Which is the better port to leave from ? Civitavecchia (Rome) or Barcelona

[Jimbo]

Give all the pro and cons of each?

Flights, Transportation, Port Acess, Tours availability in each City, cost) Hotels Costs, security in and around each city? etc......

Start Day of Cruises, Thursday or Sunday, I would assume hotel costs pre or post would be more for a Friday and Saturday Nights? But I guess either start date may include those nights no matter which cruise day start date you select?

 

Edited March 1, 2021 by Jimbo

[Billy Baltic]

Barcelona is a lot easier and shorter to get from the city to the port. Depending where you stay in Barcelona you maybe able to see the ship. 
It’s around 45 - 60 minutes from Rome to Civitavecchia. Rome will be more expensive for hotels. 
For me, Rome is very special. It’s got a wow factor that very few places I’ve been can match. Barcelona is very nice but that’s competition it can’t match 😊 

[kidless]

I can’t wait to see how experienced Mediterranean cruisers respond to this post. We just booked a 12 night out of Barcelona. After doing our own research it looked to us that flights/hotel were cheaper and it seem Barcelona would be easier to get to hotel and port. Fingers crossed I got it right.

[teacherman]

We have done both several times.   Rome is ROME, and hard to match in terms of history.  But Barcelona is also very nice with a lot to do and see.  Barcelona is easy to get to the ship.  Rome is easy IF you take a private transfer.  You can even arrange it with a company like Rome Cabs, share the cost with other people on your Roll Call, and do some site seeing and maybe stop for lunch on the way to the ship.  We have done this twice and it is a very enjoyable way to begin the cruise.

 

In Barcelona, we went to a great Falmenco show, took part in an amazing cooking class, went on a day trip to Montserrat, etc.  We like to see the local area of the departure port.

 

Either way, I would advise arriving a few days early to enjoy the city and get over jet lag.  I always feel that the "cruise" begins when I leave my home.  Have a great trip.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Barcelona way better, taxis outside airport right to the ship and back again. 

 

Rome, you have to get a train, bout 40mins them taxi to ship.

[Jimbo]

Maybe this will help give me better guidance,  Cruise will have  1 day stop in the city I don't depart from,...so if you only have 1 day to see that city?...........We do plan on going in early 2 or 3 days before departure city we pick.

 

Maybe that will help people decide for me........

Edited March 1, 2021 by Jimbo

[Bobal]

1 minute ago, Jimbo said:

Maybe this will help give me better guidance,  Cruise will have  1 day stop in the city I don't depart from,...so if you only have 1 day to see that city?...........We do plan on going in early 2 or 3 days before departure city we pick.

 

Maybe that will help people decide for me........

 

In that case I would depart from Rome. Barcelona port is very close to the city and it's fairly easy to do the highlights in a day. 

 

The distance from Civitavecchia to Rome means a lot of the day is wasted on travel. Additionally the key attractions in Rome are more spaced out and need more time to fully appreciate them 

[little britain]

25 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Maybe this will help give me better guidance,  Cruise will have  1 day stop in the city I don't depart from,...so if you only have 1 day to see that city?...........We do plan on going in early 2 or 3 days before departure city we pick.

 

Maybe that will help people decide for me........

That’s easy: Rome needs time to see, one day doesn’t do it justice, and it is a lengthy trip from Civ.  Barcelona is very easy to see in a day and very accessible from the port.  So leave from Civ and build in a few days in Rome before. 

[yogimax]

49 minutes ago, teacherman said:

In Barcelona, we went to a great Falmenco show, took part in an amazing cooking class, went on a day trip to Montserrat, etc.  We like to see the local area of the departure port.

 

We also took a cooking class in Barcelona.  What fun!  We made paella and Sangria, where we learned to use the cheapest red wine!

 

We were able to walk to the port from our hotel and enjoyed a truly Gaudi city.

[Norwich Cruiser]

Barcelona is a brilliant city and needs two or three days pre or post cruise definitely a lot easier to embark from.

Plus although Rome is an embarkation port the cruise is worked as Barcelona being the first day and Rome an “ in transit “ just like most of MSC cruises.

[K2G]

It really depends on which city interests you more and which you would like to spend extra time visiting.

