Princess transfers…. need information

[monakayk]

Can someone please explain to me how Princess transfers work? 

 

I've never used them before and I don't know how to be able to set it up so that we can have a transfer of our luggage to the airport by Princess after our cruise. We're cruising out of San Francisco and we would like to be able to walk around Fishermen's Wharf after disembarkation, but we don't want to  have to carry our luggage around town with us. We would like to be able to send it forward to the airport since we have a late flight.

 

Any information concerning how Princess transfer works would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Edited June 8, 2023 by monakayk

[KreinKrunker]

1 hour ago, monakayk said:

Can someone please explain to me how Princess transfers work? 

Luggage is usually put in the belly of the bus, then you board, and ride to the airport with your luggage.  The luggage is then unloaded at the terminal you are flying from.  I don't think Princess has a program in San Francisco that sends your luggage ahead to the airport, like in Fort Lauderdale.

[LeeW]

And you have to pick up the luggage as it is unloaded from the bus and take it yourself into the airport and check it in with the airline.

 

Princess does have a program in Port Everglades and Miami that includes getting your boarding passes and sending your luggage directly onto the airplane.  Seattle runs a similar program for cruise lines that sail out of there.  Never heard of this in San Francisco.

[miagirl]

Princess offers transfers to the Vancouver airport with this feature as well.  I think it really all depends on the port and airport facilities.  I'm sure Princess has some sightseeing type transfers for those with late flights. 

[arizonaperson]

@monakayk

 I do not have first hand experience at this ,but if I’m understanding you ...

you want to disembark in San Francisco collect your luggage in the luggage area and then you want Princess to send your luggage on a transfer bus without you ( Who would collect your luggage once it’s at the airport? )and you want to walk around Fishermans wharf and then catch the transfer bus to the airport? I don’t think Princess works that way ,but I could definitely be wrong .

 Usually when you sign up for the Princess transfer bus after you disembark the ship you and your luggage meet at a specific time( think before 10 am) and you hop on the bus and go to the airport with your luggage under the bus and then you get off at your designated terminal and check your own luggage in .

Some cities you can get off the ship and take a sightseeing tour and then they’ll drop you off at the airport, if you have a late afternoon/night flight and your luggage stays under the bus  while you tour around .( i.e. Ft Lauderdale)

 

 Maybe there’s a place in San Francisco to store your luggage? I have no idea on that one .  I’ve never seen one but I wasn’t looking for one either .

 You also might want to check the cruise critic West Coast departure forum,somebody might have an answer for you .

 Maybe there’s a hotel close by and you could check with the porters and leave your luggage there? Again might be a safety issue ,don’t know. But you could say you just checked out of your room and you’d like to store your luggage before you go to the airport -might work ??

Edited June 9, 2023 by arizonaperson

[juniper berries]

To use a Princess transfer that gets you to the airport for a late flight you need to pick a transfer that has a princess  tour  that drops you at the airport. Your luggage will go on the bus with you. You need to collect your luggage in the terminal at the end of the cruise  and take it with  you to the bus  and it will be underneath  the bus. 

The listing of the transfers with tours should be listed in the shore excurrsion  on the last day of the cruise. This is where they were found pre covid. Hope this helps clear up some of the mystery  of the transfer to the airport.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

5 hours ago, monakayk said:

Can someone please explain to me how Princess transfers work? 

 

I've never used them before and I don't know how to be able to set it up so that we can have a transfer of our luggage to the airport by Princess after our cruise. We're cruising out of San Francisco and we would like to be able to walk around Fishermen's Wharf after disembarkation, but we don't want to  have to carry our luggage around town with us. We would like to be able to send it forward to the airport since we have a late flight.

 

Any information concerning how Princess transfer works would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Before the pandemic Princess used to offer a special “ship to airport” luggage service (I forget the name) where for around $25 per bag, they would use your flight information to actually acquire special baggage tags from the airline you were booked with a day before disembarkation.
 

You would put one of these specially created tags on each of you applicable bags, put them outside your cabin door that night before, and the next time you would see them would be when you arrive at your final home airport destination.

 

Princess took complete responsibility to coordinate the process for your luggage to be turned in at the airport baggage checkin location, have them processed through security, and subsequently loaded on the plane using new tags generated at the airport using the information provided on the initial tags you put on your luggage the night before.

 

Then when cruising started back up that program was not restarted for a variety of reasons I would imagine. However, if I remember correctly we used that service when we disembarked the Caribbean Princess in May 2022 after our Panama Canal cruise. It is a really cool program, but I believe it’s port dependent. But once you’re on your cruise Princess will definitely let you know about it, if they’re planning to offer it when you disembark in SF. However, I believe it only works for domestic flights.

Edited June 9, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[monakayk]

13 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Before the pandemic Princess used to offer a special “ship to airport” luggage service (I forget the name) where for around $25 per bag, they would use your flight information to actually acquire special baggage tags from the airline you were booked with a day before disembarkation.
 

You would put one of these specially created tags on each of you applicable bags, put them outside your cabin door that night before, and the next time you would see them would be when you arrive at your final home airport destination.

