Arrival in Barcelona?

[nessy48]

My husband and I are going to be on Voyager of the Seas in August '08 and we are flying from Barcelona to Athens. The arrival time according to the cruise is 6 AM in Barcelona. What would be the best time to schedule our outbound flight? I have never been there so I don't know how far the airport is from the pier.

[marci22]

You may get more answers if you post this on the Ports of Call boards, Europe, Med East & West section.

[ziggypup]

My husband and I are going to be on Voyager of the Seas in August '08 and we are flying from Barcelona to Athens. The arrival time according to the cruise is 6 AM in Barcelona. What would be the best time to schedule our outbound flight? I have never been there so I don't know how far the airport is from the pier.

 

You have to take into account a few things. First you need to contact your airline and find out what times the flight(s) are. The ship might arrive in Barcelona at 6 AM, but what time does everyone get off the ship?

 

If I recall, about a year ago I was thinking about a 12 night med cruise out of Barcelona. The return flight back in JFK departed Barcelona around 9/10 AM. Which in my opinion was a little bit too close even though it is only 20 minutes from the port to the airport. So we decided to spend the day in Spain and catch a flight out the next day and not have to rush. But the cruise never materialized.

[Albert Ross]

The port to the airport is approx 30mins in a cab and will cost around €35. To have the RCI transfers it states that you must fly out after 10a

[mamaza]

ooooo, get a hotel room & stay a day or two. Barcelona is a beautiful city.

 

But to answer your question, it's about 20 minutes by Taxi if the traffic is not too bad. Concider disembarkation and finding a cab, but check in at the airport is very easy. I still say you should visit the city of Gaudi, Picasso and the Olympics.

[DrivesLikeMario]

I'd aim for a flight around noon. You never know what can happen to slow up customs & immigration at the port or the ship even getting INTO the port at all. Barcelona had a huge dock workers strike not too long ago that delayed everyone's flight - it's pretty common to have strikes during the summer months when the tourists are there.

[ottawapuppy]

We called RCL ad they told us not to book a flight before 10. We did that and were at the airport by 7:20. We were at the gate very shrtly after that.

 

Ships are rarely late on disembarkation day and are in fact there with hours to spare. There is too much at stake. If there's a strike, being there an hour early or late will make no difference so that's irrelevantt.

[GMoney]

IME, there are a few things you need to think about:

 

> If you are willing to self-debark, you will generally get off around 7am. This obviously speeds things up.

 

> You do not have to clear customs / immigration at the port, so that will save you time.

 

> Taxis at Moll Adossat can be hard to come by as people debark and if there are multiple ships in port.

 

> The taxi ride is about 30 min, give or take. If you are traveling on a weekday and during rush hour, it might be a bit longer.

 

> You will have to clear security and customs / immigration at the airport.

 

I did self-debarkation off Brilliance in June and was at the airport by 730.

[MavisMarie]

One more thing to remember: the security lines at BCN airport can be extremely long. We were in line for 50 minutes just going through the security portion but this was around 9 a.m. I think the earlier you get there, the better.

We were traveling with friends who self-disembarked. They left the ship at 6:45. There was a line of taxis outside and they zipped off to the airport. They had no trouble at all catching a 9:30 a.m. flight.

[madforcruising]

Barcelona is a very good organized port and the ride to the airport doesn´t take too much time. To be not in a hurry a flight around noon would be easy going, but you should be able to make flights leaving a bit earlier without problems as well. You shouldn´t book earlier than 10am though.

[Mim Lloyd]

We doing our own flights between Liverpool and Barcelona. Coming home, we could have a flight at 11.30am or one at 9.30pm.

 

Barcelona is a beautiful city, and one that we've visited on more than one occasion (it's an quick, easy and inexpensive flight from Liverpool), and so we're happy to spend a little more time there. We've decided to take the later flight home, but pay for a RCCI post-cruise tour to Montserrat for the day which then drops you and your luggage off at the airport in the the late afternoon. There's no need then to join the crowds trying to get taxis at the port, and although paying for the RCCI trip, it's not that expensive when you think that we're saving on the taxi fare to the airport.

[IMNiles]

You'll enjoy that trip to Montserrat - it's very pretty. We did the same thing a couple years ago (except our tour was booked privately) and were very glad we didn't have to wait in what looked like an insanely long cab line. This was Voyager's inaugural stop in Barcelona, though, so perhaps they just weren't ready the first time.

[Johnkut]

i am looking for flights from Wash DC to Barcelona. Going on May 22 and returning May 31. Anyone have any info on flights. They seem to be pretty high for this time of year.

[texancruzer]

Concider disembarkation and finding a cab, but check in at the airport is very easy.

 

Check-in very easy ???? We stayed 1 night post cruise and had a 10:30 a.m. flight home the next day....... we got to the airport almost 2-1/2 hrs before our flight and then stood in check-in line for 2 hrs :eek: :eek: Then thru security was another 30 minutes......then a long walk to our gate. Luckily while we were standing in line to check-in they informed us the flight was delayed.

 

That airport was worse than San Juan ! San Juan was a zoo but at least it did not take 2 hrs. just to check-in :o