Pre-cruise hotel Barcelona - booking with Disney?

[ozliz]

Hi,

So I think I have decided that booking a pre-cruise hotel in Barcelona for my 2014 cruise is too expensive with Disney. I am however wondering if anyone has stayed at the Renaissance Barcelona Hotel or the Hilton Diagonal Mar and booked separately so that they can still use the Disney transfer from the hotel to the cruise port.

What were the hotels like? Was the location of the Hilton Diagonal Mar convenient or too far out of town for any brief sight seeing? I can find cheaper online rates for this hotel compared with the Renaissance.

What are the advantages of staying in these hotels?

Neither of us speak a word of Spanish so I was thinking that using the transfers would be easier than getting ripped off by taxi drivers.

Thanks.

 

[tommyvr]

Stayed at the Hilton Del Mar on our stay in Barcelona after our cruise.

It is on the north end of town. 3 different options to get into central Barcelona

Taxi: 10 euro - 15 min ride
Double decker bus tour stops right in front of the hotel 1 hour to town, but nice ride through the city with the tour narrative.
Subway 3 block walk from hotel and 35-40 min ride into town.

Hotel is great, nice rooftop pool, walking distance to the beach.

We booked a hotel before with Marriott before the cruise, and it happened to be a hotel that Disney used, so the shuttle bus to the ship was right outside.

That hotel was very convenient to everything. I forget the actual name though.

 

[tommyvr]

Hi, we stayed at the Hilton Diagonal, not del mar, the same one you are looking at. If you stay there and you are taking a cab back, make sure you are,specific to the hotel. We were in a cab and he was taking us to the other hilton property because I did not specify Diagonal. Good luck with your decision.

 

[tajz90]

Hi,

So I think I have decided that booking a pre-cruise hotel in Barcelona for my 2014 cruise is too expensive with Disney. I am however wondering if anyone has stayed at the Renaissance Barcelona Hotel or the Hilton Diagonal Mar and booked separately so that they can still use the Disney transfer from the hotel to the cruise port.

What were the hotels like? Was the location of the Hilton Diagonal Mar convenient or too far out of town for any brief sight seeing? I can find cheaper online rates for this hotel compared with the Renaissance.

What are the advantages of staying in these hotels?

Neither of us speak a word of Spanish so I was thinking that using the transfers would be easier than getting ripped off by taxi drivers.

Thanks.

We've stayed at both and prefer the Renaissance. We felt like the Hilton was too far away from the sights we wanted to see. However, when we stayed at the Hilton we did not use the train system. Probably would have been easier if we had. We were able to walk easily to a lot of popular locations from the Renaissance and the ones we couldn't, we used the train.

Both are nice

 

[Cousin Orville]

Hotel Renaissance was fine. We booked on our own and still booked Disney transfers with no problem. DCL will have a little table set up in the lobby where you will check in as well, give them your room number and number of bags that will be waiting to be picked up. We did the same thing a couple yrs before as well. There's not a ton around the hotel. Most places like Las Ramblas, Sagrada Familia, and the Gothic Quarter still require a taxi to get to, but the taxi drivers are very nice. You're not going to get ripped off or have a problem getting around. Just ask the hotel front desk for a card with the hotel name/address to give to taxis for return trips as needed.

Casa Batllo is the one close attraction to the Renaissance. It's a block away. It can easily be seen the morning before your departure. Opens at 9am. Takes an hour to walk through. Plenty of time to get back and catch the first bus which we've done twice.

Given what's offered by DCL, I'd choose the Renaissance. The only area better would be on Las Ramblas.

 

[disprincess4ever]

I recommend the Hilton Barcelona over the Hilton Del Mar. The Hilton Barcelona is is cheaper because it's not on the ocean, but the quality and service standards are just as good! The Hilton Barcelona is in a clean, upscale area with expensive stores and more laid back than the hotels closer to the water. I'd highly recommend it. The hotel has a metro station near by, you can take the light rail, the bus, and the hotel has its own line for taxis, available whenever you need one.

 

[MPS516]

We stayed night before at Diagonal, since we only had one day it was not as important to have walking location. Hop On Hop Off stop right across street and mall with shops and restaurants also across street. We took cab to the Fountain performance that night to meet up with other DISers. We chose Hilton since I had points so the room did not cost us anything. We used DCL transfer and as PP said they had a table set up and continential breakfast for us.

Another advantage for us in the Honors program, we checked in when we arrived at about 10am.

 

[ozliz]

Thanks for the reply. I cannot seem to find a good price for the Renaissance and the person I am traveling with likes the idea of being near the beach. I haven't booked it yet but I an leaning towards the Hilton Diagonal Mar.

 

[tajz90]

Thanks for the reply. I cannot seem to find a good price for the Renaissance and the person I am traveling with likes the idea of being near the beach. I haven't booked it yet but I an leaning towards the Hilton Diagonal Mar.

We liked the idea of the beach also. It's not a nice beach. Unless something changed, it seemed industrial.

 

[carpenta]

We stayed in the Del Mar and it was nice with a large mall across the street. On the other side of the mall is the subway that takes you right downtown in 3 stops. Very easy to use. Also across the street from the hotel is a stop for the Hop on Hop off bus which I highly recommend. We stayed in the Pullman Hotel another time which is closer to the mariner area which has great restaurants . Love Barcelona and if you can spend a couple days extra if you can.

 

[DisneyHelen]

We stayed at ABD hotel precruise by Las Ramblas, Silken Gran Havana and Hotel Arts by the beach after. There are lots of taxis and we found Barcelona easy to walk around.