This was our 16th time with Royal Caribbean. The fishermen in Spain had started a strike and blockaded all ports in Spain, including Barcelona, 3 days before our cruise was due to leave. We turned up at the terminal at 12 noon, not knowing about this blockade, but knowing that something was wrong because the ship was not there! it was 2 miles out at sea! We where told to leave our luggage at the terminal and they would take us by coach to a hotel for a while because there was a 'problem' and would be informed more at the hotel. At the hotel we where informed about the blockade and told to go out into Barcelona for a look around if we wanted, but report back every 2 hours for more information. The lack of information at the hotel was the main problem, we found out that the blockade had been lifted, at 5pm, before the RCI ground staff even knew.
The Brilliance came into port at 5.30pm with all the previous passengers needing to disembark. I knew the ship wouldn't clear for us to board until about 10pm, so we caught a taxi back to the terminal at 9.30pm. THIS IS WHERE THE PROBLEMS STARTED!! The disorganisation at check in was disgusting, over 1000 people waiting in a check-in hall. There was nobody from RCI behind the desks to answer questions and no announcements over the speakers. There were old and disabled people in distress, young families with young children and babies asleep on the floor, nothing happened until gone 11pm when without any announcement about 20 check-in staff appeared behind check-in. This caused a rush to get on the ship, no orderly queue had been formed, there was nothing for the old or young families and no express check-in for suite or Diamond members. Just a complete mess, women and children in tears and men getting aggressive.
After 16 cruises with RCI I couldn't believe what I was witnessing. The blockade was not there fault, but they had 12 hours to organise themselves for this check-in. The ship didn't clear to leave, with the last passengers on board until 3am.