Barcelona port

[dillie]

Hello everyone,

 

I've arranged a tour with my family for Barcelona in May on the Anthem Of The Seas. Has anyone heard here about new legal & security issues at Barcelona port?. Our tour guide informed us that he & other taxis & tour guides will now not be able to meet us directly at the ship. We will have to meet outside the port. I'm unsure if this includes coach tours as we are doing a tour in a car.

 

I know from only having been in port not on a trip it could be a long walk to get out of port. I do remember lots of ships are docked in Barcelona so also this could be an issue of how far to walk. If this is definetly the case I'm really hoping Royal Caribbean will provide a shuttle bus to the port entrance. In my situation I'm a little worried I'm not well & have to use a wheelchair plus my father who I'm going with has arthritis. Our guide is going to find out more information & hopefully find a solution. Oh the other thing that I was told was this is all over Spain.

 

So really just wondered if anyone had heard about it?. Have booked a tour & knew about this?. Or whether you know about shuttle buses?. Dillie

[impatientlywaiting]

I haven't heard about that in Barcelona but last April when we were in Belgium the ship provided a bus to take us out of the port area to where the taxi cabs were waiting. We weren't allowed to walk through the port area at all. This is probably the same situation as Barcelona. The ship's bus just goes back and forth all day long.

[MADflyer]

I do not want to speculate too much, but might think this has to do with the growth of UBER and other services. There have been some very strong protests against 'non-authorized' vehicles in Barcelona.

 

In Madrid a case resulted in a judge putting a 'temporary' ban on UBER services in Spain.

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30395093

 

Transportation is heavily regulated and taxi drivers pay substantial fees for authorization.

 

I am basing this post solely on speculation at this point and will not be back in Spain until February. I had not read anything prior to your post about this ban.

 

I do believe that authorized taxis and the blue port bus T3 are operating within the port without any disruption.

Edited January 24, 2015 by MADflyer

[dillie]

I do not want to speculate too much, but might think this has to do with the growth of UBER and other services. There have been some very strong protests against 'non-authorized' vehicles in Barcelona.

 

In Madrid a case resulted in a judge putting a 'temporary' ban on UBER services in Spain.

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30395093

 

Transportation is heavily regulated and taxi drivers pay substantial fees for authorization.

 

I am basing this post solely on speculation at this point and will not be back in Spain until February. I had not read anything prior to your post about this ban.

 

I do believe that authorized taxis and the blue port bus T3 are operating within the port without any disruption.

 

Thanks for replying. That's it UBER that's what the guide mentioned. If I'm honest I'm a little confused by it all haha. From what the guide said it was a recent ban. He is a licensed guide & we'd like to do his tour. I'm just concerned about how easy it's going to be for me getting out of port as I said I'm a wheelchair user. He said he'd use his own transport which he's insured for & he can help with my needs. In your opinion do you think it'll be ok?. Also have you heard if this will definetly be the case whether Royal Caribbean would lay on shuttles to get out of port?.

[skylight]

Last time when we left the ship in Barcelona our driver was waiting but without his vehicle. We had to walk to his car but it was a short walk and we were hurrying to get to airport. I am now going to check for our transfer this May from Barcelona.:)

[tidygirl]

We departed from Barcelona on our cruise in Sept so I am not sure about the private taxi rules, but I do know that we caught a shuttle bus for 2 e a person to take us to the ship and back to the entrance of the port when our cruise was over. I can't say for positive it was wheelchair accessible but I'd think some of them would be. So if you have to get out of the port to meet your driver this is an option you just have to pay for if they don't offer a free shuttle. My young adult kids said it was worth the 2e they would even pay for it if they had to instead of hauling the luggage that far! :)

[dillie]

We departed from Barcelona on our cruise in Sept so I am not sure about the private taxi rules, but I do know that we caught a shuttle bus for 2 e a person to take us to the ship and back to the entrance of the port when our cruise was over. I can't say for positive it was wheelchair accessible but I'd think some of them would be. So if you have to get out of the port to meet your driver this is an option you just have to pay for if they don't offer a free shuttle. My young adult kids said it was worth the 2e they would even pay for it if they had to instead of hauling the luggage that far! :)

 

That's really good to know thank you. I'm sure there will be accessible shuttle buses I hope so anyway. 2€ is great price we wouldn't mind paying that either. At least we know can get to the port entrance to meet the guide.

[joandian]

We've cruised to Barcelona several times as the the previous poster mentioned, there was a shuttle bus to a point close to the Columbus Monument for only a few Euro. It runs both ways.