Cruising out of Barcelona on Azamara and disembarking in Nice, France

Are you able to add some days to your trip after you reach Nice? If so, it would be a wonderful opportunity, after a night or two in Nice, to take the train to Paris and let your husband enjoy that beautiful city. If you want to do this, you can book flights to Barcelona and back home from Paris (or whichever other city you may opt for .... for which you may opt, that is.)

Are you able to add some days to your trip after you reach Nice? If so, it would be a wonderful opportunity, after a night or two in Nice, to take the train to Paris and let your husband enjoy that beautiful city. If you want to do this, you can book flights to Barcelona and back home from Paris (or whichever other city you may opt for .... for which you may opt, that is.)

Sorry about the duplicate posts. My "delete" button refuses to delete. Stupid delete button!

Hi Molly,
How long have you planned pre or post cruise in Barcelona? The city has many things to see/do and most visitors say 4-5 days is the bare minimum to get to know a bit the city. Furthermore, beyond the city, the region of Catalonia has numerous wonders worth seeing, from picturesque coastal little towns to historical sites (Roman ruins, medieval towns...). Why not explore it? Have a look at a couple of videos to see if anything catches your eye: http://infocatalonia.eu/w/AioW1 this is La Costa Brava, north of Barcelona and http://infocatalonia.eu/w/1uFOu is a compilation of different activities, sites, landscapes, proposals and things to do in Catalonia. And obviously, being myself a Barcelonian I must include at least one video of the city too!: http://infocatalonia.eu/w/ESGdJ -or if you prefer, the latest city promo (albeit to be frank, I find it too cheesy for my taste, LOL!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOOebCr5xJA

To explore your flight options, a great site is Kayak: http://www.kayak.com/flights. Choose the "multi city" option, which allows "open jaw" flights - into one city and out of another (for instance, Chicago to Barcelona and Nice to Chicago, all on one ticket). This often not more expensive than a standard round trip; even if it is a bit more, you save time, money, and hassle going right where you need to be.

Enric and Norma are also right. You will want to allow some time before your cruise to see Barcelona, and if you have enough time, you may want to see more of Spain (Madrid, for instance, is less then 3 hours from Barcelona by high speed train). Similarly, you should consider whether you want to fly home from Nice, or see some other part of France (or even another country - Nice Airport is a major one, with flights all over Europe). You will want to figure this out so you'll know your starting and ending points, before you book your flights.

Molly, assuming that the cruise ports are mostly islands and resort towns, you might enjoy a sophisticated city before or after the cruise. Both Barcelona and Paris meet that description. Have you checked which cities have reasonably efficient flights to your home city? I haven't been to Nice, but it would be helpful to find out if it quiets down in late September. We found the French and Italian islands to be very quiet in October.

It is always essential to fly to a cruise at least one day in advance in case of uncontrollable delays that could make you miss the boat. And if you get over jet lag before the cruise departure, you'll enjoy the "most expensive" days of your vacation that much better. Cruise Excursions leave early each day!

We presume that you and your husband are at least willing to try independent travel for a few days. I only mention that because many cruise customers don't want to be bothered with travel and excursion details. Your extra days will depend on research and initiative on your own. Have a look at the main part of Rick's website, and his Travel Tips. He has good hints on open-jaw flights and train travel in general.

Continuing that line of thought, are you going to look for the rock-bottom plane fare on your own? Or are you tempted to use the Azamara air-office because they'll transfer you to the ship? That's the same question: Are you comfortable making your own way, like most posters here are? Note also that this is not a big cruise website. You might want to read posts elsewhere as well.

Have you checked with Azamara for air? We have never been on this line, but have cruised a lot, including a couple of fairly recent transatlantics. My experience has been, generally, that cruise line's airfares have become more competitive with commercial carriers than they were a few years ago. Open jaw, into one city and out of another, is our choice. We always arrive at least a day in advance of the cruise departure. On our last transatlantic with Holland America we found our own air down to Ft. Lauderdale and bought their $600 per person one way back from Rome. Other times we have purchased our air independently, or when the price was right (or close to right) we bought air from the cruise line, or a combination of both independent and cruise air.. An advantage with cruiseline air is that they (may) guarantee getting you onboard if their air messed up, including flying you to the next port. But the fine print is very fine, and each cruiseline likely has their own standards and rules. We buy trip interruption/cancellation insurance, in large part because of medical evacuation,etc. I learned on our last Holland America cruise that (1) we had 30 days after disembarkation to fly home, (2) that we did not have to fly from the port of disembarkation (though airfares might vary depending on the return city you choose) and (3) that our insurance covered us for our entire trip, including the 30 days after the cruise ended and until we flew home. None of this was on Azamara, however, so I suggest you check their pricing and policies. It can be a good deal, or not. Regardless of whether you fly independently or with the cruiseline, you may purchase airport to ship transfers from the cruiseline. Have a great trip.