Viva Italia very early arrival time

[Mirthrindr2]

Buona Sera folks! I cannot believe we are only 69 Days, 12 Hours and 45 minutes away till wheels up and we are whisked away to Italy on our first ABD adventure and trip to Italy.

We are not doing a pre-stay, and our flight is arriving in Rome at 7:45AM the morning of the ABD start date.

Does anyone know what we should expect? I mean, I'm certain our hotel room at the Bernini will not be ready so early in the morning, so I'm not quite sure how we should plan out those first several hours upon arriving.

I know normally you don't have to worry about luggage when arriving in Rome since ABD handles it, but do you think they will still do so so early in the AM on arrival day?

I know ABD provides the transfer to the hotel when you arrive, but again I wasn't sure what we should do arriving so early. Do we still take the ABD provided transportation to the hotel so early knowing our room almost certainly will not be ready, and just strike out on our own from the hotel for a few hours? Or does it make more sense to make some sort of other plans?

I do assume ABD will still be at the airport picking up the very early arriving ABD'ers such as ourselves, but since they just take you to your hotel and the hotels almost certainly wouldn't have the rooms ready so early in the morning, I wasn't sure if perhaps ABD doesn't start picking up ABD'ers until a certain hour of the morning.

Thanks in advance.

 

[tufbuf]

Hello! You will so enjoy this trip!! We usually almost always add a pre-night for assurance. As long as you don't have flight delays, you will be okay. ABD will pick you up at the airport regardless of the time. We arrived an hour late in our last ABD to Peru and their meet and greet person was there, worried but she waited. It takes about half an hour to get to the hotel. Chances are your room will not be ready. The front desk will hold your luggage for you, just take the essentials and they wool deliver them once your room is ready. Hotel Bernini is in a great location! Lots of eateries and shops you can go to to kill time. It is also a walk away from the Trevi Fountain and a little longer walk to the Forum and the Coliseum. You can do a sneak peek of those sights if you wish. Try to get some sleep on the plane since the welcome dinner is that evening, correct? There will be lots of walling in Rome so make sure you get a good night's rest that evening.

Hope that helps! Viva Italia was our very first ABD and we had an absolute blast and truly memorable!!!

 

[tufbuf]

I forgot to mention, your guides will be at the lobby that morning so you can ask them any questions you may have. They gave us hop- on hop- off tour bus tickets then, not sure if they still do. The year before we did Knights and Lights, ABD was giving away London Eye tickets. I had to book that one on my own online.

 

[sayhello]

I agree with tufbuf. If you have arranged for ABD to pick you up on arrival, they will pick you up whenever you arrive. My flight to Alaska got delayed, and I ended up arriving at 2am in the morning. The ABD Guides had been watching my flight and were aware of the delay, and when I got off the plane, there was Jesse, waiting to help me pick up my luggage and whisk me to the hotel. That's one of the things I love about doing an ABD.

Sayhello

 

[Diskidatheart]

No worries on your early arrival. The guides have the names and arrival times of the entire group. They check the arrivals to make sure if you are early, late, or on time. Our flight was delayed last year, so we didn't get there that early. We had quite a few hours before our room was ready. We went across the street for the best pizza we ever had (until we had pizza a couple more times, then realized it was the worst of the trip....but still really good). There will be someone at the airport with an ABD sign. You can't miss them. They will point you to the baggage claim where you will get your bags. We dragged them to the curb and then ABD did the rest for the rest of the trip. Our guides were at the lobby and gave us options. You may want to have some ideas of some stuff to do on your first day. You WILL be tired so try to get outside...the best fight against jet lag is fresh air. My wife and I then walked around and found the Spanish Steps. We got back to the hotel and our room was ready. We did take a power snooze for a couple of hours since neither of us slept on the plane. The welcome dinner was a blast. You are going to enjoy this trip so so so much!

 

[Mirthrindr2]

Thanks for the responses and all the info folks, much appreciated.

Sounds like we'll be fine with expecting to have our ABD ride waiting for us at the airport and we should just take that to the hotel despite the early hour, check in at the hotel and have them hold our bags there while we strike out on foot to explore the area within walking distance of the hotel and by the time we return in the afternoon, our room will most likely be ready.

Thanks again

 

[sssteele]

Mirthrindr2, I know you won't join us on 10/13 or the 12/01 cruise, but thanks for posting this question. Picked up some valuable information here.

 

[SAtella]

Hi, Did you use your points for this trip to Italy? If not, can you pass along any info, thanks. I'm hoping to go next year but wasn't planning on ABD since I don't have enough points.

Thanks!
Shelly

 

[sssteele]

Hi, Did you use your points for this trip to Italy? If not, can you pass along any info, thanks. I'm hoping to go next year but wasn't planning on ABD since I don't have enough points.

Thanks!
Shelly

Call Costco and check with them on pricing. DH and I will be getting a $700.00 Costco card in the mail when we return. In addition, if we had been able to go on an earlier ABD, we would have also received a $500.00 Visa Gift Card.

Do you have points you can borrow from your next use year? Would that help?

 

[Mirthrindr2]

Hi, Did you use your points for this trip to Italy? If not, can you pass along any info, thanks. I'm hoping to go next year but wasn't planning on ABD since I don't have enough points.

Thanks!
Shelly

Hi Shelly. No, we did not use our DVC points. I did check the DVC Point Cost when I was researching, but it was a ridiculous amount of points necessary to cover two people for Viva Italia.

Good luck with your own decision.