San Francisco's new pier

Has anyone been on a ship that docked at the new pier - Pier 27 - in San Francisco? Just wondering if everything went smoothly. We will be there next week. Thanks.

Tomorrow is first day (with Crown Princess I believe)... Tom Barton is going and planning to post pictures here on CC. Another launch event is on 9/25 and we sail out of it on Island Princess on 9/27.

Has anyone been on a ship that docked at the new pier - Pier 27 - in San Francisco? Just wondering if everything went smoothly. We will be there next week. Thanks.

SFO2008 is right as the terminal does not open until tomorrow. I already started a thread about the new terminal, http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2056338&page=6&highlight=new+cruise+terminal, and any information that I have will be posted there along with answerer to any questions as I am able.

Please visit my thread tomorrow to see my report along with photos.

The Crown will be the first ship to use the new terminal. If you visit http://www.princess.com/bridgecams/?shipCode=kp you can see photos from the bridge cam so you will see some photos tomorrow.

Tom:)

I am going to the City tomorrow to have lunch with my niece. Can't wait to see the Crown docked at Pier 27. DH will meet me after work so we can watch sail away. :D

Looking forward to your posts and photos tomorrow, Tom.

Cheers, Denise

Thanks for the quick replies. I will look forward to reading tomorrow's posts and seeing the pictures! Hope all goes smoothly!

FYI

San Francisco hasn't been built a new pier in a long time, probably over 100 years, it is a new terminal (building), but it has been used in the past for passenger services, usually about once a year when there are 3 ships in town.

Sorry for using the wrong terms. Living here in the landlocked Midwest, I don't always get my nautical/ship/sea terms correct! :)

I'm very anxious too. I will docking their Monday on the Crown. Worried about it being a new pier and it being organized enough to get off early.

FYI

 

San Francisco hasn't been built a new pier in a long time, probably over 100 years, it is a new terminal (building), but it has been used in the past for passenger services, usually about once a year when there are 3 ships in town.

I'm not aware of any cruise ships at that terminal but there is another pier near AT&T park that has been used before with 3 ships in town.

FYI...The building was constructed for the America Cup Races last year with the plan to remodel the building as a new cruise terminal which has been done.

Tom:)

Very excited for the new terminal! Certainly won't miss the old one. The GF works at Pier 15 so she'll be able to see Crown tomorrow. Wish I could get down there to see it.

Pier 27 had always been the overflow terminal when there were several ships in port. When the Queen Mary 2 made her maiden voyage here she was berthed at pier 27. It was a big cargo barn where Bauer limosines were parked and when a ship was scheduled, they moved out and temp facilities for check-in and boarding were setup. The cargo shed was torn down and the construction on the new terminal began.

The new terminal was NOT built for the Americas Cup, it was in the process of being built as a new cruise terminal when the contract for the AC was signed and terminal construction was altered for some of the almighty Larry Ellison's demands. The shore power unit had already been installed and had to be uninstalled and stored away until after the AC.

Once the AC was over the POSF was able to rework the plans and continue with the original plan for the terminal.

Piers 30/32 were only used as a last resort as there were no buildings there and tents had to be erected for cover. Usually the only company using piers 30/32 was NCL. Mostly because they were only day stops.

I'm not aware of any cruise ships at that terminal but there is another pier near AT&T park that has been used before with 3 ships in town.

 

FYI...The building was constructed for the America Cup Races last year with the plan to remodel the building as a new cruise terminal which has been done.

 

Tom:)

In 2009, the Star Princess left San Francisco to Sydney from Pier 27. How do I know? I was on it. It was not use very often, at most once a year. Even then, it was alot better experience as we just drove into the Pier area parking and was dropped off - no lines on the Embarcadero waiting to drop people off.

...The shore power unit had already been installed and had to be uninstalled and stored away until after the AC.

This may be the other reason to back in, you need to plug in near the engine room...

correct sfo2008

This may be the other reason to back in, you need to plug in near the engine room...

