Barcelona International Airport

I’ve not stayed in Barcelona, but a quick review of Booking.com shows several airport hotels that are rated higher than the sleep and Fly and considerably less expensive. What appeals to you about this hotel?

BCN isn't far from the city, so I'd feel no need to stay at an airport hotel. Even a taxi shouldn't be expensive, but I found the Aerobus very usable. It runs frequently from Placa de Catalunya.

I haven't flown out of BCN since August (I think) 2016, and I have no idea whether there was a cruise terminating in the city the day of my departure or the day before. I did encounter a long line at the United check-in counter, and I was very glad I had arrived at the airport at least 3 hours before flight time. There are more people traveling now than in 2016, though Barcelona was very popular even then.

BCN Airport says passengers need to be at the airport two hours in advance for domestic flights, and three hours in advance for international flights. Downtown Barcelona is a 30-minute journey from the airport on the Rodalies Suburban Train Line. A taxi takes about 25 minutes and runs about €35-€40. The short transit times from town to the airport is why there’s no need to stay at an airport hotel.

These days, I would not cut it close, but 5 hours is almost certainly overkill.

As noted, you can stay in downtown Barcelona and take Metro/train/Aerobus/taxi
to airport in reasonable time.

If you have only carry-on bags, can check in online, or have airline status that
allows you to avoid the main economy class check-in line, that will reduce your
time spent in airline line. If your airline has kiosks for printing luggage tags and
you can self-tag and drop off, that saves time.

I don't know your itinerary, but if you are flying into BCN, it may be worth a quick
trip up to departures level after you exit immigration just to see what's there.

Star Alliance has Gold Track option for Star Alliance Gold members that allows
you to access a special security line. If BCN has e-passport lines and you have a
biometric passport, you may be able to avoid the majority of the immigration queue
(I don't know about this, and it changes often, so someone else can hopefully comment).

Finally, I would assume that any cruise ship-driven lines at BCN are going to mostly
occur the day after most cruises dock. Time of season and day of week would seem
to be major factors, and you don't specify either of those.

Good Morning

Supposedly my ship will arrive in Barcelona about 4 am but you never know and it usually takes some time to get off of the ship.

I would be in the first group leaving because I carry my own luggage so i would probably be off the ship about 7 am, like it or not.

I do not remember all the flights but my vague memory is the flight that worked best for me left about 10 a.m. so unless I can find another flight that works well, I would have to overnight.

The reason that I was considering the Sleep & Fly is because it is right in the airport, at Terminal 1.

Assume that I need to be at the airport at least 3 hours ahead of time, I still need to be at the airport about 7 am. Thought it best to stay right in the airport.

I am on a Norwegian Cruise Line facebook page and members on the page are suggesting being at the Barcelona airport 5 hours ahead of schedule because of their experience at the airport after a cruise. Someone else suggested only booking a flight for after 3 pm.

But I believe that i can also buy a Fast Pass for 10 euros which is a reasonable investment.

The Aerobus runs 24 hours a day, every 10 minutes from 5-6:40am and every
5 minutes after that. The Metro runs from 5am. So you wouldn't have to wait
very long to start your trip back to the airport no matter when you start.

It seems a shame to get into Barcelona in the morning and stay at the airport
for a flight almost 24 hours later. Most likely, your ship will dock near La
Rambla, so you're right near lots of hotels and sightseeing to begin with.

Without knowing your itinerary, or if there are other connections that could depart
BCN later, I still think staying downtown (somewhere close to either an Aerobus
pickup point, a Metro stop that minimizes the # of transfers you need to get to
the airport, or a taxi stand), will be more enjoyable than getting a room at the
airport and going into Barcelona for part of the day. So what if you get up at 6
to get to the airport at 7 for a 10am flight? Sleep on the plane....

But of course, it's up to you to decide your comfort level with the flight vs time in
Barcelona.

That's not sound advice since it's generalising too much. As in many busy airports like Barcelona's -in the top 10 in Europe- lines can be long at certain moments. Still, the airport is quite capable of handling the amount of passengers who pass through these facilities.

It all boils down to the day of the year. On certain dates, the airport is quite busy indeed (can seem chaotic at times!), but 5 hours in advance I also think it's an overkill. On average, when I use the airport for international flights I go there two hours in advance and it has always worked out fine (I grant you I avoid flying on "special dates").

On another note, the airport recently announced the upgrade of the scanners during 2024 at the security checkpoints (source: https://www.vilaweb.cat/noticies/novetats-aeroport-liquids-ordinadors-maleta-controls-seguretat/). Thus, taking out the laptops or showing the liquids will no longer be required. This will speed up, no doubt, this procedure.

Just because a cruise is ending does not mean the line at the airport is going to be hugely longer.

Have no knowledge of BCN hotels, but logic dictates the lines at the airport would not fluctuate by 2 hrs because of cruise ship schedules. The airlines, even if they wanted to, do not have crews and equipment, to add enough flights to make that kind of change to the airport wait times.

