Help! Can I get to the airport in Barcelona for a 10:35 flight?

We are sailing on the Celebrity Solstice next September. It docks on Tuesday, Oct 11. I have read many reviews on the wisdom of an early flight. The USAir flight at 10:35am is the best schedule and about $500 less than Delta. The ship is due to dock at 6:00 am. Has anyone done an early flight out of BCN? Does anyone have a good shuttle service that is reasonable? Do we need to take our own luggage (3 suitcases plus 2 carryons) off the ship as opposed to picking it up at the terminal? We can make our airline reservations this Thursday but need some advice before I pay over $2000.

Thanks!

We are sailing on the Celebrity Solstice next September. It docks on Tuesday, Oct 11. I have read many reviews on the wisdom of an early flight. The USAir flight at 10:35am is the best schedule and about $500 less than Delta. The ship is due to dock at 6:00 am. Has anyone done an early flight out of BCN? Does anyone have a good shuttle service that is reasonable? Do we need to take our own luggage (3 suitcases plus 2 carryons) off the ship as opposed to picking it up at the terminal? We can make our airline reservations this Thursday but need some advice before I pay over $2000.

Thanks!

Seems all of us traveling back from Barcelona face the same dilemma.

The airline schedules are nuts, when you consider the large number of cruisers needing their services each week.

I don't want any stress on vacation -- especially when it's about getting back home afterwards! -- so we elected to take our time disembarking and stay overnight after the cruise so we could just get up and go the next morning with no worries.

GOOD LUCK!

Seems all of us traveling back from Barcelona face the same dilemma.

The airline schedules are nuts, when you consider the large number of cruisers needing their services each week.

 

I don't want any stress on vacation -- especially when it's about getting back home afterwards! -- so we elected to take our time disembarking and stay overnight after the cruise so we could just get up and go the next morning with no worries.

 

GOOD LUCK!

Yup, our fight is at 10:50 am. Cruise supposedly docks at 5 am on a Sunday. We'll try to get off as close to 6 as possible and hire a private driver service (as opposed to waiting for a taxi) for the four of us.

Yup, our fight is at 10:50 am. Cruise supposedly docks at 5 am on a Sunday. We'll try to get off as close to 6 as possible and hire a private driver service (as opposed to waiting for a taxi) for the four of us.

This scheduling is a nightmare. Besides looking at the times we are concerned about price. We just found out from our TA that a $500 fee would be charged if we miss the plane. I agree that the airlines should try to come up with flights that left around noon. Cruisers needing to get back to the US from Barcelona must be a big chunk of the business. We now need to decide to just go for it, stay one night at the end or reconsider the entire cruise. I can't believe it is this difficult.

This scheduling is a nightmare. Besides looking at the times we are concerned about price. We just found out from our TA that a $500 fee would be charged if we miss the plane. I agree that the airlines should try to come up with flights that left around noon. Cruisers needing to get back to the US from Barcelona must be a big chunk of the business. We now need to decide to just go for it, stay one night at the end or reconsider the entire cruise. I can't believe it is this difficult.

My situation is a bit different since our ship gets in an hour earlier and it's a Sunday. We are taking the same flight we took this July. The difference is we left at 7:15 am from our hotel. We made it to the airport in plenty of time and had breakfast there and did some shopping there. But your Tuesday arrival at 6 am could put you in some weekday traffic. If I were in your shoes, I might spend the extra day in Barcelona. We are doing 2.5 days pre cruise there and like flying out on Sunday.

I had this same question a few weeks ago - look my old posts up. We booked our flight home for the day of arrival on July 20th (Wed) for 10:20 am - it was the latest where I was able to get 3 frequent flyer tickets - just had to buy two. Based on the responses, it is doable. I even called Disney and they said just to let the cruise personnel know and then we will be able to disembark early. We hve three children and to stay another day made no sense cost wise. We plan to take our own luggage off and will be getting a car service for 6:45 am.

I had this same question a few weeks ago - look my old posts up. We booked our flight home for the day of arrival on July 20th (Wed) for 10:20 am - it was the latest where I was able to get 3 frequent flyer tickets - just had to buy two. Based on the responses, it is doable. I even called Disney and they said just to let the cruise personnel know and then we will be able to disembark early. We hve three children and to stay another day made no sense cost wise. We plan to take our own luggage off and will be getting a car service for 6:45 am.

Thanks for the info. What car service are you using?

I made an error in my earlier post - our actual flight home leaves at 11:20am. But I have seen others that have taken a 10:30 flight. I think it really depends on when your ship docks and then just be the first off.

If ship docs at 7 and you are first off, the taxi is only 20 minutes. We had this last year, worked fine.

We weren't willing to chance it; so we are taking an afternoon flight on BA from Barcelona to Boston. I did follow the earlier threads, and being a compulsive worrier, just couldn't see ending our vacation in a mad dash to the airport.

I used Barcelona Day Tours and they were great!

I used Barcelona Day Tours and they were great!

Thanks for the info. Yesterday we booked our 10:35 BCN to DEN flight on USAir. Celebrity told my TA we had time to make that flight so I hope they are right. We are thinking of taking the ship's shuttle to the airport.

