the entire process of final debarkation, so meaning they'll start letting people off around 7:30 and be completely done by 11:30. It doesn't mean 4 hours per person. I mean, they do some things more slowly in Italy, but not that slow! LOL When we've gone ashore in Civitavecchia, it took us about 20 minutes or so.

Thanks! I did mean leaving the ship for good - I know when we sailed on RC several years ago it didn't seem to take very long, and that was with a ship emptying all of it's passengers, so I wanted to double check.  But okay - guess I'll book a transfer 4 hours after the ship's scheduled arrival time to be safe. Thanks again!  😀

[DCGuy64]

Sounds great, have a wonderful time. ☺️

[portofrome]

This is the schedule on June 4th, 2021 on Seaside and it should be the same for all the ships:

 

[Morgsmom]

Assuming that there are no issues coming into port you could be off the ship by 8:30 if you self disembark based on the above. I'd personally not want to wait around the port for 4 hours (there's nothing to do there at that time in the morning).  Personally I'd split the difference at 2 hours past port arrival and enjoy one last breakfast and linger over coffee on the ship.

Edited June 23, 2021 by Morgsmom
.

[Stockjock]

I arranged a private driver to take me from the cruise terminal to FCO airport, and it was pretty fouled up. He got there early and had a really long wait and he was very irritated.  He said he could not wait for us anymore because he had another person to pick up, and had to get another driver for us.  It took quite a while for them to show up, we were stuck in the hot sun, sweating like crazy with all of our bags, and it was an uncomfortable and inconvenient hassle.

 

I guess you can do a shuttle like we did, but there certainly can be some variability as to when you get off the ship. I think if I had to do it again, I might’ve used an MSC transfer or just take a taxi (more likely).  

This fall, we will be in the same situation, Covid permitting, and this time I'll probably just grab a cab.  It's a 35 mile (usually) 45 minute or so trip and I'm guessing the fare will be somewhere in the 100 to 150 Euro range.  Not cheap, but convenient.  I will be checking on MSC's transfers as well, but I have a feeling a private transfer (taxi) would be more practical, if not a bit more expensive.

Edited June 23, 2021 by Stockjock

[MajestyCat]

15 hours ago, portofrome said:

This is the schedule on June 4th, 2021 on Seaside and it should be the same for all the ships:

 

Oh, wow! Thank you so much!  That's very helpful!!  🙂

[MajestyCat]

15 hours ago, Morgsmom said:

Assuming that there are no issues coming into port you could be off the ship by 8:30 if you self disembark based on the above. I'd personally not want to wait around the port for 4 hours (there's nothing to do there at that time in the morning).  Personally I'd split the difference at 2 hours past port arrival and enjoy one last breakfast and linger over coffee on the ship.

I was under the impression that self-assist wasn't allowed right now? Something to do with needing to sanitize every piece of luggage that gets off the ship.  I hope that information is incorrect, because I would definitely prefer to do that!! 

[MajestyCat]

7 hours ago, Stockjock said:

I arranged a private driver to take me from the cruise terminal to FCO airport, and it was pretty fouled up. He got there early and had a really long wait and he was very irritated.  He said he could not wait for us anymore because he had another person to pick up, and had to get another driver for us.  It took quite a while for them to show up, we were stuck in the hot sun, sweating like crazy with all of our bags, and it was an uncomfortable and inconvenient hassle.

 

I guess you can do a shuttle like we did, but there certainly can be some variability as to when you get off the ship. I think if I had to do it again, I might’ve used an MSC transfer or just take a taxi (more likely).  

This fall, we will be in the same situation, Covid permitting, and this time I'll probably just grab a cab.  It's a 35 mile (usually) 45 minute or so trip and I'm guessing the fare will be somewhere in the 100 to 150 Euro range.  Not cheap, but convenient.  I will be checking on MSC's transfers as well, but I have a feeling a private transfer (taxi) would be more practical, if not a bit more expensive.

Yes, that's exactly what I'm afraid of - or worse, that the arranged transfer will just leave and not send another driver and we'll be out a couple hundred dollars.   I would be fine taking a taxi, but there are 4 of us - all adults - and I'm not sure how many minivan taxis will be available?  We could take 2 taxis, but that just seems excessive - LOL! Although that might be what we wind up doing.  And unfortunately we cannot use MSC's transfer service after the cruise because we aren't going straight to the airport - we're spending 2 nights in Rome and apparently they only provide transportation to the airport. 😞  Thanks for sharing your experience!! 

[sealynx]

48 minutes ago, MajestyCat said:

I was under the impression that self-assist wasn't allowed right now? Something to do with needing to sanitize every piece of luggage that gets off the ship.  I hope that information is incorrect, because I would definitely prefer to do that!! 

