Same Ship - Different Ports of Embarkation

[Racer70]

Pardon my ignorance, it appears that after reviewing sailing dates for the Oasis of the Seas, some RCI Western Med cruises begin in Barcelona, then when the Oasis ports in Rome 4 days later, new passengers embark and begin their 7 day cruise on her.

 

I’m new to this concept of embarkation from different ports mid cruise. Is this because Barcelona & Rome are very popular ports of embarkation & RCI can offer passengers more options from which to begin their cruises?

 

Does this mean that cruises sail half full for 4 days, then are at capacity when new passengers embark in Rome and the pattern just continues between Barcelona & Rome.

 

I understand that ships are on a continuous loop and never stop in order to make money.

 

Just wondering. Thanks in advance.
 

 

 

 

 

 

[Moon Orchid]

Thank you for asking question about this. I was confused when searching for Oasis Europe cruise next year.😊

Edited December 27, 2023 by Moon Orchid

[taglovestocruise]

It's called inter-porting.  very common in Europe. Ship will still be sailing full from both ports, Several cruise lines offer this , I have heard it's also happening in the Caribbean.   

[bonsai3s]

@taglovestocruise...as always, spot on.

 

We've also experienced inter-porting in Australia.

 

So now @Racer70...if it's your first time to Europe, your next question is: Which is the better port to start, Barcelona or Rome?

 

* IMHO...love both places...but Rome will be my choice to start my cruise. (Civitavecchia is about an hour away)

[FionaMG]

As @bonsai3s says, both are great cities. You can't go wrong with either.

 

Barcelona has the benefit of the port being closer to the city centre so it's quicker and easier to get to than Civi is from Rome.

 

Rome has the benefit of not being the "main" embarkation port, so there will be fewer people boarding there, making the process quicker. Conversely, cruises starting in Rome tend to be a bit more expensive.

 

Your best bet is to choose the one you want to spend your pre-cruise time in. If you don't have a particular preference then choose the one that's cheapest/easiest to get to from where you start your travels.

[Mick B]

Hi,

If you are just planning a 7 day cruise around Europe like we do then we (coming from the UK) would turn it into a 14 day holiday and firstly fly into Rome and spend a few days there as there is so much to do and then take the train to Civitavecchia which is around 5 to 10 euros per person 10 Euros and takes about an hour. Once there, there are sometimes shuttle buses to the ship, otherwise take a local taxi as the port is large and it can be a mile or so to walk to the ship which is hard with cases.

Again once at Barcelona, the port is very close to the city centre and again sometimes there are shuttle buses but they only take you to the bottom of La Rambla. If you want to walk then fine but there is a high bridge to walk over with cases and if your hotel is up near the top end then you have a further hours walk. Again a taxi to your hotel is only around 10 euros.

You will need a few days to enjoy Barcelona as there is the zoo, the beach, the cable car, La Rambla and The Segrada Familia. Airport buses leave for El Prat every 10 minutes or so from the Catalunya Square area (Near Primark at top of La Rambla) and take around 30 minutes and only cost around 8 Euro and have plenty luggage space.

I have done loads of cruises around Europe and would strongly suggest getting to Rome first as this is the hardest part and the rest (pardon the pun) is just plain sailing!

 

Enjoy!

Mick.

[little britain]

@Racer70 interporting is common for Oasis class ships in the Med, and it is possible because the ship does the same circuit every week.  If it’s Monday it must be Palma!
No the ship won’t be half full for some of the time as those who board in Barcelona will stay on for the full 7 days to complete their cruise loop, and those who board in Rome will also be on for 7 days for their loop.
It means that if you board in Barcelona on your 4th evening you may see suitcases 🧳 in the hall way as Rome is day 5 so the Rome lot will be getting off and the new Rome people will embark. 

It has also been mentioned that those who board in Rome have issues with the app and not being able to book things as everything is geared to Barcelona being the main embarking port. 
 

Look at MSC cruise and they will inter port at every port on their Med loop! 

Edited December 27, 2023 by little britain

[FamilyCruiserUK]

The indoor mrket in Barcelona on Las Ramblas is a must..The fresh food is stunning and well priced

 

 

[RobInMN]

When we did this in 2018, I think they said that about 2/3 of the people embarked/disembarked in Barcelona, and about 1/3 in Rome (Civitavecchia). As noted by previous responses, the ship is always full. If you look at the very end of the season, just before the Transatlantic back to the Caribbean, you will see a 7 night from Barcelona, and then a 4 (3?) night one-way from Rome (both ending in Barcelona, where everyone gets off (short any B2B's) and the TA starts.

