Disembarking in Barcelona with NCL and website prebookings

[Bananaprata]

Hi we have booked a Morocco and Canaries cruise in and out of Barcelona over Xmas. We will be disembarking from the Epic on Monday 28/12. Could anyone tell me realistically from what time onwards could we book the flights out of BCN airport. Is a 10:30 departure going to be too tight?

Any recommendations for a reliable taxi firm?

 

Also I wondered if it is worth pre-booking any activities, excursions, etc. On the NCL website beforehand? I heard some specialities restaurants can be very busy. Thanks!

[Son of a son of a ...]

We booked a 1045 flight out for our cruise in May 2016. When I looked into it, there were opinions that: 1) the ship arrives in port at 0530 and begins disembarking at 0630; 2) if you do self-assist, then you can get off early; 3) depending on port activity (other ships disembarking at the same time), there were plenty of taxis available for the people disembarking earlier; 4) the airport is not far from the port and traffic is light on the weekends; and 5) one person opined that we could be at the airport by 0730-0800 if all went well.

 

I would be interested in hearing your experience.

 

Bon voyage!

[jlajr]

Personally, I think 10:30/10:45 departure times are cutting it too close, even if the ship docks on time that early, unless you book the flight and transfer through NCL, which presumably guarantees you make the flight or that you get on another flight at no extra cost to you.

 

Barcelona's such as wonderful city, and even though only one day doesn't do it justice, I recommend spending the day there and then flying out that night. There is a service that takes your baggage at the port terminal and delivers it to the airport (http://bagsandgo.com/en/baggage-left-luggage-services-at-barcelona/). When I did it in November 2013, I had to pick up my baggage by 20:00 at the airport, which worked out well. I had already been in Barcelona for a few days after a previous cruise, so I went out to Montserrat, using public transportation there and back. For more information about how I did this, see http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1952952&page=3.

[jlajr]

Also I wondered if it is worth pre-booking any activities, excursions, etc. On the NCL website beforehand? I heard some specialities restaurants can be very busy. Thanks!

 

I prefer to keep my options open, have never gone on a shore excursion, and the only time I've eaten in a specialty restaurant, it was booked by a family member. Therefore, I've never booked any activity, excursion, or specialty restaurant on the website beforehand.

 

If you prefer to plan activities ahead of time, or it is important to you to eat at a particular restaurant, see a particular show, or go on a particular excursion, then I recommend booking it on the website beforehand. There might be some sort of change or cancellation policy that allows you to change your mind up to a certain point.

[KeithJenner]

You can make quite early flights out of Barcelona, as long as you make sure you are off the ship early. There are a few things to watch out for.

 

Firstly, what other ships are in port? On one occasion we had about 5 ships arriving on the same day as us, and waited a couple of hours for a taxi. I'm sure we would have been ok if we'd been off the ship early, but it's worth checking,

 

Also, what day of the week? The port is very close to the city centre, so it can take a while to get through the traffic in the city. I see you are on a Monday, which would concern me, but considering the date, I would have thought you would be OK because people will be on holiday.

 

Other than those two things, you should be fine. It's a relatively short drive to the airport and there are usually loads of taxis (no need to book one). I've always found the airport is easy to get through as well.

 

As long as you get off the ship early (I'd do self walk off) then you should be able to get to the airport in time, but just be aware that you don't have much wriggle room if something goes wrong. I'd go for a later one of possible, just to avoid the worry, but you should be ok.

[hlsess]

We are on the same cruise and decided to stay in BCN and leave the next day.

We have excursions pre booked at most ports and shows and one specialty restaurant. Not a big cruiser so we decided to book things on certain days. Good luck!!

[Froggitt]

I left the ship in Barcelona at 8am for a 10.30am Easyjet flight. Was there 8.45am in loads of time.

[kirsty_r]

it depends on flight location too - if your going back to UK your fine, as I think as long as your there 45 mins or so its ok, for transatlantic flights its another story.

 

My tips, do self-disembark early if concerned you can always use up euros at airport on a cooked breakfast and strong coffee -q for taxi, in under 30 mins you will be at airport - cost 39 Euros.

[bnorris10]

Hi we have booked a Morocco and Canaries cruise in and out of Barcelona over Xmas. We will be disembarking from the Epic on Monday 28/12. Could anyone tell me realistically from what time onwards could we book the flights out of BCN airport. Is a 10:30 departure going to be too tight?

