erby2283

Just got back from our trip last week. We stayed at Hotel Arc Las Ramblas and thought it was wonderful. We booked about 8-9 months before our trip and were able to secure their largest room (Duplex 509). It has a huge patio that overlooks Las Ramblas and has two bathrooms - perfect for trying to get ready on the mornings. We also included breakfast. For two nights it was around 440 euros. It was close to the metro and Columbus Circle and is at end of Las Ramblas. Breakfast was small but had plenty of variety.

I know tipping in Europe is a point of argument with some...I just want to do wants expected. On a full day Barcelona / Montserrat tour, am I supposed to tip at the end?

Sintra and Cascais.

Thank you for sharing! We are flying from BCN to Lisbon following our cruise in two weeks. We'll be there for 3 days before flying home. We have a tour booked with Lisbon Riders for Friday (we get there Thursday around noon) and then on Saturday we plan on taking it easy before the early 6AM flight home via Munich. 😮 My bf really wanted to make it to Porto but it just didn't seem possible on such a short stay. Thanks again for sharing your pictures. Hope you had a wonderful time.

If we will have 3 suitcases and 2 backpacks, do the two backpacks count as "handbags?" If the answer is yes, it changes the price from $37 to $63! I cannot imagine 2 backpacks would make a difference but I wasn't sure if saying 3 suitcases was being honest when booking BCN to our hotel. I would just get a taxi but I have read some reports that some taxi's don't want to take people all the way to their hotels bc it's on las ramblas and the tourists end up dragging their luggage down the street - makes them a prime target for a pickpocket or being robbed. I would prefer to be taken all the way to my hotel. Also, I have never been to Europe so when should I arrange for the car to pick us up after the plane arrives (waiting in bags and customs)? Is an hour after plane arrival a good time to schedule a pick up?

Will check out Parc Guell. Don’t know why i thought it was the same thing as Sagrada Familia. I am jealous. Hoping to get some sleep on the plane (clt to toronto - 6 hr layover then the redeye to BCN) but I usually can’t sleep on planes. Our first sea day isn’t until day 6 so I’ll be running on adrenaline and fumes until them - especially with these 7am dockings. 🤦‍♀️

Yes, sorry that wasn’t clear. Our hotel is on Las Ramblas not that we’re a avoiding it. Thanks for the advice.

You should be cruising about now so hopefully you had a wonderful time. I've commented on this thread earlier but now that my trip is almost two weeks away, I am becoming more and more nervous, especially after reading a review on trip advisor about my hotel and seeing this: Safety reminder: we were robbed in the early morning 6:30am on our way from hotel to tour meeting spot. Couple teenagers robbed our phone straight off my husband's hand and ran away. Stay alert if you head out in early morning or late evenings. Be careful when using google map on your phone. Now I now this personally probably had their heads in their phones looking for the meeting point of their tour but man....it just feeds my paranoia. It makes me scared to take a camera or phone out to take a picture. I went ahead and purchased to different types of money belts: the usual type you see when doing a search on Amazon with two belt straps and two pockets in the front. But then I also got an EazyMate travel running belt - it's made more of spandex material and after wearing both of them, I seem to like it more than the usual money belt. I also got a travel belt wallet the loops around your belt and tucks inside your pants for my bf. Also - do you guys feel safe leaving your passports and other things of value in your hotel safe while on tours? Couldn't the maids or staff just open the safe and take it while you're on your tour?

We arrive at 10am and have heard/read to try and not take a nap - but go to bed early if need be. We have Barcelona Day Tours booked for the next day and have tickets for Sagrada Familia the day after that (which is actually the day we embark but I got us the 9:30 slot for Sagrada Familia so we’ll head over to the ship after that). With that in mind, after we drop our luggage off at the hotel, any suggestions on what to do that first day to keep us busy and push through the jet lag? We are staying off Las Ramblas.

Was just wondering what your thoughts were about the Key. Getting worried about the tendering issues in Nice and Kotor for our sailing since we have private excursions. However, we are the only ship in Nice that day and in Kotor, we arrive at 9 and the other 2 ships don't arrive until 2pm. Hoping the tendering won't be so bad but am thinking about getting the Key to help with tendering concerns - just not sure it's worth the price.

I think it really depends on how active your roll call is. Also, try other social media sites for your sailing date to find others to join you. I have a couple tours booked with them for my cruise in Aug but two other tours don't have enough to run as of today (Florence and Nice).

I have been reading on social media pages about some tendering nightmares on Vision OTS - especially if you aren’t on a RC excursion. Villefranche is our first port and we are luckily the only ship in port that day. We have a private excursion planned and are a little concerned after reading that some haven’t been able to make it off the ship for 2 hours. The other tendering issue I have been reading about was in Kotor. Again, we are the first ship in port that day. We get in at 9 and the other ships arrive at 2pm. With Vision being a smaller ship and us being the only ship in port that day, assuming we are diligent in trying to get an early tender number, do you foresee it taking 2 hours to get off the ship?

Thanks everyone. I think I’ll probably end up having to take an extra checked bag (19 day trip) and If I do, then I think i’ll just take a backpack as a carry-on and fit my cross-body purse inside the backpack Problem solved, right?

I love cruise critic. Full of people who offer unsolicited, unhelpful, opinionated advice instead of answering the question at hand or offering assistance that would actually be helpful. Gee, wonder why so many people have left these boards in droves over the years.

That’s where I got the info on the limit for TAP but didn’t see anything for AC or Lufthansa. Hence my question here.