Costly Mistakes Cruisers Make with Civitavecchia Transfers

Buon giorno and welcome to Stefano’s RomeCabs, Rome’s leading company for trusted Transfers and Tours.

We’ve always taken great care to provide as many details and helpful advice on our website for our clients to be well informed prior to their transfers with us. Afterall, a well informed traveler is a more confident and less stressed traveler.

As we can’t fit all the information we’d like offer our clients on our website, we’d like to provide some additional helpful information to you in this blog post.

From years of experience with tens of thousands of cruisers, we’ve encountered some common costly mistakes and below are the most common. So please keep these in mind when planning your cruise related transfers.

BOOKING YOUR TRANSFER ON THE WRONG DATE

Double check your Travel Date – Stefano’s RomeCabs

One of the most common costly transfer mistake is booking your transfer on the wrong date.

Whether the transfer starts from the Airport, from Rome hotel, or from Civitavecchia, this is still one of the most common booking errors that are also costly.

If you book your transfer a day earlier than the correct date, you risk incurring extra costs associated with a driver being provided for you and vehicle blocked for the duration of your reservation service. It means paying for 2 transfers instead of 1.

If you book your transfer a day later than the correct date, you’ll find yourself without a driver coming to meet you.

If availability is not possible for in the moment, you are at risk having to make last minute arrangements on your own or risk arriving too late to the airport or cruise ship.

It can also mean having to settle for a far more pricier option than the service you originally booked on the wrong date.

BOOKING ARRIVAL FLIGHT TOO LATE IN THE DAY, AND MISS THE SHIP

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Don’t book your arrival flight too late in the day! – RomeCabs

We have seen many cruisers miss their ship as a result of arriving too late at Fiumicino Airport after their flight experienced some delays.

Because they didn’t allow sufficient leeway to accommodate any unexpected delays, they increased their risks of arriving too late to board their ship. Other times cruisers had to choose between waiting for their delayed or missing luggage to arrive…. or miss their ship.

On occasions, even morning arrivals caused cruisers to arrive too late to embark on their cruise as a result of missed connections and being re-booked on flights that arrived in Italy too late.

To be safe in case of missed connections, flight delays, or missing luggage, most of our clients arrive in Rome at least 1 or more days prior to their cruise departure.

This extra time afforded them time to rest after a long flight, become accustomed to the new time zone, enjoy the Eternal City, and have enough time to sort out any lost or missing luggage issues.

BOOKING DEPARTURE FLIGHT TOO EARLY IN THE MORNING – MISS THE FLIGHT

Still on the topic of flights, booking your departure flight from Rome’s airport too early in the morning on the date your ship returns to Civitavecchia at the end of your cruise is also risky.

On occasions ships docked later than scheduled…. Disembarkation process can sometimes be slow and take much longer than planned…. Unexpected traffic can also cause highway delays.

By not allowing yourself sufficient time to cover any unexpected ship or traffic delays, you risk arriving too late to the airport for your departure flight.

Most of our clients book flights after 11:00 AM (if their ship is scheduled to dock at 5 AM) to give themselves plenty of time to disembark and travel to the airport.

FORGET TO CHECK PASSPORTS FOR EXPIRATION DATE

It’s very important to check the expiration date on your passport.

Not only different countries have different requirements for the total of months permitted to travel prior to expiration date, but cruise lines may be under different regulations.

We’ve had several clients over the years who had to reschedule their arrival in Rome last minute as a member of their party was denied boarding back home because their passport was expiring too soon.

We also had a client who arrived in Italy with his passport, but was denied boarding on the ship in Civitavecchia due to expiration reasons. Instead of embarking on their anticipated cruise, they had to return to Rome.

BRING EXTRA LUGGAGE WITHOUT INFORMING THE TRANSFER COMPANY

On our reservation forms we ask our clients to provide us their total luggage count (check in suitcases and carry ons together) so they will be provided a suitable size vehicle.

We also specify on our website the maximum luggage capacity a vehicle has so our clients know in advance and plan accordingly – especially if they are traveling together as a party of 6-8.
Also for parties of 1-3 where a sedan is normally provided, we request luggage information in order to determine if a sedan is suitable or an upgrade to a larger vehicle is necessary.

If travelers decide to bring extra luggage without informing their transfer provider, the vehicle that arrives may be suitable for just the luggage indicated in the reservation.

When the luggage amount exceeds capacity, either a minivan is required instead of a sedan, or 2 vehicles if the luggage exceeds what a minivan can accommodate.
This can result in delays as a new vehicle is made available (and on busy days last minute vehicles cannot be guaranteed), unforeseen additional costs of vehicle upgrades or additional vehicles, and overall stress.

Also important for the same reason is to inform your transfer provider if additional passengers will join your transfers. It’s very important to secure in advance your proper size vehicle to safely and comfortably accommodate all passengers and their luggage, And in case an additional vehicle is required to accommodate the extra luggage you will have that secured in advance as well for a seamless and predictable service.

FORGETTING DOCUMENTS, MEDICINE, LUGGAGE AT THE HOTEL

Another very common mistakes travelers and cruises alike make is leaving behind important personal items at their hotel when leaving for the airport or cruise port.

On the average, the most frequently forgotten items are medicine, documents (including passports), and pieces of luggage.

If realizing upon arriving at the Airport or Civitavecchia port that they’ve forgotten their items, they may or may not have enough time to return to Rome to retrieve them. They risk either leaving without them, or missing their flight or cruise ship.

In case of passports and documents left behind, they had no option but return to retrieve them.

Also sometimes luggage is left behind at the port. In a hurry to disembark and with so many people and so much luggage around, it’s easy to forget an important piece of luggage.

So we ask that you PLEASE check and recheck your hotel room to make sure you packed all your belongings and left nothing behind in the Safe Box, in the Icebox, etc… and count your luggage carefully to make sure you have all of them together.

LEAVING VALUABLES BEHIND IN THE VEHICLE

Don’t forget your valuables in the vehicle! – RomeCabs

Possibly the most common mistake is leaving personal valuables behind in the vehicle.

While as long as the items are left behind in our vehicles, they will be returned as soon as possible.

Unfortunately this too can cause delays if the driver is already on his next service, or too far away to be able to return soon. Many highways such as the highway that connects Rome and Civitavecchia do not have U-turns or exit to turn around.

Always carefully check your seats, under your seats, and the seat pockets in front of you for any items placed or dropped there. Cameras, Phones, sunglasses, wallets, passports, Electronic devices, backpacks, briefcases, articles of clothing, and children’s toys are among the items most commonly left behind in our vehicles.

So please don’t risk making such preventable mistakes, check, double check, and triple check your hotel, cruise port and vehicle upon departure.

For more information about our Civitavecchia Transfers, Airport Transfers, Shore Excursions and Day Tours, please visit our website below.

Thank you very much and we look forward to welcome you to Italy!

Warmest regards,

Stefano’s RomeCabs Team

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