Disembark Time on Valiant Lady in Barcelona?

[jlovely]

For those that have already sailed in/out of Barcelona, what time did you actually step off the ship? I know it docks around 6:30 and usually takes an hour to be cleared, but what time did you get off? 

 

And what's the disembark process for the port? Can you walk your own bags off the ship or does everyone have to leave them outside the cabin the night before, etc? Thanks!

[cantgetin]

We were not in any hurry, so we signed up for the latest possible 10:45 disembarkation time.  That allowed us to have a nice breakfast and not rush.  Yes, you can do self-disembarkation starting about 7:15-7:30 if everything is going normally.  You can choose to put your luggage out the night before and pick it up in the terminal; it will be arranged by floor.  You sign up for a disembarkation time under "shore things" for your last day.  About 10:30, they start the "get off the ship NOW" announcements (more politely, but that's what it means!)

It works basically like any other ship at any other terminal; you can do it whichever way you want.  They don't enforce disembarkation times, but do have you select them to spread things out.  You do not have to vacate your room until the time you selected, so you don't have to drag luggage and stuff to breakfast.  That part is really nice.

[jlovely]

2 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

We were not in any hurry, so we signed up for the latest possible 10:45 disembarkation time.  That allowed us to have a nice breakfast and not rush.  Yes, you can do self-disembarkation starting about 7:15-7:30 if everything is going normally.  You can choose to put your luggage out the night before and pick it up in the terminal; it will be arranged by floor.  You sign up for a disembarkation time under "shore things" for your last day.  About 10:30, they start the "get off the ship NOW" announcements (more politely, but that's what it means!)

It works basically like any other ship at any other terminal; you can do it whichever way you want.  They don't enforce disembarkation times, but do have you select them to spread things out.  You do not have to vacate your room until the time you selected, so you don't have to drag luggage and stuff to breakfast.  That part is really nice.

 

Thank you! We'll be the crazies standing at the ramp waiting for the ship to be cleared with all our bags. Sigh. We might have screwed ourselves with an early 11:30am RyanAir flight on disembarkation day. If all goes perfectly we'll make it. 😕  Honestly wasn't even thinking straight when we booked the flight and it just hit me this morning so now hoping for the best. Did just sign up for express security checkin at the airport. Send all the luck! 

[cantgetin]

31 minutes ago, jlovely said:

 

Thank you! We'll be the crazies standing at the ramp waiting for the ship to be cleared with all our bags. Sigh. We might have screwed ourselves with an early 11:30am RyanAir flight on disembarkation day. If all goes perfectly we'll make it. 😕  Honestly wasn't even thinking straight when we booked the flight and it just hit me this morning so now hoping for the best. Did just sign up for express security checkin at the airport. Send all the luck! 

The airport is 20 minutes away, so that shouldn't be an issue.  THere was a line for taxis, but there were people from the terminal keeping everything in order.  I know of one person who organized a group on social media and got a private transportation company for his early departure.  He made it very clear that the vehicle would be there at 7:45 and would depart at 8 whether the people were there or not in order to get to the airport on time.  He started with a 6 person vehicle and had so much interest that they increased it to 13 person size.  The airport itself is well organized by drop off area based on your airline but the traffic along the drop off area can be a pain.

Reality, as long as nothing delays disembarkation, you'll be fine.  If they need to take someone off for legal or medical reasons, that will delay everyone else as disembarkation won't start until that person is off the ship.

[Tyler414]

I got off at 9:50am, could have stayed longer...  I had the Virgin bus transfer to the airport at 10am.  I would not do the bus through Virgin again, it was a real sh*t show.  The driver didn't speak English and wanted to drop folks at terminal 1 without their luggage, then drop off the remaining folks at terminal 2, he was then going to return to terminal 1 with the left over luggage.  Thankfully there was someone to translate this horrible idea, and was able to talk the driver into a more sane idea... Bottom line, just get a taxi.  

[cantgetin]

I don't remember what people paid for transfers thru VV, but I do remember that our taxi was cheaper than transfers for 2 people and that there was a lot of on line complaining about the transfers.

 

[jlovely]

4 hours ago, Tyler414 said:

I got off at 9:50am, could have stayed longer...  I had the Virgin bus transfer to the airport at 10am.  I would not do the bus through Virgin again, it was a real sh*t show.  The driver didn't speak English and wanted to drop folks at terminal 1 without their luggage, then drop off the remaining folks at terminal 2, he was then going to return to terminal 1 with the left over luggage.  Thankfully there was someone to translate this horrible idea, and was able to talk the driver into a more sane idea... Bottom line, just get a taxi.  

