Pre-cruise hotel package.

[DiRonT]

Does Princess have a pre-cruise hotel package in San Francisco?

[Incognito1]

I'm not aware of any, but the Holiday Inn Express near Fisherman's Wharf is safe, clean, and reasonable.  It's a $15 ride to the port by taxi.  So much of SF is disgusting, dirty, and smells of cheap weed and urine, but we were pleasantly surprised by the HIE.

[skynight]

On their web site they mention the Mark Hopkins Intercontinental. Princess pre-cruise hotel packages include transfers from the airport to the hotel and transfers from the hotel to the pier. It's the reverse for post cruise packages. Be aware that pricing is per person, not per room. I book my own pre-cruise hotels. I find less expensive.

https://www.princesscruises.de/en/holiday-princess/hotel-packages-princess-cruises

Edited Sunday at 09:14 PM by skynight

[oregonN]

There are 3 to choose from on the Princess website. We stayed at the Parc 55 several years ago through Princess. The hotel was adequate, but the restaurant was fantastic. 

[Rick&Jeannie]

While you can certainly do better in pricing if you book your own hotel, there is something to be said about the convenience of letting Princess handle all of the details regarding getting you to the hotel and then to the airport.  We've done it several times...we like it.

[Reina del Mar]

We use Princess hotel and transfer packages if we are sailing from a port which is new to us..especially if we don’t speak the language (South America) .
 

If we are sailing from a port we know, we book our own hotel and take a private transfer or taxi.

 

You will find the Princess package much more expensive as the price is per person, but takes the stress away.

 

Booking your own is usually about half the total cost ( for two travellers) of the Princess offering.

Edited Monday at 08:21 AM by Reina del Mar

[marden1970]

17 hours ago, Incognito1 said:

I'm not aware of any, but the Holiday Inn Express near Fisherman's Wharf is safe, clean, and reasonable.  It's a $15 ride to the port by taxi.  So much of SF is disgusting, dirty, and smells of cheap weed and urine, but we were pleasantly surprised by the HIE.

We stay there as well.  I like that I can get something easy to eat in the morning (included buffet) without having to go out to a regular restaurant.  There are a lot of good restaurants nearby for dinner the night before.

[Coral]

My sister recently stayed at the Marriott near the Wharf. It was cheaper than Holiday Inn Express during her dates and she was very happy with the hotel.

 

https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/sfofw-san-francisco-marriott-fishermans-wharf/overview/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIx_WS9ML0hgMVDjcIBR1z2wSUEAAYASAAEgJlH_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&cid=PAI_GLB0004YXD_GLE000BIM5_GLF000OETA

[Ken the cruiser]

We have booked a few of the Princess pre-cruise hotel packages, once in Tokyo and once in Santiago, and we were quite happy with what we got. We also enjoy having the transfer to the hotel and then to the ship the next day included in the package deal. What can I say, we are low stress travelers. 😁
 

https://www.princess.com/en-us/cruise-destinations/departure-ports/cruise-ports-and-hotels

[DiRonT]

Thanks for all the responses.  The 3 hotels on the Princess package are unavailable or waitlisted.  So, we are going to live dangerously and fly in the morning of the cruise.  Due to age and health issues, schlepping luggage from airport to hotel to port, etc. is a problem.  This way we just need to claim our bags and get it to the Princess bus (yes, we booked Princess Transfer).  Thanks again for all your suggestions.

[akaCruiser]

8 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We have booked a few of the Princess pre-cruise hotel packages, once in Tokyo and once in Santiago, and we were quite happy with what we got. We also enjoy having the transfer to the hotel and then to the ship the next day included in the package deal. What can I say, we are low stress travelers. 😁
 

https://www.princess.com/en-us/cruise-destinations/departure-ports/cruise-ports-and-hotels

How far in advance do you need to book a Princess pre-cruise hotel package, as I'm looking to fly in a couple of days early into London prior to going to Southampton in Aug 2025?

 

When I asked my assigned Princess CVP, he told me that hotel booking might be already filled for 2025. I find that odd, as I tried booking on one of the travel websites and had several options for Aug 2025.

