I am taking Brilliance of the Seas from Barcelona, and it arrives to port at 8am, can I take a 10:40am flight to NYC? or am I cutting it too close for comfort?

Otherwise, I will have to stay the night until the next day and we are thinking of taking a pre-cruise tour of Barcelona and leaving immediately after the cruise.

My advice is to NEVER book your home bound flight any sooner than noon on the day you disembark from a cruise. And even then, it can be a real squeeker! Things can happen that delay your disembarkation process (i.e. weather, customs problems, etc) and you never know when your group of passengers will be called to leave the ship. And then, how do you possible arrive at the airport the two hours ahead of time to allow for clearing security and customs at the airport?

NO WAY should you plan on 10:40 flight. Sorry.....

I doubt that anyone else has any better news for you.

people on cruisecritic.com seem to think it is okay, but I am not sure...

Do you realize that you will have to be to the airport at 8:40am? That just isn't enough time. Unless maybe they are overnighting in Barcelona and will let you off before 8am.

I wouldn't. I wouldn't do it in FLL where the airport is 10 minutes away.

I'd ask myself how bad would it be if I missed that NYC flight. I don't like to stress myself out needlessly so I would spend the night and have fun in Barcelona. Maybe you can do a post-cruise tour of Barcelona instead of pre-cruise. Happy cruising.

Agree with 3 q's. Can you spend a few days in Barcelona? We did and it was great.

Arriving at 8:00, it will take at least one hour or more before they can get all the luggage staged. Then, I can remember coming from the airport to the port was at least 1/2 hour.

Spend the day, have a great time, and fly out the following mornig.

Absolutely NOT, you need at least a 2 hour window for international flights. Your ship arrival and disembarkment are also two DIFFERENT things. No sure thing that your ship will clear that early.

I just took a look at my travel journal from my own Med cruise out of Barcelona on the Splendour of the Seas a couple of years ago. I noted that we had a wake up call at 6 in order to be out of our cabin by 7, and then we were, and I quote, "off the ship right on time at 8am." Now, I don't know if this is a regular thing, but I STILL wouldn't book a flight for a little more than two hours later. We were not heading to the airport after disembarkation, but on to a land tour. By the way, I also made a note in my journal about Barcelona traffic!

First of all I think you would be cutting it too close due to the fact that even though the ship's publicized arrival time may be 8 AM you'll have to wait for it to be cleared by the locals Customs Service and then you have to get off, FIND and claim your bags, go through Customs (which may or may not be perfunctory but the problem there is all the OTHER people ahead of you also going through) then find a taxi for the trip to the airport.

And believe me, you don't have to worry about your "group being called" [to disembark} if you choose not to. In my 15+ cruises nobody has EVER stopped me from disembarking when I was ready..those groups with the colored tickets, etc., are a way the ship tries to control otherwise mass chaos. If you "get off early" your bags will be there at the ready.

The no booking before noon is a longtime boilerplate language cruiseline recommendation..they all have it on their brochures..but there will be some people who will book earlier flights and be clamoring to get off early the day your cruise ends.

Unlike the hysterical responses above about your HAVING to be at the airport at such and such a time...those two and three-hour arrival-at-the-airport "musts" are recommendations by the airline and not set in stone. You do not have to be at the gate two hours ahead...not even one hour ahead..probably can get on if you arrive within 30 minutes of departure so discount all of that. If you don't believe that then look at the back of your ticket..the general requirement is that you have to be at the gate within a certain timeframe to prevent boarding denial and it is NOT two or three hours.

My concern is that you will not reach the airport in time to check in and get to the gate in the first place..within 15 minutes, etc.

Stay in Barcelona overnight OR try to get a later, connecting flight back to NYC the same day.