Disembarking Costa Pacifica in Barcelona; Surprised to Find Uber Doesn’t Operate Anymore

Costa Pacifica docked at Port of Barcelona

April 11, 2019

BARCELONA, Spain – My 17-night Caribbean and trans-Atlantic cruise came to an end this morning as I debarked Costa Pacifica, then ran into trouble getting to BCN airport for my trip to Senegal after discovering Uber is no longer operating here.

Got up at 8:45 a.m. aboard Costa Pacifica docked in the Port of Barcelona. Enjoyed a final breakfast in the New York New York dining room.

Passenger waiting to disembark Costa Pacifica in Barcelona

Returned to my cabin at 9:20 to finish packing. Left my stateroom at 9:44 and stepped off Costa Pacifica for the final time, ending my 17-night Caribbean and trans-Atlantic cruise from La Romana, Dominican Republic.

Retrieved my suitcase from the terminal, then attempted to order an Uber to take me to Barcelona El Prat Airport (BCN), seven miles southwest of the port, for my flight to Lisbon, Portugal. I was confused to see a message that “Unfortunately, Uber is currently unavailable in your area.” What the hell?

I’m shocked to see Uber is not available anymore in Barcelona — I’m shocked to see Uber is not
available anymore in Barcelona

At first, I thought maybe Uber was banned from picking up passengers inside the Port of Barcelona. I saw there’s a Cruise Bus out of the port into the city, so I hopped on that just after 10 a.m. for €3 ($3.34).

On the Cruise Bus from Port of Barcelona into city

The bus ride took less than 10 minutes, dropping passengers off just a short distance outside the port.

Cruise Bus from Port of Barcelona into city unloading

I opened the Uber app on my phone, and was again dismayed to see the message that Uber isn’t available in your area.

Uber suspended its services in late January in Barcelona because of new regulations, BBC reported. The decision to stop serving the second-largest city in Spain came after the Catalan provincial government insisted on imposing a 15-minute delay before passengers could be picked up after ordering a ride.

“Uber has been the target of protests by taxi drivers in Barcelona who say their business is being undermined,” BBC reported.

That really angers me. I’m a huge favor of app-based taxi services because it takes so many hassles out of the cab industry: A) I order a vehicle to come directly to my location rather than standing on the street with my hand up hoping one drives by; B) The price is clearly displayed in the app; no worrying about getting ripped off by foreign drivers in a city where you don’t know how the system works; C) No language barrier explaining to the driver where you want to go; your destination is programmed into the app and the driver follows GPS directions on his or her phone; and D) Payment is done electronically and instantly, so no fretting about needing local currency or waiting for the driver to perform a credit-card transaction.

Now I’m going to have to find out how to get to BCN airport by public transportation. Fortunately I’m not in a big rush as my flight to Lisbon (and then connecting to Dakar, Senegal) isn’t until 12:30 p.m. But this is really irritating. I expected to be at the airport by now, yet I’ve barely made it out of the seaport.