Barcelona early ship walk off to catch an early BCN flight

[bobnsofi]

Our ship ports at 5am

 

What early flight time out of BCN seems reasonable?

???

 

We could have made an 8am flight out of Ft Lauderdale recently

 

BELOW IS FROM A RECENT POST I DID IN FT. LAUDERDALE

 

the ship ports at the end of the cruise at 5:30am... Once on the ship, the guest services desk said we could walk off at 6:15am. At 6:10am we were allowed to walk off. They have large 8 person FLL airport transfer vans waiting for $11pp. We were at FLL airport at 6:45am. We could have made an 8am flight.

[Nyc2tropics]

I'm wondering the same. We might book the Epic for June and was hoping to make a 10am flight home.

[MADflyer]

There are quite a lot of variables here.

 

First, a ship is not cleared the minute it hits the port. If Spain has a passenger selected for control for some reason they sometimes do this prior to the entire ship being cleared, meaning self-disembark is delayed until this clearance is given. I have seen this take 10 minutes and I have seen this take one hour.

 

I think most lines usually have their self disembark 45 minutes to one hour after arrival in port. Nothing moves until the clearance is given. This is always subject to change based on the ship and authorities.

 

With self baggage walk-off one hour after arrival in port the process goes very quickly. With the walk down the gangway, escalator down, passport check for non-Europeans and walk through the terminal, you are probably looking at 10 minutes from ship to taxi.

 

A taxi to the airport can be done early morning in 20 minutes and airline check-in is one hour prior to European or Domestic and suggested 2 hour prior to the USA one could make the airport by 6:30 for a 5 am Barcelona port arrival depending on the ship.

 

Terminal 1 is about 5 minutes further than Terminal 2.

 

Security lines at BCN can be quite heavy early due to the many Low Cost airlines that overnight planes for early departures.

[Jackbelle997]

MadFlyer, thanks for this info. We actually just booked the Epic in June and our only real non stop option back to JFK was a 10 am flight. The cruiseline suggests not booking flights back until 10:30 am, but I was thinking 10 hopefully is fine. The ship docks about 5 am so I figure we will self disembark so maybe by 7 am we should have a taxi and get to the airport by 7:30 ish. Hopefully that timeframe works out. Don't really want to miss my flight back, LOL!

 

Are the taxis plentiful? is there a long line? I was thinking of getting private transfers, any thoughts on that?

[MADflyer]

MadFlyer, thanks for this info. We actually just booked the Epic in June and our only real non stop option back to JFK was a 10 am flight. The cruiseline suggests not booking flights back until 10:30 am, but I was thinking 10 hopefully is fine. The ship docks about 5 am so I figure we will self disembark so maybe by 7 am we should have a taxi and get to the airport by 7:30 ish. Hopefully that timeframe works out. Don't really want to miss my flight back, LOL!

 

Are the taxis plentiful? is there a long line? I was thinking of getting private transfers, any thoughts on that?

 

With early walk-off, I have always preferred just going out to one of the hundreds of taxis waiting. They only bring about 20 at a time around to the Epic Terminal A, but it moves very quickly.

 

You should be fine with the 10 am flight. If that is Delta they might even still offer port check-in, but I am unsure.

[Langley Cruisers]

Just a note that we waited 55 minutes for a taxi (yes, I timed it - very long line) when we disembarked at Barcelona. Good thing we had several days there post-cruise and were only going to our hotel, or we would have been freaking out.

 

Personally, I would not book a flight before 11 am; there are just too many things out of your control.

Edited March 10, 2015 by Langley Cruisers

[cberge]

FYI..I don't think one can compare arriving at a port in the Med,disembarking,getting to the airport,through security as arriving in a US port etc.....two different scenarios...like comparing the Caribe ports as in getting a taxi or tour for the day to European ports.Just isn't the same.

[robin13]

Back in 2011 we were on Carnival's The Magic and walked off the ship with our luggage around 6:15am caught the first taxi in line and was at the BCN airport within 20 minutes. We arrived even before the airline counters were open. This year we will be on The Epic in May and I have a 10:45am flight booked back to the states. I will be doing the same thing as I did on The Magic and hope it goes as well.

[angeleyes27]

We are in the same boat literally and figuratively..on Epic trying to make a 10am flight. We only have carryon luggage.