Sapphire Princess cruise

[manual1954]

Going on cruise along California coast Oct 6 -13. Want to do tour of Sonoma Wine Country in San Francisco. Want to know if it's worth the 129.00 pp to do three wineries during a 5 hour tour. Any comments appreciated.;)

[Tipbob]

I lived in Sonoma County for 30 years and never want to see another winery in my life. However, San Francisco is another matter. If this is your only day in SF, I'd stay in town. October is the best month in the city. Usually warm and sunny. Just gorgeous. Take Mr. Toad's Tours. Old fashioned open cars with great guides. Small groups. Or a walking/eating tour of Chinatown. I've lived in northern California my whole life and still look at SF as a great place for a weekend getaway. Wine? You can sample that anywhere. And a 5-hour tour is mostly driving. Or Alcatraz! Great fun audio tour. In fact, my husband and I are taking our 13-year-old granddaughters to SF this weekend for our annual getaway. SF is a great place to spend time. Swan's Oyster Depot for Dungeness crab. Hole in the wall, crowded and busy just off California line cable car on Polk. Take the F line down Embarcadero where the ship will probably be to Ferry building. Nice shops. Catch cable car up California to Polk. there's a lot to do and see in SF.

[Princess Patches]

We took the Sonoma wine country tour last October on the Sapphire. We went to the Jacuzzi and Cline wineries in the Carneros area and the Sebastiani winery in the town of Sonoma. We were given several wines at each winery to sample. It is a short stay at each winery and you do not tour the vineyards or the winemaking facilities because there is no time for that. They have a wine tasting tent set up where they explain the wines and you taste them. Then you have a little free time to go to the gift shop. I would have preferred going to just one winery and getting a complete tour of the facility and the vineyards. If I do it again, I will rent a car and do it on my own.

 

$129 is a better price than on our cruise. We paid $149 for our tour and it was up to $169 by the time we sailed. Princess raises the tour prices the closer you get to sailing date, so book early if you decide to go. You can always cancel up to a day or so before the tour without penalty if you change your mind.

[Astro Flyer]

We took the Sonoma wine country tour last October on the Sapphire. We went to the Jacuzzi and Cline wineries in the Carneros area and the Sebastiani winery in the town of Sonoma. We were given several wines at each winery to sample. It is a short stay at each winery and you do not tour the vineyards or the winemaking facilities because there is no time for that. They have a wine tasting tent set up where they explain the wines and you taste them. Then you have a little free time to go to the gift shop. I would have preferred going to just one winery and getting a complete tour of the facility and the vineyards. If I do it again, I will rent a car and do it on my own.

 

$129 is a better price than on our cruise. We paid $149 for our tour and it was up to $169 by the time we sailed. Princess raises the tour prices the closer you get to sailing date, so book early if you decide to go. You can always cancel up to a day or so before the tour without penalty if you change your mind.

We took the same tour on the Sapphire in May 2011 & we enjoyed it. At that time there were no independent tours that departed after our arrival in SF so it was either no tour or with Princess and we were happy with our decision to enjoy the Princess tour.

 

On the way back to the ship they allowed those who wanted to go to Fisherman's Wharf to get off the bus & get back to the ship on their own. After 3 generous wine tastings, we stayed on the bus back to the pier. :p

[Putterdude]

Welcome to Cruise Critic and I hope you have a great cruise.

We have not done the one offered thru the ship but did one that was put together thru some people from our roll call. It was done by Terrific Tours and we visited 5 wineries, 3 in the morning and 2 after lunch. We had a great time.

 

http://www.terrifictours.com/sf.html

[capriccio]

We took the Sonoma wine country tour last October on the Sapphire. We went to the Jacuzzi and Cline wineries in the Carneros area and the Sebastiani winery in the town of Sonoma. We were given several wines at each winery to sample. It is a short stay at each winery and you do not tour the vineyards or the winemaking facilities because there is no time for that. They have a wine tasting tent set up where they explain the wines and you taste them. Then you have a little free time to go to the gift shop. I would have preferred going to just one winery and getting a complete tour of the facility and the vineyards. If I do it again, I will rent a car and do it on my own.