Ohh, if that is true I do hope that'll be over soon. We always self check out. We don't mind carrying our own suitcases off the ship. We have to carry it around until we arrive home anyway. I really speeds up things, since you can get off the ship right after the majority off passengers who leave just for the day have left.

[DCGuy64]

6 hours ago, MajestyCat said:

Yes, that's exactly what I'm afraid of - or worse, that the arranged transfer will just leave and not send another driver and we'll be out a couple hundred dollars.   I would be fine taking a taxi, but there are 4 of us - all adults - and I'm not sure how many minivan taxis will be available?  We could take 2 taxis, but that just seems excessive - LOL! Although that might be what we wind up doing.  And unfortunately we cannot use MSC's transfer service after the cruise because we aren't going straight to the airport - we're spending 2 nights in Rome and apparently they only provide transportation to the airport. 😞  Thanks for sharing your experience!! 

Taxis are notoriously expensive going from Civitavecchia to Rome. Why not consider the train instead? Much cheaper and, in my opinion, more relaxing. The train station in Civitavecchia isn't that far from the cruise port. Only 1 mile, and you can get a taxi at the port to take you there.

https://www.rometoolkit.com/airport/civitavechia_train.htm

 

[Morgsmom]

Agree; the train to Rome is super easy and they leave every 20 minutes or so. It's a lovely ride and since you are staying in Rome and not going directly to the airport it'd be very convenient.

[MajestyCat]

9 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

Taxis are notoriously expensive going from Civitavecchia to Rome. Why not consider the train instead? Much cheaper and, in my opinion, more relaxing. The train station in Civitavecchia isn't that far from the cruise port. Only 1 mile, and you can get a taxi at the port to take you there.

https://www.rometoolkit.com/airport/civitavechia_train.htm

 

I did consider the train, but I'm worried that 4 of us traveling each with 1 large suitcase and 1 carry-on might be a bit cumbersome? But maybe I should rethink that...

[MajestyCat]

8 hours ago, Morgsmom said:

Agree; the train to Rome is super easy and they leave every 20 minutes or so. It's a lovely ride and since you are staying in Rome and not going directly to the airport it'd be very convenient.

I'm just worried that the amount of luggage the 4 of us have will make the train ride cumbersome...? But maybe not? With only 25 days left I really need to figure this out!!! LOL!

[DCGuy64]

27 minutes ago, MajestyCat said:

I did consider the train, but I'm worried that 4 of us traveling each with 1 large suitcase and 1 carry-on might be a bit cumbersome? But maybe I should rethink that...

That isn't a problem at all. I've been to Italy 25 times, ridden trains nearly every time, and I had the same luggage. It's not a problem and if anything, they're used to it. Luggage shouldn't be an issue.

[Stockjock]

40 minutes ago, MajestyCat said:

I did consider the train, but I'm worried that 4 of us traveling each with 1 large suitcase and 1 carry-on might be a bit cumbersome? But maybe I should rethink that...

I/we don't travel light.  I don't think the train is practical for us.  But if you do, it's worth considering.  If not, I do think it would be cumbersome.

[GOLDENBONNY]

15 hours ago, MajestyCat said:

I did consider the train, but I'm worried that 4 of us traveling each with 1 large suitcase and 1 carry-on might be a bit cumbersome? But maybe I should rethink that...

Don't rethink it. You must watch your pockets and your luggage non stop in train and in rail station . Book private transfer .You will be out in no time ,much faster then in US . 

[DCGuy64]

12 minutes ago, GOLDENBONNY said:

Don't rethink it. You must watch your pockets and your luggage non stop in train and in rail station . Book private transfer .You will be out in no time ,much faster then in US . 

Respectfully, that isn't a fair assessment. I have traveled on trains extensively throughout Europe for decades and never once had anything stolen, including times I was traveling solo and had to go to the bathroom, etc. I'm sorry, but it irritates me when people paint Europeans as a bunch of thieves.

I can travel by train from Civitavecchia to central Rome for 1/4 the cost of a taxi. I guess if money is no object, then go for it. But I like saving money, because the less I spend on transport, the more I spend on gelato and cappuccino!

[GOLDENBONNY]

1 minute ago, DCGuy64 said:

Respectfully, that isn't a fair assessment. I have traveled on trains extensively throughout Europe for decades and never once had anything stolen, including times I was traveling solo and had to go to the bathroom, etc. I'm sorry, but it irritates me when people paint Europeans as a bunch of thieves.

I can travel by train from Civitavecchia to central Rome for 1/4 the cost of a taxi. I guess if money is no object, then go for it. But I like saving money, because the less I spend on transport, the more I spend on gelato and cappuccino!

