Barcelona before cruise to Venice

Welcome to the forum!

Your questions are too broad.
Need to know your interests, travel experience, budget, etc

Start here:
https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/spain/barcelona
https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/italy/venice

Booking.com is a good place to research lodging. Use the filters for location, budget, amenities

Do some searches here on this forum- there are lots of recommendations.
Pick up a couple of guide books at your library.

hey hey MDH
totally agree with ChristineH, do more research of things you're hoping for.
nowdays so many mixed reviews with any airline, could be one post wonders, what mixed reviews have you read that you're not happy about and does your cruise line offer some other airline? have you tried booking cruise & flight seperately? are you flying out of venice to return to USA. if so, do a multi-city (into one city out of another) not one ways.
barcelona is a very busy city and it's crowded, no off season anymore and the big cities get expensive. arrival time is important since check-in is 2-4pm, unless approval for early check or book room day ahead and explain you arrive next day, so room will be ready.
you really don't have 1 day, roam around evening & dinner, check out 10-11am next day with bags and jet lag (it's real), transportation to ship and where is it docked at (tendered or docked). what time can you board ship?
where exactly is your ship arriving in "venice", which is a confusion for many cruisers ships don't dock in venice anymore (some places chioggia, trieste, ravenna, marghera) which you will need transportation to get to venice. (europeforvisitors.com)
same thing with check-in to venice hotel (2p-4pm)
another very important issue is flight departures from venice (VCE/marco polo airport). many international flights leave 6am which means getting up at "dark thirty" early morning to get to airport. which gives you time to roam around venice & the canals getting lost, no sleeping or to bed early and transportation to airport if early flight.
booking.com/ trivago.com/tripadvisor.com to look for hotel. don't know how many people, budget in euros, exact dates. you are not giving yourself enough time to enjoy either city but it's your holiday
cruisecritic.com
register, find roll call of cruise, and see posts to share with others on cruise. we shared private tours at different ports with a small group, first answered we booked it like 6 people. was great
cruisemapper.com
go to ports, type in port, shows you how many ships in port, scroll down to how many on passengers, if 3 or 4 ships could be 10,000 to 12,000 people on shore that day. helps you plan what you want to do or stay in port and wander.
have a happy time and enjoy
aloha

Start exploring your options:

• https://www.barcelonaturisme.com/wv3/en/
• https://www.timeout.com/barcelona
• https://barcelonalocalexperiences.com/

Next, 1 day in Barcelona. Need hotel and restaurant recommendations plus anything not to miss

Well, with only 1 day, and things not to miss- you barely have time to visit (and will miss a lot):

Sagrada Familia
Parc Guell
Walking tour of the Bari Gotic
One of the Gaudi houses: Casa Battle or Casa Mila or others

But there are tons more places to visit. What are your interests?

As for restaurants:

El Quatre Gats
Las Caracolas

As for hotels:
stay in the central area around Plaça Catalunya, but not on the Las Ramblas.
To get to Plaça Catalunya, you can catch the Aerobus from the airport. It's an Express bus with limited stops and room for luggage.
Then at Plaça Catalunya, you can walk(wheel) your luggage over to the hotel.

Look at Hotel Jazz
or Hotel Pulitzer
RS tours stay at the Hotel Catalonia Portal De L' Angel
It's in a pedestrian zone, so a taxi will not be able to get near, but you can walk to it from Plaça Catalunya.

On check out day, take a taxi to the cruise ship.

I always fly to Spain on Iberia. It’s fine except for the food which is no better and no worse than any other European or American airline if you are flying coach.

You need to provide price range for hotel and restaurant recommendations.

The cruise line will usually only book the dates you tell them. One night before and one night after is VERY limited in my opinion.
You barely have time to recover from LONG jet lag on arrival, much less try to see anything. Hopefully you will not have any flight delays, which could impact making the cruise departure.

I would spend a few more nights before the cruise. I also LOVE Venice, so I would spend at least a few nights afterwards. You have a year to plan this, so I would consider making changes.

I agree your question is too simplistic. If you want to learn about the best hotels in Venice, just look at all the ones the Jeff Bezos' wedding guests used this past week. My favorite Venice hotel is the Danieli, and the rooftop dining is spectacular. But it is a budget-buster choice, for sure. There is too much to see in Venice just for one day, but highlights are the Doge's Palace (Palazzo Ducale) , St. Mark's Basilica, the Piazza San Marco, the canals, the museums, the bridges, and the list continues.

As to Barcelona, the sightseeing list is also quite long, and if you are flying all the way over to Spain, is that the only city you want to visit? I could never just spend one day in Spain--it is one of my favorite countries in the world!

Iberia is a well-established European carrier. I would fly Iberia any time without any concerns. However, here in Philly we have nonstop flights on American to many European destinations, so I usually choose American first.

Have fun planning!

P.S. I am off on a cruise to Iceland and Ireland in less than two weeks--definitely staying pre and post in Amsterdam for a total of five nights!