Barcelona hotels pre-cruise

[Doingitagain]

We booked the Hilton Diagonal Mar. Great rates are available directly through Hilton's website if you click on show all rates, they have a "Great Getaway" rate that is 40% off the standard rack rate. We paid 249 EUROS or $318 US, including taxes, for a Junior Suite, that can accommodate 4. Regular rate is 416 EUROS. This room also gives you access to their Executive Lounge, which includes breakfast, all day drinks and evening tapas. You do have to prepay in full and it is nonrefundable. I'm not sure how long this promotion is running.

On their web site, it says the Junior Suite only accomodates 2 adults, did they make an exception for children?:

Spoil yourself in this spacious 46m²/495sq.ft suite with living room, working area and city or sea views. The bright and airy suite has 1 king bed. Work in comfort at the desk with ergonomic chair, relax in the easy chair to watch on-demand movies on the LCD TV. Special touches include fluffy bathrobe. Maximum occupancy 2 adults. This suite provides Executive Lounge access with free breakfast and refreshments.​

 

[Dsmurf16]

Hello there! My family did the Med cruise in 2011, best cruise ever!!! If you can spend the money the Hotel Arts Barcelona is the best by far to stay at!!! Do NOT stay at the Renissance by the air port!! Location is convient but there are no resturants with in walking area. We also used a company called Vitor for all of our tranportation to and from the port they book using the US dollar! If you would like to know more about the do's and dont's in Barcelona feel free to PM me and i can give you some pointers!! Hope you have a great time I know it was a trip of a life time for me!!

 

[tajz90]

We also used a company called Vitor for all of our tranportation to and from the port they book using the US dollar!

I just checked Viator. The price was comparable to Disney's transport. Did you get a better deal? Or is there a reason you preferred to use them? I price checked private transport.

Thanks.

 

[wvuflu]

I finally gave up on a hotel room for 4 for our pre-cruise, and just booked 2 rooms at the Renaissance in downtown. Not the ideal situation, but we just blew some serious Marriott points that we thought could help us for both before and after the cruise. Looks like DH needs a few more stays in a Marriott to cover the post-cruise stay.

Does anyone know how close the HOHO bus is from the hotel?
Thanks!!!
Lisa

 

[nzdisneymom]

I finally gave up on a hotel room for 4 for our pre-cruise, and just booked 2 rooms at the Renaissance in downtown. Not the ideal situation, but we just blew some serious Marriott points that we thought could help us for both before and after the cruise. Looks like DH needs a few more stays in a Marriott to cover the post-cruise stay.

Does anyone know how close the HOHO bus is from the hotel?
Thanks!!!
Lisa

We are also staying at the Renaissance Barcelona downtown - it is just a block off the main street where there are HOHO stops.

 

[MissMet]

We stayed at Hotel Regina for our pre-WBTA cruise in 2010. Their rooms are large & accommodate many. Our room had two full beds & then an additional single bed in it's own little "cubby" with a privacy curtain. Very large for european standards. Much more inexpensive than getting two rooms. A block from Las Ramblas.

http://www.reginahotel.com

 

[glassslipper2004]

Thanks for all of this great information!

 

[nicis]

It use to be called the AC Diplomatic...we stayed last May 2 adult/1 child and liked it....not near airport.

I concur, I have stayed at the AC Diplomatic twice and it was amazing! Free minibar in the past but now thats its a Marriott I guess that'll be over Coffee shop across the street is excellent, cafe con lache

 

[heatherbelle]

I have just spent two months researching hotels for my DH's 50th birthday, so I have read loads of trippies.

This one looks lovely, if you look at the photo's on trip advisor, albeit outside of my budget.
http://www.colonhotelbarcelona.com/ so I didn't book it. Also it has no pool.

I can recommend this one as I have stayed here, but it is expensive. http://www.hoteles-catalonia.com/en...a/barcelona/hotel_catalonia_ramblas/index.jsp. There may be other hotels in the goup that are cheaper.

This one is in a great place, but again I haven't stayed here. I thought it was expensive when adding kids to the room they wanted an additional ¬40 you are paying for location. http://www.b-hotel.com/default-en.html

I also seriously considered this one http://www.hotelicariabarcelona.com/ which came with breakfast and I very nearly booked it.