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, akaCruiser said:

How far in advance do you need to book a Princess pre-cruise hotel package, as I'm looking to fly in a couple of days early into London prior to going to Southampton in Aug 2025?

 

When I asked my assigned Princess CVP, he told me that hotel booking might be already filled for 2025. I find that odd, as I tried booking on one of the travel websites and had several options for Aug 2025.

In a nutshell as early as possible, usually about a year out. However, just recently we’ve changed that approach.
 

We now try to first book a hotel on our own at the destination airport, so we can get up the following morning and walk over with our luggage to get on the Princess (or what cruise line’s) transfer to the ship. We did that on our Alaska cruise last month and stayed at the hotel in the Vancouver airport. My DW just reminded me we did that in Santiago as well on our Antarctica/SA cruise this past January.

This might interest you. We’ve also booked a hotel in the London Heathrow airport for our upcoming Princess cruise next month leaving from Southampton (Hilton Garden Inn London Heathrow, Terminal 2 and 3), which we arrive a day before and will then jump on the Princess transfer to the ship the next morning.
 

If there isn’t a hotel within walking distance from the airport, we will then try to prebook a hotel through the cruise line. We did that on our upcoming NCL cruise where we fly into Paris and then take the NCL transfer the next day from the hotel to Le Havre, which is a couple of hours away. In this case we will need to take a taxi from the airport to the hotel, as NCL isn’t offering the airport to the hotel transfer. There was a hotel next to the Paris airport, but we were told we would not be allowed back into the airport by security the next morning to catch the ship transfer. It sounded weird, but that’s what we were told. What can I say, it’s NCL. 😂

Anyway, that’s our hotel strategy. Hope it helps.

[akaCruiser]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

In a nutshell as early as possible, usually about a year out. However, just recently we’ve changed that approach.
 

We now try to first book a hotel on our own at the destination airport, so we can get up the following morning and walk over with our luggage to get on the Princess (or what cruise line’s) transfer to the ship. We did that on our Alaska cruise last month and stayed at the hotel in the Vancouver airport. My DW just reminded me we did that in Santiago as well on our Antarctica/SA cruise this past January.

This might interest you. We’ve also booked a hotel in the London Heathrow airport for our upcoming Princess cruise next month leaving from Southampton (Hilton Garden Inn London Heathrow, Terminal 2 and 3), which we arrive a day before and will then jump on the Princess transfer to the ship the next morning.
 

If there isn’t a hotel within walking distance from the airport, we will then try to prebook a hotel through the cruise line. We did that on our upcoming NCL cruise where we fly into Paris and then take the NCL transfer the next day from the hotel to Le Havre, which is a couple of hours away. In this case we will need to take a taxi from the airport to the hotel, as NCL isn’t offering the airport to the hotel transfer. There was a hotel next to the Paris airport, but we were told we would not be allowed back into the airport by security the next morning to catch the ship transfer. It sounded weird, but that’s what we were told. What can I say, it’s NCL. 😂

Anyway, that’s our hotel strategy. Hope it helps.

Thanks for the tip for the Hilton Garden Inn at Heathrow. I'll check into this as we might try to see my DW family who live around the Heathrow area, so this might work. We can take a train into London to do some sightseeing.

[akaCruiser]

40 minutes ago, akaCruiser said:

Thanks for the tip for the Hilton Garden Inn at Heathrow. I'll check into this as we might try to see my DW family who live around the Heathrow area, so this might work. We can take a train into London to do some sightseeing.

Just tried to book the Hilton and found out they are sold out : (

 

Found an alternative with Radisson Blu. They are close to the Airport and has a shuttle.

[muffydawg]

15 hours ago, DiRonT said:

Thanks for all the responses.  The 3 hotels on the Princess package are unavailable or waitlisted. 

Yep, a Princess hotel package agent told us all the London hotels for our July 2025 voyage are waitlisted. I was added to the waitlist and my Plan B strategy is to book other hotels in the event I don't clear the waitlist.

[Abercrombie2019]

11 hours ago, akaCruiser said:

Just tried to book the Hilton and found out they are sold out : (

 

Found an alternative with Radisson Blu. They are close to the Airport and has a shuttle.

