Mediterranean Ferries

[ILoveScotland]

I am booked on a transatlantic cruise out of Barcelona a year from now. I will be newly retired and am having fun looking at all kinds of options for how to spend some time in Southern Europe pre-cruise. I have no clue yet what I will do, but in asking a question elsewhere about train travel, someone mentioned the possibility of taking a ferry from Rome or Livorno to Barcelona.

 

So, that got me to thinking what that might be like, and I've looked at several websites of ferry lines all across the Mediterranean.

 

This leads at last to my questions. 1. Has anyone ever taken the ferry from Rome or Livorno to Barcelona, and if so, what was it like? 2. Are there any other longer distance ferries that might be worth taking just to do something different and to be on the sea rather than sitting in a train car?

 

Thanks, as always, for the good advice and information I know someone will have.

[iancal]

No, but you do need to double check your reservation from time to time. We booked Ancona-Split two years ago. I think we booked six months in advance through some ferry booking service in the UK.

 

Four weeks prior to the reservation date, prior to leaving home, we decided to double check the dates etc. As it turned out the sailing was cancelled. No one had advised us. We called and changed to preceeding day which caused us to change other plans on both sides of the original sailing.

[CruisinGerman]

Dear friends:

 

Greetings from Madrid. The ferry between Barcelona and Italy really is only worth the trip if you are taking your car back and forth.

 

Otherwise, it is very expensive for what it is, and is basically a waste of time since in this day and age of low airline fares, you could fly non-stop from Barcelona to most major Italian cities for very little money and be there in less than two hours.

 

If you want to do something different, try taking one cruise (Barcelona to Venice, for example), stay a few days in Venice, and then take another cruise on a different cruise line and itinerary someplace else. We have done that and it is great fun.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[ILoveScotland]

Dear friends:

 

Greetings from Madrid. The ferry between Barcelona and Italy really is only worth the trip if you are taking your car back and forth.

 

Otherwise, it is very expensive for what it is, and is basically a waste of time since in this day and age of low airline fares, you could fly non-stop from Barcelona to most major Italian cities for very little money and be there in less than two hours.

 

If you want to do something different, try taking one cruise (Barcelona to Venice, for example), stay a few days in Venice, and then take another cruise on a different cruise line and itinerary someplace else. We have done that and it is great fun.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

 

Thanks for this good advice. Actually, I'm looking at a cruise from Venice to Barcelona on the same ship I'll be taking on across the Atlantic to the US.

 

Right now I'm considering all sorts of possibilities, and one option is a week or so in Italy and then on to Barcelona. I love being on the sea in any kind of boat which is one of the reasons I'd consider the ferry rather than the train or flying. I'm just wondering what the accommodations are like and things like that should I make that my decision once I've done all my research.

 

Beth

[scottbee]

Thanks for this good advice. Actually, I'm looking at a cruise from Venice to Barcelona on the same ship I'll be taking on across the Atlantic to the US.

 

Right now I'm considering all sorts of possibilities, and one option is a week or so in Italy and then on to Barcelona. I love being on the sea in any kind of boat which is one of the reasons I'd consider the ferry rather than the train or flying. I'm just wondering what the accommodations are like and things like that should I make that my decision once I've done all my research.

 

Beth

 

There's an overnight train from Milan to Barcelona; arrives around in the morning at Franca station in Barcelona, quite close to the docks.