Port change for 10/29 Barcelona departure

[sollan]

5 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

Be happy you're still in Barcelona. Those sailing in the summer and beyond 2024 should start expecting that new port to come into play. The one that's an hour drive away from Barcelona.

 

Once that is completed I fully expect Barcelona to close their port to all cruise ships above a certain size, probably above 80,000GT, and move all the traffic to that new port.

Where have you found that information? Or is it a guess?

[TheDarkestBlue]

5 minutes ago, sollan said:

Where have you found that information? Or is it a guess?

 

Not a guess ✌

 

https://www.insider.com/barcelona-cruise-ship-port-ban-north-terminal-adossat-wharf-2023-10

 

 

Edited October 25, 2023 by TheDarkestBlue

[sollan]

6 hours ago, jon81uk said:

We checked in around 2pm in late September and could go straight inside. What time did you try?

We turned up just after 1pm (check in at 1:30). No one except for the suite guests could get in. Long wait in the Splash o  Romance/DBE line. Quite caotic when people with later arrivals turned up with lots of people having to wait outside...

[sollan]

12 minutes ago, TheDarkestBlue said:

 

Not a guess ✌

 

https://www.insider.com/barcelona-cruise-ship-port-ban-north-terminal-adossat-wharf-2023-10

 

 

Actually, I can't find anything in this article that says that Barcelona will close down the whole cruise terminal. Where do you read that?🤔

[TheDarkestBlue]

23 minutes ago, sollan said:

Actually, I can't find anything in this article that says that Barcelona will close down the whole cruise terminal. Where do you read that?🤔

 

I didn't see anything about closing down the whole cruise terminal? 🤔 It seems they will be repurposing a good amount of it though - from the above article

 

The move will create more than 13,600 square meters of public spaces for urban residents, according to a press release.

 

https://www.euronews.com/travel/2023/10/13/cruise-passengers-in-barcelona-will-no-longer-be-able-to-stop-in-the-city-centre#:~:text=Barcelona's north wharf will be,last ship on 2 October.

 

Barcelona’s north wharf will be transformed into new public spaces

Around 340 cruises and ferries per year will be diverted from Barcelona Nord wharf, located in the World Trade Centre, which welcomed its last ship on 2 October.

This will free up 630 metres of quay line, which will be developed into 13,600 square metres of “new public spaces”, according to the Port of Barcelona.

Residents can expect to access the space from next autumn, following the 37th America’s Cup sailing race.

 

[jon81uk]

54 minutes ago, sollan said:

We turned up just after 1pm (check in at 1:30). No one except for the suite guests could get in. Long wait in the Splash o  Romance/DBE line. Quite caotic when people with later arrivals turned up with lots of people having to wait outside...

I think that’s exactly how it should work, if you turn up significantly before your time slot you wait outside. There is no need for anyone without rockstar status to arrive before 1.30pm.

 

When we got there at 2pm we had a short wait to drop luggage and then straight into the terminal, hand luggage scanned and then just one person in front of us in the DBE expedited boarding queue. Whole process took maybe 20 minutes.

[AlyssaJames]

7 hours ago, TheDarkestBlue said:

 

Not a guess ✌

 

https://www.insider.com/barcelona-cruise-ship-port-ban-north-terminal-adossat-wharf-2023-10

 

 

The post the person you’re replying to was asking about a prior post saying that many cruises might be moved to a port an hour away—NOT Adossat. That part seems to have been a guess. I asked questions trying to clarify here:

 

 

Edited October 26, 2023 by AlyssaJames

[TheDarkestBlue]

Hi  @AlyssaJames sorry, was responding to this below regarding the closure of the whole cruise terminal. I've left from Barcelona four times myself, and if it was an hour away I might not be that interested.

 

            8 hours ago

  13 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

Be happy you're still in Barcelona. Those sailing in the summer and beyond 2024 should start expecting that new port to come into play. The one that's an hour drive away from Barcelona.

 

Once that is completed I fully expect Barcelona to close their port to all cruise ships above a certain size, probably above 80,000GT, and move all the traffic to that new port.

