San Francisco - airport? Hotel?

[phabric]

I have never flown into San Francisco before, coming from Toronto, Canada.  Cruising on Ruby Princess.

 

I am looking for a hotel near Fisherman Wharf.  Any suggestions?

 

Do hotels have shuttle from airport to hotels?

 

How far is the airport to Princess port?

 

Is there a Hop On Hop Off bus?

[KeepCalmBearOn]

San Francisco has a couple of Hop On Hop Off busses.

 

It would help to know your nightly hotel budget in U.S. dollars, bearing in mind that SF is a very expensive city.

 

The only hotels that have shuttles are ones in the immediate area of the airport. The main part of the City is 20-30 minutes from the airport, including the port and Fisherman's Wharf.

 

I don't recommend anyone stay at Fisherman's Wharf, but that is for people who are coming to see the City on an extended stay. For them I recommend the Union Square area or the Embarcadero area.

 

That said, for a one night before a cruise, I'd recommend the Columbus Motor Inn and its sister properties.

 

https://www.columbusmotorinn.com/sister_properties.html

[CruiserBruce]

If you read around the board, you will see many threads on your topics.

 

Airport to pier is 30-40 minutes, sometimes a little more with traffic. Rare for any downturn hotels to have shuttles. But virtually all Airport area hotels have shuttles. 

 

There are hop on, hop off buses in town, but not near the airport. 

[xlxo]

8 hours ago, phabric said:

I am looking for a hotel near Fisherman Wharf.  Any suggestions?

 

Do hotels have shuttle from airport to hotels?

 

How far is the airport to Princess port?

 

On a sidenote... my fav San Francisco hotel is the Parc 57 (part of the Hilton chain).  While not located by Fisherman's Wharf...

 

• affordable rates
• I take the airport BART (subway) to the Powell station... no shuttle necessary
• Powell station across the street is a cable car terminus if I want to go to Fisherman's wharf.  Lots of transportation options at that location.
• Chinatown is a short walk if I want some Dim Sum or fortune cookies
• I normally just taxi over to the cruise terminal the next morning. 

[CruiserBruce]

@xlxo, the hotel you mention has been downgraded. Its only the Parc 55.

[xlxo]

Oops... thank for letting me know of the typo.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCF7Fn6W4L0

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

I guess some depends on when you get in and what you want to do.  If you are getting in late and flying all day I would stay near the airport, sleep in, have a leisurely breakfast, and head to the port after the commute.  We usually stay at the Embassy Suites south of the airport when we have an early flight out.  I second the vote to NOT stay by Fisherman's Wharf.  SF is a very compact city.  I'm Hilton brand loyal and if staying in the City I like the Hilton Union Square or Hilton Financial District.  Sometimes you can get a good rate on the St. Francis, which a very cool place to stay.    

[phabric]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

I have only looked at flights.  Cruise is 16 days, Friday to Sunday. 

We will fly non stop YYZ-SFO on Thursday - 8am-10:55am flight

Depending on the price our return non stop flight  SFO-YYZ - Sunday or Monday either 11:50am or 10:30pm flight

 

I am looking for a hotel close to a HOHO stop as I have bad knees and are painful for long walks.

 

Can we make a 11:50am from the port to the airport on a Sunday?

 

If we decide to take the Sunday 10:30pm flight, we could take the ships's post cruise 4 hour tour and wait at the airport.

 

 

[d9704011]

12 minutes ago, phabric said:

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

I have only looked at flights.  Cruise is 16 days, Friday to Sunday. 

We will fly non stop YYZ-SFO on Thursday - 8am-10:55am flight

Depending on the price our return non stop flight  SFO-YYZ - Sunday or Monday either 11:50am or 10:30pm flight

 

I am looking for a hotel close to a HOHO stop as I have bad knees and are painful for long walks.

 

Can we make a 11:50am from the port to the airport on a Sunday?

 

If we decide to take the Sunday 10:30pm flight, we could take the ships's post cruise 4 hour tour and wait at the airport.

 

 

Isn't there a 4:30 pm flight from SFO to YYZ on Sunday?

[phabric]

25 minutes ago, d9704011 said:

Isn't there a 4:30 pm flight from SFO to YYZ on Sunday?

I am looking at April 2024.  I don’t see Air Canada flight for 4:30pm.

[d9704011]

2 minutes ago, phabric said:

I am looking at April 2024.  I don’t see Air Canada flight for 4:30pm.

Sorry about that, I was looking at a different month.

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, phabric said:

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

I have only looked at flights.  Cruise is 16 days, Friday to Sunday. 

We will fly non stop YYZ-SFO on Thursday - 8am-10:55am flight

Depending on the price our return non stop flight  SFO-YYZ - Sunday or Monday either 11:50am or 10:30pm flight

 

I am looking for a hotel close to a HOHO stop as I have bad knees and are painful for long walks.

 

Can we make a 11:50am from the port to the airport on a Sunday?

 

If we decide to take the Sunday 10:30pm flight, we could take the ships's post cruise 4 hour tour and wait at the airport.

 

 

You can make an 11:50 if there are no hitches. You need to be off as early as possible, and I would be carrying my bags and grabbing a cab. Its not really treated as an international flight, so 2 hours in advance is plenty. I would say the chances are pretty solid.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

6 hours ago, phabric said:

I am looking for a hotel close to a HOHO stop as I have bad knees and are painful for long walks.

