Hotels in Barcelona and Venice

[celtic sailing]

Any recommendations for hotels in Barcelona and Venice? We will be on the August 29 Millie sailing from Venice and will go into Venice one day early and stay one day post cruise in Barcelona. Want good location (walking distance to major attractions), 3 or 4 star hotel. I know Celebrity offers packages, but I think we can do better on our own.

[mii]

If you go the Europe Ports of Call maybe someone has a suggestion there.

 

marilyn

[caviargal]

There is a new hotel in Venice which is 4 star and getting rave reviews. Their prices have not yet caught up with their ratings! Hotel A La Commedia. I have 4 rooms booked there for the fall and they have been responsive and helpful.

[kysupt]

We were in Barcelona last fall and stayed at the Hotel Continental Palacete. It is well located with a complimentary buffet offered on a 24 hour basis. The rooms are small and unusually decorated. I would certainly stay there again.

[pierog]

In Venice reccomend Hotel Diana or Hotel Campiello, also Albergo Cavalleto. All are right next to San Marco, Diana and Campiello are 2 star, Cavalleto is 4 star. In Barcelona Hotel 1898 is one of the best, right in Las Ramblas, also Hotel Arts (5 star) is good and right at the beach. Reccomend www.tripadvisor.com, they have tons of candid photos and reviews.

[hajekfam]

We have stayed at Le Meridien in Barcelona, right on Las Ramblas - just about 2 blocks from the tourist bus. You can usually find a good deal on their website that includes a breakfast buffet under specials. In our three visits there, we have noticed many of the same staff over the years.

[medcruiseplanner]

We also booked the A la Commedia (mentioned above) for Venice and have had a great experience so far with reservations etc. The place looks nice and the price is right - also a good location. We booked ours through hotelseurope.com.

 

For Barcelona we booked the Eurostars grand marina. I had several very high price quotes for this hotel but got it for a steal at hotelseurope.

The site also has ratings and lots of pictures of various hotels which helped us make a decision.

 

Hope this helps! :)

[LJJQ]

We have stayed twice at the AC Diplomatic in Barcelona. It is located on Pau Claris not to far from Las Ramblas. Very friendly staff and a modern hotel. I posted the website below. They also have a AC Barcelona that is fairly new. You'll love Barcelona.

 

 

http://www.ac-hotels.com/main.asp

[bunduo]

In Barcelona, check out the H10 Universitat. It about a block off Playa Catalunya and Las Ramblas. Beautiful, modern, and clean with great service. Check out tripadvisor for more reviews of this hotel.

 

Barcelona is an awesome city. Make sure to see all the Gaudi especially Sagrada Familia.

[rebeccalouise]

I like the Sofitel Venezia in Venice and didn't really care one way or another for the hotel I stayed in in Barcelona- so don't really recommend it. Can't even think of the name of it.

 

Other hotels that were nice in Venice were the Bauer, the Metropole and a cheaper hotel in St. Mark's is the Hotel Royal San Marco, which has small rooms but is in a good location.

[Skeezics]

Last December for the TA, we stayed at Grand Marina, had a great rate. This year for the TA in December are staying again. . . . even a better rate. Called the hotel direct. Their rooms are huge (king Premier), very quiet, and close to everything. The On/Off bus stops in front. It is a business hotel, so not a lot of tourists. We walked everywhere from here. Breakfast is not included, but behind the hotel is a good Barcelona coffee cafe. We would get a banana and coffee and be ready for the day and . . . .lunch at one of the tapas bars. It is a five star, but will be way less than The Arts. But then, it's not a Ritz. Nice bar, some say pricey. Never had a meal here. Too many interesting, non - hotel restaurants.

[SF]

Great thread, thanks for all the suggestions.:) We're thinking of a Med cruise next year so all this "reading" is so informative.:)

[usavvy2]

I like the Sofitel Venezia in Venice and didn't really care one way or another for the hotel I stayed in in Barcelona- so don't really recommend it. Can't even think of the name of it...

 

We cruised on Millie BCN to VCE in 2005. Also stayed at the Sofitel Venezia because we felt it would be easiest to negotiate without getting in/out of a water taxi w/beau coup luggage. We picked up our luggage at the port terminal, wheeled it outside to an awaiting taxi (car not water), taxi took us to the train station (~15 euros in 2005) where we wheeled our luggage down about 2 steps then over a bridge which had about 20 steps - each step was short so we didn't even have to lift our luggage up. From there it was less than 500 yards to the Sofitel. We then lifted the luggage up about 2 steps into the lobby. DONE! Our hotel room was not ready at the time, so we left our luggage, put our valuables in the hotel safe, and set out to explore the Jewish ghetto and then St. Mark’s Square for our special tour of Doge’s Palace. Did the reverse for the trip to the airport. EASY! We would stay there again because it was safe, clean, conveniently located, didn't require a water taxi.

