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October 22, 2017 Freedom of the Seas, Barcelona to Ft. Lauderdale


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Paris is not a cheap place to fly to, so you won't be accidentally connecting there. Lufthansa is a economical airline that many people fly and you will get a connecting flight out of Frankfurt.

 

I would recommend a direct flight or a one stop to Barcelona for a number of reasons. One, your flight to Europe is a lot of time in the saddle. Most folks are well overdue to get off the airplane. Two, It would be my preference to get to city We are embarking from early. Settle in at a hotel. Get adjusted to the time zone. And get into vacation relax mode. It is very comforting to know that I've got a flight landing a couple days ahead of time, plenty of time for adjustment, lots of time in case a flight is delayed, cancelled, or whatever. Ample opportunity for my potential lost luggage to catch up with me. And knowing that with a short cab ride I can be on the ship.

 

Barcelona is a wonderful town. A couple days there is just scratching the surface of what it has to offer.

 

Do what I do a year and a half out from our next cruise to Europe. Pretend to book flights and hotels for similar dates this coming October. The rates aren't likely to change much over a year so you'll know what to budget for. Watch Anthony Bourdain and Rick Steves videos of where you are traveling to. Wikipedia the art, towns, areas of where you are traveling to. Ask around to those who have traveled where you are going even though they might not have cruised. It's all good information.

 

But most of all because you are traveling to Barcelona start getting familiar with Gaudi. And if at all possible please go to the Sagrada Familia. It is an absolutely stunning building of history and imagination. The $20 or so bucks it costs to get in is well worth the money. It is truly spectacular inside and out. I predict when they finally finish building it in the next ten years it is going to be the absolute most talked about and visited thing. You'll be ahead of the curve.

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Thanks for the reply bobroo.  We are planning on arriving a couple days early. I just didn't know if Paris or Madrid would be a good place to fly to spend some time then head to Barcelona.  Lots of time to plan, and like you said, pretend to book flights and hotels, to make the best plan.

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Adding on to what bobroo said, try to book as far out as possible.  The earliest you can book is 330 days and sometimes the best prices can be had then.  We booked Europe this summer nearly a year out and were able to roundtrip airfare for under $700 on British Airways flying into Sweden and out of Denmark for our Serenade cruise this summer, about half of what we paid for a cruise last summer.  That said, there was a passenger from our area that booked 60-90 days out and paid a reasonable fare.  Another good time to look for airfare is Thanksgiving week.

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