Oasis of the Seas from Rome or Barcelona?

[ARandomTraveler]

21 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

They do, just use another fish in the sea.......look at other cruiselines. For instance the one I showed you above.

Don't be locked into Royal.

Just looked at the Celebrity Equinox. I could do an 18 night B2B Spain/Portugal and then Spain/Italy and hit all of the places I want to go, with stays overnight in Portugal and Florence. 
 

You're right - much better itineraries for the same price. I'm gonna have to give this option serious consideration. I'll probably go this route after reminding myself that I drink very little on cruises anyway, and really don't mind paying out of pocket for drinks. 
 

Have you ever been on the Equinox? How does it compare in size to a class of RC ships?

Edited June 25, 2023 by ARandomTraveler

[Jimbo]

19 minutes ago, ARandomTraveler said:

I'll take a look at the Celebrity one you posted. Even though I'm not a point chaser, I feel a little hesitant to book another line when I'll be so close to getting Diamond at that point. I guess it really shouldn't matter though, because the only perk I'm really wanting is the 4 free drinks, and those will probably disappear by the time I make Diamond anyway. 
 

I also like the Oasis class ships. But that route has so few sea days I guess it doesn't matter.

Our cruise we have booked on Celebrity comes with free  internet,  and free gratuities  and free drink package.

Granted you pay a little extra for booking that way but really it's reasonable considering what Royal Charges.

 

For our cruise in June, we are paying $2232 per person Category V1 Prime Veranda(Total for Cabin $4464..also comes with $600 OBC from our travel agent.

Edited June 25, 2023 by Jimbo

[Another_Critic]

1 hour ago, ARandomTraveler said:

Have you ever been on the Equinox? How does it compare in size to a class of RC ships?

A little smaller than Voyager class.

[RobInMN]

2 hours ago, steamboats said:

The main embarkation port is Barcelona. So all entertainment is geared to this port (like welcome show).

 

Barcelona airport is only 25 min from the port and easy to access. Fiumicino is about an hour and you need an expensive transfer. Rome is about 1.5 hours by train.

 

It´s the same cruise - it´s just that they do interporting in Civitavecchia.

 

steamboats

Well, yes. everything else being equal, If you are flying in the day of or day before and flying out the day of, without worrying about seeing anything in the port city, then yes, Barecelona makes sense for exactly the reasons you mention.

But If you have 4, days to a week that you can spend in the port city, then you have to ask yourself 2 questions:

1. Which city do you want to spend those extra days? For some people, that's Barcelona, for others that's Rome.
2. Which city do you want to do "in a day". If you port out of Rome, you do "Barcelona in a day", if you port out of Barcelona, you do "Rome in a day". As many people point out, it's an hour train/bus each way, which means you have 2 less hours to do Rome than Barcelona. What do you want to see in these respective cities?

For us, we booked a week pre-cruise in Rome. Our answer to question #1 was Rome, no question about it. Our answer for #2 was definitely, Barcelona. For what we wanted to see, 1 week in Rome was not even enough. We still have things we'd like to see "next time". ! day in Barcelona was almost enough. The only thing we would have liked to do but did not, was to actually go into La Sagrada Familia, not just see the outside (Gaudi tour). But again, that's us.

 

[cruisequeen4ever]

It really comes down to which of those cities you’d rather spend more time in. Both are beautiful and full of sites to tour. One difference is that the port in Barcelona is right in the city, whereas the port for Rome is about 1.25 hours away from the city. Happy planning!

[Another_Critic]

2 minutes ago, RobInMN said:

Well, yes. everything else being equal, If you are flying in the day of or day before and flying out the day of, without worrying about seeing anything in the port city, then yes, Barecelona makes sense for exactly the reasons you mention.

But If you have 4, days to a week that you can spend in the port city, then you have to ask yourself 2 questions:

1. Which city do you want to spend those extra days? For some people, that's Barcelona, for others that's Rome.
2. Which city do you want to do "in a day". If you port out of Rome, you do "Barcelona in a day", if you port out of Barcelona, you do "Rome in a day". As many people point out, it's an hour train/bus each way, which means you have 2 less hours to do Rome than Barcelona. What do you want to see in these respective cities?

For us, we booked a week pre-cruise in Rome. Our answer to question #1 was Rome, no question about it. Our answer for #2 was definitely, Barcelona. For what we wanted to see, 1 week in Rome was not even enough. We still have things we'd like to see "next time". ! day in Barcelona was almost enough. The only thing we would have liked to do but did not, was to actually go into La Sagrada Familia, not just see the outside (Gaudi tour). But again, that's us.

 

I need to start planning my pre/post cruise activities for Barcelona (end of Oasis TA) and Rome (beginning of Odyssey TA).

 

Will probably only spend 3 days post-cruise in Barcelona, since Odyssey has a port stop there in the fall.  Rent a car in the spring and travel outside of Barcelona.  Do local sightseeing during the fall Odyssey port stop.

 

Not sure how long to pre-cruise in Rome.  I'm retired, but my travel companion is not.

[Jimbo]

2 hours ago, ARandomTraveler said:

Just looked at the Celebrity Equinox. I could do an 18 night B2B Spain/Portugal and then Spain/Italy and hit all of the places I want to go, with stays overnight in Portugal and Florence. 
 

You're right - much better itineraries for the same price. I'm gonna have to give this option serious consideration. I'll probably go this route after reminding myself that I drink very little on cruises anyway, and really don't mind paying out of pocket for drinks. 
 

Have you ever been on the Equinox? How does it compare in size to a class of RC ships?

Eguinox size is fine for us since we like Radiance Class and Voyager Class best, we don't need a ship with a ton of passengers onboard or one that has a amusement park on it.

