Civitavecchia port to FCO transportation alternatives

[ohiojohn]

We are reviewing our options on how to get from the Viking ship at Civitavecchia to FCO Rome's airport after our Viking cruise.

 

The port arrival is Oct 19, 2024 with not many ships in port that day.

 

Our options are to purchase a Viking Transfer or purchase a private car service.

 

Our plane departure to the USA is at 10:30am.

 

We have done Viking transfers before, so we know the routine.

 

If we decide the private route transfer our concern is the luggage may not be available in the terminal for pickup at 7am when the ship docks at 5am.

 

We may not be the strongest retirees to use self disembarkation with our luggage especially since one of us has partial knee surgery last Jan 2024.

 

So my question is, can Viking have our luggage available in the terminal for say a 7:15am private car pickup service ?

 

I know the next question is to ask Vegas for my odds on our bags available in the terminal at say 7am.

[CurlerRob]

3 hours ago, ohiojohn said:

 

We are reviewing our options on how to get from the Viking ship at Civitavecchia to FCO Rome's airport after our Viking cruise.

 

The port arrival is Oct 19, 2024 with not many ships in port that day.

 

Our options are to purchase a Viking Transfer or purchase a private car service.

 

Our plane departure to the USA is at 10:30am.

 

We have done Viking transfers before, so we know the routine.

 

If we decide the private route transfer our concern is the luggage may not be available in the terminal for pickup at 7am when the ship docks at 5am.

 

We may not be the strongest retirees to use self disembarkation with our luggage especially since one of us has partial knee surgery last Jan 2024.

 

So my question is, can Viking have our luggage available in the terminal for say a 7:15am private car pickup service ?

 

I know the next question is to ask Vegas for my odds on our bags available in the terminal at say 7am.

 

We recently disembarked in Vancouver. The earliest available disembarkation was 0700 (we arrived about 0600). From 0700 to sometime after 0800, pax who wished to disembark were required to deal with their luggage on their own. That was stated on the disembarkation letter.

 

My memory has it that luggage was scheduled to start to be available for pax about 0815. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the luggage conveyor and the backup was a crane moving one pallet at a time. The net result was about a 60-minute delay in the posted disembarkation times - pressuring some pax flight times.

 

Given your 2-hour window, it wouldn't hurt to ask Viking if it's doable, but obviously the unexpected can happen. Good luck with whatever you choose! 🍺🥌

[ohiojohn]

1 hour ago, CurlerRob said:

 

We recently disembarked in Vancouver. The earliest available disembarkation was 0700 (we arrived about 0600). From 0700 to sometime after 0800, pax who wished to disembark were required to deal with their luggage on their own. That was stated on the disembarkation letter.

 

My memory has it that luggage was scheduled to start to be available for pax about 0815. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the luggage conveyor and the backup was a crane moving one pallet at a time. The net result was about a 60-minute delay in the posted disembarkation times - pressuring some pax flight times.

 

Given your 2-hour window, it wouldn't hurt to ask Viking if it's doable, but obviously the unexpected can happen. Good luck with whatever you choose! 🍺🥌

Thanks for your response.  Viking has indicated in the documents not to schedule any outbound flights out of FCO before 10am, ours is at 10:30.  I know the Viking transfer would work, but trying to use a private transfer.  I have looked at many angles.  Funny story,  last week we booked flights from FCO to the USA for another Viking Disembarkation in April 2025.  This time we looked at later flights that day.  The cost of those flights caused my heart rate to peak.  So, I checked flights 2 days later leaving on a Monday, I kid you not thousands $ were saved.  Why is this funny, the day before our flight is Easter Sunday. Maybe good and bad.

[DrKoob]

If you decide to make your own private transfer, try Welcome Pickups (www.welcomepickups.com). They are my new go-to for transfers. They are in most major cities in Europe and the Americas, as well as some in Asia. They meet you inside the airport or right outside the cruise port with your name on a sign. They help take your bags to the car. When we got to the airport, they got our bags out and, in one case, walked us into where we checked our luggage. Another time, we were going from airport to hotel, and the hotel was on a pedestrian street. The driver walked us all the way into the hotel, which was halfway down the block. 

 

I love that they contact us a week ahead to verify, and then the day before (we fly to Europe tomorrow, and I just got the e-mail), they send us the driver's name, type of car and license plate number. They verify the address, and they give you the driver's contact number. 

 

On this trip, we are using them all over England, especially in London. The traffic is too much there to watch a cab's meter go up and up and up...

