How long are you planning on staying in Barcelona, pre and/or post the cruise?

[snshn3]

I can't decide if to do a stay in Barcelona for one night pre and another night post or do 2 nights pre and leave from the ship straight to the airport.

[vssy]

Hi!

We are planning on staying two nights in Barcelona before our cruise in October. We want to have a little time to explore as well as make sure our luggage has a chance to catch up with us if there are any problems in that respect. My husband and I feel that we will be tired and ready to get home after such a port intensive cruise. Therefore, we are not staying any days after the cruise.

[Cruise Junky]

We plan on doing the same, two before and then heading home. However, it'll all depend on when I can get flights using FF miles.

[Francine]

We will be staying in Barcelona two days post since we will only be there at the end of our cruise. We cannot go so far and not spend time in what everyone I have spoken with refers to as a wonderful place to visit.

 

Fran

[LEtue]

I would definitely recommend at least one night pre-cruise as you will be more refreshed when you board the ship for what probably is a port intensive itinerary. We did one night pre and one post last time - only because of the airfare options. I wish we could have come straight back though. We would have boarded the plane tired and probably slept a good deal of way home....

 

Just booked for October 2005 and everyone in the group is planning on a 2 night pre-cruise.

[Guest Crazeecat5]

My DH and I have booked a 2 night pre cruise at the Hotel Majestic. We leave for Barcelona in 20 days. Can't wait........ Wouldn't miss a chance to see this wonderful city. After the cruise, we just want to go home and rest.

Sheryl

[vssy]

My DH and I have booked a 2 night pre cruise at the Hotel Majestic. We leave for Barcelona in 20 days. Can't wait........ Wouldn't miss a chance to see this wonderful city. After the cruise, we just want to go home and rest.

Sheryl

 

Please post a review when you return! We will be staying at the Atriium Palace in Barcelona. We will be on the same cruise come October! Counting the days!

Thanks

[ajpack]

Hi LEtue.. We are booked for Oct. 2005 too. What cruise line are you going on? We'll be on the Millenium---Barcelona to Venice--Oct. 13th. We plan to spend 2 days precruise in Barcelona.

 

Anne

[ajpack]

Hi LEtue.. We are booked for Oct. 2005 too. What cruise line are you going on? We'll be on the Millenium---Barcelona to Venice--Oct. 13th. We plan to spend 2 days precruise in Barcelona.

 

Anne

[jezzdogg]

We are doing the wonderful 14 day Millennium cruise this August, Barcelona to Venice, including 3 Greek Islands and Malta. Will post review and all sorts of info when we return in September. We are arriving in Barcelona August 11, to give ourselves a day or two to get over the jet lag and able to enjoy this adventure. Staying over friday and saturday night in Venice at the end to have a couple of days to enjoy that city, without the feeling of being rushed off and rushed home.

[LEtue]

ajpack,

 

We're doing the Splendour of the Seas 7 day itinerary this time. A bunch of friends form work and I decided we would do the Med instead of the Caribbean next fall ;)

 

Can't wait to return and I hope October is as nice as when we sailed in May! Have you cruised the Med before? You are in for a treat when you sail into Venice :D

 

Linda

[MavisMarie]

I'll be in Barcelona the end of October. Any hotel recommendations? Any good deals out there?

Thanks.:)

[Makita]

Hello,

We just returned from our 6/19/04 Brilliance sailing, and spent 3 nites post cruise in Barcelona. We really enjoyed it, but I would probably suggest 2 nites instead of 3. Pre versus post cruise depends on your preference, We did post cruise because it fit our schedule best (and I could use the July 4 holiday to recover)

Enjoy, Beth

[bbqbears]

It also depends on how much you are able to do in a day. My husband and I were there one year ago (in fact, our cruise departed one year ago today), and we spent 4 days pre-cruise, and still didn't see everything we wanted to see. My husband walks with a cane, and needs some down time in the afternoon. If you don't want to do the whirlwind tour (i.e. cram as much in each day as possible), and you like to really get a feel for a place, 3-4 days is not too much. This is one beautiful city! Enjoy your vacation, we would go back in a heartbeat.

 

Kathy

[ajpack]

ajpack,

 

We're doing the Splendour of the Seas 7 day itinerary this time. A bunch of friends form work and I decided we would do the Med instead of the Caribbean next fall ;)

 

Can't wait to return and I hope October is as nice as when we sailed in May! Have you cruised the Med before? You are in for a treat when you sail into Venice :D

 

Linda

Hi Linda...

This will be our first trip to the Med. I can't wait! I'm glad I'm not the only one who booked over a year ahead---my husband thinks I'm crazy!

We're going to Alaska in August on Celebrity.

 

Anne

[sippin-time]

Since we've never cruised to the Med. before and it is really a trip of a lifetime for us before starting a family, we're going all out....we'll be doing a 4-day pre-cruise in Barcelona and 3-day post-cruise in Paris, France !

