Beware...read the fine print very carefully!!!

[Bottlenosedolphin]

My husband and I paid for transfers with RCCL to take us back to the airport the day of departure. I figured transfers to the airport meant that they would drop us at our terminal. Boy was I wrong. We were in Barcelona where there were two terminals and they dropped everyone at terminal A and put all of the luggage on the sidewalk and we had to call a porter and pay more money to take us ten minutes further to terminal B. Needless to say, I was not happy with the service as I shouldn't have had to pay additional $ after I already paid RCCL $50 to take me to the airport. I called RCCL to voice my complaint and they said there was nothing they could do about it. The contract was that they are to just get us to the airport and not the specific terminal and they fulfilled their duties. Talk about RCCL doing the minimum amount of work with maximum profit! Throughout my whole cruise I felt they were so quick to take my money but lacked on the service. SO dissapointing so just be prepared if you have already paid for shuttle transfers!

[TravlGrl]

How annoying! I would have been peeved also. So, you couldn't ask the existing driver to continue on to Terminal B? I am not familiar with the Barcelona airport, so I don't know the set up. IMHO, I think it's best to plan your own airport transfers, but I do understand why people do it and get it done with and taken care of ahead of time.

[willysgrandma]

That is a first for me. Any time I've taken the transfers we were alwasy dropped off at the correct terminal.

[pcur]

No, the OP is correct. This is also what Celebrity does at BCN, too. The terminals are not a huge distance apart, and getting a luggage cart is a good idea, then walk back across the street to where they have the luggage (it goes on a truck, while the pax go on buses). The "street" is the several lanes of traffic in front of the terminals, like most airports.

[alcheme]

I took a shuttle once on a Miami cruise and it wasn't that much different. They had several busloads of passengers, and to me, it made more sense for them to drop us all off at one central point and let us get to our individual terminals from there. It really wasn't that big an issue. You just had to make sure you gave yourself plenty of time (ie get on the earliest bus you can and not dilly-dally around getting off the ship and to the airport). Maybe Barcelona airport is more difficult to navigate around, though.

[Linda9347]

We had the same problem in Puerto Rico last year. At the end of our cruise, we decided to do a city tour of San Juan which was an excursion booked through RCCL. The excursion included transportation to the airport and they dropped us at a different terminal than the one we needed. They would not take us to the correct terminal and we were left on the sidewalk with 4 suitcases and 2 carry-ons with no porter to be found and it was raining!!! It was a struggle, but we finally made it to the correct terminal - just an annoying inconvenience.

[PH8]

I was just gonna say what the above said about SJ.we did the walking tour with RCCL after our cruise...........got dropped off in the parking lot of the airport and had to figure out where to go(of course,we went the wrong way at first).

[mclou]

This also happens at Seattle. We were dropped off in a "special area" - not even at the terminal. Several cruise lines were set up there to check luggage but we were flying Northwest (which RCI had booked) and they weren't there. Luckily there were carts to rent because we had a long walk to the terminal - a good bit of it up a steep hill.

[firefly333]

I was not too happy with a Princess transfer I booked in Ft. Lauderdale. The driver spent the whole time telling us poor him, having to lug our suitcases off the bus with a bad back. I felt like he was begging for a tip, which I gave him, just didnt like the way he asked.

 

I had to walk a ways and didnt have any idea which way to go, he didnt tell us where to walk when we got off or anything. Very wierd transfer. I was glad to get there in one piece if he was so old as he acted.

[ken_nyc]

I hope this doesn't happen in Orlando!

[Merion_Mom]

I hope this doesn't happen in Orlando!

 

Ken, that's the only place where I have used the RC transfers, and they took everyone to the requested terminals. :)

[muffin]

We have had bad experiences with PRE cruise transfers too. Oh, there is a bus there alright, and you get on it with your luggage, but then you wait, and wait, and rove from one terminal to another slowly filling up the seats until they are full with new arrivals from all over the country. The time it takes to fill the large bus is VERY long..over 2 hours for us, and we could have been on board and enjoying our ship with a 1/2 hour cab ride for less money. Never again.

[Moeve]

Excuse me BND but you did notice that BCN airport is currently a huge building site right? Now due to the high volume of passengers going through BCN on any given day busses are not allowed to stop where they please - otherwise the already impossible congestion would be even worse - probably bringing the whole traffic situation to a complete standstil. Now to be honest BCN is a lot smaller than most US hub terminals and defianatley not THAT far a walk.

[Brandis]

I'd rather take a taxi, which probably is faster and less expensive as well.

 

Worked well for us last time we sailed from Barcelona and intend to do the same in 20 days again.

