San Francisco embarkation area?

[sfpd3000]

1 hour ago, Cruise Raider said:

I hope we see you again soon.  We have 2 more cruises booked for this spring out if SF, one on March 27 and one on April 30th.  

Which one is April 30th?  Grand?

Edited March 20, 2023 by sfpd3000

[sfpd3000]

1 hour ago, Cruise Raider said:

I hope we see you again soon.  We have 2 more cruises booked for this spring out if SF, one on March 27 and one on April 30th.  

Silvija says hi.  Sergio pulled some strings and we got assigned Alvin and Roel again.

[Cruise Raider]

12 hours ago, sfpd3000 said:

Silvija says hi.  Sergio pulled some strings and we got assigned Alvin and Roel again.

Oh my goodness, I love that!  Just loved Silvija!  And Alvin and Roel .. they are so awesome.  Alvin has been our waiter on numerous cruises and met him back when he was on the Ruby.  We were going to try to get his station on that short cruise we did back in February but everything was just so crowded, we never ended up going to the MDR for dinner.  We will next week and hope the ship won’t be nearly as full.  Tell Alvin we said hi and will look for him again next week. 
 

Also, we are going on the Royal on April 30th.  We are back again for Hawaii, of course, when you all disembark in a week.  Then, back on celebrity followed by the Discovery in LA before our little 3 day sailing on the Royal.  
 

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

17 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

I hope we see you again soon.  We have 2 more cruises booked for this spring out if SF, one on March 27 and one on April 30th.  

 

Were doing the April 30 out of SF also. Pier 27 I figure.

Til then its San Pedro...

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

15 hours ago, sfpd3000 said:

Which one is April 30th?  Grand?

 

Were doin Ruby.

Edited March 20, 2023 by CalLuvsCrusingToo

[Cruise Raider]

53 minutes ago, CalLuvsCrusingToo said:

 

Were doin Ruby.

 I think I may need to check my dates.  
Ahh yes, ours is April 30th on the Royal.  
The Embarcadero will be crowded that day.  The Royal will be at Pier 27 and the Ruby will be at Pier 35.  
That ought to be fun!  
 

Edited March 20, 2023 by Cruise Raider

[jujuyu211]

3 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

Oh my goodness, I love that!  Just loved Silvija!  And Alvin and Roel .. they are so awesome.  Alvin has been our waiter on numerous cruises and met him back when he was on the Ruby.  We were going to try to get his station on that short cruise we did back in February but everything was just so crowded, we never ended up going to the MDR for dinner.  We will next week and hope the ship won’t be nearly as full.  Tell Alvin we said hi and will look for him again next week. 
 

Also, we are going on the Royal on April 30th.  We are back again for Hawaii, of course, when you all disembark in a week.  Then, back on celebrity followed by the Discovery in LA before our little 3 day sailing on the Royal.  
 

Is Alvin and Roel in Royal? I am hoping to ask for traditional dining with same servers for our cruise on Royal.. would Sergio be the one to go to? Anyone know the Director of Restaurant Operations on Royal or recommend any servers?

[Cruise Raider]

8 minutes ago, jujuyu211 said:

Is Alvin and Roel in Royal? I am hoping to ask for traditional dining with same servers for our cruise on Royal.. would Sergio be the one to go to? Anyone know the Director of Restaurant Operations on Royal or recommend any servers?

I highly recommend Alvin on the Royal.  There’s really no traditional dining option anymore but getting the same table with the same servers makes it more like that.  
Sergio is the restaurant manager in the Concerto dining room but they do move around from time to time.  Also, the hostesses can work wonders for you, too.  
I am sure there are many good ones,  we just happen to know those ones the best.  They’ve been beyond excellent for us! 

[jujuyu211]

1 minute ago, Cruise Raider said:

I highly recommend Alvin on the Royal.  There’s really no traditional dining option anymore but getting the same table with the same servers makes it more like that.  
Sergio is the restaurant manager in the Concerto dining room but they do move around from time to time.  Also, the hostesses can work wonders for you, too.  
I am sure there are many good ones,  we just happen to know those ones the best.  They’ve been beyond excellent for us! 

