Barcelona..we are on the epic Nov 5 but arriving Barcelona on Nov 1

we wanted to explore Barcelona before the cruise, but now we are concerned about being Safe in the streets if people are demonstrating for independence. Comments from anyone. Thanks AL

You can post on Spain Port of Call for more opinions:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?596https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?596

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we wanted to explore Barcelona before the cruise, but now we are concerned about being Safe in the streets if people are demonstrating for independence. Comments from anyone. Thanks AL

Simply ask at your hotel for where to go or not go. Any protests will be noisy and visible. Impossible to predict if or where.

You can go anywhere, protest is over now!

You can go anywhere, protest is over now!

Would agree the protests are over for now, but they are definitely not over. They are usually on weekends. All you need to do is ask IF there are protests happening and how to avoid them when you are in Barcelona.

We are arriving in Barcelona on the 27th and also embarking in Barcelona on the same day. Spain has given the Catalan government until Monday, October 16 at 9 a.m. to clarify whether independence has been declared or not declared. If confirmed independence was/is declared, the Catalan government would be given an additional three days to rectify it, before Spain moves to invoke Article 155 of the Constitution. This would likely result in Spain seizing powers back from Catalonia, removing the regional government and scheduling fresh elections. From a timeline perspective, this should all be known by next Friday.

What happens next is anyone's guess. Article 155 has never been invoked. Presumably the prospects of large scale protests and counter protests, work stoppages, police and military intervention and other disruption of day to day life, including disruption to air, taxi and cruise operations is possible. Two German ships, the Mein Shciff 3 and 5 earlier this month docked in Valencia instead of Barcelona when unrest developed earlier in this month. Other cruise companies are in contact with Valencia as a possible port if diversion becomes necessary.

We are preparing for anything that might happen, including rearrange my trip to land in Valencia or going to Marseilles which is the next stop after Barcelona.

We are arriving in Barcelona on the 27th and also embarking in Barcelona on the same day. Spain has given the Catalan government until Monday, October 16 at 9 a.m. to clarify whether independence has been declared or not declared. If confirmed independence was/is declared, the Catalan government would be given an additional three days to rectify it, before Spain moves to invoke Article 155 of the Constitution. This would likely result in Spain seizing powers back from Catalonia, removing the regional government and scheduling fresh elections. From a timeline perspective, this should all be known by next Friday.

 

What happens next is anyone's guess. Article 155 has never been invoked. Presumably the prospects of large scale protests and counter protests, work stoppages, police and military intervention and other disruption of day to day life, including disruption to air, taxi and cruise operations is possible. Two German ships, the Mein Shciff 3 and 5 earlier this month docked in Valencia instead of Barcelona when unrest developed earlier in this month. Other cruise companies are in contact with Valencia as a possible port if diversion becomes necessary.

 

We are preparing for anything that might happen, including rearrange my trip to land in Valencia or going to Marseilles which is the next stop after Barcelona.

There are 1200 of us departing Barcelona on Oct. 25 on the Riviera 3 days earlier than your cruise mister toaster. The ship will be arriving at port of BCN that morning to let off 1200 passengers from the prior cruise. I have to believe Oceania would advise a change of disembark/embark location prior to that cruise leaving Oct. 17 so people have enough time to rearrange flights/hotels etc. But knowing how cruise lines wait until the last minute to make changes (look at response to hurricane Harvey and Houston) I won't hold my breath. We may all be scrambling last minute to come up with plan B's

My guess is that cruise lines will do everything in their power to dock in Barcelona. The only way they don't dock is if the port is shut down, or they believe it is unsafe to embark or disembark passengers due to unrest. Unfortunately, we are in uncharted territory if 155 is invoked. I'm still planning on embarking/disembarking in Barcelona if my ship is scheduled to arrive and there is any possible safe passage to and from the port. Let's hope a resolution is reached prior to your and my cruise.

A call for demonstrations and work stoppage was put out for today Oct. 17 after the arrest yesterday of two political leaders. Can anyone in Barcelona now verify if anything happened today? Are there anymore demonstrations, protests, or work stoppage days being talked about?

Yes, today there's been already a short 15' stoppage at noon, in front of the workplaces, also there's a large demonstration convoked now at 8pm at Diagonal Avenue in Barcelona (as well as in Girona, Lleida, Tarragona and other major cities) which will collapse this large avenue all the way to Plaça Francesc Macià and, since these are major streets, expect also very difficult mobility in adjacent streets -and hence a large portion of l'Eixample; and there's also another "cassolada" (noisy complaint) for tonight at 10pm across all towns and cities in Catalonia.

There'll be more actions in the days to come -that's for certain-, but they're being planned as we speak and their severity will be modulated depending on the results of the Spanish government threat to be executed from this Thursday onward. People are very attuned to the fact that two innocent Catalan leaders have been jailed yesterday, and there's total indignation and the mood is increasingly defiant.