 

For BCN, we arrived at the airport, picked up our luggage, went through customs, and had a pre-reserved taxi to take us to the APSIS Atrium Palace.

After dropping off our luggage at our hotel, the Apsis Atrium Palace, we walked a couple of short blocks to Las Ramblas and headed north up the Ramblas to Casa Batlló – a unique building designed by Gaudí in 1905 which uses curving iron and stone and glittering collages of broken tiles and ceramic on the façade. The hotel was very modern; breakfast was included. There was a sizable group of folks who pre-arranged w/Celebrity that was also staying at this hotel. The only drawback was that the bed was extremely hard. We would stay there again because it was safe, clean, conveniently located to Las Ramblas.

 

I recommend you look at tripadvisor dot com and do some research there on their top hotels before making a selection. Good luck!

[jaxon41]

We liked the Clarion Pulitzer just off (a couple of doors) the center of the Placa Catalunya, at the head of Las Ramblas. It was reasonable -- about 130 E last fall. I thought the decor was very appealingly modern, with a tiny veranda to watch the placa. There is a restaurant called The 7 Doors (sieta portals, sp?) down by the ocean front, a few blocks from Las Ramblas, opposite direction from the road to the air port, in a long warehouse looking building, which I thought was great -- very authentic. Great paella, lovely atmosphere, reasonable prices, frequented by locals.

[dmk]

In Barcelona, check out the H10 Universitat. It about a block off Playa Catalunya and Las Ramblas. Beautiful, modern, and clean with great service. Check out tripadvisor for more reviews of this hotel.

 

Barcelona is an awesome city. Make sure to see all the Gaudi especially Sagrada Familia.

 

I've been looking at this hotel. Was it noisy at all?

[Scott Cyn]

We did the same Millie itinerary in 2004. We went into Venice two days early and stayed at Hotel Manin (http://manin.hotelinvenice.com/). Our balcony was right on the Grand Canal. It is a short walk to San Marco or to the Rialto Bridge. It wasn't cheap at 484 Euro per night, but we absolutely loved it. Cheaper deals can probably be had.

[bunduo]

I've been looking at this hotel. Was it noisy at all?

 

No, we didn't hear a thing and we had a room facing the street. I would also recommend choosing the breakfast option. It was really good. :)

[txerin]

We also did the same itinerary on the Millie in October 2005. It was a fabulous cruise! We stayed at the Hotel Jazz in Barcelona for three nights post cruise. It is a couple of blocks from Placa Catalunya where you can pick up the hop on/hop off bus. We had a large corner room at a very good price (booked directly with the hotel). Our hotel in Venice was average at best.

[the2006Junket]

Celtic,

 

Greetings from Boston -- home of the Celtics.

 

You can definitely do better than Celebrity's hotel pricing in those two cities at least. I'll throw in my two cents:

 

- Venice: We staying at the Westin Europe and Regina and really liked it. Got a very good rate using my corporate discount code. Rooms were large, nicely furnished, good A.C. and very quiet. Excellent concierge who helped with restaurant reservations and other transporation. Right on the Grand Canal with beautiful views of the cathedral across the canal. 7 min. walk to St. Mark's square. We took a water taxi from the airport straight to the dock of the hotel...couldn't be easier. Yes, it's expensive (90 euros), but with lots of luggage and jet lagged, I do not want to have figure out much! Plus, the 90 EU is for 6 of us, so per person, not bad.

 

- Barcelona: Hotel Majestic, couple blocks from Las Ramblas. I honestly I don't think I'd want to stay right on Las Ramblas....noisy til late at night. And many travelers talk of pickpockets hanging around there because of all the tourists. We had no problems while walking on Las Ramblas ourselves other than finding it so crowded, it was hard . However, the neighborhood around the Majestic is lovely with expensive shops and nice restaurants and we felt completely safe. Rooms were newly renovated, gorgeous bathrooms and quite large. Very cool, hip rooftop pool (small) that becomes a great place at night for a drink with beautiful people sipping drinks that cost mucho dinero. But worth it on our last night in Europe!

 

Enjoy a wonderful trip!

 

Lynne

[PaulaW]

I did the Millie Med cruise last October from Barcelona to Venice.

 

We stayed at the Hotel MonteCarlo in Barcelona and I cannot recommend it enough! It has a great location right on Las Ramblas. The staff was wonderful and very attentive. We had a beautiful room that was very large by European standards and we did not have any problem with noise.

 

In Venice, we stayed at an absolutely wonderful B&B called the Locanda Orseolo. The owners are always there and they and their staff welcome you personally and make it very clear that they are at your disposal. They knew our names right away and made sure we had directions for everywhere we wanted to go and made dinner reservations, etc. The location is very quiet, but is only a short walk to St. Mark's square. We had a room right on the canal and could hear the gondoliers singing-- quite an experience! Then, breakfast the next morning is to die for!

 

Have a great cruise!