Barcelona port problems and SB ?

[alexandra cruiser]

Want to book a cruise around Canary Islands and worry about Barcelona as the starting point. Does SB ever change ports when major trouble is there?

Know its not for a few mos.but am concerned.Read a few posts that riots form in various parts of city,,,have been there before and really only want to stay 1 nite prior to cruise.Guess I can always cancel before 90 day limit,,but airfare on own a problem.Any ideas?

[Tapi]

Do you purchase travel insurance? If not, you can look into a policy that will cover you in case of political unrest and itinerary changes. That way you’ll have the peace of mind that other out of pocket expenses not compensated by the cruise line (airfare, hotels, ground transportation, or other non refundable charges), will be reimbursed in case there’s a major change to your itinerary. 

Edited October 28, 2019 by Tapi

[alexandra cruiser]

Thanks for quick response,,but had this problem before. Ins. Co. is the one that determines POLITICAL unrest,,,not State Dept.it seems. Had this question re Egypt,,,the SD said not to go,,but the Ins.Co.,,,one of the top ones,said NOT political,,and refused.Not sure if this has been changed,,,or how to read fine print.Ended up going anyway,,,and had fine time,but will NOT doethat again.

Plus, hate to go to hassle fighting about it again.

Anyone ever have SB change ports BEFORE??

What are those of you going shortlly doing?

May have to contact company,or TA,,before decision made.

 

[rols]

So there are now at least three threads running about 'will seabourn cancel xxx port', one for Barcelona, one for Dubai and one (or possibly two) for Hong Kong. Yes Seabourn do sometimes cancel ports, even the starting and ending port, but they do it rarely and even more rarely do they make schedule changes so far in advance. Reports of unrest with pictures of violence showing on the news today really say little or nothing about the situation a week, a month and definitely not 3+ months in advance. If I was going in a less than a week I'd be working out where best to stay and ensuring a delay at the airport didn't ruin my plans, but this far out, the whole situation can change 10 times worldwide by then. 

The last time I had a cruise change was Istanbul. There there was an attempted coup, tanks on the streets, fighter jets in the air, loss of life and that was followed by huge political unrest, arrests, threats of terrorism and warnings by various governments to avoid Turkey. That was in July; Seabourn eventually cancelled Istanbul at the start of September after watching the situation for 2 months and only 2 weeks before sailing. They compensated us (and I assume everyone else) for the cost of flight changes and were very good about it. 

 

So yes Seabourn does sometimes change or cancel ports, they will absolutely ensure guests' safety and if that means skipping a port they will skip it. They have been good about compensating for expenses sustained by guests having to change flights etc. However they don't change itineraries based on events months in advance which history tells us are more than likely to have been resolved long before sailing. I'd book what you want to do and assume Seabourn is at least as conservative and safety conscious as any of their passengers and will make necessary change .. but only when actually necessary. 

[alexandra cruiser]

Thanks for the detailed response. Feel relieved that port would be changed ahead,,in dire cases.And that SB would help with expenses if needed. That being said,,,when I was a few yrs. younger this type thing would not be as big a deal,,but my DH is not in best of health. May decide to just go elsewhere if things stay same in next mo.or so. 

Just got back from Santiago,,,so missed that mess by a few mos. Love to travel and just TRY to make it as stressfree as possible. 

Sadly, with world wide probs,,,seems its getter harder.BUt sure would LOVE to see the Canary islands.

[kimanjo]

1 hour ago, alexandra cruiser said:

Thanks for the detailed response. Feel relieved that port would be changed ahead,,in dire cases.And that SB would help with expenses if needed. That being said,,,when I was a few yrs. younger this type thing would not be as big a deal,,but my DH is not in best of health. May decide to just go elsewhere if things stay same in next mo.or so. 

Just got back from Santiago,,,so missed that mess by a few mos. Love to travel and just TRY to make it as stressfree as possible. 

Sadly, with world wide probs,,,seems its getter harder.BUt sure would LOVE to see the Canary islands.

 

We're headed to Lima to Santiago Nov 19.  We've been watching and feel we're just planning on to roll with whatever changes might happen.  One thing we did do differently is we usually use local transport to get from port to city.  I just booked our transfers with SB, thinking if for some reason we cannot get to Santiago, it will be easier for SB to handle getting us to the city??. And that local transport could very well not be operational.

Just have to be prepared to be flexible and roll with the changes if there are any.

  

[koalapanda]

5 hours ago, alexandra cruiser said:

Thanks for the detailed response. Feel relieved that port would be changed ahead,,in dire cases.And that SB would help with expenses if needed. That being said,,,when I was a few yrs. younger this type thing would not be as big a deal,,but my DH is not in best of health. May decide to just go elsewhere if things stay same in next mo.or so. 

Just got back from Santiago,,,so missed that mess by a few mos. Love to travel and just TRY to make it as stressfree as possible. 

Sadly, with world wide probs,,,seems its getter harder.BUt sure would LOVE to see the Canary islands.

alexandra cruiser, I understand your hestation, you have much to consider for smooth passage when travelling.