You can check developments in English either at http://www.elnacional.cat/en/ or https://english.vilaweb.cat/ or follow TV broadcasts (in Catalan) at the 24h TV channel of the Catalan National Broadcaster at http://www.ccma.cat/tv3/directe/324/ You can also follow 'other' outlets, but there's a crude disinformation war going on with the Spanish so if you're interested in 'boots on the ground' I would stick to the above mentioned.

**UPDATE**... an estimated 200,000 took the streets in today's evening march: http://www.ccma.cat/324/espelmes-contra-lempresonament-de-sanchez-i-cuixart-a-la-diagonal-de-barcelona/noticia/2815484/

Glad I wan't in Barcelona today.

I hear there is another march planned for Saturday afternoon in Barcelona. True?

Enric, theses are the kind of updates we cruisers need. Gracias, for this. Keep up the good work.

 

Enric, theses are the kind of updates we cruisers need. Gracias, for this. Keep up the good work.

Yes, please do.

We are leaving next Friday from Barcelona. Below is the likely timeline for 155. Unfortunately for us, it looks like it may be implemented next week.

“Af*ter de*cid*ing*Sat*ur*day*the breadth of its ac*tion, the Ra*joy gov*ern*ment must seek for*mal ap*proval from Spain’s Sen*ate, spec*i*fy*ing which func*tions are to come un*der Madrid’s con*trol

Since Mr. Ra*joy’s Pop*u*lar Party en*joys a ma*jor*ity in the up*per house and also has sup*port from op*po*si*tion par*ties in in*vok*ing Ar*ti*cle 155, the Sen*ate is ex*pected to ap*prove it. The whole process can take at least four or five days, ex*perts say.

Cat*alo*nia could chal*lenge the cen*tral gov*ern*ment’s de*ci*sion be*fore Spain’s con*sti*tu*tional court, the in*sti*tu*tion re*spon*si*ble for set*tling dis*putes be*tween Madrid and the re*gions.”

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... challenge it, yes of course, but also (and most likely) simply disobey as this is twisting the law to a limit which becomes highly questionable and frankly, illegitimate, moreover with the grossly biased acts that this court has been displaying since the past few years in regards to this and other matters. There's no clear detail on what the Art 155 is supposed to do as it was never designed for this situation, thus it's very open to interpretation. But it's also very possible the Declaration of Independence, that had been temporarily suspended for giving an opportunity to negotiations, be reactivated and come into full effect within the next week or 10 days. We're all then in terra incognita regarding how the situation will evolve.

From a visitors' standpoint: no new news as of today. Business as usual except for my previous announcement about the demonstration convoked by the Indy camp for Saturday 21st at 5 pm in Barcelona at Passeig de Gràcia corner with Aragó Street, two very large streets in the city. The indy camp draws an enormous amount of support so expect this one to be also a large one. Thus mobility in the area will probably be difficult and, obviously, traffic be diverted. If you're arriving in Barcelona and are heading to a hotel anywhere in the central Eixample... be patient! Moving thru a demonstration on foot is not "that" complicated, but requires patience and good manners. People tend to let you pass thru -when possible!- when carrying a suitcase and displaying politeness. If that's your case, try to advance thru the sidewalks. Note that the Passeig de Gràcia train station might be closed down, for security purposes, and reaching certain attractions in the area (ie Casa Batlló, Casa Ametller or La Pedrera, among others) can be challenging. There are announced more demonstrations as well as stoppages for the near future, but details haven't yet been released -these large gatherings require careful planning.

PS. The reason why you're writing with * in between your words ??

[quote=EnricM;54353838

PS. The reason why you're writing with * in between your words ??

Because so much is removed automatically by programs that scan for certain "offensive" words, this is one way to get around the censor bots.

As regards the *, the quote is from today’s WSJ. I am not adding the *, and when I paste it on my end it looks fine. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I think you get the gist if you read between the *’s.

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We are leaving next Friday from Barcelona. Below is the likely timeline for 155. Unfortunately for us, it looks like it may be implemented next week.

 

“Af*ter de*cid*ing*Sat*ur*day*the breadth of its ac*tion, the Ra*joy gov*ern*ment must seek for*mal ap*proval from Spain’s Sen*ate, spec*i*fy*ing which func*tions are to come un*der Madrid’s con*trol

 

Since Mr. Ra*joy’s Pop*u*lar Party en*joys a ma*jor*ity in the up*per house and also has sup*port from op*po*si*tion par*ties in in*vok*ing Ar*ti*cle 155, the Sen*ate is ex*pected to ap*prove it. The whole process can take at least four or five days, ex*perts say.

 

Cat*alo*nia could chal*lenge the cen*tral gov*ern*ment’s de*ci*sion be*fore Spain’s con*sti*tu*tional court, the in*sti*tu*tion re*spon*si*ble for set*tling dis*putes be*tween Madrid and the re*gions.”

 

 

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This is really starting to heat up. What to do next?