In the end I went with this one http://www.novotel.com/gb/hotel-5560-novotel-barcelona-city/index.shtml. s loads of people on my last cruise stayed here. For around $160 per night, we got breakfast for three of us in a room. Plus I got cash back through quidco, don't know if you have quidco in the US. I paid the non-cancellation rate to secure that rate. It has an underground station next door to it, plus a shopping centre with a food court and rooms can accommodate more than 2. Don't forget to sign up for the hotel's loyalty programme whichever one you choose, as a cheaper special offer may come along.

Both the Iciria and Novotel, are outside the main city centre. You can get a t10 card for the metro for sound ¬9 which you can share between your group by passing the ticket back through the turnstile, for each person to swipe. It's perfectly legit.

 

[misslissa]

Stayed at Hotel Colon in October 2010 and had a wonderful time. The location was amazing, walking distance to Las Ramblas and we used only public transport to get around. Highly recommended!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I just booked the Hispanos 7 Suiza 2BR/2BA apartment for 4 for 230 Euros per night. This was the prepaid/non-refundable rate. My parents got a 1BR that sleeps 2 for 190E/night. It gets great reviews on TripAdvisor.com and there's a metro station & HOHO stop nearby. Our flight is Wed night for a Sat embarkation. They have a washer/dryer in each apartment so I won't have to bring a whole bag of dirty laundry onto the ship.

I can't wait!

They offer transfers too:

For 6 people (4 adults, 2 teens) they're asking 75E from airport to hotel.
Then to get to port it's 55E.

Is this a fair price?

I think we'll just take DCL transfers back to BCN. We have an early flight home and I don't want to have to stress about looking for our driver.

 

[Tired mom of 3 boys]

I just booked the Hispanos 7 Suiza 2BR/2BA apartment for 4 for 230 Euros per night. This was the prepaid/non-refundable rate. My parents got a 1BR that sleeps 2 for 190E/night. It gets great reviews on TripAdvisor.com and there's a metro station & HOHO stop nearby. Our flight is Wed night for a Sat embarkation. They have a washer/dryer in each apartment so I won't have to bring a whole bag of dirty laundry onto the ship.

I can't wait!

They offer transfers too:

For 6 people (4 adults, 2 teens) they're asking 75E from airport to hotel.
Then to get to port it's 55E.

Is this a fair price?

I think we'll just take DCL transfers back to BCN. We have an early flight home and I don't want to have to stress about looking for our driver.

We are staying there as well for the June 15th cruise! We were quoted the same hotel transfer rate - we opted to do the transfer with Barcelona day tours - it was slightly less expensive.

Any advice on how you're planning to get to the port?

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We are staying there as well for the June 15th cruise! We were quoted the same hotel transfer rate - we opted to do the transfer with Barcelona day tours - it was slightly less expensive.

Any advice on how you're planning to get to the port?

I don't know yet. We just booked this cruise in late Dec. At 10 mins before midnight on NYE, I was buying airfare.
I'd like to get some other prices to compare to the hotel's offer. They said I could add transfers later. I've heard the taxi cabs in Barcelona aren't very large and since there are 6 of us maybe that's why it's more than a typical taxi; we need an extra large one. I prefer a private service vs. a taxi.
I'll have to get some advice from my TA.

 

[Anal Annie]

We are staying there as well for the June 15th cruise! We were quoted the same hotel transfer rate - we opted to do the transfer with Barcelona day tours - it was slightly less expensive.

Any advice on how you're planning to get to the port?

I don't know yet. We just booked this cruise in late Dec. At 10 mins before midnight on NYE, I was buying airfare.
I'd like to get some other prices to compare to the hotel's offer. They said I could add transfers later. I've heard the taxi cabs in Barcelona aren't very large and since there are 6 of us maybe that's why it's more than a typical taxi; we need an extra large one. I prefer a private service vs. a taxi.
I'll have to get some advice from my TA.

We did the Med cruise last summer and we hooked up with other DIS'ers through our cruise meet thread that were staying at the same hotel(s) for some of our transfers - much cheaper that way. We got a larger shuttle type bus to the port that had plenty of seating and plenty of room for bags. It is true that the taxis in Barcelona are tiny. We took one from the airport to our hotel and even with just the 3 of us we couldn't fit in a regular taxi and had to get a "taxi van" to fit all of the luggage (just 1 small international size carry-on each and 1 checked bag each [well and plus a rolling garment bag that we all shared but that wasn't the make it or break it on whether or not we'd fit]. The taxi vans cost more so I think we ended up paying something like 45 euros + a tip....AND I wouldn't have tipped the guy if I'd have realized that the lazy schmuck dropped us off on the CORNER and not in front of the DOOR to the hotel. He was in such a hurry he just basically threw us out onto the curb but we didn't realize until he was GONE that we had to schlep everything another good bit of distance to find the door which was literally around the corner and half way down the block!!