Interestingly, Crown Princess does not have the capability to use shoreside power...

Interestingly, Crown Princess does not have the capability to use shoreside power...

... back to the option of better compatibility with the new gangways (or practicing for other ships WITH shoreside power)

Has anyone been on a ship that docked at the new pier - Pier 27 - in San Francisco? Just wondering if everything went smoothly. We will be there next week. Thanks.

Can't wait we will use it in October.

If you want to see my review with photos of the new cruise terminal that I took with the Press Briefing today please go to http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=44152598&posted=1#post44152598

Tom:)

I went down today to see the Crown. Everything was going smoothly, but this was just a stop over.No changing passengers. I'll be working checkin on Sunday for the Star an let you know how it goes.

Tom,

Thanks for the great pictures. We sailed out of Pier 35 this past summer and am looking forward to using the new terminal next year.

So how long until complaints about the new terminal start being posted here? Want to start a pool?

I went down today to see the Crown. Everything was going smoothly, but this was just a stop over.No changing passengers. I'll be working checkin on Sunday for the Star an let you know how it goes.

I was there for the press tour yesterday and I have contacted Metro Shore Services with some questions.

Here's my gangway question. I'm on the September 27th Panama cruise on the Island coming from Vancouver.

San Francisco is also a port stop along with people boarding from SF.

1. You will have some people disembarking the ship as their only on a 3 day cruise. I've heard that their

may be as many as 600 people.

2. Other people with be going off the ship since this is a port stop for passengers continuing on the cruise.

3. Then you have people boarding as I am for the BVE with Princess at 11 am plus other people taking the

cruise boarding in San Francisco.

4. Any problem with all of this happening? At the old pier 35 they were able to have 2 gangways for

passengers.

5. People re boarding the ship, where do they enter the building?

Some people on Princess have preferred boarding. Is there a separate line for those people at either the security

check point or at the check in counters? Will people with preferred boarding be allowed to board first?

At some cruise terminals there is a separate waiting area for Elite and Suite passengers. On our tour I

didn't see if there was a separate area for these people.

If you also see how this will all work please let us know.

I'm also involved with the Island cruise on September 27th and you can see our thread at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=44152832&posted=1#post44152832. I also started a thread at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=44152849&posted=1#post44152849 so this thread was probably started not realizing another one covering the same subject had been started.

Thanks!

SF Tom:)

So how long until complaints about the new terminal start being posted here? Want to start a pool?

I bet you didn't think 51 minutes . . .

The procedure will be the same as any other terminal and ship with partial boarding and disembarking. We have had cruises like that many times.

There are procedures in place for through passengers to reboard and the BVE people will be handled the same as always. My guess is there will also be a group of travel agents having an event as well.

There has always been and always will be preferred check in lines for Suite/elite/platinum passengers no reason that would change.

We were hoping they would cancel the BVE that day, but looks like that will not happen.

There has never been separate lines at security for preferred passengers, there are separate check-in positions with signage and separate seating in the waiting area.

Unlike pier 35, security is BEFORE the check-in process, so once you have finished security you are finished with security and "beverage control" you go the check-in and the waiting area. everyone boards through the same door which leads to the gangway. This include reboarding passengers as well as joining passengers etc.

I am not sure why some people think this is going to be a problem as it is a normal operation and nothing new.

I only posed my questions about the gangway because unlike pier 35 you only have one gangway compared to pier 35 two gangways. I saw a small gangway from the lower deck but I was told by Metro Services that it was for crew only.

I'm doing the BVE with friends and one person only has an alien registration card as his ID and when I did a cruise and BVE in May with friends there were 2-3 employees at checking that acted like they had never seen a card like this and one person said that they didn't know what to do. They finally processed him but they were all confused about what to do. At the gangway they weren't going to let the 2 of us that we're booked on the cruise to board because we were told "only BVE passengers could board". I had to make a big fuss to be able to board. Hope there won't be any problems on our cruise as there are many of us doing the BVE with friends.

Tom:)