Trouble brewing in Barcelona ??

The Spanish Government today stripped Catelonia of its autonomous powers and is moving to dissolve the local Parliament. They also want to arrest the Catalan President, Carlos Puigedemont.

There are now thousands demonstrating in Barcelona and feelings are running very high.

We are due there on the Jewel on Oct 29/30. so its looking like RCI have a big deccision to make as things pan out over the next few days.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4737569/450000-protesters-rally-in-barcelona-after-spain-moves-to-impose-direct-rule-over-catalonia-and-arrest-regions-president-as-tensions-threaten-to-boil-over/

Glad that we got our Medit cruise without any problems in late August. Unfortunately, those old little fiefdoms are rearing their ugly heads in the European Union. I remember reading somewhere that Venice wanted to secede from Italy.

Hey, we've got our own problems with California wanting to secede. Maybe Mexico will annex them based on old Spanish deeds. :D

Two of my cruise friends are currently in Barcelona and according to their posts on FB they are having a great time!

steamboats

I don’t think you need to worry. If you’re going from the airport to the port and back, you won’t be involved.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I reported this a few weeks back.

It's certainly worth keeping an eye - as for the last comment re airport & port.

The dockers are very militant and during the independence vote refused to tie up ( dock ) any of the ships the Spanish Gov had commandeered. It would very easy to blockade the entrance to the docks.

I will be there next weekend waiting to board my ship. I am really not worrying though.

I was watching it on Spanish TV last night. There were huge crowds. We are staying in the Gothic district for the first time and wanted to explore that area, it may be a bit crowded - but I don't have any safety concerns over and above the normal vigilance against pickpocketing.

I do hope things calm down there.

Keith

We arrived on the 7th for our cruise on the Brillance on the 9th. Hopefully all goes well

Ontario Cruiser

Ceertainly hope things get better there.

:o Going to get interesting after today

Anyone with updated information please post. We arrived on the 7th.

Thanks Ontario Cruiser

Hope our Brilliance OTS TA will sail as planned!

Me to. It will sail as she has to get to the Caribbean maybe change port of embarkation. We have cruise air so they will have to figure it out. We will be staying for 2 days on Las Ramblas. When I phoned last week they said they would know a week befor sailing which is Thursday. Hopefully we won't have to worry.

OntarioCruiser

Email alert from the UK govt:

Spain travel advice

27-10-2017 17:22 PM GMT

Latest update: Summary - there have been large gatherings of people in Barcelona and other areas of the Catalonia region in relation to the political developments there; further gatherings and demonstrations are very likely to take place in the coming days; they may occur with little or no warning and even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can escalate and turn confrontational; you should exercise caution if you're in the vicinity.

Glad that we got our Medit cruise without any problems in late August. Unfortunately, those old little fiefdoms are rearing their ugly heads in the European Union. I remember reading somewhere that Venice wanted to secede from Italy.

 

Hey, we've got our own problems with California wanting to secede. Maybe Mexico will annex them based on old Spanish deeds. :D

Not much of a correlation. Catalons resent paying an overly large share of national taxes and getting a much smaller return share of national spending. The same cannot be said for California.

I realize the situation has escalated now and peaceful demonstrations can go dangerous very quickly, but when we were in Barcelona 3 years ago the Spanish national government was trying to make like the Catalons in Barcelona were causing so much trouble. National police were out in force with weapons in full display. National news was making things seem very dangerous. There was even coverage in US nightly news. Friends texted to make sure we were okay. Our hotel was at the center of the “protest”. So we watched first hand as a small group of people sat around with their families and sang “Michael Row Your Boat Ashore”. We felt seriously threatened. NOT!

Remember that Catalan separatism has deep roots.... 1930s Spanish Civil war resulted in thousands of deaths. Look up Guernica.

If Catalan succeeds than they can impose their own rules.... no USA / unsympathetic ships allowed to sail from the port is an extreme result. However DH wouldn’t let me book my flights to BCN for SY tonight. (Which are in sale with BA) Just in case. I hope he’s being over cautious [emoji47]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Going on Transatlantic Brillance of the Seas Nov 9. Can't believe when I called RCCL earlier this week the agent didn't know about any itinerary change for San Juan. Web site now reads St Kitts.

Concerned about Barcelona as we are arriving four days early.

anyone have suggestions for tours (away from the ship) for Malaga and Cartagena?

Glad that we got our Medit cruise without any problems in late August. Unfortunately, those old little fiefdoms are rearing their ugly heads in the European Union. I remember reading somewhere that Venice wanted to secede from Italy.

 

Hey, we've got our own problems with California wanting to secede. Maybe Mexico will annex them based on old Spanish deeds. :D

California has never even had a ballot on secession so that is one falsehood, and yes we do send more to Washington in taxes than we get back

Spain had now dissolved the Catalan Parliament, threatened to jail the leaders of the province and take over the regional media and police. I don't think it is going to be too pleasant there for a while. I am scheduled to be there in December and hope things are settle peacefully by then

The Spanish government just dissolved Catalonia's Parliament. It's going to be interesting for sure.

Email alert from the UK govt:

 

Spain travel advice

27-10-2017 17:22 PM GMT

Latest update: Summary - there have been large gatherings of people in Barcelona and other areas of the Catalonia region in relation to the political developments there; further gatherings and demonstrations are very likely to take place in the coming days; they may occur with little or no warning and even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can escalate and turn confrontational; you should exercise caution if you're in the vicinity.

Seems it's not a very good place to go the way things are there now. :(

Just wondering

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Go to NCL board to read about fear and loathing in Barcelona.

Has anyone spoken to RCL about embarkation for Brillance Nov 9th?

Ontario Cruiser

Overnight there was minor trouble in Barcelona.

I think the Spanish Gov will play a waiting game - possibly arrest the Catalonia leaders - the Catalonia police chief was sacked at 4am this morning the local police now under Gov control ( whether they obey commands is another thing ) The Spanish Deputy PM is now running Catalonia from this morning.

Breaking news

Sacked Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has called for "democratic opposition" to direct rule from Madrid by Spain's government.

He promised to continue to "work to build a free country".

Mr Puigdemont made the call in a TV address broadcast from an undisclosed location.