Its not Europeans who is thieves, and you been lucky ,many people had item stolen in trains and in Rome not mention Barcelona .ITs a fact that its much more thieves in Europe then in North America but unfortunately its going wrong direction here as well. Even in Canada we start watching our pockets in Toronto now.   You are alone so your cost is low  but when you add train tickets for 4 ppl it will be almost taxi ride .

[DCGuy64]

2 minutes ago, GOLDENBONNY said:

You are alone so your cost is low  but when you add train tickets for 4 ppl it will be almost taxi ride .

I'm not alone, I'm married. I said that I had previously traveled to Europe, sometimes I was alone, sometimes I wasn't. I traveled to Italy with my mom and dad + my fiancee (now wife) and my mom was in a wheelchair. Nothing stolen ever. I just chafe at the "Europe is full of thieves and pickpockets" canard. It isn't true. Trains are very, very safe in Europe. If you're worried about getting cheated, you should really be talking about the taxi drivers! At least when you buy a ticket on a train, you know how much you'll pay. Taxi drivers can be capricious, but I think in Italy you can find fixed-price taxis so there's no upcharge. I once paid $80 to go from Rome to the airport, and that was outrageous. I was with a friend, but it still cost me $40 when a train would've cost $8. This was back in the 90s, since then we have friends in Rome who drive us for free. ☺️ I just hate to see people pay more than they need to. Too many people, especially Americans, do almost no research when they travel to Europe and then lose $1,000s needlessly. I work hard for my money and I don't pay any more than I have to.

[elbarney]

17 minutes ago, GOLDENBONNY said:

Its not Europeans who is thieves, and you been lucky ,many people had item stolen in trains and in Rome not mention Barcelona .ITs a fact that its much more thieves in Europe then in North America but unfortunately its going wrong direction here as well. Even in Canada we start watching our pockets in Toronto now.   You are alone so your cost is low  but when you add train tickets for 4 ppl it will be almost taxi ride .

Well, the train ticket is 5-6€ pp.... a transfer is much much more than 25€....

[DCGuy64]

18 minutes ago, elbarney said:

Well, the train ticket is 5-6€ pp.... a transfer is much much more than 25€....

A LOT more:

https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Rome/Civitavecchia

Taxi is $120-160 from Civitavecchia to Rome.

Train is $7.

Even if $28 for 4 people, the train is still over 4x less expensive than the taxi, assuming you could get all 4 people AND their luggage in one taxi.

[Tapi]

On 6/23/2021 at 8:33 AM, MajestyCat said:

Hello! Does anyone have any experience with MSC's debarkation process in Civitavecchia? I want to arrange for a transfer and am curious as to what time to tell the driver to meet us at the port. I called MSC and the woman I spoke with said to allow at least FOUR HOURS!!

Did she mean to allow four hours before your flight home? Or from ship arrival to debarkation? 
 

What’s your itinerary? If all the ports in your itinerary contained in the Shengen Area, your debarkation process will be quicker since there will be no customs/immigration  procedures. It literally took us 5 minutes to go from ship to sidewalk. But there’s more to it. Read along: 
 

Here’s my personal experience cruising on MSC from Civitavecchia. Keep in mind that this was pre-pandemic, so some protocols may be different. 
 

- When we booked our cruise, the itinerary showed a 7:00am return to Civitavecchia, so I booked a 12:25pm flight home. However, the airline changed our departure time to 11:25am a few months later, but we were reassured, both by MSC and people here on Cruise Critic that we’d still have plenty of time to make our flight. 
 

- We booked transfers from Civitavecchia to FCO with Stefano’s Rome Cabs. Best decision ever (more on that later). 
 

- Once on the cruise, we noticed that departure and arrival times at various ports of call were different than what was on our original itinerary. This messed up a bit some of our pre-booked independent tours but nothing proved as stressful as when they changed our return to Civitavecchia from 7:00am to 8:00am. With the revised flight departure time of 11:25am, it would now be very tight to make our flight home.

 

- We were traveling in an Aurea stateroom, so we were given an 8:15am “meet time” at one of the lounges (similar to what the screenshot portofrome posted above). No mention of self-assist debarkation anywhere on the paperwork that we received. So I went to Guest Services and asked about it. The person that I spoke to said that there was no formal “self-assist” program, but that I was welcome to go directly to the gangway with all of my luggage and be allowed off the ship as soon as they were cleared. 
 

- The ship did arrive back in Civitavecchia right at 8:00am. I thought that there would be a long line for self-assist debarkation like in the US so  I stood in line about an hour before arrival. However the long line never materialized. There were maybe 15-20 people total waiting to disembark. 
 

