AC Diplomatic Hotel

[Deward]

The hotel of choice for Holland America, we are booked there for two nights pre-cruise.

 

Any information about the hotel or restaurants in the area would be appreciated.

 

Also, are there places in the neighborhood where dollars can be converted into Euros?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Deward, newbie in Spain

[sophiek]

We stayed at the AC Diplomatic for 3 nights in June and loved it. We would stay there again in a heartbeat. The hotel is very modern. The showers are wonderful, the beds are king size (at least ours was) with a firm mattress and the rooms are spacious for Europe (and the sheets are amazing). There is a free minibar with bottled water, soda, juice and beer that is replenished every day and we also asked for more of certain items which they provided with a smile. At European prices, the drinks alone were worth a lot. There is an office centre across the street where you can get internet access for one euro per hour and they also will burn digital camera memory cards onto CD's for a lot less than the ship charges. We didn't eat at the hotel; we opted for coffee and pastries one block away on Paseig de Gracias. There are all sorts of sidewalk pastry/coffee shops there. The hotel is about 5 to 6 blocks from La Rambla, but it is a great walk along Paseig de Gracia to get there (great shopping- window or otherwise). The hop on/hop off bus stops on Paseig de Gracia one block from the hotel.The hotel has a small rooftop pool. I emphasize the small but my husband and son enjoyed cooling down at the end of long sightseeing days.

 

I don't know about converting dollars- we used ATM's throughout Europe and found the rates to be favorable. In terms of restaurants, we were travelling with a 7 year old so we usually just stopped whenever the urge hit, usually at sidewalk tapas bars. We were never disappoonted. As you can see, we were quite impressed by the hotel and Barcelona. I can't wait to go back. Enjoy!

[llhlam]

Were you in a regular room or suite? We reserve a suite to store our luggages, since we (party of four) have to get off the ship around 8 am in the morning, and our flight back home is around 8 pm, We plan to hop on the red and blue sightseeing bus, get back to the hotel to rest and freshen up before going to the airport.

[sophiek]

We were in a superior room. I'm not sure what the difference between it and a regular is, but it definitely was not a suite. We were very pleased with the room.

[MVPinBoynton]

We had a regular room last year and the room was a very good size.

[llhlam]

One more question, how much is the cost of taxi from pier to the hotel?

[RaffinOrganGrinders]

We stayed at the AC Diplomatic for 3 nights in June and loved it. We would stay there again in a heartbeat.

We are also book two day early at the AC Diplomatic. Look forward to meeting others arriving early.

 

George & Charlene