Train from Barcelona to Venice.

[momofmeg]

We are considering booking an European med cruise that goes from Venice to Barcelona. We would fly into Spain from home, so that would be round trip. We are considering buying a Euro region pass from Spain to Italy. The price is reasonable enough-about the same as a one way flight would cost. I am just wondering if this would be feasible time wise-how long would a train trip take from Barcelona to Venice?

[chipmaster]

Why would't you do open jaw fly into Barcleona and out of Venice. You should price that out I don't think much more expensive or less convenient. Unless doing overnight train is something you want. Already you can fly in a day or two early, explore Barcelona, and at the end out of Venice stay another day or two. Delta has direct flights I believe from Atlanta into both cities, either their own arirline or a partner.

 

I've done two overnight long train rides in Europe, they were an experience at that time and age I fondly remember, but I'm beyond wanting those experiences these days.

 

If you doing princess its a great port lineup!

 

We are considering booking an European med cruise that goes from Venice to Barcelona. We would fly into Spain from home, so that would be round trip. We are considering buying a Euro region pass from Spain to Italy. The price is reasonable enough-about the same as a one way flight would cost. I am just wondering if this would be feasible time wise-how long would a train trip take from Barcelona to Venice?

[ab0si]

The fastest (and easiest) routing takes about 17 hours (to Barcelona Estacion de Franca, not Sans) overnight train (Venice to Milan and from there EuroNight 11274). There would be considerable supplements if you are using a train pass. I would being wiling to bet quite a bit of your money, that a pass would be more expensive than a point to point ticket.

[momofmeg]

The fastest (and easiest) routing takes about 17 hours (to Barcelona Estacion de Franca, not Sans) overnight train (Venice to Milan and from there EuroNight 11274). There would be considerable supplements if you are using a train pass. I would being wiling to bet quite a bit of your money, that a pass would be more expensive than a point to point ticket.

 

Okay so even if I bought a Euro pass (region pass) that would be good from Spain to Italy-it would not be good for everything?

[momofmeg]

Why would't you do open jaw fly into Barcleona and out of Venice. You should price that out I don't think much more expensive or less convenient. Unless doing overnight train is something you want. Already you can fly in a day or two early, explore Barcelona, and at the end out of Venice stay another day or two. Delta has direct flights I believe from Atlanta into both cities, either their own arirline or a partner.

 

I've done two overnight long train rides in Europe, they were an experience at that time and age I fondly remember, but I'm beyond wanting those experiences these days.

 

If you doing princess its a great port lineup!

 

We probably will end up flying one way from Barcelona to Venice if we book this. I just don't like Air buses, and I thought a train ride would be fun-but 17 hours, plus several train changes and the Euro pass not even good for everything-nope-not interested.

 

Yes we like the lineup-plus we hope to spend a few days pre-cruise in Venice and post- cruise in Barcelona. Hopefully this will work out.

[riffatsea]

YOU should really price a multi city flight on one airline web site-flying into Barcelona and then home from Venice.

It is not always more expensive!! It is just MUCH more convenient!

[momofmeg]

YOU should really price a multi city flight on one airline web site-flying into Barcelona and then home from Venice.

It is not always more expensive!! It is just MUCH more convenient!

 

This cruise is over a year away, so we will not be booking flights anytime soon-but when the time comes, we will definitely check out all options. We almost booked a simliar cruise for this fall. Our friends who we will travel with, wanted to wait as the husband had an unexpected surgery which cut into their trip funds. We found we could book a one way flight on a small Italian airline,which was much more reasonable than booking 2 one ways. Now that cruise started in Rome instead of Venice, but as we found that would save us a bundle, and so we thought we would check that out again and see if we could save that way.

 

I would prefer to stay on Delta-if possible-we have the gold American Express, and so with that we don't have to pay to check one bag per person. Anyway, we will be weighing all our options, as to what is best.

[chipmaster]

Not sure where you search for your international flights, but two years ago we looked carefully at open jaw versus roundtrips and really found minimum differences between them as long as you pick an airline that flies to both airports, in your case Venice and Barcelona, among US carriers you can choose from at least US Air and Delta both with direct.

