Port of San Francisco

[Cruise Raider]

Wow...it is finally open! Yesterday, we just disembarked in the new Port of San Francisco and all I can say is YAY!!

It is clean and designed so well -- perfect disembarkation -- partially thanks to Princess. The nice thing is the Embarcadero in SF is not all clogged up with embarking and disembarking passengers. The designed a nice large drive through area so now there is a spot for plenty of cabs available. Nice job. What a pleasure to be one of the first ships to use the new port.

Now....we need more cruises departing from this wonderful new pier. Bring it on!!

[idcruisers]

Thanks for the report. What time were you off the ship? We have a car service scheduled for 9:30 am pick up and I am wondering if that will be too early. We will be traveling with my elderly in-laws so will not be able to do walk off with our own luggage.

 

Also did you see if they were allowing embarking passengers to enter the building or were they waiting in line outside the building, again a concern with my in-laws.

 

 

 

 

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[partybarbie]

We got off the ship around 10:00 am yesterday, and we were one of the last groups.

 

I didn't pay attention to the embarking passengers though, so I can't help with that.

[Buck Turgidson]

Anybody notice how far the new

Pier is from the ferry terminal.

In the past I have used the Vallejo ferry, which was close to Pier 35

[deadzone1003]

Anybody notice how far the new

Pier is from the ferry terminal.

In the past I have used the Vallejo ferry, which was close to Pier 35

 

Well, Pier 27 is a couple hundred yards closer to the Ferry Building than Pier 35. There is street car stop just south of the entrance. So you can walk or use the street car (but the door is a little narrow and you would have to climb a few steps with your luggage).

[partybarbie]

I would guess it's about a 10 minute walk from Pier 27 to Pier 35. We weren't walking fast, and pulling suitcases, and it took about a 1/2 hour to walk from Pier 27 to the BART station.

[Northender]

Cruise Raider - did Princess do EZ Check?

 

It sounds like getting off is easier than getting on.'

 

Thanks for the report.:)

[pingtontsang]

We are taking Princess transfer from airport to Pier 27, and our son will pick us up at the end of trip. Where should we wait for him with our luggage ? Thanks.

[Cruise Raider]

Thanks for the report. What time were you off the ship? We have a car service scheduled for 9:30 am pick up and I am wondering if that will be too early. We will be traveling with my elderly in-laws so will not be able to do walk off with our own luggage.

 

Also did you see if they were allowing embarking passengers to enter the building or were they waiting in line outside the building, again a concern with my in-laws.

 

 

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

We had luggage in the terminal as this was the second leg of a two week trip and we were off the ship and out in front of the terminal at 9:30. Our scheduled time to get off the ship was 9:05 -- and Princess got us off at 9:05. Our ride was scheduled to get there at 9:45 and we would rather wait than have her wait so we planned on getting out by 9:40 or so and were off with luggage in hand with 15 minutes to spare. You first go through customs, several lanes open and a traffic director present to keep things running smoothly. From there, you go downstairs to pick up your luggage. Once this has been picked up, you turn in your customs form at the exit. Not quite seen it done that way before but it was efficient, to say the least.

This was one of the best disembarkations considering we didn't do walk off this time. I would say it took about 30 minutes from getting off the ship to waiting out in front.

You really will not be able to get too far into the building, though. Just a few feet is all. It also appears some people were showing up for the next sailing and they were ushered to a different part of the port than those departing. It was really designed well.

We did notice that you were able to park and wait a bit for passenger pick up. We noticed a lot of private autos that were parked and waiting for at least 15 minutes.

Nicely done San Francisco!!

[Cruise Raider]

Cruise Raider - did Princess do EZ Check?

 

It sounds like getting off is easier than getting on.'

 

Thanks for the report.:)

 

Are you referring to EZ check for the luggage to the airport? If so, really cannot speak to this as we embarked in Vancouver where we were staying at Canada Place where the bell hop took our luggage from our room and the next time we saw it, it was inside our stateroom. We disembarked in SF and since we live right across the bay, we never needed to check luggage for the airport.

Embarkation in Vancouver was also a piece of cake but don't think that is what you were referring to.

[Cruise Raider]

We are taking Princess transfer from airport to Pier 27, and our son will pick us up at the end of trip. Where should we wait for him with our luggage ? Thanks.