Thanks for the info. Yesterday we booked our 10:35 BCN to DEN flight on USAir. Celebrity told my TA we had time to make that flight so I hope they are right. We are thinking of taking the ship's shuttle to the airport.

I wouldn't rely on the ship shuttle. You may have to wait a while until everyone gets and the shuttle. Best to either pre-arrange a taxi so that you can leave as soon as you're ready - not wait for everyone else.

We are sailing on the Celebrity Solstice next September. It docks on Tuesday, Oct 11. I have read many reviews on the wisdom of an early flight. The USAir flight at 10:35am is the best schedule and about $500 less than Delta. The ship is due to dock at 6:00 am. Has anyone done an early flight out of BCN? Does anyone have a good shuttle service that is reasonable? Do we need to take our own luggage (3 suitcases plus 2 carryons) off the ship as opposed to picking it up at the terminal? We can make our airline reservations this Thursday but need some advice before I pay over $2000.

Thanks!

We're on the Solstice in May. I called Celebrity twice beforeI booked my return home. Both agents I talked to said I could book my flight for after 10:00 a.m. We have priority embarkation and debarkation and we will be taking our luggage off ourselves. Now I'll book a taxi or Barcelona Day Tours to take us from the ship to the airport. My flight is at 10:40 a.m.

I personally would not recommend an early flight after the experience we had with a 10 am flight out of Barcelona. Our ship was delayed in getting to Barcelona and we only made our flight because American Airlines held it for us cruise passengers. If there weren't as many cruise passengers on our flight, we would have been out of luck and it was an extremely stressful experience. You can read the details on my blog:

http://moonprincess.com/travel/159/#disembarkation

We're on the Solstice in May. I called Celebrity twice beforeI booked my return home. Both agents I talked to said I could book my flight for after 10:00 a.m. We have priority embarkation and debarkation and we will be taking our luggage off ourselves. Now I'll book a taxi or Barcelona Day Tours to take us from the ship to the airport. My flight is at 10:40 a.m.

We also are looking at whether we can make a 1030 flight. We also are Elite status but we were told that Celebrity does not allow you to take off your own luggage ( like Princess does)

I called Celebrity twice and both times I was told I could take off my own luggage. My flight was at 10.40 or something and it was moved up to 10:15 or something like that.

Margaret

We also are looking at whether we can make a 1030 flight. We also are Elite status but we were told that Celebrity does not allow you to take off your own luggage ( like Princess does)

We took our own luggage off of Celebrity on a Caribbean cruise a few years ago.

Kirk

Don't rely on the shuttle if you're tight on time. We had nail-biting experience leaving Venice when one of the passengers on our bus was chatting in the lounge, didn't hear when our group was announced and only when hers was the only luggage left in disembarkation area did they send someone to find her. She breezed onto bus an hour late and people were seething. Turns out her very grown son was already on the bus and said "she does this all the time." Why HAL held us so long waiting for her is beyond me. Some of people on our shuttle did not make it onto the flight to NY because of the delay. It was overbooked and they were too late checking in. Too much stress for me so now we leave the next day and spend extra time visiting the city where we disembark which otherwise we'd miss. This year it's Barcelona.

Don't rely on the shuttle if you're tight on time. We had nail-biting experience leaving Venice when one of the passengers on our bus was chatting in the lounge, didn't hear when our group was announced and only when hers was the only luggage left in disembarkation area did they send someone to find her. She breezed onto bus an hour late and people were seething. Turns out her very grown son was already on the bus and said "she does this all the time." Why HAL held us so long waiting for her is beyond me. Some of people on our shuttle did not make it onto the flight to NY because of the delay. It was overbooked and they were too late checking in. Too much stress for me so now we leave the next day and spend extra time visiting the city where we disembark which otherwise we'd miss. This year it's Barcelona.

What a nightmare! We will definately get our own transportation to the airport. I'm not sure about taking off our own luggage as we will have 3 large and 2 small. Our travel agent contacted Celebrity and they said a 10:45 flight would be fine. We are booked on USAir from Barcelona to Denver.

Dear friends:

The airport is no more than 20 minutes away from the port. If you are among the first off the ship, I don't see any problem.

Even if it is a weekday, rush hour traffic in Spanish cities doesn't really start to be a problem until at least 8:30 a.m. or 9:00 a.m.

We have disembarked ships early enough in Barcelona to make a 7:30 a.m. or 8:00 a.m. train back to Madrid.

Kind regards,

Gunther and Uta

One you disembark in Barcelona, there will be hundreds of taxis waiting there. And if you are among the first off the ship anyway, there won't be much of a line.

Kind regards,

Gunther and Uta

One you disembark in Barcelona, there will be hundreds of taxis waiting there. And if you are among the first off the ship anyway, there won't be much of a line.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

Thanks so much for your experienced advice. I was hoping we were good to go, or as good as any vacation planning can be.

Lindy

someone recommended suntransfers.com to get from port> airport. was considering them. they have vehicles that fit 4 or 8 people, so u don't have to wait for a busload.

Has anyone ever used this company?

One you disembark in Barcelona, there will be hundreds of taxis waiting there. And if you are among the first off the ship anyway, there won't be much of a line.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

So I shouldn't have to worry about pre-booking a taxi? I actually had ordered one with another tour but the company didn't pick up on the taxi back to the airport and I have not yet had the time to book.

Margaret