 

Princess took complete responsibility to coordinate the process for your luggage to be turned in at the airport baggage checkin location, have them processed through security, and subsequently loaded on the plane using new tags generated at the airport using the information provided on the initial tags you put on your luggage the night before.

 

Then when cruising started back up that program was not restarted for a variety of reasons I would imagine. However, if I remember correctly we used that service when we disembarked the Caribbean Princess in May 2022 after our Panama Canal cruise. It is a really cool program, but I believe it’s port dependent. But once you’re on your cruise Princess will definitely let you know about it, if they’re planning to offer it when you disembark in SF. However, I believe it only works for domestic flights.

The above is what I was wanting to know about. Do I need to call Princess to find out if they still offer this or will my travel agent know?

[Ken the cruiser]

2 minutes ago, monakayk said:

The above is what I was wanting to know about. Do I need to call Princess to find out if they still offer this or will my travel agent know?

That’s a good question I have no answer for. You might also check out the current CC Roll Call thread for the ship you’re booked on, especially if it’s disembarking in SF, to see if Princess has mentioned anything about this service being available on their cruise.

[ldubs]

Out of curiosity I googled luggage storage at SF Pier 27.   Looks like there is a luggage storage place at Fisherman's wharf.   I normally don't like to send folks to google, but it is probably easier than my trying to repeat it here. 

 

Also found this old post about storage at Pier 39.  Here is a link (if I did it right):

 

Post cruise luggage storage in San Francisco

Edited June 9, 2023 by ldubs

[monakayk]

32 minutes ago, ldubs said:

Out of curiosity I googled luggage storage at SF Pier 27.   Looks like there is a luggage storage place at Fisherman's wharf.   I normally don't like to send folks to google, but it is probably easier than my trying to repeat it here. 

 

Also found this old post about storage at Pier 39.  Here is a link (if I did it right):

 

Post cruise luggage storage in San Francisco

I Googled it too and this is very helpful to me thank you!

[DCThunder]

I'm sure there will be a friendly (although slightly disheveled looking) person hanging around Fisherman's Wharf who'd be more than happy to watch your luggage for you while you went off and had lunch and toured the area.  Just leave it with them.  It'll be perfectly safe...😁

[monakayk]

Thanks everyone for the information.

[CTGirl74]

On 6/8/2023 at 9:09 PM, LeeW said:

And you have to pick up the luggage as it is unloaded from the bus and take it yourself into the airport and check it in with the airline.

 

Princess does have a program in Port Everglades and Miami that includes getting your boarding passes and sending your luggage directly onto the airplane.  Seattle runs a similar program for cruise lines that sail out of there.  Never heard of this in San Francisco.

 

Rather than starting another thread, maybe you know the answer to this. My sisters and I will be cruising on Princess for the first time in January. We're leaving from Port Canaveral. We're having a tough time finding flights that don't cause us to have a huge layover, have to hang around Fort Lauderdale or the airport all day, or take a red-eye flight (we're all in the Northeast). My thought was to fly to and from Miami since it's only 30 minutes from the port. Any idea if Princess will do transfers from Miami International to Port Canaveral and vice versa?

[Fortunate 2 travel]

1 hour ago, CTGirl74 said:

 

Rather than starting another thread, maybe you know the answer to this. My sisters and I will be cruising on Princess for the first time in January. We're leaving from Port Canaveral. We're having a tough time finding flights that don't cause us to have a huge layover, have to hang around Fort Lauderdale or the airport all day, or take a red-eye flight (we're all in the Northeast). My thought was to fly to and from Miami since it's only 30 minutes from the port. Any idea if Princess will do transfers from Miami International to Port Canaveral and vice versa?

Port Canaveral is much closer to Orlando than Miami.  It's only 46 miles approximately where Miami is 220 miles approximately.

[voljeep]

10 minutes ago, Fortunate 2 travel said:

Port Canaveral is much closer to Orlando than Miami.  It's only 46 miles approximately where Miami is 220 miles approximately.

pretty sure @CTGirl74 meant Port Everglades ... as Princess won't start cruising from PC until Nov. 2024

Edited June 12, 2023 by voljeep

[Traveler1977]

1 hour ago, CTGirl74 said:

 

Rather than starting another thread, maybe you know the answer to this. My sisters and I will be cruising on Princess for the first time in January. We're leaving from Port Canaveral. We're having a tough time finding flights that don't cause us to have a huge layover, have to hang around Fort Lauderdale or the airport all day, or take a red-eye flight (we're all in the Northeast). My thought was to fly to and from Miami since it's only 30 minutes from the port. Any idea if Princess will do transfers from Miami International to Port Canaveral and vice versa?

Are you cruising out of Port Canaveral or Port Everglades? The two ports are approximately 200 miles apart. As another poster mentioned, Port Canaveral is near Orlando and Port Everglades is minutes away from Ft. Lauderdale.  

[CTGirl74]

Sorry, it's Port Everglades. I have no idea why I keep thinking Port Canaveral. 🙂

 

I can't edit my original comment anymore (# 14 above), so the correct question is: Any idea if Princess will do transfers from Miami International to our hotel and then hotel to Port Everglades pre-cruise, and then Port Everglades to Miami International post-cruise?

 

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by CTGirl74
Clarification