Thanks Cruise Raider! I will say "hi" to them for you if I am fortunate enough to sit in their area 🙂

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

1 hour ago, Cruise Raider said:

 I think I may need to check my dates.  
Ahh yes, ours is April 30th on the Royal.  
The Embarcadero will be crowded that day.  The Royal will be at Pier 27 and the Ruby will be at Pier 35.  
That ought to be fun!  
 

 

Yikes will definately get there Early as usual. 🤭

[Cruise Raider]

9 minutes ago, CalLuvsCrusingToo said:

 

Yikes will definately get there Early as usual. 🤭

Great idea … looks as though your cruise is sold out and that could be a real mess later in the day if you embark at pier 35.  
Our cruise is short so we will just have a carry on.  We will probably just take BART over and walk to Pier 27 if it’s not raining.  Rain is not something we’ve usually had to worry about … this year, it just keeps on coming!  

[trbarton]

My experience lately was that it was extremely difficult to get anyone to assign you the same table/wait staff every night, especially if your traveling solo. 
 

What have people done that has worked on Princess?

 

Tom😀

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, trbarton said:

My experience lately was that it was extremely difficult to get anyone to assign you the same table/wait staff every night, especially if your traveling solo. 
 

What have people done that has worked on Princess?

 

Tom😀

 

 

  Even when I traveled solo, they gave me the same table with a waiter I just loved,  every night.  I / we have simply asked 

[sfpd3000]

7 hours ago, jujuyu211 said:

Is Alvin and Roel in Royal? I am hoping to ask for traditional dining with same servers for our cruise on Royal.. would Sergio be the one to go to? Anyone know the Director of Restaurant Operations on Royal or recommend any servers?

Claudio is the Director of Restaurant Operations.  I prefer saying maitre d’

[sfpd3000]

3 hours ago, trbarton said:

My experience lately was that it was extremely difficult to get anyone to assign you the same table/wait staff every night, especially if your traveling solo. 
 

What have people done that has worked on Princess?

 

Tom😀

Since we booked last minute, the only choice we had was Allegro at 6:40.  We were in line at guest relations and saw Claudio.   Went up to him and asked if we could switch to Concerto.  He said the only open times were 5:00 and 7:30.  No problem.  We took 5:00.  Then went to the dining room for lunch and saw Sergio.  Told him we wanted Alvin and Roel again.  He said no problem.  Didn’t even take down our cabin number.  Went to dinner that night and got the same table as before.

[sfpd3000]

8 hours ago, CalLuvsCrusingToo said:

 

Were doin Ruby.

I’m working the Grand on 4/28

[trbarton]

42 minutes ago, sfpd3000 said:

Since we booked last minute, the only choice we had was Allegro at 6:40.  We were in line at guest relations and saw Claudio.   Went up to him and asked if we could switch to Concerto.  He said the only open times were 5:00 and 7:30.  No problem.  We took 5:00.  Then went to the dining room for lunch and saw Sergio.  Told him we wanted Alvin and Roel again.  He said no problem.  Didn’t even take down our cabin number.  Went to dinner that night and got the same table as before.

I’ll be on the Royal next month & on my cruise last cruise on the Royal in November/December I never sat at the same table twice so  I guess I’ll have to wait until I’m onboard to see what happens. I’ll be in the Concerto so does anyone have any recommendations for the wait staff?

 

Tom😀

[SiliconCruiser]

On 3/19/2023 at 10:38 AM, sfpd3000 said:

And that’s why I don’t work full turns at Pier 35!

Are you one of those people working pay jobs on turnaround days?

 

[SiliconCruiser]

On 3/17/2023 at 3:08 AM, Clampram said:

What is this area like...I have seen images of people waiting in a long line outside?

Is there an inside building/facility and , more importantly, does it have rest rooms? We have a bit of a drive into San Fran so I am worried about where the "facilities" are, LOL

Thanks in advance

We were there in February and it seems that they've gotten their act together.  If you get there early (disregard your selected boarding time) you'll be able to get on board, drop your luggage off, and go have a leisurely lunch, and relax while everyone else boards.  Bear in mind that the pier is run by a company called Cruise Metro and for lack of personnel or trained personnel, they can cause a mess (also take into account that many of the people are elderly (and we're sometimes kinda slow,) so they try to follow what they've been trained (maybe) to do, but may require more time.  Then you have to go through security (also not Princess) before you get to the Princess employees that do the check-in. 
We were also there last July and while we got on early without issue, the ship left the port over an hour and a half late (the ship has to transmit the passenger manifest to CBP and hour before.)  We ended watching the ship sail under the Golden Gate from the MDR during dinner (no big thing, I'm a native.)