Anyway, I would suggest that you see on your meet thread who else is staying at the same hotel and see if there's a way to share a shuttle to the port or something. That should cost less than the trip from the airport. We also worked out a shared transfer with another couple from our cruise even tho we were staying at 2 different hotels for our post-cruise nights. The conversion rate when we went was horrible (something like 1.51 to 1) so any euros we could save was welcome news. Anyway, the shuttle company was willing to drop them at their hotel and us at our hotel for 1 price so we just split it. Use your meet thread to find others willing to share!!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We did the Med cruise last summer and we hooked up with other DIS'ers through our cruise meet thread that were staying at the same hotel(s) for some of our transfers - much cheaper that way. We got a larger shuttle type bus to the port that had plenty of seating and plenty of room for bags. It is true that the taxis in Barcelona are tiny. We took one from the airport to our hotel and even with just the 3 of us we couldn't fit in a regular taxi and had to get a "taxi van" to fit all of the luggage (just 1 small international size carry-on each and 1 checked bag each [well and plus a rolling garment bag that we all shared but that wasn't the make it or break it on whether or not we'd fit]. The taxi vans cost more so I think we ended up paying something like 45 euros + a tip....AND I wouldn't have tipped the guy if I'd have realized that the lazy schmuck dropped us off on the CORNER and not in front of the DOOR to the hotel. He was in such a hurry he just basically threw us out onto the curb but we didn't realize until he was GONE that we had to schlep everything another good bit of distance to find the door which was literally around the corner and half way down the block!!

Anyway, I would suggest that you see on your meet thread who else is staying at the same hotel and see if there's a way to share a shuttle to the port or something. That should cost less than the trip from the airport. We also worked out a shared transfer with another couple from our cruise even tho we were staying at 2 different hotels for our post-cruise nights. The conversion rate when we went was horrible (something like 1.51 to 1) so any euros we could save was welcome news. Anyway, the shuttle company was willing to drop them at their hotel and us at our hotel for 1 price so we just split it. Use your meet thread to find others willing to share!!

That's a great idea. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Anal Annie]

I have just spent two months researching hotels for my DH's 50th birthday, so I have read loads of trippies.

This one looks lovely, if you look at the photo's on trip advisor, albeit outside of my budget.
http://www.colonhotelbarcelona.com/ so I didn't book it. Also it has no pool.

I can recommend this one as I have stayed here, but it is expensive. http://www.hoteles-catalonia.com/en...a/barcelona/hotel_catalonia_ramblas/index.jsp. There may be other hotels in the goup that are cheaper.

This one is in a great place, but again I haven't stayed here. I thought it was expensive when adding kids to the room they wanted an additional ¬40 you are paying for location. http://www.b-hotel.com/default-en.html

I also seriously considered this one http://www.hotelicariabarcelona.com/ which came with breakfast and I very nearly booked it.

In the end I went with this one http://www.novotel.com/gb/hotel-5560-novotel-barcelona-city/index.shtml. s loads of people on my last cruise stayed here. For around $160 per night, we got breakfast for three of us in a room. Plus I got cash back through quidco, don't know if you have quidco in the US. I paid the non-cancellation rate to secure that rate. It has an underground station next door to it, plus a shopping centre with a food court and rooms can accommodate more than 2. Don't forget to sign up for the hotel's loyalty programme whichever one you choose, as a cheaper special offer may come along.

Both the Iciria and Novotel, are outside the main city centre. You can get a t10 card for the metro for sound ¬9 which you can share between your group by passing the ticket back through the turnstile, for each person to swipe. It's perfectly legit.

The Novotel is where we stayed pre-cruise last year and it was great for the money paid. I booked it like 7 months out and also paid the non-refundable rate that included the breakfast which was so totally worth it!! They had a really nice buffet breakfast with lots of choices. I would stay there again. For anybody from the US looking at this property I would compare it to say a Hampton Inn or a Holiday Inn type place. Nothing overly fancy but clean and decent and you really can't beat the price...their prices kept going UP tho as the cruise date approached...so book it early to get the best rate.

