Recommended car service Barcelona cruise terminal to BCN

We are catching an early flight out of BCN after our cruise so I'd like to hire a car to take us to the airport rather than potentially having to wait in the taxi queue. I know there will be a lot of taxis available, but better safe than sorry. Can anyone recommend a reliable car service company? There will be 4 of us with a lot of luggage, so preferably a company that has vans or large vehicles. Thanks.

You can also book a taxi, in fact, it's a far better solution.

Taxi Class Rent tel.933070707 http://www.taxiclassrent.com ||| Barnataxi tel. 933222222 http://www.barnataxi.com ||| Ràdio Taxi 033 tel.933033033 http://www.radiotaxi033.com ||| Servi-Taxi tel.933 300 300 http://www.servitaxi.com ||| Taxi Ecològic tel.932783000 http://taxiecologic.com ||| Taxi Amic tel.934208088 http://www.taxi-amic-adaptat.com ||| Fono-Taxi tel.933001100 http://www.fonotaxi.net/

Thanks Enric! Are you saying that booking a taxi is a better solution because it is less expense, or for another reason? Do you have a personal preference amongst the different companies that you listed?

You can also book a van with Barcelona Day Tours. Very reliable company

A van for 6 is 79 Euros total. I know that because I've got one booked for out cruise in the fall.

You can also post info about your transfer on your Roll Call and fill the other two seats (I filled the four other seats) making it a good option pricewise.

Hi Bob.

A taxi will cost you 39€ flat fee from the port to the airport -note it's the only flat fee there is, for any other service, say to a hotel, then it's metered. IMPORTANT, the flat fee is if you grab a taxi from the taxi rank at the port, if you pre-book one it's going to be a bit more.

Note the fare system is equal for ALL the taxis in Barcelona, and it's approved annually and sanctioned by the Metropolitan Transport Authority. For this year: http://taxi.amb.cat/documents/956832/1007019/Tarifa+Taxi_2017/23e065d2-2639-4731-a6c4-edbcf7c3df22

Taxis and public transportation in this city are quite good: inexpensive, abundant, safe, clean and efficient... that's why there are so few "private transfer companies" in relationship to the millions of visitors (tourists, business and others) this city receives every year. Needless to say, we Barcelonians mostly use either taxis or public transport (bus/metro/train) to go to the airport.

Any of the companies above would do of course. There are more but these are probably the ones with the biggest fleets of associated drivers. Yet when flying in/out I personally use Taxi Class Rent whenever I can, if anything because all their cars are Mercedes-type... what can I say, I like comfort! :)

Don't forget to mention how many suitcases (and sizes) when booking so the company can supply the appropriate vehicle.

**Edited:

Ah yes, forgot to mention... obviously all the prices are "per car" (=4 pax regular car, or 6 to 9 in minivan-type). Saying so because somebody said once that in his country the quotes are given as in "cost per person". Not here in Catalonia.

We used airportstaxitransfer.com in Barcelona and some other places too. Kind of like Uber and Lyft in that they are independents and not metered but the vehicles were always new and clean and the drivers on time and helpful. We used them in Barcelona to go to and from the airport and our hotel. Plan on using them in September for the cruise port run too.

Thank you all for your recommendations. Lots of good suggestions from which to choose, so I'll do a little more online research and book in advance. I have no problem using public transportation, even in cities where I do not speak the local language (Google Translate is your friend :D). Because of the early departure time of our flight, I want to eliminate even the small chance that we may get stuck in a taxi queue. I will gladly pay more to know that a vehicle will be waiting when we disembark.

We just returned from our Med cruise and I wanted to follow up with our experience from the cruise port to the airport for the benefit of others. We ultimately decided to pre-book a taxi through Suntransfers.com. It was an excellent experience...easy to book and very good/clear email communication. Total cost was 43.96 Euros, which included "Gold Protection" which allowed for rescheduling if our flight was changed. Not knowing how long it would take to disembark, we scheduled the pickup time for 7:30am, figuring we'd be at the airport by 8:00am with plenty of time for our 10:40am Delta flight.

We self-disembarked and left our cabin a little before 6:30am. Since we had our luggage with us, and there was no customs (which surprised us), we were standing in front of the terminal at around 6:40am. We called to see if our taxi could be there earlier than 7:30am but they were understandably not able to adjust with such a late notice. We decided to cancel the pre-booked taxi and just grab a taxi in the queue. We literally walked directly to a car (no queue), paid the fixed rate of 39 Euros, and were in the airport terminal by about 7:15am. The Delta desk was just starting to open. I'm sure that we would have been fine waiting for our 7:30am pre-booked taxi but we would rather wait in the airport VIP lounge with an espresso and some food (having already checked in, cleared security and cleared passport control) than wait for 45 minutes in front of the cruise terminal.

I'm guessing that much of our easy experience was based on being so early with self-disembarkation (no taxi queue, no road traffic, no real airport queues for check-in, security, passport control). That may all have been different an hour later. Still, next time, we'll take Enric's advice and just use the taxi queue in front of the terminal when we are ready.

Edit: Thanks Enric for your help!

Hi bobmacliberty, hope you had a great time on the cruise. I'm just wondering, were you charged for your luggage on top of the flat rate 39 Euros? How much per piece? Are carry-ons or backpacks also counted? My friend went on a Med cruise with his family last year. He grabbed a taxi from his hotel to the port. The taxi driver kept pressing the "additional charge" button on his meter and even over-counted the number of luggage. When my friend pointed that out, the driver said that's the way it works. After the hotel person came out to check, the driver immediately reversed most of the charges on the meter. When they arrived at the port, my friend paid his fare with a bigger bill, the driver claimed to have no change. After a few minutes, my friend didn't want to bother and just left a big tip to the driver.

