Customs delays when Disembarking in Barcelona after a TA?

[trvlfan]

Our spring transatlantic from Miami, with stops in Tangiers and Madeira, disembarks in Barcelona. Has anyone had any experience in how much time one needs to get through customs and immigration? I want to book a private taxi, but am afraid of how much delay I might encounter, thus the taxi might give up and leave. I am not interested in using the general taxi line, as I have read of hour long waits.

 

BTW, this past fall, we had disembarked on our last O cruise in Barcelona, but since it made several stops in Italy and France, the only customs/immigration we went through was at the beginning of the cruise in Venice. Therefore, we were off in a matter of minutes, and met our private car transfer on time.

[orchestrapal]

Our spring transatlantic from Miami, with stops in Tangiers and Madeira, disembarks in Barcelona. Has anyone had any experience in how much time one needs to get through customs and immigration? I want to book a private taxi, but am afraid of how much delay I might encounter, thus the taxi might give up and leave. I am not interested in using the general taxi line, as I have read of hour long waits

 

Madeira is a part of Portugal and therefore part of the EU so there should be no incoming customs in Barcelona.

[Mura]

Even if there aren't any customs problems in arrival at Barcelona, we've never had them in the past upon arrival in Barcelona. (Then again, we're usually departing from Barcelona, not arriving there.)

 

But never say never.

 

Mura

[cinycat]

Haven't experienced any difficulties in Barcelona arriving on Oceania and I've done it 3 times.

[sitraveler]

We have ended in Barcelona after a TA, no customs delay.

 

We've been at the airport by 9:30.

[hondorner]

Off the ship and through the terminal in 5 minutes, took the free shuttle to the World Trade Center then walked up Las Ramblas to our hotel, got there by 9:30 am. No problems and no delays.

[trvlfan]

Thanks everyone for your feedback! One less "timing" problem to deal with! I didn't even think about it until I read all the comments regarding delays for people disembarking in Miami…. but this does not seem to be the case in Barcelona!

[Mura]

Miami is a different kettle of fish!

 

Mura

[ronrick1943]

We've done it two times, 5 to 10 mins at most. Really fast getting off the ship and to the hotel.

[CintiPam]

We have had experience catching a taxi around 9 AM when disembarking in Barcelona from an "R" ship, but this May we are going straight to the airport to catch an 11:40 AM flight home rather than staying on in Barcelona for a few days.

 

Also, this time we are disembarking a larger "O" ship, Riviera.

 

Any taxi lines?

[Cliff-FLL]

We've done several TA's and never had any issues in Barcelona because it was not our first stop in the EU. A few years ago, however, we encountered difficulty in EXITING the EU through Amsterdam.

 

The ship made an unexpected stop in the Azores but they didn't stamp the passports as we weren't expected and they didn't have the manpower. When we arrived in Madeira, they didn't stamp the passports because it was no longer the first port of entry. Ditto Barcelona.

 

A month or two later, in Amsterdam, they could find no record of our entry into the EU. I asked why it made a difference since we were leaving and they explained that they wanted to make sure we hadn't overstayed our allowed time. We were then taken into a small room for questioning. We provided information about when we arrived but were unable to provide any proof since it was all in our checked luggage - which was on its way to the airplane. They were incredibly nice and polite but it still took 45 minutes (in a room that would make "Law & Order" proud) to resolve the situation.

 

Lesson learned: Post 9/11, ALWAYS make sure your passport has an entry stamp.

[YoHoHo]

Miami is a different kettle of fish!

 

Mura

Very true!

[oceansandseas]

DH and I took the transatlantic in 2012 that ended in Barcelona. They were doing a random luggage search. This is done all of the time, but not noticed if you are not the one delayed. Both DH and I had our suitcases hand searched and it seemed to take a long time. Our Oceania transfer had left when we got out of the terminal.

 

So, you never know.

 

 

 

o