Panama Canal - Ft Lauderdale to SF cruise

So I looked it up. There has been about 1400 looks for the thread. There must be some interest in the FTL to SF direction, but thanks for the opposite.... This might my alternative.... But not my favorite. Chime on in! Princess, are you listening?

 

 

Peter - using Tapatalk on my iPad.

Edited November 10, 2014 by KulPeter

We would love to take this cruise! One way, or, round trip would be better. We are leaving soon on our first Princess cruise to Hawaii from SF and hope to experience more itineraries from this port.

I agree - it would be nice to have more of these itineraries and they could do it in 15 days just like they do to LA if they dropped one or two ports of call (meaning you'd have to be up for more sea days). I say let Princess know...they might want to do some market research to see if it's plausible for them. They do send the ships where the money is but who's to know if this isn't where the money is??

We would love to take this cruise! One way, or, round trip would be better. We are leaving soon on our first Princess cruise to Hawaii from SF and hope to experience more itineraries from this port.

 

 

I think so too. SF is a great port!

 

As for Hawaii.... we did that cruise almost two years ago. One of the best. It was nice to have the long voyage out. Good decompression time! Enjoy it.

 

 

Peter - using Tapatalk on my iPad.

Hi all,

I'm about to write a Dear Princess letter suggesting an itinerary that embarks Ft Lauderdale and disembarks in San Francisco. I need more points to include in my argument.

 

My own main reason is that I don't enjoy air travel lately - too crowded. But if I were to end a Panama Canal cruise at home (SF Bay Area), the decompress time would compensate. A 30 minute drive is so much better than a flight from cross country or from elsewhere after a relaxing cruise.

 

Ive come up with the following

 

- It's a great appeal to the SF and the Northern Calif market (covers my reasoning).

- Good to other surrounding markets to end in SF. Good end point to visit area after.

- Great appeal to the Fort Lauderdale market to see beautiful SF and surrounding, ie Napa, Tahoe, etc....

- I've seen Celebrity, SilverSea and Cunard offer this and the ships appear to be full and/or completely booked.

- New SF terminal.

 

I need some more points and support. What are your thoughts? Let me know. Thanks! -Peter

In May /June this year we were on the Island Princess from Fort Lauderdale to Vancouver and the Island stopped in San Francisco for the day,and what a beautiful place, Am not certain if it was a designated section as we booked right thru. but she did stop there ,Princess may have allowed some to have that as a section. Cant wait to call in there again .

With all due respect...

 

We all have cruises we'd like to see scheduled (especially if they're from a port 20 minutes from my house). Having sailed from SFO through the Canal to FLL a few years back, I'd have to say it was a favorite cruise of mine. Sure, Princess, schedule more of them! Also another cruise from SFO to Buenos Aires or Rio: that was the best! Spend more days in the Islands on the Hawaii cruises, and re-route past the Na Pali Coast and the lava flows. A couple of longer SFO-Alaska sailings. Fewer boring coastals, more Sea of Cortez. Schedule Japan cruises during good weather, so I won't have to go in July. And send a small ship to the Galapagos.

 

How'm I doing?

 

Hey, let's not forget that Princess is still the only line that sails from San Francisco on a regular basis. Maybe we should kvetch to Celebrity instead?

Edited November 11, 2014 by shepp

Sure this is about seeing if there is interest...

 

So there has been interest. Plenty of views, a little talking it up on the last couple of cruises. I'd love to say that this and other efforts may have had a part to make it happen..... (Wishful thinking!)

 

http://www.princess.com/find/cruiseDetails.do?voyageCode=2706#.VWUyXuC1TYo.mailto

 

Now, it's time to act. West coasters, specifically Northern California/Central California/Oregon, wouldn't it be nice to end your trip in San Francisco? :cool:

The problem with the Sept cruises from SF to Ft Lauderdale, is it is still in hurricane season in the Carribbean... especially. Not the most ideal time to cruise.

 

Princess could offer a RT and two one way cruises. I am sure they would sell out especially with experienced travellers. Today traveling by air is headache... no one looks forward to flying, while many look forward to cruising.

 

We are booked on itinerary 14 days RT on Cunard from NY to Quebec City. Cunard sells the cruise as 2 - 7 day trips and 1 -14 day... we are able to spend 2.5 days in Quebec City.

 

I am sure some folks would love to have a couple of days in San Francisco... the cruise line could run tours off the ship up to the wine country, the redwoods and the gold country.

 

We booked the 14 day on Cunard because we would rather fly a rt SF to NY vs and open jaw SF/NY and return Quebec to SF.

We would love to do the Panama cruise, but coming from Australia, the thought of the long flights are daunting. So until we win the Lottery and can travel 1st class with at least 3 stopovers, it's off our bucket list. :(

Sure this is about seeing if there is interest...

 

So there has been interest. Plenty of views, a little talking it up on the last couple of cruises. I'd love to say that this and other efforts may have had a part to make it happen..... (Wishful thinking!)

 

http://www.princess.com/find/cruiseDetails.do?voyageCode=2706#.VWUyXuC1TYo.mailto

 

Now, it's time to act. West coasters, specifically Northern California/Central California/Oregon, wouldn't it be nice to end your trip in San Francisco? :cool:

Better to begin and end in SFO.:)

Edited May 27, 2015 by Treven

Sure this is about seeing if there is interest...

 

How many cruise critic posts make a viable business plan?

 

There are lots of posts here "I wish princess would sail from/to my town."

For the people who are not near a deep-water commercial port, this

is much less likely.

 

The best way to get princess to homeport a ship in your town is to

get the government to waive port charges, like Houston.

 

And, to a lesser extent, Crown Bay.

Better to begin and end in SFO.:)

 

Wouldn't that be great!:D

We took the Panama Canal cruise from FLL to LA two years ago, and by far it was our favorite cruise. We had five sea days from Costa Rica to LA, as the ship didn't stop at any ports in Mexico on that particular itinerary. The sea days were totally relaxing and we had a great time, but they could just as easily had a couple of ports as well.

 

The short plane ride from LA to the Bay Area was okay, but you have the usual hassle of airport security, waiting for the plane to take off, etc. I would love it if Princess offered a full transit from FLL to SF as it would be one less plane ride for us.

 

I'm glad that Princess home ports a ship in SF, but agree with a previous post that we could use more varied itineraries, although Alaska and Mexico are both nice cruises.

 

SF is a beautiful destination for travelers from outside the area, so why not start/end more cruises there?

 

Karen

We have just returned from a FLL to SF cruise through the Panama Canal with X (17 days). We cruise with both cruise lines depending on the itineries. It was the most fabulous cruise and one of my favourites to date. Since Princess use SF as a home port, it would make introducing this trip a possibility. The only downside is the large fee paid to go through the canal (in excess of $350,000) which is possibly why the cruise companies do not sail through the canal on a very regular basis. Flying from the UK, we then spent 3 days in SF :), which was an added bonus.

This is now available in 2017. Ft Lauderdale to SF and SF to Ft. Lauderdale. Only 2 dates available in 2017. Trying to decide which one to book. Does it matter which direction you go in? I heard years ago that going from East to West is better, not sure why.

 

~Marilyn

Going FLL to SF, we gained 3 hours ie. had three nights with an extra hours ' sleep. Therefore SF to FLL you would lose 3 hours. If the ship calls into Puerto Vallarta, this can add an extra 'clock forward / clock back' !!

It depends on what time the ship is due to dock in SF (if you go FLL to SF), as an early morning dock (eg 7am) means you sail in under the Golden Gate bridge in the early morning at dawn and therefore darkness. At least sailing into FLL early you don't miss anything!!