 

Plus the Itinerary on Equinox matches up well with the Jewel of the Seas from Amsterdam we have booked before the Equinox cruise. After the Jewel Cruise we flying from Amsterdam to Barcelona, with a free day in Barcelona before we board Equinox the next morning, then when Equinox ends in Rome, we will spend 2  or 3 days in Rome before flying home.

 

We can use Celebrity's transportation to get us back into the city(Rome) after the cruise

[gavvy]

If you not been to either city then I would choose Rome over Barcelona. Not that Barcelona is bad. It's not but there is so much history in Rome and so many iconic things to see it makes up for  the hassle of getting to the port.

 

I believe the app works on interporting now and you also get an orange sail card from Rome which makes you look important for about 20 seconds 😀

Edited June 25, 2023 by gavvy

[steamboats]

@RobInMN while the port of Barcelona is close to the city Civitavecchia isn't close to Rome. You can spend a week or more in both cities.

 

BTW for Sagrada Familia you need an appointment which can be made online.

 

steamboats 

[barb in ga]

Civitavecchia port is a further drive from Rome than Barcelona's port, but if you are staying for a few days in Rome in advance(highly recommend), then getting to the port has a few options. The simplest is to book transport via private car; there were 4 of us traveling and we booked the same driver in advance to take us from airport to hotel, hotel to port, and then port to airport(sorry I don't remember the name, I googled Rome airport/port transportation). Booking this in advance with 3 trips made it a little less expensive than booking 1 trip at a time. The drive from our hotel to Civitavecchia was very easy and getting on the ship at the port was a breeze.

We also used a private driver for our excursion from port to Florence. As a group of 4, our total transportation was less expensive than taxi or shuttles and also for excursions..

Barb

[gumshoe958]

3 hours ago, ARandomTraveler said:

I wish they'd let you start in one and get off in the other. That would be the best of both worlds. I'm sure there's a legal reason for not allowing this. 
 

 

There’s no legal reason why they couldn’t - indeed on the last Med circuit of the season they’ve traditionally sold a 3-nighter from Civitavecchia to Barcelona, presumably mainly for the benefit of passengers who wish to stay on for the TA. That’s the only one though.

[RobInMN]

1 hour ago, steamboats said:

@RobInMN while the port of Barcelona is close to the city Civitavecchia isn't close to Rome. You can spend a week or more in both cities.

 

BTW for Sagrada Familia you need an appointment which can be made online.

 

steamboats 

Yes. But I think you are missing my point. While some people could spend a week in Barcelona, not everyone could. I know we couldn't. And while we could spend 2 weeks in Rome, I'm sure it's not for everyone. And, for anyone like yourself, that could easily spend a week in either equally, more power to you.

My point is that it's personal preference. It largely depends on what you'd like to see. Again, which city would you like to see more than "____ in a day" in, especially if you are able to have extra days before or after that you can spend in the other. That other thread I linked to in my first response proves that point. I think just as many people strongly pushed for Civitavecchia as did Barcelona, and the bulk of their reasoning was personal preferences.

The relative location of the port to the main city of note, while certainly part of the equation, should not the end-all-be-all decision maker, especially if you are going to spend any extra days in the city you prefer. Barcelona and Rome are not really that comparable as to sights. Which city most appeals to you, and which city do you want to spend more than 6-8 hours in?

 

As for La Sagrada Familia, I know that now. While I had created an account back in 2006, I was not active on CC until after we returned from our Western Mediterranean cruise, and now know that I could have likely easily found our that information (and other useful info) here or in a roll call group.

[ARandomTraveler]

I really appreciate everyone sharing their pros and cons to embarking from each port. So many good points on both ends, it just boils down to personal preference, vacation time, money etc.

 

If I do end up on Oasis, I'll likely start in Barcelona for ease and because if it really boils down to picking Barcelona vs Rome for a land based vacation and needing to squeeze in as much as possible in a short time, I'd prefer to come back and do Rome on its own.

 

However, as my schedule and budget can currently handle now, I think I'm gonna take @Jimbo advice and "jump ship," and do the Celebrity 9-night B2B, visiting Barcelona for a few days before the cruise, getting overnight stops in Portugal and Florence, stopping in Morocco (which Royal doesn't do) and ending in Rome, with a few days there at the end of the cruise.
 

18 nights and I get to hit up both places for longer stays on both ends of the trip (though it'll be 18 points I won't get on Royal, making me wait another year or 2 before I get any Diamond perks, womp womp).

[dani negreanu]

 

From my POV it is very simple -- you can "do" much more things when stopping in Barcelona.

 

I didn't find the private transfer we took from Rome too long, expensive or bothersome, embarkation was a breeze and we had the whole ship for ourselves until the evening.

 

[Jimbo]

3 hours ago, ARandomTraveler said:

 it'll be 18 points I won't get on Royal, making me wait another year or 2 before I get any Diamond perks, womp womp).

 

 

[steamboats]

@RobInMN as the OP was open for both cities as starting point I just listed the pros and cons without any personal preferences ;-).

 

As for me I prefer to feel like on a regular cruise and not like a passenger who jumps on mid cruise. That´s why I would always prefer Barcelona as starting point for the Oasis class ships in the Med (I´ve been on all of them and did 3 Med cruises on them). Another disadvantage of interporting is that the RCI app doesn´t get it and usually you can´t make any reservations ahead of the cruise when you board in Civitavecchia. The roll call is based on Barcelona. The weekly entertainment is based on Barcelona.

 

There are much better cruises for a pre or post cruise stay in Rome.

 

steamboats