Are you trying to book on a third party website or directly with the hotel?  I tried on a third party website and it shows as "sold out", but when I put the same dates in on Hilton Garden Inn London Heathrow Terminal 2 & 3 there are rooms available for summer 2025. 

 

The Hilton Garden Inn is convenient because you can walk out of Terminal 2, cross a few parking spaces and enter the Hotel.

[akaCruiser]

1 hour ago, Abercrombie2019 said:

Are you trying to book on a third party website or directly with the hotel?  I tried on a third party website and it shows as "sold out", but when I put the same dates in on Hilton Garden Inn London Heathrow Terminal 2 & 3 there are rooms available for summer 2025. 

 

The Hilton Garden Inn is convenient because you can walk out of Terminal 2, cross a few parking spaces and enter the Hotel.

Yes, I tried a third party. Just tried to book directly with Hilton, but I need a room for four and they don't have any rooms with that capacity. Getting two rooms will be more than I budgeted, so I will keep my booking at the Radisson Blu.

 

Appreciated your suggestion of trying directly, as it would have been ideal, given the proximity and convenance.  

Edited Tuesday at 05:02 PM by akaCruiser

[rocker57]

Do you know when Princess signs their hotel contracts? We will be in Rome next April. They show 4 hotels, unfortunately the 1 I want will be closed for renovations. The other 3 don’t thrill me, 2 are farther away from the centre of Rome and 1 is close by the rail terminal, which also doesn’t thrill me. I admit, although the costs of the hotels, even times 2 is not much more when you factor in the costs from the airport to hotel, then hotel to cruise port, and the convenience is nice. The one by the rail terminal is a Best Western and the reviews are decent, so I am a bit on the fence. I do have a hotel booked close to Trevi just in case.

[Oceansaway17]

3 hours ago, muffydawg said:

Yep, a Princess hotel package agent told us all the London hotels for our July 2025 voyage are waitlisted. I was added to the waitlist and my Plan B strategy is to book other hotels in the event I don't clear the waitlist.

Yes the pull this nonsense every year as I have tried in 2022 and 2023.  I told them makes no sense as London and many many hotels.  I feel Princess limits whom they make contracts with.

 

Also staying at a hotel near airport and coming in the day before, they have told me unless I buy their, I can't catch the next day shuttle.

 

Celebrity is much better to deal with for Southhampton

[Oceansaway17]

16 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

In a nutshell as early as possible, usually about a year out. However, just recently we’ve changed that approach.

This might interest you. We’ve also booked a hotel in the London Heathrow airport for our upcoming Princess cruise next month leaving from Southampton (Hilton Garden Inn London Heathrow, Terminal 2 and 3), which we arrive a day before and will then jump on the Princess transfer to the ship the next morning.

Anyway, that’s our hotel strategy. Hope it helps.

Hope that goes well for you.  Did you purchase the shuttle with Princess and did they require you to purchase air through them?  I do not trust Princess to let folks on shuttle if they did not get air through cruise line. or if you did not fly in the day before

 

This is the biggest issues with some cruise lines and shuttle to ship and they prefer folks to fly in the same day.

[muffydawg]

1 hour ago, Oceansaway17 said:

Yes the pull this nonsense every year as I have tried in 2022 and 2023.  I told them makes no sense as London and many many hotels. 

 

 

Last October I called to take advantage of a pre-departure hotel package and a wonderful Princess CVP put me on the waitlist for a specific hotel (yesterday I was told they place you on a general hotel waitlist).

 

I cleared the waitlist four months later in February and was happy to make full payment.

 

Honestly my issue yesterday was more about the "enthusiasm level" of the hotel package agent I spoke with and his inability to explain the policy change between October 2023 and now.

[Ken the cruiser]

57 minutes ago, Oceansaway17 said:

Hope that goes well for you.  Did you purchase the shuttle with Princess and did they require you to purchase air through them?  I do not trust Princess to let folks on shuttle if they did not get air through cruise line. or if you did not fly in the day before

 

This is the biggest issues with some cruise lines and shuttle to ship and they prefer folks to fly in the same day.