 

You may find smaller airlines that offer intra europe flights for cheap but be careful and research carefully between luggage restrictions, reliability of airline your savings could evaporate very quickly. I'd also for convenience pick a direct from the US over a multi stop or something with a train unless one is adding multiple stops landtour to your cruise.

 

We found RT trips from LAX - Philly to Venice and the reverse out of Barcelona for a bit over 1100 avg. We booked most of the tickets in Feb for a August cruise. We waited got some of the tickets for 1300, others for 1100 and saw the price fall to as low as 1000 so prices do fluctuate.

 

The one good thing is you can book now and get the cabins you want while waiting for final payment which will be much later and around that time lock in airfare and final payment at the sametime. Thus if worst comes to worst you can just cancel if no airfare appears in your budget. Of course there is always cruise air :eek:

 

Good luck!

 

This cruise is over a year away, so we will not be booking flights anytime soon-but when the time comes, we will definitely check out all options. We almost booked a simliar cruise for this fall. Our friends who we will travel with, wanted to wait as the husband had an unexpected surgery which cut into their trip funds. We found we could book a one way flight on a small Italian airline,which was much more reasonable than booking 2 one ways. Now that cruise started in Rome instead of Venice, but as we found that would save us a bundle, and so we thought we would check that out again and see if we could save that way.

 

I would prefer to stay on Delta-if possible-we have the gold American Express, and so with that we don't have to pay to check one bag per person. Anyway, we will be weighing all our options, as to what is best.

[moyaroo]

. We found we could book a one way flight on a small Italian airline,which was much more reasonable than booking 2 one ways. .

 

An open jaw or multi city ticket is not the same as two one ways. Two one ways has to be the most expensive ticket in the world basically twice the cost of a roundtrip! A multi city or open jaw ticket is usually a bit cheaper than a round trip to the more distant city. You really need some expert guidance before buying one way tickets. (and then look at the cost of the baggage on that low cost airline! Some times low cost European Air has add ons that make US carriers seem generous.)

 

Rail passes are really only good if you are heavy rail users. I can't think of a single time that a pass would trump a point to point ticket in terms of cost. Again you sound like you could use some assistance. I know it is hard to find a good TA but you can avoid the high cost of learning the hard way if you take the time to find a good one.

[moyaroo]

RE preference to Delta. Delta flies into and out of Venice Barcelona and Rome - all of the cities mentioned. Go to their website click on multi city to the right of round trip and one way and check out the difference in fare.

[ab0si]

Okay so even if I bought a Euro pass (region pass) that would be good from Spain to Italy-it would not be good for everything?

 

The passes still require you to pay a supplement for the fast trains and pay for a seat reservations for the same. Also, the train I suggested from Milan to Barcelona is an overnight train, so unless you really want to sit up all night, you would need to pay for the sleeper or couchette.

 

The passes are almost never cheaper than point to point tickets

[momofmeg]

The passes still require you to pay a supplement for the fast trains and pay for a seat reservations for the same. Also, the train I suggested from Milan to Barcelona is an overnight train, so unless you really want to sit up all night, you would need to pay for the sleeper or couchette.

 

The passes are almost never cheaper than point to point tickets

 

Okay-oh well, we probably will not do this-the site said we would change trains in Nice and Milan, that is too much. We plan to pack light-but still-we will be having to handle our luggage.

[momofmeg]

RE preference to Delta. Delta flies into and out of Venice Barcelona and Rome - all of the cities mentioned. Go to their website click on multi city to the right of round trip and one way and check out the difference in fare.

 

Yes, we prefer Delta, especially since we have the gold skymiles Amercian Express which gives us the perk of checking one bag for free. I DEFINITELY want to fly Delta across the Atlantic. Delta gives you more leg room in coach than Air France which we flew last year. Air France gives you free wine and movies, but I prefer the leg room, I can buy a glass of wine and pay for ear phones.

 

I found out Venice is 600 miles from Barcelona-so that would be about an hour and half to 2 hour flight-so if we book round trip Barcelona, and do get a one way flight to Venice from Barcelona, I won't mind be cramped for that little bit. However, we will definitely check out one way flights both ways Delta.

 

Well this cruise is not until fall 2011, so we can't buy airline tickets yet-but we can look at prices for fall 2010 and get an idea of costs.

