Barcelona airport warning

[stipmom]

Barcelona airport is a zoo. If you go home the day the cruise ends make sure you book a flight late morning- especially if more than one ship is disembarking. Huge lines and no organization at airport. Celebrity has a truck that takes the luggage to the airport so you have to retrieve your bags twice-once at the pier and once at the airport. Disembarking begins by 6:50 a.m. with suites, concierge and Captains club founder and elite members all given times before 7:30. Rest of the diembarkation is according to airline departure times.Michele

[vivian02]

Wow, I often wondered what would happen if there were muliple cruise ships arriving in Barcelona at departure. I am planning a cruise for next June out of Barcelona. I think I'll plan on staying in Barcelona for at least one day post cruise. Thanks for the information. Tim

[Andym]

A thing that we found with Celebrity is that once they have you off the ship, you are dumped at the airport regardless of the time of your flight. Venice was terrible, no seats until you went into departures, which you can only do up to 2 hours before your flight.

 

Andy

[harrodsfan]

I dont' know about Venice but I do know that Barcelona Airport won't take your luggage until 2 hours before your flight. This is a giant pain as there are about 4 seats in the airport before you get inot the departure lounge. That beign siad once you get into the departure lounge some of the best shopping at an airport!

Too bad you only get an hour to shop!

[Andym]

Sounds like Venice and Barcelona are just about the same then. Plan on a spot of floor sitting until 2 hours before your flight as the seats are deffinitely as common as the giant panda.

The food inside the departure lounge at Venice was much, much better than the offerings outside.

[azcruises]

Can someone please tell what is the latest time they have able to disembark from the BOS in Barcelona. I am trying to arrange for ground transportation and would really like to avoid the long wait at Barcelona airport until we can check in for our 1 PM flight. Thank you.

[mek]

Hummm - Getting off the Brilliance and claiming our luggage at the terminal in June was a zoo - the airport was a breeze, but we returned on a Friday, so perhaps that had some thing to do with it.

[Linda in MI]

We returned from the Splendour on July 2nd. Our flight wasn't until 4:45 p.m. so we didn't go to the Barcelona airport until around 1:00 p.m. We were able to check our luggage immediately and found plenty of seats outside of the departure lounge. And, yes, when we did go through security there were lots of great shops and restaurants. We thought BCN was a nice airport.

 

Linda

[hmg]

It's all about timing. Our cruise ended last Friday but many of us stayed an extra night in Barcelona. Splendour got in on Saturday. Being the end of July it was also the start of the month long European holiday. The Barcelona airport was a total zoo. It took us well over an hour and a half to get through the check in line and, initially, there was no one directing people. Flights were delayed in leaving due, in part, to the airport congestion. I remember the lines being long in the past, but nothing like this.

[Debbierpof]

I've gotta tell ya, it was a zoo at the pier to get a taxi! We disembarked at 8:30 am and didn't get a cab until almost 10 am! There were plenty of taxi cabs available, but there was one police officer directing the flow and he did a lousy job (I believe purposefully). We arrived at the airport 2.5 hours before our departure. The line for Air France was at least another hour. Fortunately, going into the terminal security was a breeze. Once inside, there are alot of shops (all types and wallet sizes) so once you're "inside" you can shop around or eat. That was a nice thing about the Barcelona airport.

[momamea]

We also had a 1:00 flight after getting off Splendour on7/16 at about 8:15. Got luggage quickly, but waiting in a very long line for a taxi. Once at the airport, we stood in line for about 1 1/2 hours until 11:00, when Delta opened up the counter to check in for our flight. Then a pretty long line through security. We thought we'd have a long time to wait at the gate, but barely enough time to eat a quick lunch.