Thanks for all your information

Had no idea that The Aerobus has such great service. It helps to know this.

I want to clarify something I said about being in a chat room with other cruise passengers. Some members were saying that the lines at the airport were very long after their cruise but no one was implying that it had anything to do with the number of cruise passengers. Guests were just talking about going home "after their cruise" i.e. leaving Barcelona and flying back to the states.

I am uncertain where the cruise port is but it no longer is close to La Rambla. Because of environmental concerns, ships have been moved further away. There is a cruise port bus that you can pick up around the Christopher Columbus statue that will take you to the cruise port.

And there is another cruise port that will be opening around Spring 2024. I can no longer remember the name of the city but it is about an hour outside of Barcelona.

To get to the airport after my cruise, I will pay for Norwegian to transfer me.

The cruise port is not that far from La Rambla- about a mile I would say, in fact it is further from Terminal A to Terminals E and F than it is from La Rambla to Terminal A.
It depends which terminal you end up using.

Here is a visual map-https://contentv5.portdebarcelona.cat/cntmng/guestDownload/direct/workspace/SpacesStore/edb7b57a-7cee-4486-a1b8-ebf0e3cfc2bf/EN-PortBcn-TerminalsMaritimes.pdf

If you are using an NCL bus to the airport then you won't be first the ship. You will be off at whatever time NCL decide to run the airport transfer bus.

I am of the impression that because I am sailing on a. very large ship, it is a cruise port farthest from the city center.

Because I am carrying my own luggage, I have to go with the group that carries their own luggage and we go first.

Norwegian offers many buses to the airport. I can choose whatever time I want, so I think.

Are you aware of the brand new cruise port that is opening Spring 2024 to handle large ships outside of Barcelona. I can not remember the name of the community but it is about one hour outside of Barcelona and begins with a T. It is a very pretty historic community and already has a small cruise port . I am wondering if they are trying to help Barcelona or compete with it. I am also wondering if my ship might get rerouted.

EDIT. new cruise port is going to be in Tarragona and it will cater to the large cruise ships

Barcelona handles the very biggest cruise ships now. A new terminal was built at the end of that pier to handle them. It is a mis understanding that big means they have to dock far out.

The only question is which of the terminals on that pier you will berth at.

Tarragona is not scheduled to open before May 2024, if on time. New ports have a habit of being late.
NCL and all other cruise lines will already have booked a berth at Barcelona. There are contractual commitments of the lines to Barcelona in the 2024 season and in some cases beyond that.

The logistics of moving to Tarragona would make such a move in October very unlikely.

Tarragona is opening to compete with Barcelona, not to assist them.

Maybe in 2025, but in 2024 very, very unlikely. Barcelona only has or had one other cruise ship location- the now closed berths at the World Trade Centre.

@bostonphil7... I already explained this in another threat. The "new" port is Tarragona, 100km from Barcelona, it isn't new by the way (the current port was originally built in 1484 AD, yes 1-4-8-4, and subsequently enlarged to this day), it'll mostly handle smaller cruisers as it won't really be prepared for very large ones -like Barcelona is.

Moreover, the current port of Tarragona handles around 80,000 pax/year (compared to 1,4 million in Barcelona, nearly 2 million if ferry pax are included) and, according to official city hall sources, it's forecasted to grow but in moderation, to avoid flooding a city that has a population of 132,000 with too many visitors all at once -much like in Barcelona has happened in recent years. In fact, the figures being presented in the project put at 200,000 the pax provided by cruise arrivals to Tarragona in 2033. The problem is not the global yearly number of visitors to a destination, but the amount of them coming all at once -which happens when too many large cruisers arrive at any port.

Hi Enric

I did not forget our earlier conversaitons about the "new" terminal but I was doing some research for someone else and came across the following article.

https://www.cruisehive.com/new-cruise-terminal-construction-begins-near-barcelona/103505

Perhaps I misread but it sounds like large cruise ships are going to be using "the new" or "newer" terminals

Opsy, you posted while I was further explaining why the port of Tarragona is unlikely to rival Barcelona's in the short term, but probably will help to unclog it :))

yes Enric

you are probably correct in saying that the addition to the Tarragona Cruise Terminal will probably help unclog Barcelona and help assist it in fact.

I was incorrect in saying that it might compete with Barcelona.

However there might come a day when residents of Barcelona want the larger cruise ships to "sail away" as other cities are doing.

isn31c

It could be that Barcelona might want Norwegian to use the newer cruise port if and when it opens. A lot of cities want the large cruise ships to go away. There are environmental issues and some places are not very happy to see over 3,000 passengers and crew walking down the gangplank at the same time.

The larger cruise ports don't always need the large cruise ships any longer and smaller ports sometimes want the larger cruise ships. They like and need the money that 3,000 plus persons are bringing into town.