Itinerary changes

[belchro22]

I know there is a thread on the changes made to Epic southern Caribbean cruises which affected us for January cruise. Yesterday we booked

a cruise on Escape leaving from Rome and ending Southampton in May 2020. It was suppose to include Barcelona. Just received an email with itenerary

change. No Barcelona. We are going to Tarragona , Spain instead. I sure hope this isn't the beginning of many port changes.

Anyone been to Tarragona? I did google it and it looks like it might be a good visit but was looking forward to Barcelona.

[mugtech]

No place in Spain compares to Barcelona, could spend a week there.  You have plenty of time to find a different cruise, plenty of them start in Barcelona.  Fly in a few days early.

[Davebhoy]

You can get a direct train from Tarragona to Barcelona easily and cheaply. Well worth heading up to Barcelona - so much to see !

[Georgia_Peaches]

Agree with Mug regarding Barcelona.  If you don't know when you'll get a chance to get back to the Med. I would definitely consider a different cruise...cruise line even.  Barcelona is a fabulous city with so much to see and do.  If you can swing it, find a cruise that embarks in Barcelona and fly in a few days early.  Not sure what's up with all the itinerary changes...not a good look NCL.

Edited August 9, 2019 by Georgia_Peaches

[CruisingSince1982]

21 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Agree with Mug regarding Barcelona.  If you don't know when you'll get a chance to get back to the Med. I would definitely consider a different cruise...cruise line even.  Barcelona is a fabulous city with so much to see and do.  If you can swing it, find a cruise that embarks in Barcelona and fly in a few days early.  Not sure what's up with all the itinerary changes...not a good look NCL.

 

especially for a med cruise.

[room with a view]

Seems there is a change on the Spirit cruise from Rome on 22nd December .

NCL are taking out  the port call to Palma and coming back to Rome ONE DAY EARLIER.

[schmoopie17]

 

5 hours ago, belchro22 said:

I know there is a thread on the changes made to Epic southern Caribbean cruises which affected us for January cruise. Yesterday we booked

a cruise on Escape leaving from Rome and ending Southampton in May 2020. It was suppose to include Barcelona. Just received an email with itenerary

change. No Barcelona. We are going to Tarragona , Spain instead. I sure hope this isn't the beginning of many port changes.

Anyone been to Tarragona? I did google it and it looks like it might be a good visit but was looking forward to Barcelona.

 

We are also booked on this cruise. Huge disappointment, since Barcelona was one of the highlights. As for canceling and finding another cruise, it's a lot of hassle to cancel and reschedule. Plus, we already got the 20% Latitudes discount for this cruise and would not get it if we now schedule something else. Plus, we love the Italy stops, as well as Lisbon and Nice. So we'll probably just bite the bullet...but not happy about it.

[mugtech]

Check out RCI, they have three different ships sailing out of Barcelona between April 26 and June 1.  Little late in the game, usually the best prices were a few months back when they first became available.

[mdlarsen]

We had the same itinerary change on my Viking Jupiter cruise last Spring. I loved Terragona and I had already been to Barcelona several times, so I was fine with the change - Terragona is very cool old city with Roman ruins, a gorgeous cathedral, and good shops and restaurants.  If you haven't yet been to Barcelona, then I would definitely recommend making the day trip there from the port in Terragona. I would imagine NCL will have transportation options.

[Stealthdog]

There are certain port cities that are frustrating (to me) to have as a stop.  Rome and Barcelona are two of them.  There is so much to do and see in those two, that they are much more effective as embarkations or disembarkations so you can spend a few days before or after the cruise there. 

 

Given that your current cruise sails out of Rome to London, I personally would keep it unless that one stop in Barcelona is a deal changer for you, and look to do a future cruise out of Barcelona.  Many of the European stops are fine for one-day stops.  You will want more than one day in Barcelona.

[freeholdfriends]

We are booked on the Escape transatlantic and also received an email that we are skipping Barcelona. Terragona sounds really nice but one of the main reasons we booked this was Barcelona. We are thinking about our options right now. Do we know why NCL is changing ports? The email just mentioned something about overbooking the port. But it sounds like this is happening on more than one cruise.

[pamrose228]

I’m on the Escape April TA got the email also. Trying to get my tour company to go to Barcelona since we get in an hour earlier to Terragons. It’s very doable. 11 hours to pu and get up back many hours for Sagrads Parc Guell and other attractions.

