How early can I disembark for early flights?

[Rat]

Oceania did my air on this one and they have us on a flight at 8:15am out of Barcelona. The website says that the Nautica arrives in Barcelona at 4am. Do you think this is a workable schedule or do I need to call my travel agent and have her call Oceania for a later departure?

Ray

[Jancruz]

Oceania did my air on this one and they have us on a flight at 8:15am out of Barcelona. The website says that the Nautica arrives in Barcelona at 4am. Do you think this is a workable schedule or do I need to call my travel agent and have her call Oceania for a later departure?

Ray


I would assume Oceania knows the ship will clear customs early..but I certainly would have your TA call and check!!
Jan
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[Rat]

Thanks Jan, I got a call to my ta...........she's working on it.

[drwong]

It's pretty easy for a ship to make an early arrival in Barcelona, since the previous port is usually only a few hours away. And since the airport is less than 30 minutes from pierside, you should be able to arrive at El Prat with plenty of time to make your flight. Just make sure you get off at the correct entrance, noting that some overseas flights may be codeshares.

My advice is to hire a cab instead of using the ship's transfer service. The buses don't leave until they've loaded 60 passengers and their luggage, but with a cab, you can head to the airport as soon as you disembark and beat the rest of the crowd.

[kathlee627]

We just returned from the Insignia trip from May 11 to May 21 with disembarkment at Barcelona.

I also worried about making our flight since it was at 9:30AM out of Barcelona and we booked this air ourselves. However we purchased transfers from Oceania per our TI's advice.

Oceania is very good with making sure they know your disembarkment plans. You need to fill out a form about 2 days before disembarkment and they will give you a confirmation at least one day ahead. They are always available to discuss this with you.

Our original flight was for Iberia airlines with a connection in Madrid and then on to Phila. with US Airways. US airways changed our flight two weeks before we left and put us on a 9:00 AM flight and changed us to Span air.

I immediately call US Airways changed it two a 10:30AM flight.


With that information they put us with a group that disembarked at
7:30AM.
We were on the bus and at the airport by 8:30AM. Our bus driver did not speak English and most of the people on the bus were getting on Iberia flights. However once we were at the airport there was an Oceania representativeto greet the bus and he helped us get a porter who took us to the Spanair counter. The Iberia counter was super crowded. Spanair was not and luckily so because they never changed our flights to the 10:30 Am flight and we needed to hurry and board the 9:00AM flight which we made!!

It seems Iberia airlines in Madrid is in another building and it is very difficult to make a connection. Even with Span air we need to board a shuttle to get to US airways. Luckily we had a three hour layover.

There was an earlier group that disembarked the Insignia at 5:00AM and they had 7:30Am flights. They could have been a special group I was not sure.

There were a few cabs out in the port, but we were told that they would be taken quickly by disembarking passengers and Oceania could not gaurantee that there would be cabs for everyone when they wanted them. Of course they said they would keep calling for cabs but that passengers might have to wait.

When we left the ship we were directled to an area close by area where we got our luggage and brought it to the nearby waiting bus.

We had purchased this transfer ahead with Oceania and I recommend you do that.There were plenty of people from the cruise ship to help out and get you going.

The Insignia was at the Barcelona port at 5:00AM as they said they would be.

I know this is very long but like you I was really concerned and I thought this info might help.

Many people were staying overnight in Barcelona which would be a good idea, but we were happy to be going home because once we packed we were ready to go.

I was happy to be on my US Airway connection and on my way home.

Kathy D.

[Jancruz]

It's pretty easy for a ship to make an early arrival in Barcelona, since the previous port is usually only a few hours away. And since the airport is less than 30 minutes from pierside, you should be able to arrive at El Prat with plenty of time to make your flight. Just make sure you get off at the correct entrance, noting that some overseas flights may be codeshares.

My advice is to hire a cab instead of using the ship's transfer service. The buses don't leave until they've loaded 60 passengers and their luggage, but with a cab, you can head to the airport as soon as you disembark and beat the rest of the crowd.

Richard,
you are incorrect about 60 people on a bus..if there are only a few people taking early flights..they take a small bus..it is only the afternoon or full flihghts they wait for the large bus to fill up and they dont want you to miss your flights!!
Jan
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