Any recommendations for a reliable taxi firm?

 

Also I wondered if it is worth pre-booking any activities, excursions, etc. On the NCL website beforehand? I heard some specialities restaurants can be very busy. Thanks!

 

I will be on the same boat with you during that time I hope you have joined the roll call as we will be doing a meet and greet .... When you get off the boat their should be taxi's outside waiting - If you walk off with all your stuff instead of putting it out then barring no delays you should be able to get to your flight on time

[sandancer]

We got off the Epic last Sunday. It was very easy. We were on an 11.10 flight to Garwick. I strongly recommend booking a transfer in advance and don't rely on getting a taxi. We had a transfer booked through Holiday Taxis. It cost £16 each. We did easy walk off and it really was easy. Our taxi was booked for 8.30 and we were picked up at 8.20. At the airport by 8.45.

[mertziek]

Definitely walk off as early as you can with your luggage. We got off at 7:15 am. Saves a lot of time. There are plenty of cabs to take you to the airport. No need to make pre arrangements. Took about 30 minutes to the airport on a Sunday morning for us so not sure if more traffic on other days of the week. However, I think a flight earlier than 11 could be cutting it close if you run into any delays. Our flight was at 11:45 am and we had plenty of time. Even stood in line for more than a half hour for the VAT stuff. But we are people who like being at the airport WELL ahead of boarding time and always get there very early. So it depends on your willingness to take a chance.

Edited October 29, 2015 by mertziek

[kirsty_r]

Hi we have booked a Morocco and Canaries cruise in and out of Barcelona over Xmas. We will be disembarking from the Epic on Monday 28/12. Could anyone tell me realistically from what time onwards could we book the flights out of BCN airport. Is a 10:30 departure going to be too tight?

Any recommendations for a reliable taxi firm?

 

Also I wondered if it is worth pre-booking any activities, excursions, etc. On the NCL website beforehand? I heard some specialities restaurants can be very busy. Thanks!

 

As for the second part of your question, prebooking depends how planned you want your time on ship to be. Yes, shows can book up as can restaurants. I prebook the shows, and I've prebooked one restaurant as it was a very special occasion. There will always be some reservations left to be booked onboard but you may need to be flexible with times. Plus you don't know what other things might be happening onboard which might change your dining plans. Remember ncl is freestyle!

[suron]

Hi we have booked a Morocco and Canaries cruise in and out of Barcelona over Xmas. We will be disembarking from the Epic on Monday 28/12. Could anyone tell me realistically from what time onwards could we book the flights out of BCN airport. Is a 10:30 departure going to be too tight?

Any recommendations for a reliable taxi firm?

 

Also I wondered if it is worth pre-booking any activities, excursions, etc. On the NCL website beforehand? I heard some specialities restaurants can be very busy. Thanks![/QUOT

 

Bananaprata -

 

I will be on the same sailing as you and my son and family will be flying in from Dubai to join me. You will see from previous posts here that hlsess and bnorris10 have given you some advice which I hope will prove useful and they are also on this cruise.

 

 

Do consider joining the M&G. We are also having a secret Santa - log into the roll call and look for details from jodieh12 who has arranged it all.

 

Would recommend booking speciality restaurants and/or making reservations for Tastes or Manhattan (the main free dining rooms) as the popular times are booking up fast. Also do get your show bookings done as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. There are some private excursions being organised via the roll call - whether or not there are vacancies I cannot say but you could scroll through and find out.

 

Where in the UK do you live? I am in Bristol and will be flying out of Heathrow on the 19th at the unearthly hour of 6.30 a.m. (changed from a later flight only last week) and my flight back is 10.10 which will mean leaving the ship quite early but I have NCL transfers included in the package so will not have to worry about getting a private transfer/taxi.

 

bnorris10 - do you know exactly when the formal nights are and if there are any special evening menus for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Think we will have to re-schedule our entertainment bookings just in case we miss out on any specials in the dining room those days. All this pre-booking of things gets really quite complicated!!

 

Have you had any luck in downloading your e-docs yet - I still can't get to ours.

 

Looking forward to meeting up with everyone

 

Suzanne

[Cat4158]

Just got off the ship today. We disembarked at 7.00. Prearranged our taxi through suntransfers. They picked us up prompt at 7.15 and we were at the airport in 20 minutes.

[Bananaprata]

Thanks that's reassuring to know. Will go for self-disembarkation