[gmbhardy]

17 hours ago, belchro22 said:

I know there is a thread on the changes made to Epic southern Caribbean cruises which affected us for January cruise. Yesterday we booked

a cruise on Escape leaving from Rome and ending Southampton in May 2020. It was suppose to include Barcelona. Just received an email with itenerary

change. No Barcelona. We are going to Tarragona , Spain instead. I sure hope this isn't the beginning of many port changes.

Anyone been to Tarragona? I did google it and it looks like it might be a good visit but was looking forward to Barcelona.

 

We are also on this cruise. Bummer!!!

[FLAHAM]

The Getaway TA, one week later, appears to be still stopping in Barcelona.

[coloradocruiselover88]

This happened to my sister and her two friends this past May.  They enjoyed Tarragona and the surrounding area.  I reserved them a tour & driver from https://mydaytrip.com/ that included transportation from their hotel in Barcelona to Tarragona. The amphitheater and the aqueduct ruins have a lot history.  Barcelona cruise terminal is getting overcrowded and I guess this eases the pressure on the staff, the terminal etc...

[casofilia]

If you want to read a LOT about Tarragona you will find plenty of people in the Roll Call   https://boards.cruisecritic.com.au/topic/2529136-ncl-star-april-27-2019-transatlantic/

towards the end of it who can tell you lots about it!!!!!!!!!

 

Be thankful you are not debarking there or start praying if you are.

 

We did a Transatlantic from Miami to Tarragona and it was a debarkation from, or possibly into, HELL.   It was so bad that anyone who complained got 10% of their fare refunded as OBC for a later cruise.

 

We were not TOO bad as we had arranged an NCL tour ending at Barcelona Airport and the tour round Tarragona was excellent, a lot of walking but excellent.  The problem was we had to wait in the theater for over 2 hours before we were able to get to the bus.

 

There were people standing in line for taxis for at least that, many missed booked bus or train connections to get to Barcelona.

 

Caveat Emptor!!!

 

[ollienbertsmum]

7 hours ago, pamrose228 said:

I’m on the Escape April TA got the email also. Trying to get my tour company to go to Barcelona since we get in an hour earlier to Terragons. It’s very doable. 11 hours to pu and get up back many hours for Sagrads Parc Guell and other attractions.

 

If you have 11 hours, it would be really easy to get to Barcelona.   I am sure that Tarragona has lots to offer - but Barcelona is quite special with all of the Gaudi sites.     

 

An increasing number of cruise ships means that there will be new ports to explore.  That is fine, but if you really want to see Barcelona - then you need to look into transport options.   Rome to Rio is my favourite transport app.

[All-ready2cruise]

I about Rome2Rio being a great tool to use; here's an example of what you can expect: 

https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Tarragona/Barcelona

 

R2R can be used almost anywhere; we used it in Britain a few years ago. 

 

 

[schmoopie17]

The only issue with the train to Barcelona is the fact that potentially 4,000 people may have the same idea...so getting a train may not be easy. Also, if there are other ships in port, that compounds the issue.

 

Hoping NCL adds an excursion to Barcelona. That eliminates the worry of getting back to the ship in time. It would also give us a chance to use the $50 excursion credit.

[FredT]

On 8/9/2019 at 9:03 AM, room with a view said:

Seems there is a change on the Spirit cruise from Rome on 22nd December .

NCL are taking out  the port call t7o Palma and coming back to Rome ONE DAY EARLIER.

And....., As of yesterday the February 10 (21 day) cruise out of Rome on the Spirit is now a 20 day cruise (departing a day later and skipping Turkey) .......   ANNNND there are rumors that it may change the final port (Dubai) because of the tensions in the straights of Hormuz 

 

The fun never ends........

[casofilia]

For those of you arriving in Tarragona transatlantic here are the only tours they offered us on the Star earlier this year.  Also the document we received about what was to happen on arrival.

 

HTH

 

Mike

[smurfgirl06]

On 8/9/2019 at 9:03 AM, room with a view said:

Seems there is a change on the Spirit cruise from Rome on 22nd December .

NCL are taking out  the port call to Palma and coming back to Rome ONE DAY EARLIER.

Yup.  I'm on that cruise.  NCL is providing either a free hotel for the last night or 300 OBC, and prorating the cost of the cruise.  I'm bummed. Palma was one of the few ports I hadn't been to on this cruise. 😞