[AroundWithMAPTravels]

29 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

If you decide to make your own private transfer, try Welcome Pickups (www.welcomepickups.com). They are my new go-to for transfers. They are in most major cities in Europe and the Americas, as well as some in Asia. They meet you inside the airport or right outside the cruise port with your name on a sign. They help take your bags to the car. When we got to the airport, they got our bags out and, in one case, walked us into where we checked our luggage. Another time, we were going from airport to hotel, and the hotel was on a pedestrian street. The driver walked us all the way into the hotel, which was halfway down the block. 

 

I love that they contact us a week ahead to verify, and then the day before (we fly to Europe tomorrow, and I just got the e-mail), they send us the driver's name, type of car and license plate number. They verify the address, and they give you the driver's contact number. 

 

On this trip, we are using them all over England, especially in London. The traffic is too much there to watch a cab's meter go up and up and up...

We used wecomepickups twice in Malta very recently.   Seamless. Comforting. Comfortable (one of the pickups was 3am in a city known for the party gang, which we are NOT).  Still felt safe.   I am looking for other places that I am traveling that I can use this service.

👍

[DrKoob]

9 minutes ago, AroundWithMAPTravels said:

We used wecomepickups twice in Malta very recently.   Seamless. Comforting. Comfortable (one of the pickups was 3am in a city known for the party gang, which we are NOT).  Still felt safe.   I am looking for other places that I am traveling that I can use this service.

👍

We used them in Lisbon and in Prague. Great in both places. This trip will be in London and Glasgow as well as getting to and from home to the airport here in the Seattle area. Pricing is very fair as well.

[cmason]

While sailing on another cruise line, I spent a few days in Rome prior to the cruise. I took the express train from FCO to the Rome train station.  A few days later I took the train from Rome to Civitavecchia. It took perhaps an hour.

 

The train station is across from the port, but you need to board a port bus to get to the berth where your cruise ship is located. This is far easier than it sounds, and the busses are waiting by the entrance to the port.  

 

So, the train is a reasonable option, as the bus will drop you by the station, you take a Trenitalia train to Rome, then get on the Leonardo Express to FCO. You can check the Trenitalia website for Civitavecchia Porto to Fiumicino Aeroporto.

[ohiojohn]

3 hours ago, DrKoob said:

If you decide to make your own private transfer, try Welcome Pickups (www.welcomepickups.com). They are my new go-to for transfers. They are in most major cities in Europe and the Americas, as well as some in Asia. They meet you inside the airport or right outside the cruise port with your name on a sign. They help take your bags to the car. When we got to the airport, they got our bags out and, in one case, walked us into where we checked our luggage. Another time, we were going from airport to hotel, and the hotel was on a pedestrian street. The driver walked us all the way into the hotel, which was halfway down the block. 

 

I love that they contact us a week ahead to verify, and then the day before (we fly to Europe tomorrow, and I just got the e-mail), they send us the driver's name, type of car and license plate number. They verify the address, and they give you the driver's contact number. 

 

On this trip, we are using them all over England, especially in London. The traffic is too much there to watch a cab's meter go up and up and up...

 

1 hour ago, cmason said:

While sailing on another cruise line, I spent a few days in Rome prior to the cruise. I took the express train from FCO to the Rome train station.  A few days later I took the train from Rome to Civitavecchia. It took perhaps an hour.

 

The train station is across from the port, but you need to board a port bus to get to the berth where your cruise ship is located. This is far easier than it sounds, and the busses are waiting by the entrance to the port.  

 

So, the train is a reasonable option, as the bus will drop you by the station, you take a Trenitalia train to Rome, then get on the Leonardo Express to FCO. You can check the Trenitalia website for Civitavecchia Porto to Fiumicino Aeroporto.

 

3 hours ago, DrKoob said:

If you decide to make your own private transfer, try Welcome Pickups (www.welcomepickups.com). They are my new go-to for transfers. They are in most major cities in Europe and the Americas, as well as some in Asia. They meet you inside the airport or right outside the cruise port with your name on a sign. They help take your bags to the car. When we got to the airport, they got our bags out and, in one case, walked us into where we checked our luggage. Another time, we were going from airport to hotel, and the hotel was on a pedestrian street. The driver walked us all the way into the hotel, which was halfway down the block. 

 

I love that they contact us a week ahead to verify, and then the day before (we fly to Europe tomorrow, and I just got the e-mail), they send us the driver's name, type of car and license plate number. They verify the address, and they give you the driver's contact number. 