 

The Big Bus HoHo has a stop at the Hilton SF Union Square.

 

https://www.bigbustours.com/en/san-francisco/san-francisco-routes-and-tour-maps

 

6 hours ago, phabric said:

Can we make a 11:50am from the port to the airport on a Sunday?

 

Easily assuming you walk off.

[phabric]

Thanks for the suggestions 

[Dan G]

I just visited SF and actually stayed near the airport and had a great room at this hotel

https://www.hilton.com/en/locations/usa/california/san-francisco/home2-suites/?WT.mc_id=zlada0ww1ht2psh3bng4advbpp5dkt6multibr7_153659588_1004635&gclid=da83124d9be91b4743ef760030a3062d&gclsrc=3p.ds&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Search|HT|World|USA_CA_San-Francisco|Exact|CPC|EN|API|EDGE&utm_term=home 2 near san francisco airport&utm_content=US|CA|South_San_Francisco|POI_San_Francisco_Airport|OK

 

I know Fishermans Wharf isn't for everyone however for a tourist with ltd time it offers a lot.  Shops dining and the hoho buses stop right there.  The cruise dock is close to FW so for lots of people this makes a lot of sense.  Overall the area has less homeless than even downtown SF and feels a lot safer.  You would have to Uber there and there used to be multiple shuttles from SFO however the wharf is almost always the 'last stop' so if you don't mind a little 'tour' a shuttle can work out for you.

[BDevilCruiser]

I've only been to the Bay Area once, and that was ten years ago, so I don't know the area that well.  But the Oakland Airport appears to be closer than SFO, and the hotels in downtown Oakland appear to be less expensive as well.  I happened to fly into SFO, stayed in downtown Oakland and then flew out of Oakland.  My transportation was all on BART, so I didn't need to rely on any surface transportation (other than a bus to the Oakland airport as the train connection wasn't completed then.)

 

Is this viable, safe and reasonable, or has something changed?  I'm looking at a SF-Alaska cruise as well, so would like to know local's comments.

[CruiserBruce]

8 minutes ago, BDevilCruiser said:

I've only been to the Bay Area once, and that was ten years ago, so I don't know the area that well.  But the Oakland Airport appears to be closer than SFO, and the hotels in downtown Oakland appear to be less expensive as well.  I happened to fly into SFO, stayed in downtown Oakland and then flew out of Oakland.  My transportation was all on BART, so I didn't need to rely on any surface transportation (other than a bus to the Oakland airport as the train connection wasn't completed then.)

 

Is this viable, safe and reasonable, or has something changed?  I'm looking at a SF-Alaska cruise as well, so would like to know local's comments.

Sorry...close, but not quite. First, depending on the time of day, the driving time and distance are almost the same to the two airports. Staying in downtown Oakland is cheaper for a reason...not a lot to do there.

 

Yes, Southwest has a big presence in OAK, but the OP is talking about flying non-stop to Toronto. Ain't going to happen out of OAK.

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

On 4/29/2023 at 6:20 AM, phabric said:

 

We will fly non stop YYZ-SFO on Thursday - 8am-10:55am flight

Depending on the price our return non stop flight  SFO-YYZ - Sunday or Monday either 11:50am or 10:30pm flight

 

I am looking for a hotel close to a HOHO stop as I have bad knees and are painful for long walks.

 

Can we make a 11:50am from the port to the airport on a Sunday?

I forgot about the time change being favorable.  So don't stay at the airport go into DT San Francisco and do stuff.  I don't think making an 1150 hrs flight on a Sunday should be an issue if all goes well.  However, we once had to sit offshore due to fog and didn't even dock until after 1100 hrs.  To be safe I would do the 2230 hrs flight.  Again, don't get hung up on the "tourist" hotel locations like FW.  SF is a very compact city and Uber is quick and easy to get around.  My first choice in SF is always Union Square.  We used to visit several times a year for long weekends when the price was favorable and that's our go to spot.  The HOHO makes a couple of stops around Union Square.  

[oakridger]

5 hours ago, BDevilCruiser said:

I've only been to the Bay Area once, and that was ten years ago, so I don't know the area that well.  But the Oakland Airport appears to be closer than SFO, and the hotels in downtown Oakland appear to be less expensive as well.  I happened to fly into SFO, stayed in downtown Oakland and then flew out of Oakland.  My transportation was all on BART, so I didn't need to rely on any surface transportation (other than a bus to the Oakland airport as the train connection wasn't completed then.)

 

Is this viable, safe and reasonable, or has something changed?  I'm looking at a SF-Alaska cruise as well, so would like to know local's comments.

 

Don't do it.  I would be fine just flying into or out of OAK though. Airport hotels and gas stations in Oakland are currently having huge security and break in issues for drivers.  Some cars have gotten broken into when the driver is still in them!  Go to SFO and stay at an airport hotel.  There are lots of good options and price ranges.  I never take BART anymore after riding it to work for many years.  For me it is scary, dirty and unsafe.  It makes me sad because I used to even ride it for fun sometimes for a change of scenery.  😪

 

On that happy note, have a great cruise!!

 

~Nancy

Edited May 1, 2023 by oakridger