[cruisemom42]

Most major US airlines allow coach passengers to check one bag for free when flying overseas, so you don't have to limit yourself to Delta if that is your concern.

 

Also, with Delta it depends which aircraft you get as to the leg room. Some are better than others. You can check out information on specific aircraft (best seats to pick, seat width, seat pitch, legroom, etc) at www.seatguru.com

[cruiseluv]

I found out Venice is 600 miles from Barcelona-so that would be about an hour and half to 2 hour flight-so if we book round trip Barcelona, and do get a one way flight to Venice from Barcelona, I won't mind be cramped for that little bit. However, we will definitely check out one way flights both ways Delta.

 

Well this cruise is not until fall 2011, so we can't buy airline tickets yet-but we can look at prices for fall 2010 and get an idea of costs.

 

As several posters have noted, there is no need for you to fly back to your initial destination, Barcelona. You could book a US to Venice , Barcelona back to US ticket. This is called open jaw or multi city itinerary. Is there any particular reason why you need to book it R/T BCN?

[momofmeg]

As several posters have noted, there is no need for you to fly back to your initial destination, Barcelona. You could book a US to Venice , Barcelona back to US ticket. This is called open jaw or multi city itinerary. Is there any particular reason why you need to book it R/T BCN?

 

No. I guess you guys did not understand me. We found it cheaper to do that for another cruise which we almost booked. That cruise was Rome to Barcelona in October 2010, so not the exact same cruise, but because we could take this little Italian airline from Barcelona-it was the most reasonable. $985 for Delta round trip coach Atlanta to Barcelona and $185 coach one way from Barcelona to Rome in an airbus on the Italian airline.

 

Of course I would rather do the open jaw if it is not much more expensive. (definitely if it turns out the most reasonable) I don't want to pay to check my bag or to go to the bathroom if I don't need to.

[polySeraph]

Yes, we prefer Delta, especially since we have the gold skymiles Amercian Express which gives us the perk of checking one bag for free. I DEFINITELY want to fly Delta across the Atlantic. Delta gives you more leg room in coach than Air France which we flew last year. Air France gives you free wine and movies, but I prefer the leg room, I can buy a glass of wine and pay for ear phones.

 

I found out Venice is 600 miles from Barcelona-so that would be about an hour and half to 2 hour flight-so if we book round trip Barcelona, and do get a one way flight to Venice from Barcelona, I won't mind be cramped for that little bit. However, we will definitely check out one way flights both ways Delta.

 

As several posters have noted, there is no need for you to fly back to your initial destination, Barcelona. You could book a US to Venice , Barcelona back to US ticket. This is called open jaw or multi city itinerary. Is there any particular reason why you need to book it R/T BCN?

 

Will be cruising from Barcelona to Venice this time next year so I've been watching sample multi-city itineraries for Barcelona and Venice (ATL-BCN and VCE-ATL) to get an estimate of the cost. Overall, I found that multi-city itinerary (or "open-jaw") flights for those cities usually cost $50-$75pp more than a flat RT from ATL-BCN. Of course, flight schedules haven't been posted for the actual dates I'll actually be travelling yet, but the fares for that route have consistently averaged $650-$800pp with decent connections.

 

This AM I went to Delta's web site and plugged in OP's itinerary and sample dates. I found that RT ATL-BCN was $750pp and multi-city ATL-VCE & BCN-ATL started at $801. Pricing the same itinerary as two one-ways resulted in ATL-VCE at $2,064 and BCN-ATL at $1,779 for a total of $3,843.

 

Delta offered free headsets and free beer & wine on our international flights to South America earlier this spring. Like Cruisemom42 pointed out, the seat comfort in coach varied with the aircraft. The seats on our flight down were more comfortable than the flight back but thanks to Seat Guru, we were able to choose pretty good seats on both flights.

 

We've also found the Amex Gold Skymiles card to be a great deal. We really like the Pay-with-Miles feature where you can partially pay for a ticket with miles and charge the rest to the card. For example, if you only have 60K miles and your international ticket costs $800, you can use the miles to take $600 off the ticket and pay the remainder with the Gold card. Much better than spending 90K or 135K miles and having to choose from a handful of terrible itineraries.