Please may we assure you, as Rols so eloquently did in his post. The fact you are travelling with Seabourn is an assurance you will be looked after well and never in harms way.

The practical side of leaving from Barcelona is : Prior to boarding and from the airport you will not pass through the area of demonstration.  Stay one night at the Hotel Eurostars Grand Marina right on the Port and literally just walk on to the ship.

Please don't give up on your dreams, you will be okay and have a wonderful Cruise.

[Fred arbuthnot]

There  is a 14 day cruise that leaves Lisbon and sails to the Canary Islands and arrives in Barcelona with a departure date of April 8, 2020.  This way you could avoid Barcelona beforehand. Upon arrival into Barcelona you could go immediately to the airport, hopefully missing any problems/issues in Barcelona as Seabourn usually offers a shuttle to local airports.

[alexandra cruiser]

Wow,,both suggestions look worth exploring further. Then see I already have June booked in 2020 for Baltic cruise. Wish I d seen going to Lisbon first,,,but hate to switch around the other.

Wrote down the Hotel name in Barcelona,,,sounds like a plan. Always get there at least 1 day ahead anyway,,just to be on safe side and get over jet lag.

Re.Santiago....we also took cruise transportation to be on safe side.But had to wait LONG time for a bus to transfer from airport to hotel,,since our flight was cancelled. For us,,the airport was very confusing.Not speaking Spanish didnt help.WE had to wait 2hrs.to find flight cancelled,,told to wait outside for bus,,,with large crowds it was a mess and dragged luggage back and forth.Not a good way to end a great cruise around tip of S America...a bucket list item.Alsp...our cellphone wouldn t work in Chile???lucky we have world wide one we carry just in case.Worked fine with sim card in all the other ones??

[TRIPACIAN]

We are in Barcelona now and there are no problems at all, the news media makes up stories to sell their product.  Barcelona is a very fun and safe city, relax and enjoy everything!

[tv24]

Just like Tripacian, we too are in BCN right now and things are peaceful, just the usual hustle and bustle of this marvelous city.  We depart (on another line) tomorrow and on our CC Roll Call, many of us have been worrying about disruptions due to demonstrations.  We learned that even at the height of the demonstrations, the taxi drives were able to drive around the main areas of disruption, which were primarily around the Placa de Cataluyna, the absolute center, and some down the Ramblas.  So much of the city was not affected.  There were some brief disruptions on the autoroute and the airport was shut for a number of hours.  We did not change our plans and have not been affected.

 

So t's a huge city and even in the worst of times, you could probably still get to and from your cruise ship.  However I fully understand wanting to avoid worries, so I think the Eurostar hotel is a good option, or the cruise that leaves from Lisbon.  Good luck, have fun, and try not to worry...This comes from one of the world's great worry-warts.

[alexandra cruiser]

Well, these posts made me feel much better ,,and I went ahead and booked for Oct. 2020 from Barcelona.

Hope it keeps being safe for all those involved.

Know its a great city,,have been there a few yrs. ago and loved it.

My friend DID have his wallet pickkpocketed tho,,on the Rambla.Know that can happen in any large city tho.

[floridaag]

We just returned off the Ovation which embarked in BCN and had no problems at all.  We were there in the middle of the protest activities, right after the end of the first wave.  Other than the graffiti and a few broken store windows, Barcelona was fine - with an increased police/security presence.  The port itself was also fine.  No issues at all.

[whogo]

22 hours ago, TRIPACIAN said:

We are in Barcelona now and there are no problems at all, the news media makes up stories to sell their product.  Barcelona is a very fun and safe city, relax and enjoy everything!

Are you suggesting that there were no demonstrations or injuries in response to the sentencing of Catalan separatist leaders in October? Was that all made up by the media? The photographs looked so real.

[floridaag]

48 minutes ago, whogo said:

Are you suggesting that there were no demonstrations or injuries in response to the sentencing of Catalan separatist leaders in October? Was that all made up by the media? The photographs looked so real.

 

Not the original poster but my answer is no - the protests were real.  There was vandalism and there were trash cans lit on fire etc.   But the protests largely did not interfere (in a direct way) with most tourist activities - and during my 4 days there (October 20-23) - we did not have any direct impacts at all on our visit.

[TRIPACIAN]

47 minutes ago, floridaag said:

 

Not the original poster but my answer is no - the protests were real.  There was vandalism and there were trash cans lit on fire etc.   But the protests largely did not interfere (in a direct way) with most tourist activities - and during my 4 days there (October 20-23) - we did not have any direct impacts at all on our visit.

No I know there are problems!  We have been in Spain for 21 days and the news media here ( Spanish media) has made it seem that there is total chaos.  What I am saying is that these reports are over the top.  We were in a taxi an hour ago and the cab driver was saying the same thing, he was saying the news was scaring away the tourist and it really wasn’t an ongoing problem.  
 

that was what I was saying.