Disembarking in Barcelona

[Mcctomac]

Hello, My husband and myself are booked on the Apex in June, with our cruise ending in Barcelona. We’ve never been on a cruise and have no sense of how long disembark takes or works! We are looking at booking a 1:20pm flight home the same day as we disembark. Would that be enough time to make that flight if we need to be at the airport a few hours before departure?

Thanks in advance! 

Edited December 3, 2019 by Mcctomac

[jelayne]

You should be fine with a 1:20 flight.  Barring an unexpected delay Celebrity generally has all passengers off the ship by 9:30 am.  There can be long lines for taxi’s at the port.  You might want to book a car service to take you to the airport.   Celebrity offers a transfer from the port to BCN so that is another option.

 

We don’t normally use the Celebrity transfer but used it on a recent cruise, price was comparable to using Uber and less than a taxi.  We got off the ship, got our luggage and were on the bus in 15 minutes, bus was full and heading out less than 15 minutes.

[bigbenboys]

Yes, Taxi should be 20 mins to the airport. Always plan on traffic. Most passengers are off the ship by 9:30. When I booked our flight out of Barcelona I went with a flight after 12. The day we flew out of BCN the airlines had a long line of planes waiting to leave. We were about 1 hour late getting off the ground. Just a heads up, if your doing a connecting flight do give yourself some time.

[Northern Aurora]

Just a quick comment on this discussion.  We left the Constellation in Barcelona in October.  We were staying in Barcelona for a few days so left the ship about 9:30 AM.  It took about 30 minutes to get to the front of the taxi line.  

[dolittle]

Walk of with your own bags and you will get to the Airport without any drama.

[NantahalaCruiser]

1 hour ago, Northern Aurora said:

Just a quick comment on this discussion.  We left the Constellation in Barcelona in October.  We were staying in Barcelona for a few days so left the ship about 9:30 AM.  It took about 30 minutes to get to the front of the taxi line.  

Likewise in September off the Reflection the line was more like 40 minutes.

[gogiantsfan29]

That is fine.  We had a 10:45 am and had plenty of time. 

[Beanb41]

Have you considered a shared shuttle to the airport with members of your CC roll call. We did this on our Eclipse cruise last year. Shuttle was booked for 9.00 am and we asked to have our bags off by 8.00 am to ensure they were ready and waiting for us when we got ashore. It is a bit of a melee at the baggage collection so give yourself time

 

[alcpa1]

Mcctomic,

Welcome to the cruiser's best friend Cruise Critic.

A little further down the page you will see ROLL CALL. Click on Celebrity then find your ship and date and join others planning to sail with you.

Now to BCN.......You have plenty of time under normal circumstances. Even if the ship is late docking you still have more than enough time to disembark, get transportation, and get to your gate. Check in at BCN usually opens 3 hours before the flight. There isn't much seating in the unsecured part of the airport unless things have changed lately so getting to the airport very early isn't an advantage. You can line up prior to the check in, many will, but there is no need to use self disembarkation. The evening before your cruise ends Celebrity will give you luggage tags and disembarkation information. Celebrity will assign a disembarkation time and if it does not meet your wishes head to Guest Relations and they will give you an earlier/later time slot. 

You have a gracious cushion so enjoy the cruise without angst over your (unfortunate) return home.

Enjoy your cruise!!!!

[chemmo]

The time you are flying is ideal...Enough of a cushion if there were any delays in disembarkation but no so long that you will be waiting at the airport for ever. We didn’t find Barcelona a very well organised airport and there is a long walk to some gates.

 

You don’t mention where you are flying to....They still do some ‘busing’ of passengers to aircraft rather than air bridges so if you are short haul they can start the boarding process early, if you are flying over the pond hopefully you will miss this antiquated system.

[Mcctomac]

Thanks everyone for your insights! It’s very helpful to hear of others experiences 

[Lazz58]

Just a quick notes:  We flew back from Barcelona Nov. 1.  The flight was a Delta code share with Air France.  We had to check our own luggage in.  It was all self serve and took a little time to figure out.  They did not post gate assignments until less than an hour before boarding.  All we knew was what concourse we were in.  Most stood around the departure signs waiting for notice of the gate assignment.  

[Mark_T]

32 minutes ago, Lazz58 said:

They did not post gate assignments until less than an hour before boarding.  All we knew was what concourse we were in.  Most stood around the departure signs waiting for notice of the gate assignment.  

 

That is pretty standard these days across Europe.

 

You can often get the information a little earlier if you use the airlines app, as it will usually update well before you see it on the screens at the airport.

[Langley Cruisers]

Regarding taxi waits, ours in Barcelona was the longest we've ever encountered, 55 minutes, and that was with a dispatcher organizing the line. I think your flight time is fine and as mentioned, all passengers should be off the ship by 9:30 am, but I wouldn't dawdle. 😉