- Once we received the “all clear” (about 15 minutes after docking), we walked right off the ship. As mentioned above, we didn’t have customs/immigration since our itinerary was fully contained in the Shengen Area, so we were literally standing on the sidewalk in 5 minutes. We were speeding away from the cruise terminal around 8:30am and we made it to FCO a little before 9:30am. 
 

- About transportation to the airport, pre-booking our transfers through Stefano’s Rome Cabs was a great decision, and one that made debarkation morning much less stressful. I had pre-booked and paid in advance on line. I requested our transport for 7:00am but once I realized that our arrival time would be 8:00am, I emailed them from the ship the day before. They emailed me back and said not to worry, that they tracked the ship’s arrival, and that our driver would be there waiting as long as she needed to.

 

And she was. As soon as we excited the terminal, we saw her holding a sign with our name, as well as umbrellas (it was raining pretty heavily). She jumped into action, helped me with our luggage, handed umbrellas to my wife and kids, and walked us to our waiting van parked 20 feet away. We were on the road in no time. Since everything was paid in advance, we didn’t waste any extra time processing payment transactions at the last minute. Booking our transfers through this company was one of the absolute best decisions of the entire vacation. 
 

For the record, we did make it on our flight, but we used every single minute of our time traversing the busy lines at FCO. But I learned my lesson and I will never book such a tight flight ever again. 

Edited June 25, 2021 by Tapi

[MajestyCat]

8 hours ago, Tapi said:

Did she mean to allow four hours before your flight home? Or from ship arrival to debarkation? 
 

What’s your itinerary? If all the ports in your itinerary contained in the Shengen Area, your debarkation process will be quicker since there will be no customs/immigration  procedures. It literally took us 5 minutes to go from ship to sidewalk. But there’s more to it. Read along: 
 

Here’s my personal experience cruising on MSC from Civitavecchia. Keep in mind that this was pre-pandemic, so some protocols may be different. 
 

- When we booked our cruise, the itinerary showed a 7:00am return to Civitavecchia, so I booked a 12:25pm flight home. However, the airline changed our departure time to 11:25am a few months later, but we were reassured, both by MSC and people here on Cruise Critic that we’d still have plenty of time to make our flight. 
 

- We booked transfers from Civitavecchia to FCO with Stefano’s Rome Cabs. Best decision ever (more on that later). 
 

- Once on the cruise, we noticed that departure and arrival times at various ports of call were different than what was on our original itinerary. This messed up a bit some of our pre-booked independent tours but nothing proved as stressful as when they changed our return to Civitavecchia from 7:00am to 8:00am. With the revised flight departure time of 11:25am, it would now be very tight to make our flight home.

 

- We were traveling in an Aurea stateroom, so we were given an 8:15am “meet time” at one of the lounges (similar to what the screenshot portofrome posted above). No mention of self-assist debarkation anywhere on the paperwork that we received. So I went to Guest Services and asked about it. The person that I spoke to said that there was no formal “self-assist” program, but that I was welcome to go directly to the gangway with all of my luggage and be allowed off the ship as soon as they were cleared. 
 

- The ship did arrive back in Civitavecchia right at 8:00am. I thought that there would be a long line for self-assist debarkation like in the US so  I stood in line about an hour before arrival. However the long line never materialized. There were maybe 15-20 people total waiting to disembark. 
 

- Once we received the “all clear” (about 15 minutes after docking), we walked right off the ship. As mentioned above, we didn’t have customs/immigration since our itinerary was fully contained in the Shengen Area, so we were literally standing on the sidewalk in 5 minutes. We were speeding away from the cruise terminal around 8:30am and we made it to FCO a little before 9:30am. 
 

- About transportation to the airport, pre-booking our transfers through Stefano’s Rome Cabs was a great decision, and one that made debarkation morning much less stressful. I had pre-booked and paid in advance on line. I requested our transport for 7:00am but once I realized that our arrival time would be 8:00am, I emailed them from the ship the day before. They emailed me back and said not to worry, that they tracked the ship’s arrival, and that our driver would be there waiting as long as she needed to.

 

And she was. As soon as we excited the terminal, we saw her holding a sign with our name, as well as umbrellas (it was raining pretty heavily). She jumped into action, helped me with our luggage, handed umbrellas to my wife and kids, and walked us to our waiting van parked 20 feet away. We were on the road in no time. Since everything was paid in advance, we didn’t waste any extra time processing payment transactions at the last minute. Booking our transfers through this company was one of the absolute best decisions of the entire vacation. 
 

For the record, we did make it on our flight, but we used every single minute of our time traversing the busy lines at FCO. But I learned my lesson and I will never book such a tight flight ever again. 

Thank you!! Definitely appreciate the detailed information from an experienced Civitavecchia traveler!!! 🙂