 

Barcelona is the "home" port. The sail away party and the cruise days are all in reference to Barcelona. When you embark/disembark in Rome, you will have a different colored Seapass Card (I think ours was orange), and you will be doing the second half of one cruise and the first half of the next. Your "sail away" party will be on night 4/5. In 2018, the phone app did not really work for the Rome passengers, hopefully they have that figured out now.

 

When deciding which port to use, I think it really comes down to 2 questions:

1. Which port would you like to spend extra days in
2. Which port would you not mind seeing "...in a day"

For some, that's extra days in Barcelona, and Rome in a day is fine, but for us, it was a no-brainer. As I noted in your other thread, we spent a week in Rome before hand and there's still things we'll do "next time". We felt sorry for anyone trying to do "Rome in a day", for us, that seems completely impossible. Keep in mind, when doing it "in a day", Rome is actually 1-1.5 hours from the port, so that takes 2-3 hours out of your time.

On the other-hand, Barcelona in a day was plenty for us. If I had it to do over again, I'd probably do an independent tour and go into La Sagrada Familia, but otherwise, we were good. 

 

Some people put a lot of weight on the proximity to the embarkation port. If you are not spending any extra time in that port before or after, then yes, that can be a big factor, and in that case, Barcelona wins hands down. But in my opinion, if you are going to spend extra time in that city, then this should not be part of your consideration. 

 

Here's some previous discussions:

 

 

 

[Host Jacquelyn]

My 2 cents:

 

We did this itinerary last year and boarded in Rome. The whole cruise just felt off and disjointed. Like someone else mentioned, only around 1/3 or less of people boarded along with us.

 

There was no first day excitement, and the ship was empty as everyone was off in port in Rome. Our cruise planner was all screwed up, and all notifications the steward left in our room were addressed to the previous guests until Barcelona day. He said that is what always happens. We felt like we were dropped into the middle of others' cruise. On Barcelona day, that was an excursion day for us, but debarkation for the majority of the ship. We had to wait in the entire debarkation line to exit for our excursion, no separate line. Waited forever for a taxi. We had timed tickets for Sagrada Familia, and allowed a lot of extra time as I was worried this would happen. Others missed their entry time. 

 

Sunday night was the Welcome night and welcome festivities, halfway through our cruise. .None of this was a big deal, just very disjointed. If everything is equal, I would recommend sailing from Barcelona. 

[Another_Critic]

My plan for 2024:  TA to Barcelona, spend 5 nights near Monserrat, Spain.  Fly home.  5.5 months at home.  7 nights in Rome area, TA from Rome.  🙂

 

Edited December 27, 2023 by Another_Critic

[ukrccl_a]

At the end of the European season there is also a short 3 day cruise boarding in Civitavecchia where you will debark with everyone else in Barcelona (before the dry dock / TA takes place) - ensuring hat the ship will still be pretty full even then.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2023 by ukrccl_a

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

On 12/27/2023 at 3:51 AM, Mick B said:

 

Again once at Barcelona, the port is very close to the city centre and again sometimes there are shuttle buses but they only take you to the bottom of La Rambla. If you want to walk then fine but there is a high bridge to walk over with cases and if your hotel is up near the top end then you have a further hours walk. Again a taxi to your hotel is only around 10 euros.

You will need a few days to enjoy Barcelona

 

The full loop on 7 day cruises returns to the embarkation point.  You're suggesting disembarking on what is usually the 4th day to spend time in 2 different cities before and after the cruise.  They'd need a cruise and a half to do this.  Yes, some companies offer that possibility, too, but, I don't think Royal does.

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

18 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

My plan for 2024:  TA to Barcelona, spend 5 nights near Monserrat, Spain.  Fly home.  5.5 months at home.  7 nights in Rome area, TA from Rome.  🙂

 

 

Not quite interporting, but, still, closing the loop! 😉  

 

 

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

14 hours ago, ukrccl_a said:

At the end of the European season there is also a short 3 day cruise boarding in Civitavecchia where you will debark with everyone else in Barcelona (before the dry dock / TA takes place) - ensuring hat the ship will still be pretty full even then.

 

 

 

These are great to add on to a TA, also. Cheaper than European hotel rooms or a week long cruise and enough Med without the exhausting port a day 7 day itineraries.

