Western Med 25 May 2014 - departure time from Barcelona?

[Shirleywhirley]

Does anyone know the departure time from Barcelona for the 7 nt Western Med cruise please?

If anyone can advise on distance from Barcelona airport to port, that too would be very helpful.

Cheers!

[Don]

If it is Liberty of the Seas, Royal Caribbean web site shows departure time of 5:00pm.

 

www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/transport/barcelona-cruise-port.html appears to be a good web site for airport to cruise terminal information. It says taxi time is 25 minutes / 25-30 euro cost + some supplements.

[Matt]

I found this Cruise Compass from Serenade of the Seas out of Barcelona and all aboard at 4, muster at 4:15 and sailaway around 5 http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compasses/serenade-seas/2012-09-02t040000

[Guest AndreasGermany]

Hi!

 

From Barcelona Airport to the city, you may take the airport bus which brings you in approx 25-30min to the city center -distance about 15km-. From there you would have to take a taxi to the port for which you should plan another 20-25min depending on traffic and which is around 20 EUR. You may check with the homepage of Barcelona airport. Airport bus travels frequently on schedule. You may also take a taxi from airport to port, but that is more expensive than the bus except you are a larger group. Ship departures from Barcelona are quite early in the afternoon, normally around 4-5 PM, and you must present yourself around 2 hours before departure. You will get information on the website of RCCI and in the papers of your cruise. Normally check In starts at 1PM at the pier side even if it is listed a little later. Plan about 30min for Check In depending how crowded it is and on which ship you board. Even if you are on Liberty (roundtrip), Barcelona is the port where 80% of the passengers enter the ship. That takes its time, but is very well organized. But if you do not have visited Barcelona before, I would strongly recommend to arrive on the day/evening before and visit some interesting places before starting the cruise. Have a look at "Sagrada Familia" Cathedral (must plan 2-3 hours including waiting time at the cashier), and I guarantee that you have not seen something like this before. Other nice places at late evening (after dark) are Museo Nacional de arte de Catalunya" with lots of iluminated fountains, Placa de Catalunya, Los Ramblas (shopping area), Park Güell, Casas Batllo, La Pedrera (also known as Casa Mila). Best way to travel in Barcelona is taking a taxi (be prepared that even the taxi drivers do only speak little english sometimes).

 

If you need a taxi after departure at the end of the cruise, prepare to wait about 30-45min for getting the taxi. There seem to be hundreds of taxis coming in, but there are also some 1000 to 3000 passengers to need one. Well organized, but loooong waiting lines.

 

Have fun in Barcelona!
Andreas

[Don]

But if you do not have visited Barcelona before, I would strongly recommend to arrive on the day/evening before and visit some interesting places before starting the cruise. Have a look at "Sagrada Familia" Cathedral (must plan 2-3 hours including waiting time at the cashier) and I guarantee that you have not seen something like this before. Other nice places at late evening (after dark) are Museo Nacional de arte de Catalunya" with lots of iluminated fountains, Placa de Catalunya, Los Ramblas (shopping area), Park Güell, Casas Batllo, La Pedrera (also known as Casa Mila). Best way to travel in Barcelona is taking a taxi (be prepared that even the taxi drivers do only speak little english

 

We are sailing out of Barcelona in early May so the sites to visit information is very helpful. We are planning 3 night pre-cruise stay to see and experience Barcelona. Can you recommend quality hotels in City Center? What other places should be on our must see list?

 

Don

[Guest AndreasGermany]

Hi!

Well, what to visit depends from what you are interested. Me and my wife were not so much into visiting art museums or art galleries, but we like unique architecture and nice places. Also, our time was limited, we sailed 3 times out of Barcelona, arrived in the evening at 8PM for a sailing on the next day being at the ship at 2PM. So, time was limited and would not have alowed museum visits.

 

A MUST is Sagrada Familia cathedral. When you are more into Gaufi´s architecture, places to visit are Parc Güell (can be reached with taxi or subway), a nice parc where you can spend about 2-3 hours and also have a nice overlook of Barcelona. Then there are 2 buildings which can be visited also on tours from inside and are quite near to eachother (approx 200m distance): Cara Mila (also called La Pedrera) and Casa Batllo. Both are located quite in the center of the city. Be at the cathedral quite early (opens at 10 AM) to avoild waiting times of up to 2-3 hours to get inside, try to reserve tickets in advance, the queue is only to get to the cashier. You can also climb one of the towers of the cathedral and do have spectacular views of the cathedral itself and the downtown. Reserve a half day for the cathedral. Casa Batllo and Casa Mila would take about 2 hours each if you decide to take a visit from inside.

 

If you do have time and are interested, you can also visit the olympic parc area on Montjuic with the large stadium and the telephonic tower, also nice views of the city. It can be reached by bus or with a funicular (half a day). Also there is Castell de Montjuic, an old fortification..Another nice building to visit is palau musica, take an inside tour here, the building has spectacular views inside. A good place to be after dark is the fount magica (iliminated fountain that is operated with music) and a lot of illuminated fountains on the way from there to Museu nationale d ´art de Catalunya.  If you do like to walk a little through nice places, the area around arc de triomf.

 

If you do have a full day of time and are interested, there is the monestary Montserrat  which is quite outside of Barcelona with day tours and you do need approx. 1,5 to 2 hours to get there by bus or train. It is a really nice place, we have not been there (but planned it for the future) as a full day did not fit into our cruise plans until now. Be aware, this trip is not possible on the day of the sailing, you would not be back in time! Also plan for traffic jams on the trip back.

 

If you do like to walk on a shopping district, Las Ramblas is a good place. Beware of pickpockets as in any onther large city! You should google all these places and see if you are interested in the program we saw until now. We found it quite spectacular. We once had a room in a nice hotel called "Hotel Sagrada Familia" which is about 400m from the cathedral and you can be the from there the first in the line when the cathedral opens in the morning. You can find it at booking.com and also on its own homepage. It has very good ratings by hundreds of guests at booking.com.

 

Prepare to be at the pier between 1PM and 2PM at the day of the sailing (refering to a sailing at 5PM). It will not be so crowded and you do have plenty of time to visit all eareas of the ship before all the events start. I guess you are booked on the Liberty? We sailed twice with Liberty on that route in 2012 and 2013, it was a very nice ship and route.

 

If you have questions do not hesitate to ask.

 

All the best for the New Year!

 

Andreas

 

 

 

 

[Don]

Thank You! We have a Barcelona tour guide book but it is always great to get the input of those who have traveled to your destination. Montserrat we saw in the tour book and do plan to include it in one of our full days. Ship boarding day we usually spend as free time to enjoy the area around our hotel for breakfast and coffee and going to all the little places we have seen but have not been able to visit. Thank you again for taking the time to share your recommendations, it is very much appreciated. I am sure we will incorporate most of your suggestions.

 

Traveling today to bring in the New Year with grand children.

 

Regards

 

Don & Myra

[Matt]

Great posts Andreas