We went over to the shopping center across the street to get beer to bring on the ship. I emptied out a carry-on and rearranged the bags in order to fit it. Note that we didn't realize we'd need to bring our own shopping bags and the beers were all loose for whatever reason (they were priced individually but they were still super cheap) so we ended up buying 2 really large shopping bags to bring the beer back to the hotel. If we'd have KNOWN we could've just brought the suitcase over with us!

The one negative thing I will say about the Novotel is that their elevators SUCK. They are realllllly small and don't fit very many people or bags....so on the morning of your cruise when you're leaving START OUT EARLY because it's super hard to get one that's free and that has room for you AND your bags. We had to split up and basically commandeer one and then we had to leave our DS sitting on some bags in the lobby to wait for us while we went back up to get more bags. And we didn't really have that many bags....it was just that hard to get an elevator. But other than that the hotel was fine. We asked them for recommendations on a place to eat on our night pre-cruise and they directed us to a charming pedestrian area about a 10 minute walk away that was just full of restaurants to choose from.

 

[disneycrazy2004]

Stayed at Hotel Colon in October 2010 and had a wonderful time. The location was amazing, walking distance to Las Ramblas and we used only public transport to get around. Highly recommended!

Was this a pre-cruise stay? If so, how did you get to the port for the hotel? This is the hotel I have booked for our pre-cruise stay.

 

[MichaelH]

We are flying to London on June 6 pre-cruise. We have booked Novotel for London and Barcelona. We are looking at the same hotel for Paris. I was wondering if anyone could recommend a hotel close to the sites that may be cheaper. I am thinking Paris is just going to be expensive. The Novotel is not that expensive, but we were wondering if there was something cheaper.

Michael

 

[Anal Annie]

We are flying to London on June 6 pre-cruise. We have booked Novotel for London and Barcelona. We are looking at the same hotel for Paris. I was wondering if anyone could recommend a hotel close to the sites that may be cheaper. I am thinking Paris is just going to be expensive. The Novotel is not that expensive, but we were wondering if there was something cheaper.

Michael

We went to Paris before we went to Barcelona when we did our Med cruise. While we used the Novotel and the Hotel Jazz in Barcelona there are SOOO many more hotels in Paris to pick from it was a hard decision. We ultimately loved our little hotel in Paris and I would stay there again. It is probably not cheaper than the Novotel though but it is in a GREAT area (Saint-Germain des Pres) and had a lot of character and charm. We were able to walk to so many places (Notre Dame and Luxembourg Gardens) and it was surrounded by some great cafes. It was a nice neighborhood and we felt completely safe walking around at night. We realllllly liked the neighborhood. One reason we booked it was because we needed a "triple" which is hard to find in Europe and they had a couple of rooms that slept 3.

http://www.hotelparisodeonsaintgermain.com

Here's a link to the reviews on Trip Advisor for the Hotel Odeon Saint-Germain. There are over 1,500 hotels in Paris and this one stays in the top 75 or so. (BTW it looks exactly like the pictures - very Parisian.)

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187147-d230480-Reviews-Hotel_Odeon_Saint_Germain-Paris_Ile_de_France.html

________________________
ETA: You probably won't find anything much cheaper than the Novotel (and I personally probably wouldn't be comfortable booking anything of lesser quality) but I just wanted to say a little more about staying ONLY in Novotel's while in Europe. Europe is very old and has a lot of character and charm in its old buildings...especially in Paris. The buildings and architecture are beautiful. While there really isn't a lot wrong with the Novotel's in general - they are a chain. They are like staying in a Holiday Inn or Hampton Inn. Clean but moderate and a decent value for your money. But there is nothing "special" or "unique" about them. I would suggest that at least in Paris that you look for a small independent boutique hotel similar to what I already suggested. Have at least 1 hotel that is charming and memorable. I understand your concerns about the expense - and it will be expensive all over Europe...this is not a cheap trip...but the bottom line is going to come down to how the USD / Euro is trading come time for your trip. It was 1.51 to 1 when we went. Croque Monsier sandwiches (essentially grilled cheese with ham) cost us like the equivalent of $17 USD. Be prepared for that and budget accordingly. But please consider trying out a special hotel for Paris. Don't try to stick to what you know as safe from home. Enjoy this beautiful city with its charming history.

 

[woody73]

. . . We have booked Novotel for London and Barcelona. We are looking at the same hotel for Paris. I was wondering if anyone could recommend a hotel close to the sites that may be cheaper.

Paris is a city where each neighborhood has its own character. For our visits, we chose the area first, then a hotel that fits our budget.

Woody