Does anyone recommend 10 nighter out of san fran to alaska????

Hi guys.

We are a couple from Australia and are considering the 10 night cruise to Alaska out of San Francisco. Haven't been to either place yet and it is a bucket list cruise for us. I thought I read the grand might be relocating to LA in 2020????; does anyone know what ship might do this cruise???. Would about 3 days in San Fran be long enough to see the sights????.

We are coming a long way and just trying to get this right.

Travelling probably in September, 2020.

Thanks so much in advance for any help.

CHEERS Bob & Chris.:)

Yes. We were on this wonderful cruise this August. Less flying, more time on board, exceptional staff, an older but well-maintained ship, good to excellent food. Can't think of any negatives. Our cruise visited Sitka as well as Glacier Bay. I would do it again next year if I could talk my wife into it.

Cheers.

Cheers.

Seeing Alaska is special. I have always said that if a person could only do one cruise in their life, it should be an Alaskan cruise.

One thing I can state with certainty is that once you see any part of Alaska, you will want to experience more of it. For that reason I recommend booking the Princess Cruises 15 day Connoisseur Escorted cruise tour starting in Fairbanks, Alaska with the 8 day land tour followed by the 7 day cruise portion.

I have done the 10 night and loved it, but if you can do it, the connoisseur tour is beyond fabulous.

It took my wife years to get me on a ship as I "absolutely knew for certain" that I would hate everything about it. Hah! Our first cruise was the 10 day SF/Alaska round trip. At that time Sea Princess was sailing out of San Francisco. We had the tiniest cabin I have ever seen all the way forward and inside. When we got off of the ship back in SF I wanted to turn around and get right back on. Loved the cruise but it sure has cost me a lot of money since! I only I had hated cruising like I thought I would I could have saved soooooooo much money. ;p

Absolutely! We just took this cruise last month. We live locally so it was super easy for us. 3 days in SF is enough to see the city. It’s actually a very small big city. Be sure your itinerary includes glacier bay! It’s amazing!

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Not sure I would want to do Alaska in September. It is the end of the cruising season. Not sure how anyone else feels about cruising there in September.

We too, were on the SFO/RT to Alaska in August....the Grand and it was, well, Grand. We had an excellent time and being able to fly RT to SF was so much easier than almost every other itinerary. However, I agree with other posters who say that you can't see many of the great things in Alaska on this cruise, but it is cheaper, etc. If you've got the time and money, I'd try to see Denali, etc, but it you want a less expensive "sampler" you can't can't beat this one. steve

Thanks guys that have responded. Really appreciate your advice.

Sounds fantastic.

Regards Bob.:D

Not sure I would want to do Alaska in September. It is the end of the cruising season. Not sure how anyone else feels about cruising there in September.

Why would that matter? I will tell you there were hardly any children (plus), there was not a drop of rain while in port anywhere. Nothing but sunshine and it was amazing! Blue sky and sunshine in Glacier Bay too! I cannot see a downside to cruising Alaska in September. We had the most amazing trip!

We are also from Australia and did the Grand Princess trip to Alaska in May this year. It was fabulous. We did a 4 day stopover in Hawaii on the way over and then 2 days before and 2 days after the cruise in San Francisco. There's a lot to see and do in San Francisco so I think you would need 4 days considering the first day could be a bit of a write off after the long flight.

Not sure I would want to do Alaska in September. It is the end of the cruising season. Not sure how anyone else feels about cruising there in September.

That first cruise of ours was September 7th through 17th, 2011. We got lucky and had tee shirt weather everywhere but Glacier Bay.

Not sure I would want to do Alaska in September. It is the end of the cruising season. Not sure how anyone else feels about cruising there in September.

Sailed Alaska twice in September. Last year it was cold and rainy. This year it was warm/hot and dry.

We drive to San Francisco to catch the ship, but flying from Australia is a whole different thing. We have met people from Australia on the ship, 10 day to Alaska. I would say you could see all of San Francisco in 3 days. Alcatraz, Pier 39, walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, Golden Gate Park Arboretum, museums at Golden Gate Park, the Cliff House are just a few of the sights that would be on my bucket list. We're flying to Sydney in January to cruise the Fiji Islands. We're going 3 days ahead of time, I think that's long enough to see the sights. Alaska is beautiful. However, we are tired of the Grand and will probably fly up to Anchorage to meet the Royal again. Love that ship! We won't miss the Grand.

