We have priority disembarkation. Ship disembarkation starts at 8 am in Venice, need a flight VCE-CDG. Thoughts on how early I can schedule the flight? Much appreciated.

Under normal conditions I�d recommend nothing earlier than noon. It�ll take a bit of time to collect your bags, clear Italian customs, and get from the cruise dock to the airport. With Covid restrictions and procedures and not knowing how that might impact getting off the ship and then whatever drill they have at the airport I�d build in as much time as possible.

Noon (or maybe a little before) is the earliest I would book my flight for in your situation.

- The itinerary may state that disembarkation starts at 8 a.m., but that is not guaranteed. I was once on a cruise where disembarkation was delayed by over an hour due to an issue with another passenger.
- Customs usually does not take long, but there are no guarantees.
- Traffic can get bad between the port of Venice and VCE. IIRC the drive is less than 10 miles but can easily take half an hour on the morning of a cruise disembarking; taking a boat from the cruise port to the airport is at least that long.

Flying out of FLL after a cruise, I have been willing to book flights scheduled to depart three hours after disembarkation - but that is with early disembarkation, an easy (5 minute) ride to the airport, and going to a flight on an airline with a "flat tire" rule (unlike most European airlines IIRC).

I had one that was delayed by four hours thanks to US immigration. The airport was a nightmare of many of us rebooking flights (myself included). Now I rarely book the flight out before 2 pm....