[momofmeg]

Okay, Delta does not fly into Venice, so we would have to go with another airline anyway. We still want to fly Delta as we can discount our ticket with skymiles, as a previous poster mentioned. We have 40,000 skymiles right now.

 

Barcelona to Venice is 110 euros we found out, at last for now-who knows next year. Now we just have to convince our friends that we should go ahead and book. I really like the idea of this cruise, as we could spend days pre and post crusie in 2 wonderful cities.

[riffatsea]

Delta has a non stop from ATL into Venice. I have taken it. I suppose it is possible that it only flies at certain times of the year but I have flown it twice so I know it exists. They also fly non stop from JFK into Venice.

[cruisemom42]

I just checked several dates over the next few months and Delta still flies into Venice from Atlanta, so far as I can tell....:confused:

[chipmaster]

My last 2 pennies; penny wise, pound foolish?

 

Cruise cost = ~1000+/person

Airfare from the US ~ 1000/person

Tours and Misc ~ 1000/person, YMMV

Vacation days/time/travel fatigue: priceless

 

I'd spend another 50-100 bucks for flying to save a day/night doing train travel.

 

Do some research there is absolutely multiple carriers that offer competitive direct flight out of the US into both Barcelona and Vencie, just checked they are flying this summer at least, prices look expensive so book early for next year.

 

Good luck planning

[orchidj5]

We are doing a cruise tour that begins in Venice and then back to back cruises out of Rome in about a month-i did extensvie research on this topic-our orginal plan was to fly R/T Colorado Springs to Rome and then take the train from Rome to Venice for the beginning of the Tour-research turned up that at the time i purchased my airfare at the end of March doing an open Jaw into Venice and returning from Rome cost 14 dollars per passenger more-the rail fare from Rome to Venice is 150 per passenger in second class-making the open Jaw flight cheaper and allowing us more time to enjoy our vacation rather than westling baggage on the Train. Delta does indeed fly to Venice-we are booked on that flight-and their baggage policy on international flights is one checked bag free per person and $50 for a second-However another policy allows active duty soldiers three for free-this provides us an advantage.

[momofmeg]

Most major US airlines allow coach passengers to check one bag for free when flying overseas, so you don't have to limit yourself to Delta if that is your concern.

 

Also, with Delta it depends which aircraft you get as to the leg room. Some are better than others. You can check out information on specific aircraft (best seats to pick, seat width, seat pitch, legroom, etc) at www.seatguru.com

 

Delta uses their big jets for flying overseas normally. 767? I think that is the what those jets are called-they have much better leg room than the smaller jets which are used for inside the US. Of course we also flew one of those jets also back from Anchorage and from San Juan, so I guess it is used in the US some.

 

Now the Air France jet we flew to Paris, was actually HUGE, but it also carried about 500 PAX, we were crammed in like sardines in coach. I will never do that again.

 

As far as no flights to Venice, my husband told me that. I depend on him to check. He works at Delta as a contractor, (Systems Administrator) his employer is actually IBM, but he has been doing this for many years. I guess he did not take the time to look yesterday. I know he knows how, he is very computer savvy, he has to be with his psoiton. I am the one that is the dummy who does not know how to check things on the internet.

[momofmeg]

My last 2 pennies; penny wise, pound foolish?

 

Cruise cost = ~1000+/person

Airfare from the US ~ 1000/person

Tours and Misc ~ 1000/person, YMMV

Vacation days/time/travel fatigue: priceless

 

I'd spend another 50-100 bucks for flying to save a day/night doing train travel.

 

Do some research there is absolutely multiple carriers that offer competitive direct flight out of the US into both Barcelona and Vencie, just checked they are flying this summer at least, prices look expensive so book early for next year.

 

Good luck planning

 

If you had read all of my posts, you would know that I have already decided the train is not the way to go. (Even though I do hope one day before I die to ride one of those fast European trains, which is why I asked) People have been giving me info on the best way to get the most reasonable flights.

 

However, I would not mind spending a few days in Nice pre-cruise, so I suppose it is still possible we could take a train. Probably not though, we have a budget unfortunately.

[momofmeg]

Okay, I talked to my husband again. What he meant was that there was no direct flights to Venice, we would change planes in Amsterdam, which makes it much more expensive. Now, he was checking fall 2010, because we will go in fall 2011 if we book this.