 

As you walk out of the terminal, you will see signs that point you to private passenger pick up with is directly to the right. As mentioned, there were probably a dozen or two vehicles waiting to pick up passengers. It was quite organized and never really felt crowded. You can also scope out a spot on the sidewalk where you can actually see the cars enter from the Embarcadero. So, you can tell him to meet you either right past the doors to the terminal or down at the end of that sidewalk.

There were no benches on that side to sit to wait but were some right across the drive through in case your ride will be a bit. I don't believe they will be able to pick you up from that side of the drive through, though. It looked as though that was for taxi pick up but they didn't mind if you used the benches to take a load off.

[jammen]

Wow...it is finally open! Yesterday, we just disembarked in the new Port of San Francisco and all I can say is YAY!!

It is clean and designed so well -- perfect disembarkation -- partially thanks to Princess. The nice thing is the Embarcadero in SF is not all clogged up with embarking and disembarking passengers. The designed a nice large drive through area so now there is a spot for plenty of cabs available. Nice job. What a pleasure to be one of the first ships to use the new port.

Now....we need more cruises departing from this wonderful new pier. Bring it on!!

 

Thanks for the info, we will use it in three weeks. I am also happy it is open.

[pingtontsang]

Cruise Raider, thank you very much for all those information. Our first time ever cruise under the Golden Gate Bridge and can't wait to experience it. Thanks.

[elliair]

We're going to see the Blue Angels Oct. 10/11/12 and will check out the terminal then. We are going to park at 55 Francisco St. for both our Mexican cruise and Hawaii cruise. Hopefully by then all the kinks will be taken care of. We don't mind the walk either.

[Arlened236]

The last time I checked neither San Francisco or LA offer ez-check for your luggage. As I use a wheelchair this service is worth every dollar it costs. We are staying an additional week after our cruise in Feb. on the Star, so it does not matter this time. Otherwise we try to end our cruises in a port that does offer it.

[catmand]

Anybody notice how far the new

Pier is from the ferry terminal.

In the past I have used the Vallejo ferry, which was close to Pier 35

 

Hi.....we're sailing out soon. According to Google:

 

For the ferry.

Pier 27 to Pier 41 is about 6th of a mile, the Ferry Building is .9

Buck Turgidson.....great character!..:D

[erni]

Cruise Raider - thanks so much for the positive review of the new SF terminal. There have been lots of complaints on other threads that it was nice hearing something positive.

There are sometimes delays no matter where you are leaving from.

Seems like pickup and drop off should be smoother. I might need to walk a little further to 55 Francisco to pick up the car but by the end of a cruise a few more steps will be good for me.

Kinks will be worked out. The last few cruises out of SF have been so smooth but when Princess first started leaving out of SF things were crazy dropping and picking people up.

 

Sue

[Cruise Raider]

Cruise Raider, thank you very much for all those information. Our first time ever cruise under the Golden Gate Bridge and can't wait to experience it. Thanks.

 

After doing it once several years ago, we are hooked. It is really just that special.

[PrincessVIP]

Cruise Raider, thank you very much for all those information. Our first time ever cruise under the Golden Gate Bridge and can't wait to experience it. Thanks.

 

Same for us in April on the Star, bon voyage.

[timetravler]

I also love the new pier. I meet a group coming off the Grand on Thursday(SF was a overnight port stop on that day) and then the next day dropped people off right at the new building. Just wonderful. Those that complain I figure are either a type of person who complains a lot or were having a bad hair day. I have absolutely no complaints about the new pier. I will be sailing from there in December and can't wait.

[Northender]

Are you referring to EZ check for the luggage to the airport? If so, really cannot speak to this as we embarked in Vancouver where we were staying at Canada Place where the bell hop took our luggage from our room and the next time we saw it, it was inside our stateroom. We disembarked in SF and since we live right across the bay, we never needed to check luggage for the airport.

Embarkation in Vancouver was also a piece of cake but don't think that is what you were referring to.

 

Yes, talking about when you disembarked. As Arlened mentioned, Princess has not done this before in San Francisco. I was just hoping that perhaps with the new terminal, something may have changed.:)

 

Thanks for your reply.

[satxdiver]

We saw the new terminal from the top deck of the Island Princess last year when we boarded our through canal cruise and it looked really good from the outside. We will be boarding the Star next month from the new terminal and looking forward to it. Thanks for the information on it.