Your experience with Private Transfers in Barcelona?

[aricau]

Disney member services gave me the name of LiveBarcelona.com to contact for airport to hotel transfer. Has anyone used this company? They seem to be expensive at 70e for a car with up to 3 people.

 

[goingsouth]

We used Angie's taxi- this was in 2007 though- still, they provided prompt, clean, reliable service.

 

[Anal Annie]

I am a person who uses towncar service to get from MCO to WDW, and I would not reserve transfers in Barcelona again. If I remember correctly, the meter said 35 euros from the airport to the hotel. There are taxi vans lined up at the curb, almost all were Mercedes.

We also used a car service in Orlando to get to the port... But so we should be good snatching a taxi from the airport to a hotel in Barcelona pre-cruise then?! We are planning to share a shuttle with 1 or 2 other families from the Novotel to the port the day of the cruise. I believe the girl doing the arrangements is looking at Barcelona Airport Transfers. Not sure about our plans after the cruise yet. We're staying somewhere else after the cruise for a couple of nights so I might need to make our own arrangements for port to hotel then hotel to airport a couple days later. How far in advance do I need to make these arrangements? We don't sail until August. Do I need to do it NOW?!

We leave Barcelona for home on a Monday morning & our flight is quite early (7:30). What time do you think we need to leave from our hotel to go back to the airport??? Would you take a taxi or arrange for a transfer?? If we use a taxi will the hotel be able to call for one that early (I'm guessing 4:30-5:00 am)?? (Just a tad naive here - we don't normally use taxis anywhere.) Also, one other question (just because we're not used to flying international & I don't know how this really works). We're flying on Air France and going back through Paris to the US. We are supposed to have 1 hour and 10 min. between flights. We have to transfer terminals but according to the CDG website info. they're only 4 minutes walking time apart. But I am worried about will they check our luggage all the way through from BCN and will we have to go through any additional security checks in Paris? Afraid I booked the flights too close together. Can anybody tell me when you transfer planes within Europe if there's any glitches in the system I need to be prepared for?!?! Just a tad bit paranoid here!

 

[hrhdhd]

Also, one other question (just because we're not used to flying international & I don't know how this really works). We're flying on Air France and going back through Paris to the US. We are supposed to have 1 hour and 10 min. between flights. We have to transfer terminals but according to the CDG website info. they're only 4 minutes walking time apart. But I am worried about will they check our luggage all the way through from BCN and will we have to go through any additional security checks in Paris? Afraid I booked the flights too close together. Can anybody tell me when you transfer planes within Europe if there's any glitches in the system I need to be prepared for?!?! Just a tad bit paranoid here!

You should not have to go through security checks in Paris unless you leave the secured area. Someone else can probably explain the whole "Schengen country" idea, but basically all the countries in the EU participate with each other, so if you're flying from Spain to France, you're still in the EU and you're okay.

If your flight is on the same airline, your bags will be checked through to the U.S. If your final destination is not where you enter the U.S. (e.g., you fly into JFK and then on somewhere), you will go through immigration and customs at JFK, which will require retrieving your luggage, passing the checkpoints, and rechecking your luggage. At a place like JFK, they have it all set up so you don't have to return to the real check-in counter for this.

Long story short, you should be fine in Paris.

 

[Anal Annie]

You should not have to go through security checks in Paris unless you leave the secured area. Someone else can probably explain the whole "Schengen country" idea, but basically all the countries in the EU participate with each other, so if you're flying from Spain to France, you're still in the EU and you're okay.

If your flight is on the same airline, your bags will be checked through to the U.S. If your final destination is not where you enter the U.S. (e.g., you fly into JFK and then on somewhere), you will go through immigration and customs at JFK, which will require retrieving your luggage, passing the checkpoints, and rechecking your luggage. At a place like JFK, they have it all set up so you don't have to return to the real check-in counter for this.

Long story short, you should be fine in Paris.

WHEW! Thanks! I was getting paranoid!! We're flying direct from CDG to Dulles so we should be good then until we get home. That's a relief. (I'm glad now that I booked all of our flights on Air France and didn't mix up airlines!!)

 

[disney_bob]

Disney member services gave me the name of LiveBarcelona.com to contact for airport to hotel transfer. Has anyone used this company? They seem to be expensive at 70e for a car with up to 3 people.

If you go to their website right now it says "HaCkeD BY SA3D HaCk3D -KurDisH HaCkerS" in nice large letters on the main page.

