New Cruise Terminal for Barcelona!

Breaking News.

Carnival have signed a 30 Million Euro Deal with the port Authorities in Barcelona to build a new Private Cruise Terminal in the city which will service seven of the Company’s ten cruise brands. It will be used as a Destination on itineraries and a Home port for Cruise ships to depart from.

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This could be great news for my customers as it could mean many of the P&O and Cunard itineraries may be going to and from Barcelona instead of Genoa making it more accessible for people to fly to especially from the North.

P&O and Cunard currently offer Manchester flights but people cannot book cruise only options or extend their cruise by a few nights either side with a City stay as they cannot get connecting flights of their own.  This is a shame as Genoa would be a lovely City to do this and Barcelona definitely would be.

Sagrada Familia,beautiful and majestic outdoor view Barcelona, Spain.

The agreement will also see a brand new parking facility for approximately 300 cars so for all those customers who live in Sunny Spain this will make it easier for you to park and Sail

The final design stage is now underway and construction on the new terminal is set to begin in 2016.

“As an all-new, next-generation cruise facility, the terminal will be designed to enhance the overall cruise experience for Carnival Corporation’s guests,” said Michel Nestour, managing director of Carnival Corporation terminal operations in Barcelona.

“This will include making it easy and convenient for guests, whether they are arriving at the terminal to begin a cruise vacation, disembarking following the completion of a cruise or visiting Barcelona as one of the ports of call on a cruise. In all cases, our goal is to exceed guest expectations through every stage of the cruise experience, and this new terminal will be built to meet that goal.” Added Michel.

The move is being welcomed by the Barcelona Tourist office who said that recent studies regarding cruise passengers concluded that they had an economic impact of nearly 257 million euros in Barcelona based on spending on restaurants, transport and trade in the city and this will only increase. This is partly to do with the type of passengers a cruise ship brings. Usually experienced travellers, mainly couples, single-unit families, or multi-generational and extended families and friends, and who enjoy exploring cities such as Barcelona on their own or on organized shore excursions to visit museums, churches, restaurants, shops and more. They often have quite high disposable incomes and so they are great news for the tourist industry.

The Terminal is proposed to open in 2018 and is set to become one of the busiest ports that Carnival will operate to.  What do you think? Will Barcelona be able to cope with the increased flow of people? What impact will it have on the City and its environment?

These are all questions which by now should have been answered before the planning was given the go ahead and I am sure it was given consideration but I still have serious doubts about the impact it will have.

Park Guell in Barcelona, Spain.

However there is one group of people who will most definitely benefit from this and they are the people for which Barcelona is notorious. The Pick Pockets and con artists that steal thousands every year from un-suspecting tourists.

So if you are visiting soon or when the new terminal is in operation be wary and safe.