Barcelona Bans Cruise Ships and other Cruise News

Every week, we host our YouTube Live event called Sail Talk Saturday. We discuss all things cruise, from cruise news over the previous week, updates and surprises from This Cruise Life, and fun chats and interactions with our viewers live. This week’s edition was titled “Barcelona Bans Cruise Ships and other Cruise News” and you can catch up on all the news of the week below.

Barcelona Bans Cruise Ships

There were a TON of headlines last week about Barcelona banning cruise ships. This first made the news a couple months back, but the “ban” finally goes into effect on October 22.

Now, let’s be clear. Barcelona is NOT banning cruise ships as the headlines might lead you to believe! They’re requiring all cruise ships to dock at a pier a bit further out from the city center. And when I say a bit further out, it’s actually the pier we cruised from when we sailed Carnival Venezia’s Inaugural. It’s maybe a 10 to 15 minute shuttle ride from the main area of town. So, in reality, Barcelona isn’t banning cruise ships, they’re just moving them away from the city center in an attempt to reduce pollution.

Ironically, the increased number of taxis, Ubers, and shuttles that have to transport people will likely offset some of the environmental impact this move makes.

Barcelona Bans Cruise Ships and other Cruise News

With all of that said, having sailed from Moll Adossat pier’s Helix terminal, I highly recommend.

What do people think about this move?

Comments from followers have been mixed. Some expressed annoyance about the additional time it’ll take to get into the city core. Others have shared that the trend here is what’s most concerning, not the actual move. More and more ports and groups have a target on cruise travel and we’re likely to see more of these bans. Finally, others have simply said that they’ll hop on the shuttle bus like they do in other ports. “At least it’s not a water shuttle.”