Question regarding side-to-side cruises in Civitavecchia

[coast2coast]

Hi!

We are doing an 11-night cruise on MSC Poesia in October. It ends in Civitavecchia on 10/27/23.

We are boarding Odyssey of the Seas on the same day for our Transatlantic.

Has anyone ever done a side-to-side cruise from this port?

Just wondering if we will be allowed to take our luggage off the Poesia and just walk to the Odyssey, or if we'll have to board a shuttle bus to leave the port area and take another shuttle bus back in? 

I've done B2Bs on the same ship before, but never a side-to-side so wasn't sure how it all works.

[lisiamc]

43 minutes ago, coast2coast said:

Hi!

We are doing an 11-night cruise on MSC Poesia in October. It ends in Civitavecchia on 10/27/23.

We are boarding Odyssey of the Seas on the same day for our Transatlantic.

Has anyone ever done a side-to-side cruise from this port?

Just wondering if we will be allowed to take our luggage off the Poesia and just walk to the Odyssey, or if we'll have to board a shuttle bus to leave the port area and take another shuttle bus back in? 

I've done B2Bs on the same ship before, but never a side-to-side so wasn't sure how it all works.

It’s a fairly large port. You are allowed to walk in and out of the port; you’re not required to take a shuttle. You could walk, but if your ships are a long way apart, the shuttle might be easier.

[Hlitner]

It will be "luck of the draw" whether your two ships are docked relatively close to each other (when walking can be a good option if you can roll your luggage).  It is also possible that your ships could be separated by 1/2 of a mile (all within the port) which might not be nice for walking :(.  Using the free shuttle buses may or may not be convenient.  You can ask a bus driver if he/she can drop you at your other ship and, assuming you can make yourself understood, you might get lucky and find a friendly driver.  In the past we have, twice, managed to get drivers to deviate and drop us at a "secret" port gate that was closer to our rental car dealers (located outside the port).  Otherwise, you may need to take a shuttle bus to the drop location out side the port and than wait for another shuttle bus that is going to your next ship.

 

Hank

[CanuckCruizer]

On 1/16/2023 at 8:05 AM, coast2coast said:

Hi!

We are doing an 11-night cruise on MSC Poesia in October. It ends in Civitavecchia on 10/27/23.

We are boarding Odyssey of the Seas on the same day for our Transatlantic.

Has anyone ever done a side-to-side cruise from this port?

Just wondering if we will be allowed to take our luggage off the Poesia and just walk to the Odyssey, or if we'll have to board a shuttle bus to leave the port area and take another shuttle bus back in? 

I've done B2Bs on the same ship before, but never a side-to-side so wasn't sure how it all works.

coast2coast - I was just going to post the same question when I found yours!  We are doing the same thing, only 2 days later - 2 different cruise lines S2S - getting off HAL and onto RCCL.  We will have 4 large suitcases & 2 carry-on, so no "walking with luggage" for us (we are doing a B3B).  

 

We "think", going by the port map, that there is only 1 large terminal for all ships (We have been there a couple of times but honestly can't remember...& we have only disembarked there).  Our luggage will be taken off HAL and put in the terminal for collection.  Once we have collected our bags, we always get a porter to take our luggage outside to our waiting transportation.

 

In this scenario, there will be no waiting transportation for us, but we "hope" that our porter will be able to help us get to the RCCL bag drop off area, as we think it should be just outside the terminal (same building).  Then we will get in the queue for Royal Caribbean check-in.

On our day, there are only 4 ships in port - 2 very small ones (under 48,000 gt) and Nieuw Statendam & the Explorer are the larger ones. 

 

Anyone ever done this or have any thoughts about our plan?  We don't think that we will need a shuttle to be able to do this, as long as the porter will take our luggage from one side of the building to another.

 

Canuck

 

[MeHeartCruising]

 

I'm Going to retract my posting.  I'm not sure what I posted is accurate any more.

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by MeHeartCruising

[CanuckCruizer]

2 minutes ago, MeHeartCruising said:

 

I'm pretty sure your assessment of the port map is incorrect.  There are a few terminal buildings on the long pier that juts out from the shore.  They are long permanent tent-like looking structures.  I see at least 3 of them on the Google maps satellite view of the port area.

MeHeartCruising - It was my DH looking at the port map & it is different from the Google satellite pick.  You are right, looking at Google Earth, there are 2 long tent-like structures, farther down the pier & 1 rectangular white building, right after the Security checkpoint.  It looks like these tent-like structures are probably used for luggage drop-off and collection, but not sure.

 

The trouble is, we were last there in 2018 and we only disembarked and went on our way in the private transfer.  We have never embarked at Civitavecchia.  No point in calling either cruise line, as you know how that goes - 10 different agents, 10 different answers...lol.

 

Hoping that someone has done this same thing recently and can help.

 

Canuck 

[MeHeartCruising]

Just now, CanuckCruizer said:

MeHeartCruising - It was my DH looking at the port map & it is different from the Google satellite pick.  You are right, looking at Google Earth, there are 2 long tent-like structures, farther down the pier & 1 rectangular white building, right after the Security checkpoint.  It looks like these tent-like structures are probably used for luggage drop-off and collection, but not sure.

 

The trouble is, we were last there in 2018 and we only disembarked and went on our way in the private transfer.  We have never embarked at Civitavecchia.  No point in calling either cruise line, as you know how that goes - 10 different agents, 10 different answers...lol.

 

Hoping that someone has done this same thing recently and can help.

 

Canuck 

 

I edited out my previous post after researching a little more.  It looks like they have built a new, larger dedicated terminal building since I was last there.  I would guess it's large enough to handle 2 ships embarking as a new cruise at the same time.  So you may be in good shape.  Hopefully someone who knows more about this current situation will update this thread soon.  Good luck!

[CanuckCruizer]

1 minute ago, MeHeartCruising said:

 

I edited out my previous post after researching a little more.  It looks like they have built a new, larger dedicated terminal building since I was last there.  I would guess it's large enough to handle 2 ships embarking as a new cruise at the same time.  So you may be in good shape.  Hopefully someone who knows more about this current situation will update this thread soon.  Good luck!

MeHeartCruising - yes, we just discovered that there is now old and new parts of the terminal.  Thanks for your help.  

 

I want to know if we need to book a private car (instead of just using a porter to transfer the luggage) to take us in between the two ships, as we don't want to be left standing with our luggage.

 

Hopefully someone has done this.

 

Thanks,

Canuck