 

In Barcelona, we'll be staying at the Grand Marina Hotel and in Paris, we'll be staying at the Intercontinental Hotel. These aren't the "best" prices in town, but they are modern and reputable. We can't wait!

 

Upon our return, we'll be more than happy to share our experiences with everyone here as we have found this message board to be a tremendous help for us !! Paying it forward is the least we can do...

[patw]

We will be on the Wind Spirit in August from Lisbon to Barcelona. We are doing a land tour in Portugal before the trip. We will spend 3 nights in Barcelona after the cruise before taking the train to Madrid for several days before returning home.

We have stayed at The Ritz in Barcelona but are staying at Le Meridien on Las Ramblas this time.

[Northern Bear]

I would definitely recommend at least one night pre-cruise as you will be more refreshed when you board the ship for what probably is a port intensive itinerary. We did one night pre and one post last time - only because of the airfare options. I wish we could have come straight back though. We would have boarded the plane tired and probably slept a good deal of way home....

 

Just booked for October 2005 and everyone in the group is planning on a 2 night pre-cruise.

 

 

What ship did you book? We too just booked October 2005 on the Brilliance. Looong time away...

 

NB

[LouisV]

Hello everyone!

We are sailing Venice - Barcelona on Sept 18/04 on the Millennium. We are touring Venice for 1 week pre-cruise and ending with 3 days in Barcelona post-cruise.

[navel1ring]

We are also doing pre & post cruise in Barcelona in October. We are booked at the Hotel Continental for both. It was recommended by several on this board. Go to http://www.hotelcontinental.com. They have two hotels and they answer your emails within a few hours. We sail Splendour Oct. 23. Can't wait.

 

Wendy & Tom

[sophiek]

Just got back from the Millennium Med cruise barcelona to venice. Can't say enough good things about it- it was unbelievable. We stayed 3 nights pre-cruise in Barcelona. I would recommend this for 2 reasons:

1) our luggage got lost by Air France in Paris and we did not receive it until 10 hours after we landed. If we had been boarding the ship that day, we would have been very unhappy.

2) the pre cruise time allowed us to get over our jet lag before a very port intensive 12 days. By the end of the cruise, we packed up our dirty clothes, stayed one extra night in Venice, which was wonderful, and looked forward to getting home (tired but happy).

 

We stayed at the AC Diplomatic in Barcelona. Great location, modern hotel with a small outdoor pool and a free minibar (beer, water and soda). The minibar alone was worth a lot as we were not used to the warm weather and were very thirsty all of the time. Also, there is a Kinko's type business centre directly across the street. We were able to access our home email for 1 euro per hour and also had our digital photos taken in Barcelona burned on a CD for half of what the ship would have charged. Barcelona is a wonderful city- enjoy!

 

By the way, we stayed at the Bauer Hotel in Venice. We got a great internet rate- it has its own water taxi pier (which is very important if you have a lot of luggage and don't want to be climbing up and down the steps of the various bridges in venice) and is a 5 star hotel located just steps from San Marco Square. The food is outrageously expensive but we just ate outside the hotel. Hope this helps.

[FrankR]

I'll be in Barcelona the end of October. Any hotel recommendations? Any good deals out there?

Thanks.:)

 

will be in Barcelona November 6 for one night please let me know any hotel deals that you may find

okorganist@aol.com

[cherith]

Definitely do Pre-cruise. When you are done the cruise you REALLY just want to go home. The thought of hauling bags and living out of suitcases is NOT fun when you've just had the luxury of the cruise.

[Cruisinagain]

Sippintime,

When is your cruise? We are on the Brilliance 9/23, and are getting pretty excited! Would love info if you are going before we go! Will also share uinfo with you if we go first. We are planning to stay at the Grand Marina Hotel in Barcelona.

Jackie

[lovely12no]

Hi - My husband and I will be on Splendor Oct 30-6, staying one night prior to the Med cruise at AC Diplomatic, and then returning to AC Diplomatic for one night prior to boarding the Millenium for its transatlantic cruise Nov 7th. I have heard very good things about AC Diplomatic..so I decided to go ahead and book there. It was nice to hear a positive feedback on this thread! Lots of lovely hotels are in Barcelona, but some are a bit more than what we wished to pay. I did try Priceline first go around and ended up with a 4* Hesperia Del Mar booking. After looking it over carefully and checking, I found that Orbitz had it as being a 2*, not 4*. I brought this to Priceline's attention, they investigated, and low and behold, they changed the rating to 3*. Priceline gave me the option of declining if I wanted (which I thought was very professional)...and we decided to book elsewhere.

 

I've heard lots and lots of compliments about Hotel Continental Palacete. We have friends joining us on the transatlantic who are looking into this hotel.

 

To all, good luck in your chosen hotels. We will all have a fab time, no matter what hotel we stay in.