 

Barcelona is much easier to visit as a cruise port as it is a quick shuttle ride into the city.  Rome is about 1 hour 20 mins from the port so you do lose a fair bit of time getting between the 2 locations which gives you less time in the city itself.

 

For me, I wanted to spend a couple of days in Rome prior to the cruise as there is so much to see and a cruise stop does not give you enough time to see it all so we chose to embark in Rome rather than Barcelona - we had the option to embark in either city

 

Again, I think it comes down to personal preference and what you want to see in each city.

 

Both cities are amazing!

 

K

Edited March 1, 2021 by K2G
typo

[rvlandandsea]

We did a 10.5 hour tour in Rome which covered a lot. Had a little snooze on the bus both ways. If you opt for the one day in Rome check to see if the Sistine Chapel is open. They are usually closed on Sundays and religious holidays. We prefer Barcelona. The Friday and Saturday pre cruise hotels are more expensive, gothic area would be a good place to stay. Very easy to walk everywhere. Their hop on hop off is a great way to tour day and evening. Monserrat is a must do as are wine tours if you enjoy that. Tours are offered from plaza Catalonia. 
 

 

[RobInMN]

We did the Western Mediterranean on Symphony on her inaugural season in 2018. For us, it came down to 1 question. Which city do I want to see more than one day, and for us there was no question that the answer was Rome. We spent 7 days in Rome prior to the cruise and we could have easily spent another 3-4 days, if not a week more. There are so many things that we have on a mental list to see “next time” (if there ever will be a “next time” with so many other places to vist). Once on the ship, we just felt sorry for anyone trying to see “Rome in a day!” Port is about 90 minutes from historic Rome, so that’s 3 hours, leaving something like 5-7 hours to see everything. For us, flights were more expensive to Rome than Barcelona, and we got a great Airbnb for a great price in a great location that included a washer/dryer. Did not price Barcelona. Can’t argue with the fact that the port in Barcelona was closer and easier, however, we had a terrible issue with traffic on our Barcelona tour (Gaudi). We were 60+ minutes late back to the port and were stuck in traffic, literally not moving for 10 minutes at a time approaching the round-a-bout which you have to go through to get to the port. They are so proud that they hosted the 1992 Olympics, and told us constantly, and I just kept thinking “how could you host the 1992 Olympics, when you can’t host 4 cruise ships?”. No offense to anyone that loves Barcelona, but we feel like we saw everything we wanted to except for the inside of La Sagrada Familia. Like K2G said, It's a personal preference and Rome is just more our thing (definitely mine). On the downside of embarking/disembarking Rome, the whole cruise calendar is off. Barcelona is the “home port”, and as such, everything is done on that schedule. So, you are doing days 5, 6, 7 of one cruise and days 1, 2, 3, 4 of the next cruise. Don’t know if they’ve fixed it yet, but I seem to recall that it made for some difficulties with the RC phone app. Can't speak for Barcelona tours, but Rome has tons. We loved the tour company we used. Booked 6 tours with them. 

 

Edited March 1, 2021 by RobInMN

[deepcman]

I've done both multiple times but would suggest Rome as there's so much to see. Find a hotel near Roma Termini which is the main train station in Rome and you can walk to the Forum from there or hop on one of the tour busses.

You take the train from the airport to Rome Termini and then take the train to Civitavecchia the day of the cruise. If I remember right they were both direct trains. From there you can walk to the port or take the short cab ride if you have too much luggage. Easy peasy. Just be brave and do some research.

[MiniChunks]

I'd spend as much time in Rome as you can. We've been there twice, once as a port of call, and the other time we disembarked in Civ. Seeing Rome as a port of call is very difficult and stressful. You'll have to pick and choose which sights you'd like to see, and which ones you are ok with missing. I know that was extremely hard for us to do. We were lucky enough to go back a few years ago when we disembarked from a TA, and spent the entire day and night exploring. Rome at night was easily one of the greatest traveling experiences i've had. We walked over 14 miles that day, and still didn't scratch the surface. 

 

We did not get a chance to enjoy Barcelona as much as I would have liked to because we flew in the morning of embarkation and were exhausted, but we did have most of the day to see the city. As most have said here, it is a nice port of call, but it is easy enough to do in one day that there would be no question for me. Rome is just a special place.

