Barcelona Outbound Flight

[ravenrob]

Does anyone know if leaving from Barcelona on an 11:15AM flight back to Newark is too early.  We are on the Allure of the Seas on May 24th and arriving back on May 31st.  Thanks in advance.

[kokopelli-az]

We were on the Epic last October and our return flight (Air Canada) was at 11:45am.   We didn't leave the ship pier until 8am on a private shuttle and arrived at BCN with plenty of time.   However, lines of people at the airport were terrible.   For Air Canada their agents didn't start assisting passengers until exactly 2 hours before take-off.   By this time, the lines of people were basically a sea of people.   This wasn't just for Air Canada, the other airlines were equally backed up with passengers trying to get through.  There are several check-points to go through between check-in and the gate.   However, we did make it to our gate with plenty of time.  

 

I often wonder if all the other people who were waiting made their flights.

[CruiseDigits]

@ravenrob am I looking at the Royal Caribbean schedule correctly with a 5 a.m. arrival to Barcelona on debarkation day?  If that's correct and you don't have any special needs or situations then I don't have any immediate red flags.

 

When we left Barcelona earlier this month with a late afternoon departure the airline sent us notifications of a scheduled security strike so we were warned about potential delays but it was for naught as we really didn't have any meaningful lines at security or passport control.

 

One additional thought is that I hope you have time in Barcelona before the cruise to explore the city if you are heading straight to the airport after the cruise!

[Drink-in-Hand/Toes-in-Sand]

The cruise lines usually recommend not booking a flight prior to noon.  Airlines recommend arriving at the airport two hours prior to an international flight.  I'm struggling with the same scheduling issue as @ravenrob, and am toying with a ship's tour prior to departure to fill the time before the flight.  The devil on my shoulder tells me "You can totally make that 11:15am departure" 😈 while the angel on the other shoulder whispers, "Do you really want to suffer the anxiety of not making the flight on time?" 👼 Decisions... decisions...

[mapleleaves]

We flew out of barcelona last Sat 9/22. Our biggest delay was the taxi line!!

Our flight was at 1pm so we didnt disemark until 9am.  After waiting in the taxi line for an hr (and there still 300 pax ahead of us), we bought tickets from a shuttle company at 17E pp.   One taxi would pull up every several minutes so the line never really moved.

( there were only 10 or 12 people in the taxi line at 7:30am.)

We were flying to portugal. We arrived around 10:45 and were at the gate within an hr, but i think we avoided a line since we were travelling w/i the EU.

I think youll be fine, but either disembark by 7:30 am.

[CruisinCons]

On 9/17/2019 at 10:06 AM, ravenrob said:

Does anyone know if leaving from Barcelona on an 11:15AM flight back to Newark is too early.  We are on the Allure of the Seas on May 24th and arriving back on May 31st.  Thanks in advance.

We're on the same sailing.  I'm just starting to research this sailing and look at air, hotel and stuff to do! 

[hkto]

Allure of the Seas is scheduled to arrive at 5am so catching 11:15am flight is not an issue as long as taxi is taken before 8am. Easily doable. 

[ravenrob]

11 hours ago, CruisinCons said:

We're on the same sailing.  I'm just starting to research this sailing and look at air, hotel and stuff to do! 

That's very cool..

[zdect]

Does anyone have the 2019 disembarkation times in Barcelona on NCL EPIC? 

Especially walk off times.

[mapleleaves]

5 hours ago, zdect said:

Does anyone have the 2019 disembarkation times in Barcelona on NCL EPIC? 

Especially walk off times.

 

We disembarked the Epic on Sun Sept 22.  I don;t know how early disembarkation started, but by 7:30am people were already lining up for taxis, so they must have walked off by 7 at least

[hkto]

Epic is scheduled to arrive at 5am so technically people can disembark any time after as long as they carry their own luggage and don't leave it outside for pickup in terminal. Cruise lines try to be exact with luggage unloading times but it's never guaranteed.

[mapleleaves]

13 hours ago, mapleleaves said:

 

We disembarked the Epic on Sun Sept 22.  I don;t know how early disembarkation started, but by 7:30am people were already lining up for taxis, so they must have walked off by 7 at least

 

I found the Disembarkation flier from the Epic. 

If you carry your own bags off the ship, self-assist starts at  5:45am .

[zdect]

Does anyone know if flying to another EU country out of BCN is easier (less traffic and checks) than flying directly to USA?

[mapleleaves]

As I noted previously, we flew from BCN to Lisbon.   Our flight was around 1pm. 

After waiting in the taxi line for an hour we decided to use an airport shuttle company.  We got to the airport at 10:45am and were our gate within an hour.  So it wasn't bad at all.  Perhaps because we flew later in the day? There were long lines at the airport but they moved quickly. 

 

[Bobbysjack]

How do you feel about a 10:25 am flight? We are on the Carnival Legend docking on Tuesday, July 7th. We don't want to spend an extra day in Barcelona, and we don't want to spend $2,000 a ticket... any thoughts? Are we cutting it too close? 

[mapleleaves]

@bobbysjack   What time does the ship dock ?  Can you expect to self disembark by 6am?

 

If you look at past threads, for some people like me, check-in and security went rather quickly, whereas others barely made their flights.  I wonder if my easy check in was due to a later flight? 

 I would play it safe and be in the 1st group off the ship. Better to spend extra time sitting at the gate, then sweating bullets in a security line, hoping to make the flight.  Can't imagine what a last minute ticket would cost you.

Here's an old thread on the topic.

 

[dog]

Was the airport shuttle service near where the taxis are or did you call them?

[mapleleaves]

 

 

The NCL shuttle and the private shuttle were loading almost next to each other, maybe 3 bays apart.  

 

A rep from the shuttle company approached us as we entered the parking lot, but we were planning on a taxi so we said no thx.  Not sure what the problem was with taxi service that day, but after waiting an hr, we went with the shuttle afterall.   

[Cienfuegos]

We arrived with Viking in October. Ship arrived the prior day, and docked at the small ship pier. We were off the ship and picked up luggage in the main hall, on the bus by 5.45 am for a 9.45 flight to Miami.  Some early departees took cabs, which were lined up.

 

About half the bus passengers were going with American Air to Miami or Philadelphia (IIRC), the rest with KLM, etc. Viking separated the luggage and hauled ours to the American counter. Where we waited about 1/2 hour for the service to begin. Staff was there, it was just they don't start serving passengers until 7 am.

 

No problems there, weapons check waved us through, VAT refunds were processed smoothly, and we were at the gate by 8.30 am for a 9.45 flight.  I found everyone in the process to be friendly, pleasant, "come back and see us".

 

So, I'd say that a 9.45 flight is doable

[Iceman-007]

On 10/24/2019 at 11:01 AM, Bobbysjack said:

How do you feel about a 10:25 am flight? We are on the Carnival Legend docking on Tuesday, July 7th. We don't want to spend an extra day in Barcelona, and we don't want to spend $2,000 a ticket... any thoughts? Are we cutting it too close? 

You should  try and disembark as soon as possible  for such an early flight.   10:25am and 11:15am  You  usually have an option where you can  self-disembark very early, when I did  I had to carry the luggage off the ship myself.