civitavecchia to CDG

I would look at returning from Milan or Rome. I know people post that they cannot get open jaw tickets with FF point but we always have. It does require working with an operator and an extra fee but the fee is far less than the transportation expensive. The ship will provide transportation to the Rome airport but it will be expensive maybe a 100E/person. The cheapest way would be the train to Rome from Civit.. and then the train to airport. Total time could be in the range of 3 hours. You could safely book a early PM departure. I would not try for late AM unless using ship's transportation.

The reason we would like to fly home out of CDG is that the saver awards out of Rome are gone already for the whole week following our cruise, meaning we would have to use twice as many miles. The saver awards are still available out of Paris.

But you also have a significant cost in time and money related to getting to Paris. Again look at Milan, Bern, or Zurich. You do not have the same level of demand for Milan as you do for Rome.

Susan, you can (with about 90 days advance purchase) take a direct night train from Rome to Paris Bercy for €45,00 each in a 4-bed compartment. You'd leave Rome at 19:45 and arrive in Paris at 10:24. Go here; at the center top of the page, change to English. For instance, pick a date 90 days out like 08/09/2011 (remember - date/month/year), then find the train #226, then click on the 'slect' button (sorry; the '' was necessary...), then scroll down and click on 'continue'. On the next page, look to the far left and find the drop-down menu that says 's*lect your fare'; choose 'Smart Price'. These are 2nd class, non-refundable/changeable tickets. Come to our next Sacto Area Helpline meeting! It'll be on June 25th at the Panera Bread cafe in Natomas; watch the General Europe section of the Helpline any day now for an announcement with the exact directions. Bring your questions with you!

Here are some possibilities: 1. Spend your free time in either Rome or Paris and fly either Vueling or easyJet from Fiumicino to Orly. Book ASAP to get the lowest possible fare. 2. Take the direct Rome-Paris night train described by Eileen. 3. Take a train from Rome to Milan and spend the night there. The next day either take the early morning (06:43) direct train to Paris or spend some more time in Milan and take the late afternoon (16:10) direct train. If you book well in advance (up to 90 days allowed) at trenitalia.com, you can get a Mini fare of €73 for Rome-Milan and a Smart Price fare of €30 for Milan-Paris.

Thanks to everyone for their replies. After reading your suggestions and doing some further checking, we ended up deciding to spend a couple of days in Rome, then fly to Paris the night before our award flight back home. We were able to get the Rome/Paris flights for 15k points with another account we have, saving cash for shore excursions during the cruise. Thanks again!