 

[SiliconCruiser]

22 hours ago, trbarton said:

I’ll be on the Royal next month & on my cruise last cruise on the Royal in November/December I never sat at the same table twice so  I guess I’ll have to wait until I’m onboard to see what happens. I’ll be in the Concerto so does anyone have any recommendations for the wait staff?

 

Tom😀

Odd.  In February, the assistant restaurant manager asked if we would like the same table each night, and we were accommodated.  They even held the table for us one night when we didn't expect to be on board.  We were mostly able to use the same table for both breakfast and lunch on most days. Apparently this information was also conveyed to the restaurant manager as well.  On most occasions, when someone saw us in line to enter the dining room, we were pulled around the line and led to our table.  Also, as it is not customary to tip supervisory/mangerial staff, we did not, but we did show our appreciation to the wait staff.

 

[SiliconCruiser]

23 hours ago, sfpd3000 said:

Since we booked last minute, the only choice we had was Allegro at 6:40.  We were in line at guest relations and saw Claudio.   Went up to him and asked if we could switch to Concerto.  He said the only open times were 5:00 and 7:30.  No problem.  We took 5:00.  Then went to the dining room for lunch and saw Sergio.  Told him we wanted Alvin and Roel again.  He said no problem.  Didn’t even take down our cabin number.  Went to dinner that night and got the same table as before.

I had that same issue!  We just went to Concerto and Sergio and his asst. mgr. took care of us.  All of a sudden we had "traditional dining"  (same table each night, and also for most breakfast and lunch days).

 

[SiliconCruiser]

On 3/20/2023 at 12:51 PM, Cruise Raider said:

Great idea … looks as though your cruise is sold out and that could be a real mess later in the day if you embark at pier 35.  
Our cruise is short so we will just have a carry on.  We will probably just take BART over and walk to Pier 27 if it’s not raining.  Rain is not something we’ve usually had to worry about … this year, it just keeps on coming!  

Couldn't you just take the F street car to the pier?

[trbarton]

4 minutes ago, SiliconCruiser said:

Odd.  In February, the assistant restaurant manager asked if we would like the same table each night, and we were accommodated.  They even held the table for us one night when we didn't expect to be on board.  We were mostly able to use the same table for both breakfast and lunch on most days. Apparently this information was also conveyed to the restaurant manager as well.  On most occasions, when someone saw us in line to enter the dining room, we were pulled around the line and led to our table.  Also, as it is not customary to tip supervisory/mangerial staff, we did not, but we did show our appreciation to the wait staff.

 

Since I’ve traveled solo I wanted to sit with others at the same table each night & they only once did they agree to  let me have the same table each night. My table was called “Papas Table” & many people wanted to sit there. Was your table with other people or by yourself?  For me cruising is meeting other people each night. I’ve made some long time friends at dinner & I could eat at by myself at home. . My experience since the Pandemic is much different than before. 
 

I was on an Alaskan cruise last years on Carnival & the 1st night at dinner I said that I would leave if they didn’t have a share table & that changed everything. 
 

Tom😀

[SiliconCruiser]

On 3/19/2023 at 6:49 PM, sfpd3000 said:

Which one is April 30th?  Grand?

Royal.  It is going to Vancouver for it's PVSA stop before going to their new port in Seattle for the Alaska season.  Like most cruise ships, the 3 day trip to Vancouver is to make the repo a revenue generating trip. 

 

[trbarton]

14 minutes ago, SiliconCruiser said:

Couldn't you just take the F street car to the pier?

Yes the F line Street Car is an excellent idea. Get off at the Jazz Cafe, pier 23. Remember that you need exact change to ride on our MUNI system. 
 

Tom😀

Edited March 22, 2023 by trbarton