Barcelona, Civil unrest...

[BILLSX21]

Have any recent cruisers on The Epic experienced any problems in Barcelona in regards to the current civil unrest and protests?  Have the problems been mostly at the airport?  Safety issues in the city?  We are flying in three days early for the sailing on November 10th.  Both air and hotel have been booked but not through NCL. There is NO media reporting on the situation there, for some unknown reason. 

[ColeThornton]

Most likely if there was any issue there that affected sailings or passengers it would have been reported here.   Google "civil unrest barcelona".  Lots of coverage.

Edited October 21, 2019 by ColeThornton

[graphicguy]

4 minutes ago, BILLSX21 said:

Have any recent cruisers on The Epic experienced any problems in Barcelona in regards to the current civil unrest and protests?  Have the problems been mostly at the airport?  Safety issues in the city?  We are flying in three days early for the sailing on November 10th.  Both air and hotel have been booked but not through NCL. There is NO media reporting on the situation there, for some unknown reason. 

Was in Barcelona a couple of months ago.  Catalan, the largest economic region, wants to secede.  Saw lots of political posters everywhere.  The people are passionate about the topic.  And, they're willing to calmly share their point of view.

 

I never saw anything close to rising tempers, or any sort of danger that I felt threatened by.  I'd go to Barcelona today if given the chance.

 

But, if you're the least bit skittish, skip Barcelona as a port or for embarkation/disembarkation.

 

 

[aero777]

Apparently this has been going on for quite awhile. When we cruised from Barcelona on the Epic October 2017 there were large scale protests taking place. The only impact we noticed was the Hop-on bus took a slightly different route. We were more concerned about pickpockets, which was also a nonissue for us.

This was our best cruise!

Edited October 21, 2019 by aero777

[BILLSX21]

I am pretty well informed of the current situation via the net but have seen only scant news on FOX but not MSM. I was in Barcelona in May and wanted to spend more time there is  one of the reason I chose this particular cruise. I have received a notification from  Delta but nothing from NCL.  I make it a habit to never discuss political matters, either theirs of ours,  while in a foreign country and never while on a cruise. I'm not usually skittish in these situations. Just like to be mentally prepared.   As a pretty seasoned traveller I have learned that stuff happens and you learn to roll with the punches.  Thanks for your reply.

[Alegeeter]

38 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

Was in Barcelona a couple of months ago.  Catalan, the largest economic region, wants to secede.  Saw lots of political posters everywhere.  The people are passionate about the topic.  And, they're willing to calmly share their point of view.

 

I never saw anything close to rising tempers, or any sort of danger that I felt threatened by.  I'd go to Barcelona today if given the chance.

 

But, if you're the least bit skittish, skip Barcelona as a port or for embarkation/disembarkation.

 

 

The peaceful protests have turned violent in the last week or so after the Spanish Supreme Court jailed the leaders of the separatists. It's very different than what it was like a couple months ago. The national election is on November 10 so it can be assumed the protests will continue at least until then.

 

I'm on the Epic sailing November 3 so also following this closely. NCL canceled all of its Barcelona shore excursions yesterday and some ships calling at Barcelona as a regular port stop have been diverting to other Spanish ports (Malaga, Madrid). But because Barcelona is a big embarkation/debarkation port Epic can't just desert it so easily. It will be interesting to see what happens.

[mapleleaves]

I'd suggest going to the Barcelona forum of tripadvisor.  There's a very lengthy thread that gets updated constantly.  Several residents and current visitors are posting. 

A few visitors staying nr Pl Catalunya and La Rambla reported that things are fine where they are .... even walking from finner at Pl Reial in the dark. They indicate that the problems areas are above Pl Catalunya. 

 

[MJSailors]

You could check the US Dept.of State for any travel warnings re:Barcelona.

[GA Dave]

CNN

 

ABC

 

BBC

[graphicguy]

44 minutes ago, Alegeeter said:

The peaceful protests have turned violent in the last week or so after the Spanish Supreme Court jailed the leaders of the separatists. It's very different than what it was like a couple months ago. The national election is on November 10 so it can be assumed the protests will continue at least until then.

 

I'm on the Epic sailing November 3 so also following this closely. NCL canceled all of its Barcelona shore excursions yesterday and some ships calling at Barcelona as a regular port stop have been diverting to other Spanish ports (Malaga, Madrid). But because Barcelona is a big embarkation/debarkation port Epic can't just desert it so easily. It will be interesting to see what happens.

The protesters I spoke to several weeks ago predicted a crack down.  While it doesn’t mean there are no risks, if there are no protests in or around the piers, I think I’d be willing to embark or disembark in Barcelona.  Tours and excursions?  Doubt I’d book any of those right now.