 

Yup we have a car service booked for speed of getting there. Also always have Google translate ready whenever we go to a non-English speaking country always bc I wouldn't ever expect anyone in Barcelona to speak English. It's come in handy all over the world and they're so appreciative that we don't expect them to just speak English for us. 

[jlovely]

4 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

I don't remember what people paid for transfers thru VV, but I do remember that our taxi was cheaper than transfers for 2 people and that there was a lot of on line complaining about the transfers.

 

Thanks! We booked a car service to meet us at the port first thing around disembarkation time. Crossing fingers! 

[Tyler414]

19 hours ago, jlovely said:

 

Yup we have a car service booked for speed of getting there. Also always have Google translate ready whenever we go to a non-English speaking country always bc I wouldn't ever expect anyone in Barcelona to speak English. It's come in handy all over the world and they're so appreciative that we don't expect them to just speak English for us. 

The price I paid through Virgin was $30 USD.

Not sure Google translate would have been very helpful in this situation, the conversation/disagreement back and forth lasted 15 minutes with a fluent Spanish speaking person.  

Not sure why I would expect people in Spain to speak English.

On a side note, while in Ibiza, was talking with a local business person who needs employees, he will only hire Spanish and English speaking people.  I asked what about French,  he laughed at me.  

[cantgetin]

16 minutes ago, Tyler414 said:

The price I paid through Virgin was $30 USD.

Not sure Google translate would have been very helpful in this situation, the conversation/disagreement back and forth lasted 15 minutes with a fluent Spanish speaking person.  

 

I just looked at my credit card statement,  I don't remember what it was in Euros, but we paid $25.11 to get from the BCN terminal to the airport by taxi.  One thing I do when traveling abroad is to print out (hard copy) a separate page for each place we are going--for example, I'll print out my hotel confirmation showing the name and address of the hotel or the same for the flight/airport, preferably showing the terminal as well.  That way, I can have that one sheet of paper out for the driver and can confirm that he knows where it is or get help from the multi-lingual people at the terminal/hotel/airport/whatever before we get into the cab.  Airport is pretty easy....but not always so easy going the other direction,  Hotel to terminal is easy as the hotel staff will confirm with the driver,

 

I heard a lot about the mess with the VV arranged shuttles, none of it good.  It looks like you paid more than twice as much for a shuttle as I did for a cab and got not so good service.  THe luggage nonsense sounds like a real problem-and it all could have been unloaded in less than the 15 minutes the discussion took!

Interestingly, our service at the terminal in BCN was far better than at Miami.  The terminal staff were very helpful on both of our cruises there.

[jlovely]

On 7/13/2023 at 9:53 AM, Tyler414 said:

The price I paid through Virgin was $30 USD.

Not sure Google translate would have been very helpful in this situation, the conversation/disagreement back and forth lasted 15 minutes with a fluent Spanish speaking person.  

Not sure why I would expect people in Spain to speak English.

On a side note, while in Ibiza, was talking with a local business person who needs employees, he will only hire Spanish and English speaking people.  I asked what about French,  he laughed at me.  

Ahh I misread then or it's a typo. Your original comment said it was a crap show bc the driver didn't speak English. 

[cantgetin]

My experience with taxi drivers in Barcelona is that they speak as much English as they want to in a given situation.  That story isn't worth repeating.....the bus drivers arranged by VV may be different as they are used to having an English speaking tour guide on board for excursions.

 

[Evie555]

I am meeting someone at the port who is a member of staff working on Scarlet Lady (Virgin Voyages) . Do you know what time staff disembark and where is one supposed to meet them? Thanks

[CineGraphic]

1 hour ago, Evie555 said:

I am meeting someone at the port who is a member of staff working on Scarlet Lady (Virgin Voyages) . Do you know what time staff disembark and where is one supposed to meet them? Thanks

 

It's all going to depend on things like the department they're in, seniority, and if they're ending they're contract at disembarkation.

[cantgetin]

16 hours ago, Evie555 said:

I am meeting someone at the port who is a member of staff working on Scarlet Lady (Virgin Voyages) . Do you know what time staff disembark and where is one supposed to meet them? Thanks

I would suggest you ask that person.  As above, it depends on department as well as whether they are departing the ship for a day off or whether this is the end of their contract.   I have seen the LONG line of people lined up  at 5am to begin a new contract.  This was in Miami after the crossing; many people ended contracts either in Europe right before we headed out to sea or upon arrival in Miami.