marden1970

@20165Just beware - once you've been in a suite it is hard to go back.🙂

I did a resort excursion booked thru Princess earlier this year. It was at the Marival Resort. Very nice, it had 3 pools and also a nice beach area. Lounge chairs and umbrella included. It also included drinks and a large and very nice lunch buffet. I don't know if they sell individual day passes.

Are you doing the 12/22/23 cruise? We'll be on that one as well.

@rbtan Taylor Ham always makes us happy. Did you live in New Jersey? We live in Nevada now and order ours through the mail.

@kismetiqueI was excited when I read your post and went to their website. Unfortunately they are closed on Mondays, which is when our ship will be there.🙁

Yes, it pertains to things like an open can, refillable bottler or cup of soda or water etc. Your bottles of wine or cases of soda or water are ok. That was our experience twice in San Pedro in the last 9 months.

I think it depends.. We had a suite on the Emerald Dec/Jan and had tubes of Lotus Spa products including conditioner. In March/April on the Crown we had another brand but in the large pump bottles, no separate conditioner. Personally on our next cruise in December I'm bringing my own hand soap in addition to shampoo and conditioner as I did not like the fragrance of the products in the pump bottles.

You might want to check out the Columbus St Inn and its related properties. Nice but not as expensive.

For us, no. We've been in suites our last few cruises and love the club class dining. But the ships on which we sail the location is the problem. They are all on the dolphin deck and the balconies are not covered at all. That's a no go for me.

We had several different brands on our last cruise (Crown March/April), one of which was Kirkland.

Same for us except that it's me who doesn't want anything less. My hubby would be happy in an inside.

Hi @prboylan, we cruise on the Emerald (Dec/Jan) and the Crown (March/April) and ate in the specialty restaurants several time. There really isn't much of a dress code. We wear nice clothes, nothing fancy but we've seen shorts and t-shirts and jeans and polo shirts as well. I think you'll be fine with just about anything. (Maybe skip the speedo)🙂

We stayed at the Doubletree in San Pedro in December and then again in March of this year. It is a few miles to the port and they did have a shuttle. The shuttle will also take you to other places. I used it to go to CVS and the we used it to go to a restaurant (22nd St Landing). There isn't really anything around the hotel but if you are only staying for one night it is fine.

It might have been that long ago. We also like the sea days (and casino). We've done several roundtrips from West Coast to Hawaii and have another on booked for December on Princess.

I believe it used to be called the Pride of Aloha. We did it years ago and never again. As @BermudaBound2014 mentioned, the crew is mostly Americans and it seemed as thou they had no work ethic. Poor service and attitudes. Never met our room steward and several days our room was not serviced.

I think the hoho is a good idea but I would look for reviews as there used to be at least 2 companies. Of course the one we chose wasn't very good, although I don't remember which one it was.

It depends on what you want to see and how much you can walk. I go out and about on my own since my hubby has mobility problems. Have you been to San Francisco before?

We always stay at the Holiday Inn Express Fisherman's Wharf. Safe and clean, staff has always been great. They offer a breakfast buffet in the morning to hold you over until you get on the ship. We take a taxi to the port in the morning, usually around $15 or you can Uber/Lyft. We take Amtrak in so I don't know the taxi cost from the airport.

Try looking at the travel summary at the top of the booking,(next to print luggage tag) Should show everything under special services.

We were on the Crown for 28 days March/April and we thought our mattress was fine. Everyone has different preferences and ours is for a softer mattress. I have a problem sleeping on a firm mattress. Hopefully yours will be ok, if not ask your room steward if there is anything they can do. Good luck.

We love to cruise out of SF even thou the choices are rather limited. If any of your elderly family members have mobility problems ask for wheel chair assist when dropping off your luggage. They will take you all the way thru check in and then hand you off to a Princess employee to take you up the gangway onto the ship. This has really made a difference for for my husband, he has problems standing for even a short period of time and would not be able to make it up the gangway ramp.

We just did our 50th Anniversary cruise and did the UBD. Since the weather wasn't the best that night we did it in the stateroom. It was wonderful and would do it again. t

Within the last year we have been on Princess, Ruby,Crown and Emerald. All have Promenade decks. Check other Princess and Holland America ships.

We always stay at Holiday Inn Express, which is across the street from the Hyatt Centric. It is close to a lot of restaurants (agree the Brick and Beam is overpriced), but use the Holiday Inn's breakfast buffet for quick coffee and breakfast before heading to the port.

We were on the Crown in March/April, Adagio was used most mornings for a Bible Study group. Other than that it was pretty quiet. There seemed to be music playing in most places around the ship, even if there was nobody there which really reduced the number of quiet areas.