FWIW there is no trust issue for us involved here since our TA booked the Princess airport to ship transfer with the purchase being noted in our Travel Summary. Yes, we did book our own flights to LHR rather than using EzAir, as it was a lot cheaper since we wanted to book Delta Comfort+ seats. Princess also provided the following in our Travel Summary to help us find where the LHR airport to ship transfer check-in area was:

 

If you plan to be in London prior to embarkation day and wish to return to the airport for your transfer to the pier, please meet at the airport location below and locate a Princess Representative to confirm your transfer to the pier. LHR Airport - T2 by Café Nero , T3 by Tourist Services , T4 by WH Smith and T5 by Point South   LGW Airport (North & South Terminals) - Meet by Costa Coffee   Meeting time at both airports: 9:30AM  

 

Note: When our TA booked the airport to ship transfer, she also had to provide our previous day's flight arrival time. We have passed on using EzAir on previous cruises and have never encountered any issues being able to use the Princess airport to ship transfer in the past.

[SCX22]

2 hours ago, rocker57 said:

Do you know when Princess signs their hotel contracts? We will be in Rome next April. They show 4 hotels, unfortunately the 1 I want will be closed for renovations. The other 3 don’t thrill me, 2 are farther away from the centre of Rome and 1 is close by the rail terminal, which also doesn’t thrill me. I admit, although the costs of the hotels, even times 2 is not much more when you factor in the costs from the airport to hotel, then hotel to cruise port, and the convenience is nice. The one by the rail terminal is a Best Western and the reviews are decent, so I am a bit on the fence. I do have a hotel booked close to Trevi just in case.

 

I'm a DIYer and really like the area around Termini.  It makes it easy to take the Leonardo Express, the fastest way to the city center from the airport; we walk to our hotels in the vicinity from there.  The BW Royal Santina is a fine hotel, very modern for Rome standards.  I do prefer the location of the sister property BW Universo on the other side of the train station because it's closer to the action if you want to walk to the sights.  What I dislike about staying in the historical center (Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, Parthenon) is that there are always so many people.  You're also stuck taking a car there and because of the narrow streets, could take ages.  The Monti area around Termini quiets down in the evening.  It's easy to hop on the Metro to get to some other part of town since there are two Metro lines that pass through Termini.  Don't like any hotels north of Villa Borghese because they are far from the action.

[Oceansaway17]

22 hours ago, muffydawg said:

Last October I called to take advantage of a pre-departure hotel package and a wonderful Princess CVP put me on the waitlist for a specific hotel (yesterday I was told they place you on a general hotel waitlist).

 

I cleared the waitlist four months later in February and was happy to make full payment.

 

Honestly my issue yesterday was more about the "enthusiasm level" of the hotel package agent I spoke with and his inability to explain the policy change between October 2023 and now.

yes I hear you

Next year I am flying to London a day early and will get brace and take the Express bus down to Southampton.  dealing with hotel packages can be odd for Princess.  BUT Celebrity is great.

[Oceansaway17]

22 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

FWIW there is no trust issue for us involved here since our TA booked the Princess airport to ship transfer with the purchase being noted in our Travel Summary. Yes, we did book our own flights to LHR rather than using EzAir, as it was a lot cheaper since we wanted to book Delta Comfort+ seats. Princess also provided the following in our Travel Summary to help us find where the LHR airport to ship transfer check-in area was:

 

If you plan to be in London prior to embarkation day and wish to return to the airport for your transfer to the pier, please meet at the airport location below and locate a Princess Representative to confirm your transfer to the pier. LHR Airport - T2 by Café Nero , T3 by Tourist Services , T4 by WH Smith and T5 by Point South   LGW Airport (North & South Terminals) - Meet by Costa Coffee   Meeting time at both airports: 9:30AM  

 

Note: When our TA booked the airport to ship transfer, she also had to provide our previous day's flight arrival time. We have passed on using EzAir on previous cruises and have never encountered any issues being able to use the Princess airport to ship transfer in the past.

oh thanks for telling me this and it might help me next year. BUT you did use a TA and I book all on my own.  But I will take your experience and see if I too can do this next year,  I would not just show up and hope a seat is available but would provide info ahead of time and get a transfer ticket.  Overall a lot of cruiselines want us to buy air through them to get transfer,

 

Interesting but NCL is offering Precruise 3-4 day London cruisetour with hotel and transfer.

So I am doing that later after the other trip.