[Alegeeter]

I'm not too concerned about the ship embarking and debarking. I'm doing a couple nights pre and post cruise in Barcelona and it would be a shame to miss out on a lot of what the beautiful city has to offer. We'll go and do what we can.

[bozman2112]

Just Off Epic Yesterday. So...NCL had canceled all the shore excursions in Barcelona yesterday out of an abundance of caution. We had no issues getting from the ship to the airport or flying home on time. It seems that most of the protests are happening in the evening. Of course things can change in these situations but our experience was fine.

[mugtech]

1 hour ago, Alegeeter said:

I'm on the Epic sailing November 3 so also following this closely. NCL canceled all of its Barcelona shore excursions yesterday and some ships calling at Barcelona as a regular port stop have been diverting to other Spanish ports (Malaga, Madrid). 

Would love to be on a ship diverted to Madrid, would be quite the experience.

[Alegeeter]

Not sure how Madrid is an option since it's not anywhere near the water. I must have read something wrong.

[Turtles06]

24 minutes ago, mugtech said:

Would love to be on a ship diverted to Madrid, would be quite the experience.

 

I had the same reaction.  Also that climate change and rising sea levels are even worse than we thought. 

[ziggyuk]

2 hours ago, Alegeeter said:

The peaceful protests have turned violent in the last week or so after the Spanish Supreme Court jailed the leaders of the separatists. It's very different than what it was like a couple months ago. The national election is on November 10 so it can be assumed the protests will continue at least until then.

 

I'm on the Epic sailing November 3 so also following this closely. NCL canceled all of its Barcelona shore excursions yesterday and some ships calling at Barcelona as a regular port stop have been diverting to other Spanish ports (Malaga, Madrid). But because Barcelona is a big embarkation/debarkation port Epic can't just desert it so easily. It will be interesting to see what happens.

 

43 minutes ago, Alegeeter said:

Not sure how Madrid is an option since it's not anywhere near the water. I must have read something wrong.

 

It was your they were quoting.

[Alegeeter]

2 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

 

 

It was your they were quoting.

Haha, no. I saw it on another thread, I think in the Port of Call section, and brought it here.  Pressed submit before thinking.

[Sauer-kraut]

You're better off looking at international news outlets rather than FOX and MSNBC...sheesh they don't cover much at all.

So look at the BBC worldwide or Deutsche Welle or France 24   they all are English speaking Eurocentric  news outlets and will have lots of information about the Barcelona protests.  

[Nenabobena]

7 hours ago, BILLSX21 said:

Have any recent cruisers on The Epic experienced any problems in Barcelona in regards to the current civil unrest and protests?  Have the problems been mostly at the airport?  Safety issues in the city?  We are flying in three days early for the sailing on November 10th.  Both air and hotel have been booked but not through NCL. There is NO media reporting on the situation there, for some unknown reason. 

We were on the epic October 13-20 and were really nervous as Norwegian cancelled our shuttle to Barcelona city center and all excursions last minute. We are still in Barcelona near plaza catalunya and we haven’t had any problems during the day. Our taxi driver said to try to return to our hotel early as the protest don’t start until 6pm. We have seen a lot of graffiti and destruction on the streets, lots of police presence but aside from that life is going business as usual. We had two great days here but I’m happy to return home tomorrow! 
Enjoy the cruise, we had an amazing time! 

[Markanddonna]

We are going to Barcelona next month and have registered with the US Step program. I was more concerned with our stop in Turkey, but have been receiving daily e-mail about Barcelona. I was there on May 1 in 2018 and saw the protests. Things got out of hand by mid afternoon. Between experience with protests in Paris, London, and in Barcelona, I wouldn't let it stop me unless things escalate. Register with STEP.

[Goldconnection]

We cruised out of and stayed several days pre and post cruise in Barcelona in 2017 when large scale protesting was going on. We noticed nothing. We went all over Barcelona no problems. Mind you that was then this is now. 

[crayola1932]

My DH was in Barcelona Oct 16 through Oct 21.  The tourist areas were fine.  On Friday there was a general strike, so he couldn't ride the subway or visit most of the museums.  But everything opened up again on Saturday.  His hotel was near a police station, so he heard loud demonstrations there.  But there was no threat to tourists at all.

[Markanddonna]

I was there in early May 2018 and the protests were right on Las Ramblas.  It started out peaceful and then deteriorated by mid-afternoon with lines of police vans and the police running after protesters.  We made it back to our hotel and stayed there. That said, I wouldn't be too concerned with the recent one. I'm going next month and will tour around unless the ship decides differently.

 

 

[MotownVoice]

I was in Barcelona with parades of screaming protesters carring drums and torches walking right past me along Las Ramblas.

I did my shopping and admired a community that had the courage to stand up for their democracy instead of sit in their chair and complain about what they saw on Facebook and who was thrown off American idol.

Edited October 23, 2019 by MotownVoice