Med cruise, best way to get from Rome to Barcelona?

[Rustysmom]

This is our first trip to Europe And I would like to take a cruise out of Rome to sightsee in Rome a few days before, but my husband can't get vacation that week in July. So I'm looking at a 5 night out of Barcelona that goes to France and Italy, but we really want to spend more time in Rome than the allowed excursion time since we are Italian American. I was thinking of flying in from NYC to Rome and then fly to Barcelona the day before my cruise, but I never heard of some of these airlines. Is it doable? What is the least expensive way?

 

[Girl of the South]

Go for it! Vueling is like the Southwest of Spain. Ryanair is UK based. You’ll have to pay for bags. Maybe your husband can bring the bigger ones? Both are fine.

 

[Lesverts]

Looks like your options are ITA, Ryanair, Vueling and Wizz. ITA is the remodeled Alitalia. Similar to how Swiss is just remodeled Swissair.

Wizz - worse then Spirit
Vueling - think Frontier
Ryanair - think Frontier but tacky and charges for everything, they'd charge for seatbelts if they could.

All of them are worse then Southwest.

Looks like a one way with bags on ITA will run you about a 100-120 dollars. I'd go with the full service airline.

 

[anricat]

Is there not a flight on EasyJet? I love EasyJet. Skip Vueling. They are AWFUL. Never again.

 

[Rustysmom]

Thanks for the suggestions. We've only ever flown on JetBlue and Delta, so I don't even know how to compare these other airlines to Frontier and Spirit. Both of my grown kids have disabilities, so I'm trying to make things as easy as possible. I wish they had more than one sailing of the Disney Dream out of Rome, because that's the one I really wanted. I offered the kids a RC cruise out of Rome, but my son only wants Disney. We shall see.

 

[anricat]

Thanks for the suggestions. We've only ever flown on JetBlue and Delta, so I don't even know how to compare these other airlines to Frontier and Spirit. Both of my grown kids have disabilities, so I'm trying to make things as easy as possible. I wish they had more than one sailing of the Disney Dream out of Rome, because that's the one I really wanted. I offered the kids a RC cruise out of Rome, but my son only wants Disney. We shall see.

Is there a repositioning cruise you can take from Barcelona to Rome then you can end there and have a few days? That's the cruise we took when we did the Med. I haven't looked at next year's itineraries.

 

[kiford]

There's also Lufthansa or other Star Alliance airlines. Lufthansa's not a budget airline, but once you take into account all of the other fees that some of the budget lines add and the poor service, you may be happier. The only thing is that a lot of them seem to make one stop, though it's a very short layover. We almost exclusively use Star Alliance airlines in Europe, partially because we have Aeroplan but we've also been very happy with all of the ones we've used.

 

[auntlynne]

When you considering any of these economy carriers, check to see if you can select your seat (even for a fee) if you need to sit together. Luggage limits can be reduced to those on US carriers and even carry-on bags may be weighed.

 

[Lesverts]

Thanks for the suggestions. We've only ever flown on JetBlue and Delta, so I don't even know how to compare these other airlines to Frontier and Spirit. Both of my grown kids have disabilities, so I'm trying to make things as easy as possible. I wish they had more than one sailing of the Disney Dream out of Rome, because that's the one I really wanted. I offered the kids a RC cruise out of Rome, but my son only wants Disney. We shall see.

Something about your original post made me think you’d only want direct flights so that’s what I showed. On the random days I looked the price difference between the ULCC to ITA was only between 5 and 40$. Well worth it for the additional comfort. But keep in mind that continental flights in Europe are slightly worse than domestic US flights. Even in the more ‘prestige’ reputation airlines like Air France and Finnair.

 

[jujubiee4]

Something about your original post made me think you’d only want direct flights so that’s what I showed. On the random days I looked the price difference between the ULCC to ITA was only between 5 and 40$. Well worth it for the additional comfort. But keep in mind that continental flights in Europe are slightly worse than domestic US flights. Even in the more ‘prestige’ reputation airlines like Air France and Finnair.

I have never heard of those airlines also. Thanks for the overview for those of us unfamiliar with
the smaller European airlines.

 

[CruiseGoon]

We did something kind of similar 2 years ago on our Greek isles cruise. We spent a week in Rome pre-cruise and then flew to Barcelona for a few days, post-cruise.

The important thing to consider with flying in Europe is not really the airline you pick. It's the horrible European air traffic system! You can encounter random flight disruptions due to air traffic controller union work stoppages or baggage handler strikes. Most only last a day, but they will cause major disruptions if you land a flight on one of their target days. I don't know if it's still an issue, but there was major staffing shortages can cause the baggage misconnects. You MUST plan for delays. Our arrival in Rome had a big delay that was caused by our originating Edelweiss flight from the U.S. that made us miss our Swiss connection in Zurich. Our total delay arriving to Rome was over 7 hours. On top of that, our checked bags were delayed by 3 days. Our Ryanair flight from Rome to Barcelona wasn't as bad, but still had a 3-hour delay.

We loved the whole trip, but European air travel can be a major headache for how convenient it is.

 

[RedHead0186]

This is our first trip to Europe And I would like to take a cruise out of Rome to sightsee in Rome a few days before, but my husband can't get vacation that week in July. So I'm looking at a 5 night out of Barcelona that goes to France and Italy, but we really want to spend more time in Rome than the allowed excursion time since we are Italian American. I was thinking of flying in from NYC to Rome and then fly to Barcelona the day before my cruise, but I never heard of some of these airlines. Is it doable? What is the least expensive way?

Can you do a multi-leg on an 'American' airline? For example, on American Airlines, you can do a 'multi-city' search. So just put NYC (whichever airport) to Rome, and then do the second leg Rome to Barcelona? I'm not saying it has to be American Airlines, could be Delta or United if you're more familiar with them. But then you're flying on an airline you're familiar with-you might codeshare (for example, with AA the flights are operated by British Airways, but you can still book through AA).