Cruise options out of Barcelona

There are many options for cruises from Barcelona. It is a very popular cruise port.

I took a Mediterranean cruise on Norwegian Cruise lIne a couple of years back. I sailed Barcelona to Barcelona.

I have now sailed 10 times on Norwegian but that is because I sail solo and they are very friendly for the solo passenger,

I would suggest that you research Norwegian as well as other cruise lines. Although I have never sailed other lines, I have talked to persons who have cruised very many times on different cruise lines. They tell me that Princess and Celebrity are a step above Norwegian. Of course, there are some top of the line cruise companies such as Viking which can be much more but you also might get much more.. You have to look at the whole picture.

The ports are great. I went to some ports that I had never heard of until my cruise. My memory is that even though it was October, it was still very hot in some ports and still very crowded in some.

It is almost certainly going to be very hot and very crowded in June or July.

Some members on this forum will suggest Cruise Critic but I find it a very complicated site. I prefer this one. Other members will be jumping in and giving you information.

Check out youtube videos.

Do your research. Go to the different cruise lines and call. See what they offer you.

Get a guide book or two.

Rather than my going on and on, feel free to ask me any questions. What are you looking for?

Back to Norwegian. If you think you would like to sail Norwegian, I suggest a balcony or Haven.

I admit I am not a cruise guy. I went on one Western Mediterranean cruise 10 years ago. FWIW, here was our experience:
1. I used cruisecritic.com to compare all of the different cruise lines and selected Norwegian Cruise Line which had the best itinerary and price for us.
2. I then went to NCL.com with the intention of booking direct and getting the most perks and freebies by doing so.
3. However, a friend who was an experienced cruise guy recommended that I contact a local travel agent and to check out their prices. It turned out that booking through a travel agent was much cheaper than even booking direct on the NCL site. When I asked the travel agent why this was so, he explained that their travel agency reserved huge blocks of rooms with a group discount and then resells them at better prices and in our case, with additional perks offered over and above the direct booking site. It made sense to me. Many cruisers are older and may not be inclined to use the internet.

YMMV. It is still worth comparing Cruise Critic, direct booking and travel agencies. Good luck.

We liked Islands of the Western Mediterranean on Windstar (small ships, mostly about 350).

Agree with funpig that a travel agent might be a good way to go in finding the best cruise for you. There are travel agents who book cruises exclusively.

But like everything else, there are good travel agents and not so good.

Best to get a reference from a friend or relative if you do not already have one.

No need for a travel agent.
Go online for cruise lines like NCL, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Princess.

You can search for for cruises on Vacationstogo.com. I use it to search then go to the cruise line websites after I've narrowed some down.

I also like vacationstogo.com for preliminary research. Sign up, enter your criteria (e.g., departure port, return port, Length of cruise, etc.) to see the whole range of possibilities. We have purchased cruises directly from them without problems. I have also called the cruise lines to see if they will match some reductions in price or perks, sometimes they do or sometimes they don’t. Always worth a try in my book. You are under no obligation if just searching. Safe travels.

Like the last 2, I use Vacations to go to research cruises. It is very easy to do on their website. I also book thru them but if there is a travel agent in your town that specializes in cruises, consider them. Always use a travel agent that charges no fee ( no agent should charge for a cruise ). You should always get the same or better price using a travel agent. If any problem arises then you will have someone on your side to help.

Also, the Cruise Critic website may be helpful.
We found Celebrity to have the best dining. We liked Royal Caribbean for its prices but stayed away from its huge ships. The entertainment on Royal is tops.
NCL has interesting entertainment, but used to have a huge extra cost for its drink package.

We always tried to find private tours instead of taking the expensive ship's excursions.

I would try to find a travel agent, preferably someone specializing in cruises. Prices are better (especially if he/she has a block of rooms and is selling them as a group) and the agent often will add OBC (onboard credit — dollars that can be used onboard for drinks, spa treatments, excursions and the like) and some may be able to point you in the right direction for a good airfare. Sometimes they even throw in a welcome aboard bottle of wine or a cheese plate. Cruise Critic readers provide reviews of the lines, staterooms, ships, food, demographics and activities. There are as many options as there are people. Doing the research is essential. Picking the wrong line for you is an expensive and unnecessary mistake. We learned that lesson the hard way. The price was right but the food was crummy and buckets of beer were being consumed before 10 am. They also handed by 12 year old a strawberry margarita poolside. Not my style, but he thought it was great. Don’t worry, mommy drank it.

First time poster. We are taking a cruise on Celebrity out of Barcelona in May which ends in Rome. 10 nights with Malta, Ephesus and 4 Greek ports. We've cruised a lot and it all comes down to personal preference when choosing a line and/or ship. Our new favorite line is Princess because of the ships, pricing and value - particularly their Princess Plus package. (which one YouTuber I watch calls the "best value in cruising"). Princess ships don't have a lot of bells and whistles like water slides or roller coasters, but they are classy with lots of amenities and the people onboard friendly and laid back. That said, on a trip like this, we're focused on the itinerary and not so much the line or ship. And Celebrity is a great line with great ships too.

I was a part time travel agent so I won't discourage their use but with Princess, and now this Celebrity Cruise, we've used a "personal vacation planner" or the like through the cruise line. I feel more in control of my booking but my planner helped me pick out my room and answered all my questions. And he found a room on the ship I didn't see when looking myself that was better than anything I was finding location wise. So that is an option too.

My wife has not yet committed to the trip, so it may be for a couple or a solo tour. Thank you for your ideas, experience and suggestions.

First off, I also suggest CruiseCritic for much more in depth discussion on cruises, lines, itineraries, ports, ships, etc.. This site is great for the land portion of travel in Europe, but CC is super active and informative about the cruising aspect of travel - in Europe or elsewhere.

Also, "single supplement" often means "paying double" when cruising. Different lines have different policies - some single-traveler friendly, and some where they don't budge on their cabin pricing. There are various methods folks use to work around (or with) that, but since I've never done a solo cruise, I can't offer much insight other than it is a popular topic over in CC.

Since Barcelona is a huge port - very often as a start/end location, you ought to have a lot of choices, but not all (probably not most) will be roundtrip cruises. Many will be in one direction for several days (one cruise) followed by a reversal for another week or so back to Barcelona. Most cruise searches will have that option to search (one way vs r/t), but it does cut down on your options unless you don't mind flying/training back from a different endpoint (like Rome or Lisbon).

Different lines have different "vibes" , but most - in the summer season - will be much livelier with families onboard. A Med cruise when school is in will be noticeably different in June-July-August as younger kids can go from being a tiny portion of the guests to a much larger portion. Kids bring a totally different energy level to even the more "adult" lines (very few are adults only). So, if you're seeing on CC that some lines trend "older", that is not really as true in the summer season.

We opt for choosing based upon value, food, and service and don't care about things like tons of options (like many pools, waterslides, epic shows, etc.), so we skip Royal, Carnival, or Disney, but choose Celebrity or Virgin (or would consider similar like Princess).

I also should have suggested CruisePlum as a quick way to look across a bunch of cruises and compare fares.

Doing a quick search for Barcelona in late June, there are quite a few options - mostly MSC but a mix of a few others like Virgin, Costa, & Cunard. Most are roundtrip options (a filter you can pick), but you can also see something like the NCL Dawn doing a Barcelona -> Lisbon followed by the reverse Lisbon-> Barcelona (mostly duplicate ports, but two weeks in total) or find others doing similar.

Also, a one-way cruise - say that Barcelona to Lisbon cruise, a few days in Lisbon, and then a TAP flight (or other) back to Barcelona - seems like a nice option.