Flight out of Barcelona

[taylor1293]

We are sailing on the Epic next June. What is the earliest we should consider booking our flight home? I have no experience with sailing in Europe and how early we can get off the ship. 

 

[BirdTravels]

Noon. 

[beachitnow]

We walked off with our luggage and had plenty of time to catch an early am flight of 10am. There was no customs to go through at the port because our ship never left the EU.  Have a fun cruise!

[Georgia_Peaches]

I agree with noon.  We flew out of Barcelona after a cruise and while getting off the ship was easy, navigating the airport was something we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time for.  And if you have VAT to get refunded, there's a line for that.  Noon will give you time to get there without rushing. 

Oh and one more thing, be sure that the items you have in your carry on meet acceptable US airport security standards.  Last year I had a bottle of olive oil in my carry on so it wouldn't get broken.  It was a full size bottle that got through Barcelona airport security just fine.  But we had to change planes in Newark to make our final leg back to ATL.  Once in Newark, we had to deplane and go back through security.  I forgot about the olive oil in my carry on and since my luggage was checked, I had no place to put it.  It was confiscated bc it was more than 3 oz.  (this isn't applicable if you have a direct flight...which I will have next time.)

[Son of a son of a ...]

I recall getting off around 7:00 in May of 2016 - it was a Sunday.  We were in a cab and at the airport by 8:00.  Checked bags and through security by 9:00 for direct flight to PHL that hadn’t even arrived yet.  This was exceptionally smooth, which doesn’t happen all the time so I would build in at least 2 hrs for contingencies.

[taylor1293]

Thanks for the replies. We were looking at a 10:00 am flight.  As of right now, all the flights after that are at least double in cost. It sounds like it's possible, but, not if there are complications.

[bozman2112]

For what it's worth. We booked air through NCL and they put us on a 12:10 out of BCN.

[NancyW12]

10am is just fine! I took the NCL transfer in August. We left the pier at 6:15 and arrived at the airport at 7. The Air France counter didn't even open up until 7:30 and had everybody thru in about 45 minutes. It was just fine.

[taylor1293]

9 minutes ago, NancyW12 said:

10am is just fine! I took the NCL transfer in August. We left the pier at 6:15 and arrived at the airport at 7. The Air France counter didn't even open up until 7:30 and had everybody thru in about 45 minutes. It was just fine.

 

That’s good to hear because now we are looking at a 9:30 flight to Paris and then flying out of Paris to Florida. 

[EDLOS]

On 10/26/2018 at 9:00 PM, taylor1293 said:

We are sailing on the Epic next June. What is the earliest we should consider booking our flight home? I have no experience with sailing in Europe and how early we can get off the ship. 

 

What time does your ship dock ? if it docks at 7:00, that does not mean you can get off at 7:00 AM .  9:30 flight departure would be very iffy if you are not off the ship with luggage and into a taxis by 7:00 AM.  And only if you are carrying all your luggage with you.

[taylor1293]

15 hours ago, EDLOS said:

What time does your ship dock ? if it docks at 7:00, that does not mean you can get off at 7:00 AM .  9:30 flight departure would be very iffy if you are not off the ship with luggage and into a taxis by 7:00 AM.  And only if you are carrying all your luggage with you.

I believe it docks around 6. We would carry off all of our luggage. 

[live2dive45]

We just disembarked the Epic 2 days ago in Barcelona.  Ship arrived before its scheduled time of 5AM.  We were off the ship shortly after 7AM. At the airport by 745AM for a 1040AM flight to JFK.  If 5AM is Epic's scheduled arrival time on your cruise then making a 10AM flight should be very do-able.  Enjoy!

[GirlWriter]

Here is another option for you to consider: if you don't want the stress of trying to meet an early flight on debarkation day, and you are able to stay an extra day, plan to spend one night in Barcelona and catch that same early flight the next day. That is what my family did. We found that the expense of the extra day -- hotel, food, transportation -- was less than the difference between the early morning flight price and the later-in-the-day flight price. So, we were able to "save" money that way, reduce stress, and enjoy an extra day in Barcelona.

[jenf22]

We just booked a 9am flight for our Spirit cruise in March.  Like a previous poster said, it was thousands more to book a later time.  The Spirit is scheduled to arrive at 5am and we plan to keep our luggage and be off as soon as allowed.  Fingers crossed it works!

[ollienbertsmum]

I looked from my balcony on the Epic on Sunday morning at 6 am.  We had docked on time.  There were people leaving and a number of taxis in the queue.  We left about 45 minutes later (I always get breakfast snacks the morning before and keep them in the room fridge to save time going up to the buffet).  

 

The only potential problem would be if there was something mechanical/medical emergency/bad weather (sound familiar live2dive45 ???  That would still be the same if you booked a later flight. 

[jemz1949]

September 2018 Sunday arrival back in Barcelona at 5a;  Walked off at 7a, grabbed our luggage and headed for the airport arriving around 745a for our 1030a departure on Delta back to ATL.  Fortunate enough to have Business Class tickets which gave us a much quicker priority check in, allowed us to bypass an extremely long security line followed by the requirement  to go thru passport control.   We had plenty of time and were at our gate ready for boarding around 945a.  Reemphasizing that the security lines on that Sunday were extremely long and suggesting that when you get checked in, get to and thru the security line and passport control as soon as you can....

[taylor1293]

Thank you everyone for your opinions!

 

We ended up booking a 10:45 am flight out of Barcelona to London. We plan to stay in London for a night and fly home the next day :). 

[AllenO]

We are traveling in June as well, but when we asked the booking agent about flights we were told, and I am not exaggerating one bit, we would do better to book to independently because their prices were too high.  Sort of flabbergasted but we took his advice.  Paying $900-$1,000 RT from Chicago.  How does that add up to others?  Just curious.

 

[Son of a son of a ...]

Direct flight?  Yes, I would pay $1k RT from PHL to BCN for economy.  Paying that from Chicago would be a decent fare given the longer distance.  I could cut $300-$400 off of the flight, but that would mean multiple connections and 18+ hrs of travel time.  Convenience ain’t cheap, but less stress is invaluable 

[taylor1293]

47 minutes ago, AllenO said:

We are traveling in June as well, but when we asked the booking agent about flights we were told, and I am not exaggerating one bit, we would do better to book to independently because their prices were too high.  Sort of flabbergasted but we took his advice.  Paying $900-$1,000 RT from Chicago.  How does that add up to others?  Just curious.

 

 

Sounds reasonable. Our flight situation is a little different as we aren’t flying in and out of Barcelona. We are flying non-stop into Paris and non-stop from London. I can’t remember the exact amount but I think it ended being around $650/$700 pp. 

 

[Son of a son of a ...]

3 minutes ago, taylor1293 said:

 

Sounds reasonable. Our flight situation is a little different as we aren’t flying in and out of Barcelona. We are flying non-stop into Paris and non-stop from London. I can’t remember the exact amount but I think it ended being around $650/$700 pp. 

 

 

Sorry for the confusion ... I was commenting on AllenO’s post.

[taylor1293]

On 2/24/2019 at 8:49 PM, Son of a son of a ... said:

 

Sorry for the confusion ... I was commenting on AllenO’s post.

 

No worries. I was responding to him too :).