Asking for friend going in June
She wants tips tricks on hiring gondola
in venice
Taxi: she gets into Rome Airport at 3pm
her ship sails at 6pm is there train to
Civitavecchai or should she take taxi
price of both. THanks

Changed title to be more descriptive

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Marta,

Regarding getting from Rome to Civitavecchia port. I don't know the answer but here are some items to help research. Here is the results of a search on Civitavecchia. There are many threads discussing options on getting to the port. There is a train that goes from the airport to the port. It is about 1 1/2 hours and involves a transfer. The cost is around 15 euros. Several threads also mention that you may have to take a bus or taxi from the train station to the port. Hint, If you go to the Trenitalia website use fiumicino aeroporto as the "Leaving from" station and Civitavecchia as the "Going To".

Taxi or car service may be much quicker. I don't know the cost. One of the threads mentioned that the cost of a taxi from central Rome to Civitavecchia was around 250 euros. The airport may be closer (and less). Car services are less expensive. Searching the board will give you several potential companies and might be the best option.

Dear Joanne H,

It would be very risky to try to get there (to the dock) by train with only 3 hours. Too many things can go wrong. (Luggage coming slowly, traffic, etc etc) Also, it is necessary to be aboard the ship at least 45 minutes to an hour before departure!

I have booked a driver from the ship to Rome last May (05) and the cost was 160 Euro for 6 people. It will be cheaper for less people. Check his website at: www.limoinrome.com.
All his prices and information and many testimonials are there.

His email is claudio@limoinrome.com. His full name is Claudio Caponera. I totally recommend him. We were with him for 2 transfers and 2 tours and even lodged in the apartment below his in Castel Gandolfo last May (2005).
He is honest and a very good and thorough guide.

I have no tips about the gondolas. Usually they all agree on a price (maybe it's a union type of thing?) and they don't barter very much. It is very expensive (in my opinion) but a delightful experience. We took along a bottle of proseco and talked our Gondolier into singing a bit. Very nice.

Good luck and best travels for your friend.

Your friend is really going to be cutting it close arriving at the airport at 3 pm and needing to be onboard the ship for a 6 pm sailaway! Here is hoping the plane is on time. We flew into FCO the day b4 our cruise and our flight was late. By the time the luggage is retrieved, they go through customs, etc. it will probably be close to 4 pm.

The previous poster suggests booking a limo pickup with Claudio and I would also suggest the same thing. It is going to take approximately an hour to hour and a half to get from the airport to the port (hoping there is no traffic delays). We booked Claudio this past October to pick us up at our hotel in Rome and drive us to the port. We shared the ride w/ 4 other cruisers and it cost us E160.00 for the ride (for everyone, not per person). I would email Claudio and explain the circumstances and see if he thinks it will be a problem.

The other suggestion would be to book a transfer directly through the cruiseline even if it costs more money. Time is going to be of the essence for your friend. I would contact the cruiseline to see if this is possible. Did your friend make the flight arrangements through the cruiseline? If so, then they generally provide transfers.

Is it possible to get an earlier flight?

Good luck.

I forgot to add a comment about the gondolas in Venice. We cruised out of Venice several years ago and took a gondola ride b4 our cruise departed. There should be no problem finding a gondola! We took the water taxi from the ship to St. Mark's Sq. and found a gondola right there. I don't remember how much we paid. We only had time for a short ride because our ship was sailing at 5 pm. We didn't fly into Venice until the same day and our flight was late arriving so we didn't have time to much. I would never fly in on the same day as the ship departs again. It is so much less stressful arriving the day before.

We're going on a cruise in July and have arrive 2 days prior to our departure from Rome.

But, we have the reverse situation when the cruise docks back. We have only a 4 hour leeway between docking and catching our flight home. I have booked a private shuttle on the recommendation of others who have been in this situation and now have peace of mind.

The airline was also helpful with remote checking in.

Elly

Maybe this will alleviate some of your fears of getting to the airport and catching your plane!

Embarkation and disembarkation at Civitavecchia were the fastest that we have ever encountered on all our cruises.

Just make sure that when you fill out the forms the cruise ship gives you (usually 2-3 days prior to disembarkation), you indicate the time of your flight home.

We had an early 7:00 am pickup at the dock by a limo driver because several people were being driven to the airport for an 11:00 am flight. The rest of us were staying another day in Rome to sightsee. We indicated a 7 am pickup when we filled out our luggage tags. When we got our departure tags, we were scheduled to leave the ship at 6:15 am! Our ship docked at 4:30 am and I think that most of the cruise ships docking Civitavecchia will also arrive early.

So we were called to disembark the ship at 6:15 am and it took us about 5 minutes to retrieve our luggage and be standing on the dock for our limo! It was that quick. The luggage was arranged in neat rows by color tags so it was very easy to find ours. The biggest problem we had was the limo arrived late!

Are you doing a cruise ship transfer to the airport or arranging your own? If you are doing a cruise ship transfer, they are well aware of the times that people need to get to the airport. If you are arranging your own transfer, then you need to be very specific to the limo company that you have to be at the airport by a certain hour.

Our airport checkin was also the quickest and easiest we have ever had. We flew BA and they had a checkin kiosk right at the terminal entrance with BA personnel to assist you with the checkin process. You then picked up your boarding passes at the window. I think it was 15 minutes max for our checkin. We were sitting at our gate w/ plenty of time to spare.

Hope this helps.

Good luck.

Joanne, oh boy! Three hours to taxi on the runway, de-plane, get to the luggage pick-up at FCO get their bags-which always seem to be slow in arriving and get through customs as mentioned, out to the car and get up to Civitivecchia in what would be rush hour traffic...And often that stretch of road has a lane closed for construction...
Your friends need to be aboard no later than 5:30 with a 6pm embarkation and more likely 5pm should be the latest because lifeboat drill will be at 5:30.
As others have mentioned, taking the lines transfers might help because the ship won't leave with passangers aboard their shuttles, but if it were us we would come in the day before at least.

As for returning home the ships usually are docked and customs have cleared the ship by 6 or so in the am so eleven oclock flights are possible. We try not to make them for before noon but have had to do flights earlier and have always made it, both in Civi/Rome and Piraeus/Athens. The airports are both about the same distance away from the piers. Lisbon is closer to the airport but still a bit of a ride as is Istanbul. I mention these because they are the often pier/airports used for cruises.

Oh, be sure your friends have the pierside contact number in case they are late.

Rob doesn't think it can be done, I think they may be able to squeek through but by only a hair and only if everything goes right for them. There truly is no room for even a sneeze.

Whatever they decide we wish them fairwinds and smooth seas.
W

Another thing Rob is saying is that most of the times we have gone out of Civitivecchia-7 or 8 times- the cab or even limo drivers didn't know how to find their way to the ship and we had to direct them there ourselves. One time the driver took the north exit which meant we had to backtrack. Another time the driver turned right when he should have turned left and put us on the wrong side of the port. But we were never in a rush so we were fine.
Good luck

Thanks for the input I am passing this all on her as you great folks send it in.