Sweepa
A few weeks ago we took the Grimaldi Lines ferry from Barcelona to Porto Torres in Sardinia. After reading quite a few bad reviews I thought I’d share our experience.
We paid around €380 return, for 4 of us with an inside cabin. That was a discounted ticket from Grimaldi and another 30% discount from the Groupon website so its worth looking on the coupon discount sites.
In Barcelona you need to check-in in the terminal building, don’t drive round to the ferry entrance as they will just stop you and tell you to go to the terminal. Only the driver is supposed to drive on to the ferry, everybody else must go on with the foot passengers in the terminal. As we had 2 young kids we managed to get them to let us all drive on.
The cars are packed in really tight. By the time we were ready to get out we had to use the sliding door.
The cabins were fine but on both sailings there were various bits in the bathrooms and showers that were broken along with constant scalding/cold water. The shower is also only designed for small Italians…
I didn’t think there were that many people on the ferry but we still had a 20 min wait for the self-service restaurant so in summer it must take ages. The food though is pretty poor so I wouldn’t even bother; take your own food as we did for the return. The a al carte restaurant maybe better but I didn’t want to spend the money finding out…
I read lots of people don’t bother with cabins, they just sleep in the corridors but I didn’t see any. What little seating there was though was usually taken by people sprawled out sleeping so not much room to relax outside the cabin.
We also left late and arrived even later but this seems normal for Grimaldi.
Checking-in in Porto Torres was easier, queue up, they come to the van to check you in though again, passengers are supposed to get out and walk on.
As we went at the end of the summer season it was ok; packed in the middle of summer though I think it would be a different story. I really wouldn’t describe it as a ‘totally new concept in cruise ferries’…. Hope this helps.
We paid around €380 return, for 4 of us with an inside cabin. That was a discounted ticket from Grimaldi and another 30% discount from the Groupon website so its worth looking on the coupon discount sites.
In Barcelona you need to check-in in the terminal building, don’t drive round to the ferry entrance as they will just stop you and tell you to go to the terminal. Only the driver is supposed to drive on to the ferry, everybody else must go on with the foot passengers in the terminal. As we had 2 young kids we managed to get them to let us all drive on.
The cars are packed in really tight. By the time we were ready to get out we had to use the sliding door.
The cabins were fine but on both sailings there were various bits in the bathrooms and showers that were broken along with constant scalding/cold water. The shower is also only designed for small Italians…
I didn’t think there were that many people on the ferry but we still had a 20 min wait for the self-service restaurant so in summer it must take ages. The food though is pretty poor so I wouldn’t even bother; take your own food as we did for the return. The a al carte restaurant maybe better but I didn’t want to spend the money finding out…
I read lots of people don’t bother with cabins, they just sleep in the corridors but I didn’t see any. What little seating there was though was usually taken by people sprawled out sleeping so not much room to relax outside the cabin.
We also left late and arrived even later but this seems normal for Grimaldi.
Checking-in in Porto Torres was easier, queue up, they come to the van to check you in though again, passengers are supposed to get out and walk on.
As we went at the end of the summer season it was ok; packed in the middle of summer though I think it would be a different story. I really wouldn’t describe it as a ‘totally new concept in cruise ferries’…. Hope this helps.
![Comfort Insurance](https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/shop/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/square20ad20image.jpg"")
