Trying not to panic regarding disembark time in San Francisco

Maybe someone who has docked in San Francisco can alleviate my fears a bit. I booked an independent tour that goes to Alcatraz and Muir Woods - Princess did not offer a tour that does both. Our ship docks at 7am, and we are to meet the tour at 8:45 (about a 15 minute walk from ship).

I thought the timing would be fine, but after booking the tour, I read that someone had been late disembarking numerous times in San Francisco. I understand that there can be problems, but does anyone know if San Francisco disembarkation time is normally late?

The tour is non-refundable, so there's nothing I can do there. I guess I am just hoping someone could assure me that San Francisco is not always late in disembarking. We will be there on a Monday in September, if that makes any difference.

(I did read the terms and conditions of the tour, and it said 100% refundable up to 7 days in advance. However, that did not apply to the Alcatraz tours. After looking again at the web site, it did say no refunds on this particular tour, so all of that is on me. :mad::mad::mad: )

Thanks to any experiences you can share.

Sorry - I don't know how to add to my first post. We will be sailing directly from Los Angeles, so won't be coming in from a foreign port, if that makes any difference.

A lot depends on if you are clearing US Immigration in San Francisco. If you are, there will be a problem as it takes a couple of hours to do this. If the port previous to San Francisco is a U.S. port, then there should be no problem.

I just read your second post, so there should be no problem getting off in time for your tour.

I would not book s tour that early. The best you can hope for is a very stressful morning

I live near San Francisco, have gone in and out many times, since San Francisco is not your first US port, you have been in LA prior, you should not have a problem. Generally ships enter SF Bay around 6am, dock around 7am, you will need to wait til luggage has been removed unless you elect to carry off all your own luggage. Then you could be off as early as 7:30 am. If you don't elect to carryon off your own luggage, I would tell customer service you have arranged a private pick up at what time you wish to get off, you will be treated as an independent traveller. If you don't get the color tag you want and need, go back to customer service and request the time you need with the appropriate color tag the night before you get to San Francisco. Hope you enjoy your tours, I am a native San Francisican.

Are you disembarking at SF? or is this a port of call?

Secondly contact the tour company and see if they

can change the time, to a later tour. Off time a

non refundable tour, while allow you to change times

on the same day. Also if you are siembarking,

what are you doing with you cases, while you are

touring?

San Francisco is a port of call - we will not be disembarking. There are no tours with this company that start at a later time. Just hoping that things will go smoothly with the ship docking in time and opening the doors for us to get off the ship.

Are you disembarking at SF? or is this a port of call?

It sounds like SF is a port stop on the Coastal cruise out of LA. If that's the case, then I think the OP is pretty safe with their tour plans. Especially so if the ship leaves LA on Saturday and is at sea on Sunday, which allows oodles of time to travel to SF. Once we left LA at 5pm on Sunday and were docked in SF at 2pm Monday without a full sea day in between.

If you booked through Greyline, on the way back they drop off at their passengers hotels, etc., and it can take a while. Be sure the driver knows you are returning to a cruise ship - it is reasonable to ask to be dropped at the pier. Since you don't sail until 11 in the evening you should be fine getting back. Last time we used their service (and we enjoyed the tours they offer) we were about an hour and a half late returning to our hotel.

ggprincess, do you have a link to Grayline. We will be in SFO for a couple of days pre-cruise and would like to do an all day tour. Thanks:)

ggprincess, do you have a link to Grayline. We will be in SFO for a couple of days pre-cruise and would like to do an all day tour. Thanks:)

Honestly, just goggle it and it will easily come up.

We used to live in the Bay Area, our son and his wife still do, and we've sailed the Grand out of SFO.

Another option is to do just an Alcatraz tour that might leave a bit later as it wouldn't include both parts. Unless you have a particular passion for seeing Muir Woods I wouldn't fret about skipping it to do Alcatraz and have peace of mind about making it.

As long as there is no fog you should be fine.

We have been late getting in several times due to fog.

Try contacting your tour operator and see if they will switch times for you. They may not refund the money but they may move the times. It is worth asking.

The way you describe it you are on the Crown Princess 7 day coastal from L.A. and S.F. is your first port of call, correct? You are scheduled to dock in S.F. at 7am. Since the ship has not been to a foreign port there will be no immigration or customs to go through. You should be able to walk off the ship maybe 30mins after docking. I really don't see a problem getting to the tour by 8:45. The only issue might be a delay in docking due to some weather issue, and you really can't predetermine that.