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, kidless said:

I can’t wait to see how experienced Mediterranean cruisers respond to this post. We just booked a 12 night out of Barcelona. After doing our own research it looked to us that flights/hotel were cheaper and it seem Barcelona would be easier to get to hotel and port. Fingers crossed I got it right.

Barcelona every time for me.

25 minutes from the airport to the cruise Terminal with quick access onto the ship.

Around 70 taxis minimum always at the cruise terminals and only 5 minutes taxi ride to Las Ramblas or 20 minutes walk.

Beautiful port city with many attractions and a lovely beach.

Most Mediterranean cruises stop at Civitavecchia the port of Rome.

You need a shuttle from the ship to the port entrance if you just want to look around Civitavecchia.

Rome is about an hour from the port with many tours available.

The traffic in Rome is a nightmare.

Graham.

[Mapleleafforever]

We loved cruising out of Barcelona but do have 2 regrets. We didn't stay long enough pre cruise and we didn't stay long enough post cruise. 

[grapau27]

3 minutes ago, Mapleleafforever said:

We loved cruising out of Barcelona but do have 2 regrets. We didn't stay long enough pre cruise and we didn't stay long enough post cruise. 

Great advice for anyone traveling to Barcelona especially for the first time.

We have overnighted several times pre cruise in hotels on las Ramblas Barcelona.

Graham.

[cbowls30]

Barcelona every time!

Port very close to the city and only about 30 mins from the airport.

Barcelona is a great city to spend a few days in and easy to get around. 

Rome is very far and expensive to get out to civitavecchia where the port actually is.

[dani negreanu]

 

Rome for us, even if it's more expensive. We want to feel safe while on holiday.

 

In Barcelona --

 

My family was purse-robbed, my friend had her chain snatched from her neck, nearly garroting her (both times from a motorcycle).

 

A gypsy tried to steal my DH valet from his jacket, approaching him with a bunch of flowers, while with her other hand trying "the deed". Luckily, he pushed her hand back. Turns out there were "watchers" for her, and they tried to intimidate him, but he stood his ground.

[TMLAalum]

How much time do you have? For a first visit to Rome a port day is insuffiecient and much time will be wasted traveling from Civitavecchia to Rome and back. IMHO a port day in Barcelona will allow for you to visit Sagrada Familia, walk along Las Ramblas and visit the Market. So it makes sense to spend a few extra days in Rome before embarking on your cruise from there vs. cruising from Barcelona and having virtually no time for Rome.

 

Hopefully you will return to both those cities someday! We were lucky for Barcelona because our Celebrity cruise overnighted there, but we had a RCCL cruise booked for 2020 that ended in nearby Tarragona and we'd reserved a hotel for 2 nights in Barcelona since there was more we wanted to explore there. Oh well......

 

 

 

 

[mek]

I've done both many times and it's a no brainer for me - Barcelona is the easiest, but for me it really depends on the itinerary and where you want to spend pre or post cruise time - if that applies.

 

Pickpockets are everywhere and I have never had any problems in Barcelona.

[grapau27]

13 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

 

Rome for us, even if it's more expensive. We want to feel safe while on holiday.

 

In Barcelona --

 

My family was purse-robbed, my friend had her chain snatched from her neck, nearly garroting her (both times from a motorcycle).

 

A gypsy tried to steal my DH valet from his jacket, approaching him with a bunch of flowers, while with her other hand trying "the deed". Luckily, he pushed her hand back. Turns out there were "watchers" for her, and they tried to intimidate him, but he stood his ground.

Sorry to hear that Dani.

Many major cities unfortunately have pickpockets etc.

I always buy shorts with zip pockets and spread money around in several pockets rather than carry a wallet.

 

[Crazy planning mom]

2 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Maybe this will help give me better guidance,  Cruise will have  1 day stop in the city I don't depart from,...so if you only have 1 day to see that city?...........We do plan on going in early 2 or 3 days before departure city we pick.

 

Maybe that will help people decide for me........

There is too much to see in Rome in 1 day which is exactly why we chose to start our Mediterranean cruise there and spending 3 nights pre-cruise in Rome.

Edited March 1, 2021 by Crazy planning mom

[newxmascruiser]

I agree with all those who say Civ. you can never experience all Rome has to offer on a day excursion. Barcelona is much more compact and everything is much closer to the port so you’d get a good feel for it in a day.

 So if you really want to explore Rome I’d spend the pre cruise days there for sure.