 

Marc

[sea-cruise]

We've been dropped at a central terminal quite a few times in the past. We "stack" our luggage then just roll it to the terminal that we need. Yes, sometimes it IS a long walk, according to the specific airport. :(

[isujim]

That would tend to irritate me as well..........we quit using RC transfers 3 years ago.......finally got tired of being hearded on a charter bus only to have 80 pieces of luggage dumped in the same spot and become a free for all for 45 people trying to use one curb side check in..........no matter where we are we always take a taxi..........and beat the transfers by at least 15 minutes

[Merlin139]

Thanks for the info just booked a flight back from Barcelona for April 08 when we get off the navigator at the end of our TA and we are flying from Terminal B. Will take a Taxi and not use RCCI transfers.

[sea-cruise]

Yes, a taxi IS the best way to go! Sadly though, it's not the best for us because we do bring our family members on cruises and we can't possible all fit into one taxi. Sometimes IF we're lucky there will be a line of them waiting for customers, then we have taken two or three.

[Lightsluvr]

My husband and I paid for transfers with RCCL to take us back to the airport the day of departure. I figured transfers to the airport meant that they would drop us at our terminal. Boy was I wrong. We were in Barcelona where there were two terminals and they dropped everyone at terminal A and put all of the luggage on the sidewalk and we had to call a porter and pay more money to take us ten minutes further to terminal B. Needless to say, I was not happy with the service as I shouldn't have had to pay additional $ after I already paid RCCL $50 to take me to the airport. I called RCCL to voice my complaint and they said there was nothing they could do about it. The contract was that they are to just get us to the airport and not the specific terminal and they fulfilled their duties. Talk about RCCL doing the minimum amount of work with maximum profit! Throughout my whole cruise I felt they were so quick to take my money but lacked on the service. SO dissapointing so just be prepared if you have already paid for shuttle transfers!

 

We have used RCI transfers on about half of our cruises...if the above happened to us, I would be screaming, too. This is inexcusable service, and for RCI customer service to defend it only makes it worse...IMHO. :mad:

 

We, too have been herded around on busses and have stopped at a half dozen other hotels before going to our destination - that is an annoyance that I could overlook; but to be abandoned at the wrong terminal in an airport is pathetic.

 

There is something RCI could have done about it...they just chose not to. The first thing they could have done is use a better contractor for their transfer service. Failing that, they should have offered a refund of the sorry transfer service you experienced.

 

LL

[SmileMom]

I hope this doesn't happen in Orlando!

 

I was thinking the same thing about Ft. Lauderdale. Should we get the transfers from RCI or would we be better with a taxi? What's the price difference?

[Brandis]

Almost certainly a taxi will be cheaper, as with a taxi you pay just for the ride, no matter how many people you are, so you can split the cost. With a shuttle, you pay per person.

 

In Ft. Lauderdale, there is a fixed rate for drives by taxi between airport and port.

 

Marc

[Bottlenosedolphin]

Excuse me BND but you did notice that BCN airport is currently a huge building site right? Now due to the high volume of passengers going through BCN on any given day busses are not allowed to stop where they please - otherwise the already impossible congestion would be even worse - probably bringing the whole traffic situation to a complete standstil. Now to be honest BCN is a lot smaller than most US hub terminals and defianatley not THAT far a walk.

 

 

I paid RCCL for a service. I would have expected that service to be fullfilled. If BCN is under construction right now and busses are restricted than it is RCCL's duty to inform their clients that they will not be able to drop the passengers off at their terminals. And no, it wasn't that far of a walk on a typical day, but with four pieces of luggage and two carry on's in a foreign airport, yes it was too far to walk in my opinion.

[Aprille]

Bottlenosedolphin - I'm sorry for your experience and appreciate you posting it here to warn others. I would have been ticked too.

 

We are doing this cruise in October but will not be using the RCCL transfers as we are staying a couple of nights pre-and-post cruise in Barcelona. So we are planning on using taxis.

 

Now, I hate to change the subject but since you have just returned, can you please confirm what the dining times are? I have heard 7:00 and 9:30 from some who did the 3/4 night cruises on Voyager to kick off the Med season last month but have also heard 6:30 and 8:45 from those who did the 7-night cruises last year. Which is it? :o

[Bottlenosedolphin]

Now, I hate to change the subject but since you have just returned, can you please confirm what the dining times are? I have heard 7:00 and 9:30 from some who did the 3/4 night cruises on Voyager to kick off the Med season last month but have also heard 6:30 and 8:45 from those who did the 7-night cruises last year. Which is it? :o

 

I was on the 14 night sailing on the Brilliance. We had four dinner seatings- I think the first seating was 6:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. and the second seatings were definately 8:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. The downstairs dining room had the 6:00 and 8:30 seatings and the upstairs dining room served the 6:30 and 9:00 seatings.

[DrivesLikeMario]

I was thinking the same thing about Ft. Lauderdale. Should we get the transfers from RCI or would we be better with a taxi? What's the price difference?

 

 

In FLL, definitely go with a taxi. It's only a 10-15 min. max. ride from the port to the airport. It's very cheap too - I think it's about $15 one-way now for up to 4 people in the taxi.