 

On this trip, we are using them all over England, especially in London. The traffic is too much there to watch a cab's meter go up and up and up...

Agree about Welcome Pickups.  We will use them when arriving Athens, which is on the front end of this same cruise.  Thanks for all your info. It is helpful.

[Ready to Sail!]

19 hours ago, ohiojohn said:

Thanks for your response.  Viking has indicated in the documents not to schedule any outbound flights out of FCO before 10am, ours is at 10:30.  I know the Viking transfer would work, but trying to use a private transfer.  I have looked at many angles.  Funny story,  last week we booked flights from FCO to the USA for another Viking Disembarkation in April 2025.  This time we looked at later flights that day.  The cost of those flights caused my heart rate to peak.  So, I checked flights 2 days later leaving on a Monday, I kid you not thousands $ were saved.  Why is this funny, the day before our flight is Easter Sunday. Maybe good and bad.

I just had s similiar experience trying to change one leg of muti city flights.  Checked website and got a almost 2K increase.  Checked less than a week later and its just over $200 so called AA to make the change.  Rep said $1500 increase. I said site said $200.  She disagreed so I said thanks, hung up and did myself directly on site for the $200 increase.  Air travel these days is really crazy.  Wasn't this way "back in the day."

[ohiojohn]

1 hour ago, Ready to Sail! said:

I just had s similiar experience trying to change one leg of muti city flights.  Checked website and got a almost 2K increase.  Checked less than a week later and its just over $200 so called AA to make the change.  Rep said $1500 increase. I said site said $200.  She disagreed so I said thanks, hung up and did myself directly on site for the $200 increase.  Air travel these days is really crazy.  Wasn't this way "back in the day."

agree with your experience.  I just finished booking refundable flights for another cruise last week with a price I was comfortable with.  Then a few hours later I noticed the price was several thousand dollars higher.  These flights were booked as soon as the 330? Day Window opened up.  People we say wait until about 6 months before your cruise to book to get better pricing.  That may be true say for coach but for Premium Economy or business class, I have found booking earlier is best.  I guess it is all about available inventory of seats.

[Ready to Sail!]

5 minutes ago, ohiojohn said:

agree with your experience.  I just finished booking refundable flights for another cruise last week with a price I was comfortable with.  Then a few hours later I noticed the price was several thousand dollars higher.  These flights were booked as soon as the 330? Day Window opened up.  People we say wait until about 6 months before your cruise to book to get better pricing.  That may be true say for coach but for Premium Economy or business class, I have found booking earlier is best.  I guess it is all about available inventory of seats.

Exactly.  We book Premium Economy also and there are very few seat in that catagory, depending on airline.   Also told by an agent yesterday who said the flights with longer layovers are cheaper.  We only want 1 layover and planes with 2-4-2 configurations so we can have aisle, window to ourselves for long flights.  That's why we book early also.  Guess pickiness is expensive!!

[TinaLee]

We've used Welcome Pickups in many ports, but in Italy we use Stefano's Romecabs. Highly recommend, great people to work with. 

[Peregrina651]

On 5/29/2024 at 12:43 PM, ohiojohn said:

 

We are reviewing our options on how to get from the Viking ship at Civitavecchia to FCO Rome's airport after our Viking cruise.

 

The port arrival is Oct 19, 2024 with not many ships in port that day.

 

Our options are to purchase a Viking Transfer or purchase a private car service.

 

Our plane departure to the USA is at 10:30am.

 

We have done Viking transfers before, so we know the routine.

 

If we decide the private route transfer our concern is the luggage may not be available in the terminal for pickup at 7am when the ship docks at 5am.

 

We may not be the strongest retirees to use self disembarkation with our luggage especially since one of us has partial knee surgery last Jan 2024.

 

So my question is, can Viking have our luggage available in the terminal for say a 7:15am private car pickup service ?

 

I know the next question is to ask Vegas for my odds on our bags available in the terminal at say 7am.

 

Food for thought.

 

If your invoice said not to book flights before 10 am, it means that Viking expects (and that is not a guarantee) guests to be able to start heading to the airport at 6am --  one hour of drive time arriving plus 3 hours before departure.

 

You plan to arrive  two hours ahead of departure. Well, actually it is less than two hours, because boarding closes 15-30 minutes ahead of departure and you have to be at the gate by 10am.  Now you are down to an hour and half to check in, hand over your checked bags, get through security, go through border control and walk to your gate.  Is that really enough time?