I'm sure this might be an isolated incident. Just want to know other people's experience and what to watch out for. Thanks.

The taxi fare from the cruise port to the airport was a flat fee of 39 Euros. No additional charge for luggage. I think that is unique to some specific taxi trips like going between the cruise port and airport. If I recall correctly (a very big if), we needed to pay extra for luggage on our taxi trip from the airport to our pre-cruise hotel.

Any idea of taxi rates from the airport to central city hotels and then from the hotel to the cruise port? We are staying near Plaza Catalunya pre cruise. There could be a snag as we will be in Barcelona from oct. 23-25 during all the transportation disruptions related to strikes and work stoppages and roads blocked. I'm not sure it taxis would be working at all on one of these days.

Do all of the Taxi company's accept credit cards?

@RJB

Yes. In any case, note there's only one type of taxis -black & yellow- and, for practical reasons, you don't really care which company they are adhered to. They all have the same fares -which are regulated and negotiated annually among the Metropolitan Taxi Institute and the government of the city.

@susiesan

As per fares, it depends on your itinerary of course. Note that saying "I arrive in the port" is quite useless, as Barcelona's port is one of the biggest in Europe and has several piers and terminals so unless you're being more specific... Anyhow, take 20-25€ as a very loose figure for a taxi from the port to Plaça Catalunya.

Also to mention that, as of today, your comment referred to strikes and roadblocks on the 23rd is quite "imaginative" as there's nothing official in the horizon. As I've mentioned in different posts, developments on the situation in Catalonia are an ongoing process and it's not possible to predict what's going to happen next week.

Thanks Enric for all your help in these forums! I lurk here as I'm coming to your fair city on October 26th for cruise October 29.

As you said no crystal ball what will happen. Kind of a weird thing for tourists to walk into a political uprising/separation at the beginning stages.

As a solo traveler is it okay to walk around the city as long as avoiding demonstrator hooligans. I feel the people of Catalonia are in general peaceful. Would just suggest taxi rides for solos or should I trust in the good nature (other than the pickpockets) of the people of Catalonia.

Thanks for your help!

Thanks for your vote of confidence Nutbunch :)... maybe I ought to invite you to a drink and show you around so you'd see what I'm talking about.

Barcelona is like any other city, especially here in the Mediterranean, most of its citizens are open, cheerful and of a helping nature but you'll also find a few rotten apples, sadly. So while I strongly suggest making extensive of our excellent public transportation network (bus, metro, tramways and trains) which is inexpensive, clean, efficient and safe, I would also recommend being a tad "street smart" to any solo traveller, male or female, and follow the basic rules (no dark alleys, safety in numbers, keep an eye on your belongings, be aware of your surroundings, etc.) and in general follow your "guts". Taxis are not known to be dangerous, on the contrary, but again, follow your guts... neither I nor anyone can "vouch" for all Barcelonians, can't we? But, hey, coming yourself also from a big city you surely know all this already, right?

Do the taxis in Barcelona accept credit cards? Or do you have to have the 39 euros in cash?

Yes, they all accept ccards (VISA/Mastercard)

You can also book a taxi, in fact, it's a far better solution.

 

Taxi Class Rent tel.933070707 www.taxiclassrent.com ||| Barnataxi tel. 933222222 www.barnataxi.com ||| Ràdio Taxi 033 tel.933033033 www.radiotaxi033.com ||| Servi-Taxi tel.933 300 300 www.servitaxi.com ||| Taxi Ecològic tel.932783000 http://taxiecologic.com ||| Taxi Amic tel.934208088 www.taxi-amic-adaptat.com ||| Fono-Taxi tel.933001100 http://www.fonotaxi.net/

These all look like good options. Thank you.

For EnricM or anyone else:

For cruise passengers wanting to disembark very early (say around 6:00am), will there generally be taxis available at that early hour?

When there are boats, there are taxis :)

This is not to say the rank will necessarily be full at that hour, but since at any given time there are literally thousands of taxis roaming the city, they'll soon enough flock into the pier "if" there's demand for them. Most taxi drivers are associated to one of the many taxi associations in the city, and they are in constant radio contact with each other; if one picks up customers and sees a waiting line, he'll radio for other taxis to come soon enough.

You can also book a taxi, in fact, it's a far better solution.

 

Taxi Class Rent tel.933070707 www.taxiclassrent.com ||| Barnataxi tel. 933222222 www.barnataxi.com ||| Ràdio Taxi 033 tel.933033033 www.radiotaxi033.com ||| Servi-Taxi tel.933 300 300 www.servitaxi.com ||| Taxi Ecològic tel.932783000 http://taxiecologic.com ||| Taxi Amic tel.934208088 www.taxi-amic-adaptat.com ||| Fono-Taxi tel.933001100 http://www.fonotaxi.net/

Taxiclassrent was perfect in November. Used them on your advice and they were right on time with a sign for a few bucks more. Would use them again. Thanks.

When there are boats, there are taxis :)

 

This is not to say the rank will necessarily be full at that hour, but since at any given time there are literally thousands of taxis roaming the city, they'll soon enough flock into the pier "if" there's demand for them. Most taxi drivers are associated to one of the many taxi associations in the city, and they are in constant radio contact with each other; if one picks up customers and sees a waiting line, he'll radio for other taxis to come soon enough.

How long does it take to get to Barcelona from the cruise port?

Dianne

...from where exactly? There are three ports and the main one has several wharfs and piers.

...from where exactly? There are three ports and the main one has several wharfs and piers.

Well I am not sure . Is there not one port where only the cruise ships come in?

Dianne

WellI am not sure . Is there not one port where only the cruise ships come in?

Dianne

See this website for the Barcelona cruise port information: link

Might want to check with your cruise line to determine which port they are using.