Where have you found that information? Or is it a guess?

-

Actually, I can't find anything in this article that says that Barcelona will close down the whole cruise terminal. Where do you read that?

[teamthodge]

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/news/barcelona-new-restrictions-cruise-ships

 

This mentions the closures. 

[CruisingWalter]

15 hours ago, sollan said:

Actually, I can't find anything in this article that says that Barcelona will close down the whole cruise terminal. Where do you read that?🤔

 

It's an educated guess based on the fact that the new port will be able to accommodate the largest ships in the world, including the Oasis of the Seas and the World Europa. Oasis OTS currently home ports in Barcelona during the summer months. With the closure of the first pier to move the ships away from the city, it makes sense that once the new port is open, they will shift the larger cruise ships to that port. The Gross Tonnage (GT) of the ships will be the deciding factor. At 110,000 the VV ships are actually quite small in today's cruising world, but is still a rather large ship.

 

Venice recently moved the cruise ships out and other European ports have been discussing moving ships out. The move to Tarrogona would not be unprecedented for European cruise ports 

Edited October 26, 2023 by CruisingWalter

[CruisingWalter]

20 hours ago, AlyssaJames said:

I can't find much about the Tarragona Cruise Port (the distant one) other than a press release about its construction status. 

 

The port itself already exists. It's the major expansion to the larger cruise ships that is new. The construction is primarily happening off site with modular construction. Once the pieces arrive on site, they will go together pretty quickly. Slated to open in early 2024. 

https://www.cruisehive.com/new-cruise-terminal-construction-begins-near-barcelona/103505

[cantgetin]

A year ago, we were allowed to enter the BCN terminal right at 1pm, as were the suite guests.  We went thru security and checked in.  Boarding began promptly at 1:30.  There was no "nice" waiting area like there is in Miami.  Suite guests were in a line of folding chairs along one wall with a terminal employee standing there.  We, (DBE) were along another wall.  At I:30, the suite guests were moved--I'm guessing thru check in.  About 2 minutes later, our "monitor" excused herself to make a phone call saying that she should have gotten the boarding OK.  She was back in maybe a minute and took us to board.  We were in our cabin before 1:45.

We got to the terminal about 12:30 and dropped our bags, but were not allowed in until 1:00

At Miami, we could drop bags early, got DBE bracelet outside, then waited  inside....but that was an unusual embarkation and everything was a mess.

At this point, I'm just interested in boarding in BCN in a couple days.....I'll worry about 2024 later,

[sollan]

On 10/25/2023 at 10:39 PM, jon81uk said:

I think that’s exactly how it should work, if you turn up significantly before your time slot you wait outside. There is no need for anyone without rockstar status to arrive before 1.30pm.

 

When we got there at 2pm we had a short wait to drop luggage and then straight into the terminal, hand luggage scanned and then just one person in front of us in the DBE expedited boarding queue. Whole process took maybe 20 minutes.

Lucky you! For sure we wasn't on the same cruise 🙂

[steve thfc]

On 10/25/2023 at 5:51 AM, sollan said:

No, you don't have to!

You don't have to. It's appreciated and in every travel guide book it says you should also..

[cantgetin]

On board Valiant now.  We arrived at 1:30 or minutes before with DBE and a 2pm time on the app.  The luggage drop line was unreal.  I've never seen a line that long for luggage; in fact our previous drops were one or two people.  We told a CM that we had priority boarding, and he expedited us to near the front of the line.  After luggage drop, there was a short wait to enter the terminal and proceed thru check in and security.  We were in our cabin by 2pm, which was longer than it took on previous cruises.

As to tipping....we tipped the luggage guy at the airport who loaded our luggage into the shuttle as he went "above and beyond" for us and was really kind after a long travel day.  My taxi costs surprised me.  They were double what they were a year ago.  4.5 Euros of that was the fee for entering the port, but no explanation of the rest--same starting hotel, no traffic delays.  Maybe fees were increased due to the big sporting event in town; that happens in the city where I live when there are big events.  I didn't tip the taxi driver.