If San Francisco isn't the only city you would consider sailing from, Princess sails to Alaska round trip out of Los Angeles as well. It's a 12 day cruise versus SF's 10 day.

I'm from the bay area and I agree with everyone else- San Francisco is actually a pretty small big city, but there are a lot of things you can do- and there are lots of things outside of the city you might want to do as well (wine country, Muir Redwoods, Monterey etc.) I t would be worth it for you to do some research and figure out what you don't want to miss before deciding how long to stay!

Thanks guys that have responded. Really appreciate your advice.

Sounds fantastic.

Regards Bob.:D

The Grand would be the one ship we would not cruise on anymore.

It was the first Grand Class ship in 1998. I would read up on it really good. (reviews etc)

We hate that they removed the lounge Skywalkers a few years ago and last time we sailed there were water leaks on many decks.

I read that the grand may be relocated to LA in April of 2020. Does anyone have knowledge of which ship may replace her on the Alaskan run out of San Fran please.

Thankyou.

You asked and I disagree with most of the people who have responded. If you leave for AK from San Francisco, you waste several days cruising up the coast of California, Oregon and Washington before you even get to the place where most cruises to Alaska start. What do you want - California or Alaska. If you have only 10 days, do a one way cruise from Vancouver to AK and then spend as many days as you can finds on a DIY land tour of AK. Definitely do not do a cruise tour. Obviously many people just love them but in my opinion the tour parts of cruise tours have horrible itineraries. You may not go to as many places in AK if you do it as a DIY but your visit will be much more satisfying.

DON

Not sure I would want to do Alaska in September. It is the end of the cruising season. Not sure how anyone else feels about cruising there in September.

We once took the last cruise of the season to Alaska in September. Not only did we not get one drop of rain (I know!), every port was awash in drastically reduced merchandise! We loved it.

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Yes, Alaska is great in September! The salmon are running in the rivers, so there are good chances of seeing bears. Another good thing, already mentioned, is that there are far fewer teens onboard in September. Poorly behaved and foul mouthed teens almost ruined one of our July cruises to Alaska.

I have done 16 Alaska cruises, from Vancouver, from Seattle, and from San Francisco. They are all great! Do it, whichever one you like.

You won't be sorry.

We once travelled to Sydney, for the New Zealand cruise. We stopped off in Honolulu, both ways. It was still ten hours from Honolulu. Hawaiian Air flights to/from Honolulu to Sydney were great, although their check in was chaotic.

Enjoy Alaska!

I forgot to mention: be sure to bring layers! More than one sweater, a jacket, and winter hat/ gloves for Glacier Bay or Tracy Arm.

With layers, you will love it!

Thanks for all the advice guys.

CHEERS Bob.

I've been to Alaska four times, three of those in the spring and once in Sept. Unfortunately, Glacier Bay was a major disappointment (to me) on that Sept. cruise. There was virtually no snow on the mountains there and what was there was dirty-looking. And it was a damp, gray day. Not the beautiful scenery I was used to seeing in my May-June cruises. The weather on that cruise was better to good in Tracy Arm, fortunately, but dreary in Juneau where we went to Mendenhall Glacier and did a whale-watch excursion (did see a few so that was neat). Hope your weather is more agreeable!

Three days in SF will allow you to see a lot of the attractions; I advise getting a good guide book so you can figure out which attractions you want to see, before you arrive. Have you picked out a hotel yet? I would recommend one in the "heart" of the city so that you can walk (if you can handle the hilly terrain) or catch a cable car to the places you want to visit.

As for doing an Alaskan cruise out of SF, we did that on the Star P in May, 2014. We've been to SF many times and there are so many wonderful places/attractions to visit! It's never gotten "old." On that 2014 visit we used the Hop-On, Hop-Off bus as our transportation.

Sailing out of SF was spectacular--I was up on the deck below the bridge as we sailed. Windy, but well worth it for the views, going under the GG Bridge etc. I also loved the first day at sea as we sailed west of Vancouver Island (for the first time) in the late afternoon. The water was like glass and reflected the beautiful sunset sky; then water fowl unexpectedly started emerging out of the water--what a glorious experience.

Enjoy SF and your cruise!

If you plan to visit Alcatraz I strongly suggest buying tickets in advance online. Otherwise you may find that there is no seat for you when you want to go.