Barcelona Debarkation Advice

[McMer]

We are booked to take a family cruise, which will also be our first HA cruise, on Nieuw Amsterdam this coming summer. We will have an overnight in Barcelona before debarking the next morning. We have arranged for a private Barcelona tour which will pick us all up at the pier as we debark. The ship has disembarkation scheduled to begin at 7 am, so we are trying to figure out what time to tell the tour driver to be there for pickup. I think there will be too many bags for us to simply debark on our own, so we would need to add a few minutes to claim our bags. Any advice or estimates from those more experienced would be very welcome.

[jtl513]

I don't know how it is after spending an overnight in port, but on most cruises we've been on debarkation actually begins around 7:30 for the Express (self) debarkers, then come the Suites with priority. Are you in a Suite? Could you make two trips to get all your luggage off?

[DeirdreTours]

We are also disembarking in bcn from HAL (Noordam 5/27) with a scheduled start at 7am. We are planning to sleep in, let all those catching flights flee first, and then wander off around 9am--maybe even 9:30am.

[McMer]

We are in a deluxe and our children and grandchildren are in superior suites, so I think it would be too much junk to handle on our own. Easier to let HA take it down and we can claim it, but we don't have an idea of what time this would be on HA.

[McMer]

Actually 8:30-9:00 sounds wonderful. We're in no rush to leave the ship, so I hope I'll be safe in giving that time to the tour co.

[pris993]

Make plans with your tour operator, have your TA communicate with HAL that you have a private pickup at whatever time you decide. Since you are independent, you can basically get off the ship anytime it is cleared.

 

When you get on board confirm your departure time with the Passenger Services desk. Fill out the forms you receive indicating you are independent and have a private pickup, stating the requested time. If you don't get the time and tags you need -- go see the folks at the Passenger Service desk to exchange them for the departure time you need.

 

We have done the same thing with Princess, HAL and Celebrity in various ports over the year including Barcelona, Dover, Rome, etc.

[garydm]

We got off the ship in Barcelona around 9 am as I recall. No problem getting off the ship but long, long line for cabs. As you will have your own transportation you would not have a problem.

 

Gary

[McMer]

Thanks so much everyone for all the advice. With that in mind, I think I'll change the pick up time to 9 am.