It was nine in the morning, and Barcelona was still waking up. In a few hours I would be crossing the Atlantic, but first I had one single morning to steal something from this city.
The departure port of your cruise matters a lot. Not only because of convenience (after all, you’ll need to get to the city where the port is located to board your ship), but, perhaps more importantly, because departure ports can be a key part of the beginning of your vacation and a destination in their own right.
I recently had the chance to board an exciting 14-night transatlantic cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas from the busiest cruise port in Europe: Barcelona, Spain. Here I’ll share my experience boarding a cruise in this city, along with some tips to keep in mind when choosing it as your departure port.
Why Sail from Barcelona
Located in a privileged spot on the Mediterranean, the Port of Barcelona has become the most important cruise port in the region, especially for cruises visiting destinations like the Greek islands, Italy and, of course, Spain. It’s here that cruise lines like Disney Cruise Line begin their European season in late spring, before sending their ships to Northern Europe to finish the summer with itineraries to Norway or the British Isles. If you’d rather enjoy the sunny days of the Mediterranean summer, Barcelona and Civitavecchia, near Rome, are without a doubt the ports that will make the most sense for your trip.
However, what makes Barcelona such a special port isn’t just the number of itineraries or its location. It’s one of the most beautiful and picturesque cities in Europe, with a vibrant culture and a diversity matched only by much larger cities like Paris or London.
With everything the city has to offer, staying three or four nights before boarding your cruise is, in my opinion, the best choice. Unfortunately, in my case, I only had one night before my cruise departed, so I had to be very strategic about how I used my time to explore it.
A Morning in Barcelona
I arrived in Barcelona the night before my cruise and stayed at one of the hotels available to book through Royal Caribbean (Disney Cruise Line also offers a selection of hotels for pre- or post-cruise stays). Location matters a lot when choosing your hotel: even though Barcelona isn’t particularly large, it’s a good idea to stay near the historic center and the main sights so you can easily walk around the city without relying on public transportation.
Since I only had one morning to enjoy the city before heading to the port, I decided to stop at a traditional neighborhood bar. It was small, with a long wooden counter and a few locals having their morning coffee; the bartender was busy with his work, and no one seemed to be in a hurry, though I was. I ordered the classic café con leche with a slice of toasted bread rubbed with tomato and olive oil, or pa amb tomàquet, as it’s called in Catalan. It was a breakfast where the excellent olive oil of the Iberian Peninsula and the sweet tomatoes that only the Mediterranean can grow remind us that culinary complexity can be achieved simply by respecting great ingredients.
Gaudí Before Setting Sail
After breakfast, I walked to Passeig de Gràcia to see Casa Batlló, one of the most famous works by Antoni Gaudí and of Catalan Modernism, the style that turned Barcelona into an open-air museum. I recommend buying your tickets in advance. From the sidewalk, the house seems alive: columns that look like bones, balconies shaped like masks, a façade that shimmers like the sea and a scaly roof that many see as the back of a dragon. The most surprising part is that, among all those curves, nothing is superfluous: Gaudí also thought about light, which is why the tiles in the inner courtyard go from dark blue at the top to light blue at the bottom, so that daylight reaches every floor.
Here’s a detail Disney fans will love: Imagineers visited Barcelona to draw inspiration from Modernism for the new villains-themed land coming to Magic Kingdom. I find it fascinating that the same curves Gaudí used to celebrate nature are being transformed by Disney into something mysterious and unsettling, perfect for its villains.
Buildings like this aren’t an exception in the city. You can walk for hours through the streets of Barcelona and find beautiful examples where the organic shapes of nature are used as decoration, or even as the very structure of the architectural design. The Sagrada Família is perhaps the best-known and most iconic example in the city. I didn’t get the chance to visit it on this trip, but if it’s in your plans, I recommend buying your tickets in advance on the official website.
Embarkation
For me, this short tour of this incredible city had come to an end, and it was time to go back to the hotel, pick up my luggage and head to the port. My boarding time was 12 p.m. and “all aboard” was at 4 p.m., so 11:30 a.m. was a good time to leave for the port. Royal Caribbean had sent us an email letting us know that, because of the type of itinerary (departing from the Schengen Area and arriving in the United States), immigration and check-in could take longer than usual.
Since Barcelona is the busiest cruise port in Europe and has several terminals, it’s important to have the name of your departure terminal handy so your taxi driver knows exactly where to drop you off, although in my case, the name of the ship was enough for my driver to know where to take me.
Despite the warning, embarkation was quite easy: I only waited about 25 minutes in the immigration line, and from there I had no more waiting to board the ship. Still, I always recommend leaving for the terminal with plenty of time, since you never know the distance or what might come up along the way, and completing your online check-in in advance to make sure you have all your documents in order.
Once on board, I headed to the safety drill (muster drill), which, if you’ve done Disney’s, will feel like a walk in the park on Royal Caribbean: all you need to do is watch the safety video on the app or on your stateroom TV, then go to your station to scan your card. There’s no need to stand for half an hour, as you do on Disney Cruise Line, which still holds an in-person drill at a set time for all guests.
In my case, my stateroom was ready at 1 p.m., which gave me time to enjoy my cabin and the rest of the ship, including, of course, the most important spot of all: the buffet.
Barcelona from the Deck
At 5 p.m., the ship began to move. From the deck, I watched Barcelona grow smaller: the Sagrada Família in the distance, its towering structure set against the Mediterranean sunset. Fourteen nights at sea lay ahead of me, but part of me was still wandering like a flâneur through Barcelona’s beautiful streets.
Thanks to the beauty and uniqueness of its architecture, its diversity and its cultural offerings, Barcelona has become one of my favorite cruise ports in the world. Last year I was able to sail from the other two most popular ones, Rome (Civitavecchia) and London (Southampton), and I can say the same about all of them: on cruises from Europe, departure ports are as important a part of your vacation as the ship or the ports you’ll visit along the itinerary. Take a couple of days before or after your cruise to explore them and enjoy everything they have to offer.
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