Air to Barcelona & Return from Venice via England Route?

[reader5]

Booked on a Eastern Med cruise for May 14th/06 but the airfares I have been researching from Toronto to Barcelona (stopover in Frankfurt Germany) and return from Venice to Frankfurt to Tornto are very very expensive. Any ideas on flying to England then taking a flight to Barcelona and return from Venice via England to Toronto? Has anyone flown this route before (me thinks it would be a saving but an inconvenience??)

[Susan-M]

We did the Toronto/Frankfurt/Barcelona and Venice/Frankfurt/Barcelona route via Air Canada in Sept. It was more expensive than I had hoped to pay ($1376 Cdn ea.) but I checked many other options - including a return London flight and then other fights within Europe, but it would have meant a night in London which deleted any costs savings and we didn't have time to add those extra days to our vacation. We could have gone out of Buffalo at a lower cost, but one of the airlines was operating under bankruptcy, it would have meant two flight changes each way, and very long travel times. In the end, I decided that paying more for the convenience of shorter travel times with one connection made more sense for us. I particularly liked our return flight from Venice which left at 10:50 a.m. and arrived in Toronto at 3:30 p.m. - with a brief stop in Frankfurt.

[Susan-M]

We did the Toronto/Frankfurt/Barcelona and Venice/Frankfurt/Barcelona route via Air Canada in Sept. .

 

oops...should have said Venice/Frankfurt/Toronto for the return trip.

[fmax]

It really depends on your luggage requirements as to the best route, keeping in mind also that some airlines have lowered baggage allowance.

 

In September, for my Splendour of the Seas Cruise from Barcelona, I flew Toronto - London return on Air Transat and flew Easyjet from London Gatwick-Barcelona return... the easyjet flight was 22 pounds each way. On they way out we had a 5 hours between landing and our easyjet flight. On the way back we stayed overnight near Gatwick and picked up the toronto flight early next morning.

 

Frances

[Linda in MI]

We flew within Europe on Easyjet in July. They were very reasonably priced. Their luggage weight restriction is 20 kg., which is 44 lbs.

 

Linda

[reader5]

Thanks to all for your responses. These boards are so helpful!

[harrodsfan]

We did this last summer and bought a round trip ticket to London and then a round trip London..barcelona..Venice London ticket which was cheaper than doing it altogether. Don't know why..couldn't do easy jet because of the Luggage allowance and clothes needed for a cruise. (12 nights.)

[Mike Andrews]

Also consider that Easyjet and Ryanair (who fly from VeniceTreviso) fly into London Stansted Airport which is a considerable distance from London Heathrow or London Gatwick.Take a look at British Airways prices as they are becoming increasingly more competitive.

[Putz]

We did the same route in August 2005 as Susan-M although on Lufthansa - great airline. It was pricey ($1,500 CDN) but the connections were in the same terminal in Frankfurt and were 50 minute stopovers. There was a rush on the return leg as our flight from Venice was 30 minutes late leaving, but we still managed to get to our connecting flight in order to join the end of the boarding line. I was amazed that our luggage made our connections both ways. We checked out other connecting cities, but Frankfurt had the best times without having to change terminals/airports. I'm willing to pay a few hundred dollars more for the convenience. It was nice getting a 10:55 a.m. flight out of Venice so we didn't feel rushed on the final morning.

Lynn

[Beckyy]

You look like a professional cruiser. Do you buy your air transportation directly, or thru the cruise line. We hope to take a Mediterranean cruise in 7/06, leaving from San Francisco.

Thanks for any advice you can give. Beckyy

[Susan-M]

Lynn....interesting that we chose the same flight after much research...I think I looked at every possible option and then realized that spending a little more $ for convenient travel times and only one connection would be worthwhile, and that 10:55 am departure from Venice was so nice! We were almost 1 hour late leaving Venice and thought we would miss our connecting flight in Frankfurt, but there were 30+ people making the connection, so they held the plane for us.

 

Becky, the Millennium itinerary was wonderful (as was everything else about the cruise!) .... Lynn and I both wrote reviews after returning (she went in Aug. and I went in Sept.) - here are links to them:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=230361&highlight=putz

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=240792

[Putz]

Yes, it's great having a late morning departure from Venice. I've heard of some people's flights leaving at 7:00 a.m. so they're getting off the ship at 5:00...ugh.

 

The only thing I would do differently next time is get a later flight to Europe. We left around 5:30 p.m. and arrived in Barcelona around 10:30 a.m. Both DH and I felt that by the time we checked in at the hotel (around noon), the rest of the day was a bit of a write-off. We've since spoken with others who say they leave North America on the latest flight possible (around 10 p.m.) and that has them getting into Europe later the next day and then they have dinner and go to bed around 8:00 p.m. That's the joy of arriving at least a day early...gives you time to have a good night's sleep and get adjusted to the time change.

Lynn

[Susan-M]

Lynn, our flight was scheduled to leave Toronto at 5:30 pm as well....but we had a long delay waiting in the airport for a larger plane to handle the oversold flight...finally an 11 pm departure! We didn't get to Barcelona till 6:30pm and it was just enough time to walk along La Ramblas and have dinner before crashing at about 10 pm. We arrived 2 nights pre-cruise, so it worked out OK. I like later flights as well (don't know why I booked an early one this time) - the later the flight, the better chance I have of sleeping on the plane.

[canadiansnowbird]

Hi:

 

I am also finding air expensive for our cruise Sept/06 from Toronto. At the present we are on RCI air package. By the looks of it we may keep it because the carrier (British Air all the way Toronto/Heathrow/Barcelona and return as well) and the times are ideal. But the price is $1279.00 Can./ea. It includes transfers which will be about $70/80. Euros total and the times are good enough that we don't need to stay overnight pre cruise or post cruise. We have been to Barcelona before and will have one day there between our back to back cruises.

Is there anyone else flying out of Toronto next year?

 

Snowbird

[fmax]

Be ready to feel exhausted if you're going to fly direct to Barcelona and sailing. For all of us that flew in ahead of time, we were glad to have those couple of days because of jet lag.

 

The cruise itself is exhausting as it's so port intensive. Hopefully you've got early seating because we had 9:15 and by the time dinner was finished and we took some time to walk some of it off, it was bedtime because we knew we were up so early for the excursions.

 

We paid approx $800 by flying to London and flying easyjet from London to Barcelona. The only issue doing it that way is that you have to watch your luggage allowance.

 

I can't remember how much the taxi was for two people. But from the port to airport there were 6 of us and it was 55 euros total using Angie taxis.

 

 

Frances

[canadiansnowbird]

Yes, Thanks Fmax, I do remember our last overnight before our previous cruise. We were tired as we didn't sleep well. We had first class seats first row and the stewardesses didn't stop talking all night.

And yes, we do have early seating on the first cruise and late seating on the second of our back to back. Although we plan to do Marseille on our own on the first day and Villefrance on our own the second day (not too strenuous). We will be back to Villefranche the second cruise and plan to go to Eze.

I think we will be OK after a couple of easy days.

 

Thanks again

Snowbird