Now, realizing that every page can be hacked.. I wouldn't give my CC info to someone who is being targeted right now. That's just me.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Another vote against a2b. They were 30 minutes late or more both times they picked us up. The second time, enroute to the airport, the van actually broke down in the middle of the 8 lane highway. We were standing in the middle of the highway flagging down taxis. Not a pretty sight, and they never gave us our money back even though they didn't actually get us to the airport.

 

[adrianna_sarah]

We also used a car service in Orlando to get to the port... But so we should be good snatching a taxi from the airport to a hotel in Barcelona pre-cruise then?! We are planning to share a shuttle with 1 or 2 other families from the Novotel to the port the day of the cruise. I believe the girl doing the arrangements is looking at Barcelona Airport Transfers. Not sure about our plans after the cruise yet. We're staying somewhere else after the cruise for a couple of nights so I might need to make our own arrangements for port to hotel then hotel to airport a couple days later. How far in advance do I need to make these arrangements? We don't sail until August. Do I need to do it NOW?!

We leave Barcelona for home on a Monday morning & our flight is quite early (7:30). What time do you think we need to leave from our hotel to go back to the airport??? Would you take a taxi or arrange for a transfer?? If we use a taxi will the hotel be able to call for one that early (I'm guessing 4:30-5:00 am)?? (Just a tad naive here - we don't normally use taxis anywhere.) Also, one other question (just because we're not used to flying international & I don't know how this really works). We're flying on Air France and going back through Paris to the US. We are supposed to have 1 hour and 10 min. between flights. We have to transfer terminals but according to the CDG website info. they're only 4 minutes walking time apart. But I am worried about will they check our luggage all the way through from BCN and will we have to go through any additional security checks in Paris? Afraid I booked the flights too close together. Can anybody tell me when you transfer planes within Europe if there's any glitches in the system I need to be prepared for?!?! Just a tad bit paranoid here!

Like many European cities, taxis are everywhere at all hours. Downtown, the people lives so close together that many just own mopeds, so use taxis for longer trips. We came home from Park Guell right around the time a school was letting out for the day, and there were all these moms lined up on mopeds to pick up their kids. The cab drivers can spot Americans on holiday from a mile away. If you are standing remotely close to the curb and eyeballing the street, one will pull up and ask you if you want a lift. I'm not for sure about 4:00-5:00 AM, you might want to ask the hotel concierge about that, but any other time of the day is no problem. Aside from a few pickpockets, Barcelona is a very safe city. I can understand why some people want the security of reserving transfers, but I personally think they are completely unnecessary in Barcelona. If you want to go somewhere, there will be a taxi handy to get you there (except maybe at 4:00 AM--but probably then, too.)

As to flying home, can't answer that one. We were on the Barcelona-Dover repo, so flew directly home out of London Heathrow.

We did have to clear customs and go through passport control in Munich on the way over, but I don't remember having get our bags. Clearing customs in Munich cleared us for travel in the EU, we walked right out of the airport and onto the street in Barcelona.

 

[CandyMandy]

If you go to their website right now it says "HaCkeD BY SA3D HaCk3D -KurDisH HaCkerS" in nice large letters on the main page.

Now, realizing that every page can be hacked.. I wouldn't give my CC info to someone who is being targeted right now. That's just me.

Good heavens - you are right!!!! So much for Disney due-diligence!!!!

And I'm still left wondering what the Kurds have against Spanish travel bureaus.....

 

[acourtwdw]

this is also who we used. They were great! We reached out to them ealry (and then passed their name around!) our family of 4 with 8 bags from the airport to the praktik rambles was 50 euro.

The driver met us at luggage pickup with a sign with our name on it. He and another driver took all 8 of our bags and another groups out to the car. They had a child seat that was built into the van we were in - i didn't even ask for this, but it was perfect for our 6 year old. Not only was she safe in the middle, but it was raised so she could see out.

It was perfect, i wouldn't hesitate to use them again as they made getting to the hotel so easy!

From the praktik to the posrt we hired a bus for the group. I didn't make the reservation but if your dis group is large enough (we were on the wbta and had over 100 families in our group) i would suggest this. The bus picked up a group of 20ish folks from 2 hotels (praktik rambles and one right across the street) complete with all the luggage. I think that this was another 50 euro for our family. It was great and the atmosphere on the bus was electric!!

hi sue