 

$129 is a better price than on our cruise. We paid $149 for our tour and it was up to $169 by the time we sailed. Princess raises the tour prices the closer you get to sailing date, so book early if you decide to go. You can always cancel up to a day or so before the tour without penalty if you change your mind.

 

 

We did this tour (same vineyards) on the Sapphire repositioning to Vancouver this May because 1) we've been to San Francisco numerous times and have done the 'tourist' things 2) we like wine and 3) we didn't want the hassle of driving back into San Francisco around evening rush hour and fearing we wouldn't make the ship. We couldn't have driven ourselves anyway since (if I remember correctly) we had 3 tastings at Jacuzzi, 5 at Cline and 7 at Sebastiani.:p It was a pleasant afternoon.

[CruisingJs]

I lived in Sonoma County for 30 years and never want to see another winery in my life. However, San Francisco is another matter. If this is your only day in SF, I'd stay in town. October is the best month in the city. Usually warm and sunny. Just gorgeous. Take Mr. Toad's Tours. Old fashioned open cars with great guides. Small groups. Or a walking/eating tour of Chinatown. I've lived in northern California my whole life and still look at SF as a great place for a weekend getaway. Wine? You can sample that anywhere. And a 5-hour tour is mostly driving. Or Alcatraz! Great fun audio tour. In fact, my husband and I are taking our 13-year-old granddaughters to SF this weekend for our annual getaway. SF is a great place to spend time. Swan's Oyster Depot for Dungeness crab. Hole in the wall, crowded and busy just off California line cable car on Polk. Take the F line down Embarcadero where the ship will probably be to Ferry building. Nice shops. Catch cable car up California to Polk. there's a lot to do and see in SF.

 

Tipbob, I saw your post and just looked up Mr. Toad's Tours. That looks like it would be a lot of fun. Did you take one of their tours yourself? If so, can you tell me a little about it? Was it a good experience?

 

Edit: Oh no! I was just looking for reviews of the company and it looks like Mr. Toad has retired and closed the business. To bad...this looked great.

Edited August 7, 2012 by CruisingJs

[Tipbob]

Too bad about Mr. Toads Tours. It was great. Just got back from SF yesterday where we took kids to Alcatraz. Great tour! My 4th (and probably last) time, but still entertaining and informative. Hard to get tickets because it fills up. Run by Park Service so no private tours can stop on island, only circle enviously. Book ahead! Also I've heard walking/eating tour of Chinatown is fun. Or get $14 all-day pass for cable cars which are good on buses and trolley cars too and see it all, Fisherman's Wharf, cable car barn museum, to downtown. Check out the Neiman Marcus building. Beautiful glass ceiling. Palace Hotel, ditto. Ferry Building. Or a tour to Muir Woods in Marin County. Closer than wine tasting with redwoods.

[Tallcruiser]

Welcome Manual1954 to Cruisecritic. There are a few people on our roll call for this cruise that are discussing and planning some wine tours.

Come on over to our Roll Call and say Hello, maybe you will find more information there with your fellow cruisers. ;)

 

California Coastal - RT L.A. October 6, 2012 (1 2 3 ... Last Page)

WineCountryCruiser

[Jeff in Torrance]

I agree with Tipbob. Spend the time in San Francisco. Tour wineries at some other time. If your cruise goes to Ensenada, take the Wine Valley Tour. Great value..........I think we paid something like $39.....and it includes a bottle of wine that you can bring aboard.

 

http://www.princess.com/find/excursion/exDetails.page?tourCode=ESE-300&t=M&exType=S

[LHARTWICK]

Welcome to Cruise Critic and I hope you have a great cruise.

We have not done the one offered thru the ship but did one that was put together thru some people from our roll call. It was done by Terrific Tours and we visited 5 wineries, 3 in the morning and 2 after lunch. We had a great time.

 

http://www.terrifictours.com/sf.html

 

Was it just wine tasting or did you tour any of the wine making facilities or vineyard areas? Am looking at using Terrific Tours for our April 7 visit to SF. More details of your day would be greatly appreciated!