Barcelona tour before sail

[daring]

We are scheduled to get into Barcelona @ 8:30AM and don't have to be on the ship till 5PM, so I thought we should try to take a tour. Any suggestions, and what about our luggage? Can you catch one of the hop-on hop-off buses at the airport or should we just catch a taxi for tour and transport to the ship? :confused:

[HeinBloed]

We are scheduled to get into Barcelona @ 8:30AM and don't have to be on the ship till 5PM, so I thought we should try to take a tour. Any suggestions, and what about our luggage? Can you catch one of the hop-on hop-off buses at the airport or should we just catch a taxi for tour and transport to the ship? :confused:

 

Here are your luggage options:

 

http://heinbloed-cruiseguides.blogspot.com/2008/12/barcelona-spain-baggage-storage.html

 

So it would be the best to take the airport commuter train route 10 to Barcelona Sants.

 

 

Store your bags there.

 

From there the HoHo-Buses starts as well (Estacion de Sants on blue route)

 

http://www.tmb.cat/en_US/turistes/busturistic/rutesiparades.jsp

 

Then after your HoHo-Tour take a taxi (around 10 EUR) to the port.

 

We have the similiar problem and a group of 6.

 

For our next cruise we booked taxi-van which takes us to the cruise ship. There we drop off the bags and then we start from there a tour which will costs us 40 EUR/hour and the length depends to the time we need.

 

Regards,

HeinBloed

[HeinBloed]

As I see that you are going NCL:

 

two other options:

 

 

1. use the NCL shuttle...

 

Check at baggage claim if there is an NCL-agent. For early arrivals they "kill" time by doing sightseeing before going to the port.

 

Once you arrive at the port you can normally drop-off your bags.

 

If check-in is open you can first check-in before doing sightseeing.

 

2. use the airport commuter train route 10 to Franca station and take a cab to the port.

 

From about 9.30 hrs/10.00 hrs you can start to drop-off your bags but maybe not to check-in.

 

Then take the blue port shuttle to Columbus Column (3 EUR return-ticket):

 

 

 

and here is your Ho-Ho-Bus waiting as well:

 

 

Regards,

HeinBloed

[jlijny]

Another option is Pepito Tours. Pepito will pick you up at the airport (driver and guide included). With your lugguge in the van, he takes you on a 4-5 hour tour of Barcelona. At the end of the tour, he drives you directly to the ship.

 

We are using him in July, a bit differently. We are staying in Barcelona 2 nights pre-cruise, and touring on our own. On the day of embarkment, he is picking us up at our hotel, putting the luggage in the van, and then taking us to Montserrat for a 5 hour tour. When we are finished, we will be driven directly to the ship.

 

Think about it. It certainly makes things easier.

Have a great trip.

[Parrot Mom]

We are scheduled to get into Barcelona @ 8:30AM and don't have to be on the ship till 5PM, so I thought we should try to take a tour. Any suggestions, and what about our luggage? Can you catch one of the hop-on hop-off buses at the airport or should we just catch a taxi for tour and transport to the ship? :confused:

 

Thanks to this board we many years ago found a wonderful driver/guide in Barcelona and I can tell y ou the feed back makes it worthwhile for me to "play it forward"..lol We have used Auriello and Michael three times and have booked them for this coming November.. Auriello was raised outside of NYC and speaks perfect english.. he can pick you up at the airport complete with luggage.. drive you and tour Barcelona which by the way is a magnificent city and you can tour for as long as YOU want and then he will take you to the pier for the ship.. He and h is friend,Michael are very, very popular with tourists/cruisers.. if you want more info please write me.. parrotmom@verizon.net By coincidence we have left from Barcelona three times (a 4th coming up) and as soon as the cruise is booked.. we book Auriello and the hotel..BTW I am their number one fan..lol You have never seen them squeeze two weeks of luggage into their cabs..

[daring]

What wonderful posts and answers! Thanks so much guys. ;)

[chipmaster]

We are scheduled to get into Barcelona @ 8:30AM and don't have to be on the ship till 5PM, so I thought we should try to take a tour. Any suggestions, and what about our luggage? Can you catch one of the hop-on hop-off buses at the airport or should we just catch a taxi for tour and transport to the ship? :confused:

 

 

I can't give you any tips about storing luggage. But I can say Barcelona is very easy to DIY.

 

For a half day you can probably do 3-4 things quickly.

 

With 6 hours I'd suggest doing a quick tour of a couple Gaudi attractions. Two of my favorites are La Pedrera and of course the famous church La Sagranda. With such a short time you'll have to pick if you actually go into both. Likely you can pick one of the two and spend a couple hours in it. The other is worthy of a stop and admiring his unique vision.

 

Then as late as you can visit Las Rambla. The mimes start setting up in the afternoon and they are worth a look. Go early and its rather boring, but by late afternoon it really picks up. From Las Rambla its a short 20' to the Port ( ~ 30 Euros or so ).

 

The HO HO is another option but has a fixed route and there are many attractions you may not want to see but have to follow one of the two fixed routes. For your short stay it may or may not make sense, if you never get off the bus its a great way to see a lot.

 

Enjoy

[FinelyRetired]

Another option is Pepito Tours. Pepito will pick you up at the airport (driver and guide included). With your lugguge in the van, he takes you on a 4-5 hour tour of Barcelona. At the end of the tour, he drives you directly to the ship.

 

We are using him in July, a bit differently. We are staying in Barcelona 2 nights pre-cruise, and touring on our own. On the day of embarkment, he is picking us up at our hotel, putting the luggage in the van, and then taking us to Montserrat for a 5 hour tour. When we are finished, we will be driven directly to the ship.

 

Think about it. It certainly makes things easier.

Have a great trip.

 

I agree this is a good option. I used Jose Soler of www.peptitotours.com. for 2 private tours in Barcelona last month. First one, he picked up at airport w. luggage and did a 5 hr "Highlights" tour which was fantastic. He well oriented me for my following pre-cruise day which I did Solo.

 

On cruise day, he collected me & luggage at hotel and we toured Montserrat before heading to the cruise terminal for check in. I was at the terminal by 2:30pm, well in time for a 5pm departure.

 

Jose is quite an engaging & knowledgeable guide. His drivers both days were very nice gentlemen. He did live in US for a couple of years and

speaks perfect English.

 

Will be using him for a tour to Girona & Costa Brava when I'm back in Barcelona next Fall for a port day.

 

Martha