 

 

 

[ohiojohn]

1 hour ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Food for thought.

 

If your invoice said not to book flights before 10 am, it means that Viking expects (and that is not a guarantee) guests to be able to start heading to the airport at 6am --  one hour of drive time arriving plus 3 hours before departure.

 

You plan to arrive  two hours ahead of departure. Well, actually it is less than two hours, because boarding closes 15-30 minutes ahead of departure and you have to be at the gate by 10am.  Now you are down to an hour and half to check in, hand over your checked bags, get through security, go through border control and walk to your gate.  Is that really enough time?

 

 

 

Thank you for your kind insight and food for thought.  Yes you are correct, I am not allowing enough time. So, last week I sent to Viking a transfer request form, which I will follow up in about a week.  I preferred the private car route but do not believe Viking would have our bags ready in the terminal at 6:00am while they are focusing on getting bags into the terminal for the Viking transfer guests.

I have appreciated reading your many comments, as we are refugees from Celebrity and do not know all that we should know after only 2 cruises with Viking.

[Peregrina651]

32 minutes ago, ohiojohn said:

Thank you for your kind insight and food for thought.  Yes you are correct, I am not allowing enough time. So, last week I sent to Viking a transfer request form, which I will follow up in about a week.  I preferred the private car route but do not believe Viking would have our bags ready in the terminal at 6:00am while they are focusing on getting bags into the terminal for the Viking transfer guests.

I have appreciated reading your many comments, as we are refugees from Celebrity and do not know all that we should know after only 2 cruises with Viking.

 

I'm so glad. Now I can stop worrying about you getting to your gate in time..

 

 

[aungrl]

10 hours ago, ohiojohn said:

Thank you for your kind insight and food for thought.  Yes you are correct, I am not allowing enough time. So, last week I sent to Viking a transfer request form, which I will follow up in about a week.  I preferred the private car route but do not believe Viking would have our bags ready in the terminal at 6:00am while they are focusing on getting bags into the terminal for the Viking transfer guests.

I have appreciated reading your many comments, as we are refugees from Celebrity and do not know all that we should know after only 2 cruises with Viking.

It sounds like you have a good plan in place, but one thing that occurred to me as I read this post is that - if you're able to do it  - you could walk your bags off yourself, rather than putting them out the night before for Viking to offload with all the others.  That eliminates the time associated with waiting for your bags once you disembark.  (That said, in our experience, the bags have always been waiting for us once we walked into the terminal.)

[ohiojohn]

1 minute ago, aungrl said:

It sounds like you have a good plan in place, but one thing that occurred to me as I read this post is that - if you're able to do it  - you could walk your bags off yourself, rather than putting them out the night before for Viking to offload with all the others.  That eliminates the time associated with waiting for your bags once you disembark.  (That said, in our experience, the bags have always been waiting for us once we walked into the terminal.)

 

We thought of that, but walking off with large suitcases would max out my wife who had partial knee replacement this past January, and is doing great.  We even thought about downsizing the luggage, but this cruise is 15 days with a 4 night pre Greece excursion, and we are arriving 4 days early to explore on our own.  We have done 2 Viking cruises so we are familiar with the post cruise transfer process.  Our next cruise also disembarks in Civitavecchia, but I already booked an outbound from FCO at 1:50pm.  I would like to think I am a fast learner.

Thanks for your reply.

[Hanoj]

On 5/30/2024 at 11:00 AM, Ready to Sail! said:

I just had s similiar experience trying to change one leg of muti city flights.  Checked website and got a almost 2K increase.  Checked less than a week later and its just over $200 so called AA to make the change.  Rep said $1500 increase. I said site said $200.  She disagreed so I said thanks, hung up and did myself directly on site for the $200 increase.  Air travel these days is really crazy.  Wasn't this way "back in the day."

 

Especially with Always Apologizing.

[Hanoj]

On 5/30/2024 at 12:13 PM, ohiojohn said:

agree with your experience.  I just finished booking refundable flights for another cruise last week with a price I was comfortable with.  Then a few hours later I noticed the price was several thousand dollars higher.  These flights were booked as soon as the 330? Day Window opened up.  People we say wait until about 6 months before your cruise to book to get better pricing.  That may be true say for coach but for Premium Economy or business class, I have found booking earlier is best.  I guess it is all about available inventory of seats.

 

It's probably more to do with the pricing algorithms used, which includes tracking history. Sometimes it almost seems like an auction process. Dynamic pricing is euphemism for extract as much from the customer as possible.