[FionaMG]

9 minutes ago, Steeler Nation At Sea said:

 

The full loop on 7 day cruises returns to the embarkation point.  You're suggesting disembarking on what is usually the 4th day to spend time in 2 different cities before and after the cruise.  They'd need a cruise and a half to do this.  Yes, some companies offer that possibility, too, but, I don't think Royal does.

It can sometimes be done. For example, this year, the last 7-night cruise out of Rome on Symphony was followed by a 3-night repo from Rome to Barcelona prior to the TA.

[Mick B]

Hi,

Yes I got the wrong end of the stick here.

I just realised what this cruise was. The one's I have done in the past and would strongly advise are the ones where you get on at an Italian port and cruise one way to Barcelona over the course of 7 days.

I did one just this year from Ravenna to Barcelona.

 

Just looking at these other types of cruise where people get on and off and the apps don't work and the cabin crew don't know your name or have your details makes me wonder why they would offer such a cruise and why anyone would want to do that type of cruise either - I won't!.

 

But anyway, you can sometimes get a 7 day cruise one-way from Ravenna to Barcelona so fly to and enjoy a few days in either Rome or Venice and then get a cheap Italian train to Bologna or even Ravenna for a night before the cruise as these places are both stunning and then enjoy a lovely 7 night cruise and then have a few days also in Barcelona and that way you turn a 7 day cruise holiday into a 14 day holiday. That way you have 3 different parts of a holiday to enjoy and to relax instead of a lot of mad running around trying to meet planes, trains and ships etc.

Just take it nice and slow and enjoy every moment and remember how lucky you are to be able to travel again.

 

Mick.

 

Edited December 28, 2023 by Mick B

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

2 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

It can sometimes be done. For example, this year, the last 7-night cruise out of Rome on Symphony was followed by a 3-night repo from Rome to Barcelona prior to the TA.

Yes, I mentioned that in my next response.  It's not what the poster I quoted was suggesting though, I don't think, for someone just newly asking about interporting.

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

3 minutes ago, Mick B said:

Hi,

Yes I got the wrong end of the stick here.

I just realised what this cruise was. The one's I have done in the past and would strongly advise are the ones where you get on at an Italian port and cruise one way to Barcelona over the course of 7 days.

I did one just this year from Ravenna to Barcelona.

 

Just looking at these other types of cruise where people get on and off and the apps don't work and the cabin crew don't know your name or have your details makes me wonder why they would offer such a cruise and why anyone would want to do that.

 

But anyway, if you can get a 7 day cruise one-way then have a few days in Rome or Venice and then go to either Civitavecchia or Ravenna and then enjoy a lovely 7 night cruise and then have a few days in Barcelona and turn a 7 day cruise into a 14 day holiday. That way you have 3 different parts of a holiday to enjoy and to relax with instead of a lot of running around to meet planes and trains and ships etc.

Just take it nice and slow and enjoy every moment and remember how lucky we all are to be able to travel again.

 

Mick.

 

 

 

Yes, I like the way you think, too, but, sometimes the challenge is airfare.  So many don't know about booking open jaw which usually works out much cheaper than the 2 one way prices  they get discouraged by. 

[Mick B]

 

We used to have 2 European holidays which involved flying from the UK to somewhere like Italy and Spain and spending a few days in hotels either end.

Now we will only be doing 1 cruise each year to not only save on the silly high priced airfare, but also the high priced hotels too. As we have been to most of the ports of call, there is no rush for us to return to any of them anytime soon, so the only way we would go back to doing 2 cruises a year is if the cruise fare returned to being very low and the air fares did the same.

I doubt it so...

Next year we have a 15 night TA from FL to Southampton and that works out far cheaper than two 7 night European holidays when you factor in the additional airfare and hotels. And for 2025 I have 12 nights on the Indy from the UK to the Canaries and I have eliminated both airfare and hotels as a precaution as I cannot see the price for them doing anything but going up for the foreseeable future considering the way the world has been left after 2021, plus all the Brexit crap we have had to put up with too in the UK.

Can't wait for what 2026 will bring us.

 

Mick.

 

 

Edited December 28, 2023 by Mick B

[FionaMG]

37 minutes ago, Steeler Nation At Sea said:

Yes, I mentioned that in my next response.  It's not what the poster I quoted was suggesting though, I don't think, for someone just newly asking about interporting.

Yes, we were typing at the same time. 🙂

Interporting can indeed be very confusing for people encountering it for the first time.