We've sailed in and out of SF several times and not had this kind of issue, especially with it being a port of call vs a disembarkation port.

Yes, the walk is only about 15 minutes -- maybe even less depending on if you are sailing into the new port they have been working on so diligently.

If docked at pier 35, you are very close, whereas with the new one, just another 7 minutes walk, I would estimate.

You might contact the tour company and see if this is a tour full of cruise ship passengers, in which case, they will be on a tighter time line and will not only wait for everyone to arrive but will make sure you get back in time. If not with many cruise ship pax, that is an ambitious tour to fit both attractions into one day. While I don't believe you should have much problem getting to the tour in time, there may be issues with traffic getting back from Muir Woods. Not sure how long you are in that port, though. Both are really great places to go in the SF area, with Muir Woods being one of my favorite areas in the entire world. Just gorgeous!! But I also find Alcatraz to be quite interesting.

Honestly, just goggle it and it will easily come up.

Thanks, will do. :)

Received an email today about a sale on the Muir Woods tour for $29, regular price $54. Departs twice-daily at 9:15am and 2:15pm. I believe the OP's port stop in SF is until late evening, making the 2:15pm tour doable.

http://dailydeals.sfgate.com/

I was thinking "fog" was the issue. I have qualms about booking any independent excursion that doesn't cancel if for some reason your ship doesn't make it into the port on time or at all. Hopefully your ship will make it at the expected time, which should mean you'll get off the ship in time.

read that someone had been late disembarking numerous times in San Francisco. I understand that there can be problems, but does anyone know if San Francisco disembarkation time is normally late?

I think the comments on late disembarking have been when San Francisco was the disembarkation portt for the cruise, not a stop on a longer itinerary.

You should have no worries making your already paid for tour unless there is an unexpected problem that prevents the ship from getting to port on time.

ggprincess, do you have a link to Grayline. We will be in SFO for a couple of days pre-cruise and would like to do an all day tour. Thanks:)

http://graylineofsanfrancisco.com/

I used to live in San Francisco. The Alcatraz tour times are tied to a fixed schedule of excursion boat departure times from the pier to the island, and in my experience most tour departures are full. So the issue may be that if one misses the departure time, the next excursion boat may have no room; hence the no-refund policy.

I would worry more about the other passengers from your ship going on the tour. There is always someone who takes longer to disembark, so the critical issue is whether the tour operator will leave without a full complement of booked passengers.

Muir Woods is one of the most beautiful places we've been in the entire world. If you have time, take a 5 minute walk off on one of the paths to other sites, then stop and listen. No people noise. Wind through the treetops. Totally magical.

You just never know.

You might be fine but you might be late.

Keith

Maybe someone who has docked in San Francisco can alleviate my fears a bit. I booked an independent tour that goes to Alcatraz and Muir Woods - Princess did not offer a tour that does both. Our ship docks at 7am, and we are to meet the tour at 8:45 (about a 15 minute walk from ship).

I thought the timing would be fine, but after booking the tour, I read that someone had been late disembarking numerous times in San Francisco. I understand that there can be problems, but does anyone know if San Francisco disembarkation time is normally late?

The tour is non-refundable, so there's nothing I can do there. I guess I am just hoping someone could assure me that San Francisco is not always late in disembarking. We will be there on a Monday in September, if that makes any difference.

(I did read the terms and conditions of the tour, and it said 100% refundable up to 7 days in advance. However, that did not apply to the Alcatraz tours. After looking again at the web site, it did say no refunds on this particular tour, so all of that is on me. :mad::mad::mad: )

Thanks to any experiences you can share.

The last time we docked in San Francisco. It was 7:00AM when we arrived, I had made plans to meet a friend around 11:30 for a lunch. We got into San Francisco and had to go through customs! Bummer. Oh well, I figured that I had 4 1/2 hours, we would be through by then with customs and clearing and disembarking. Wrong!!!!!!

It was around 1:15PM before customs was cleared. No one could leave the ship until everything was cleared by the officials. I felt like half of the day was shot.....I had to contact my friend and cancel lunch. We did meet up later for a quick cup of coffee, but the day was totally ruined as I had looked forward to enjoying the day with my friend.

I forgot to mention that this was not the final port of call on the cruise. It was a stop on the itinerary.

You just never know.

 

You might be fine but you might be late.

 

Keith

Yes you never know. :eek: