PaperSniper4

We were in mini E729 on the Grand going to Hawaii. We did have some strong winds, and had to have our Ultimate Balcony Dinner in the cabin.

 

It is one of our favorite cabins ever. Nice size and extremely comfy sofa. However, I expected the bathroom to be larger. C'est la vie!

Thanks for the additional info on that cabin.

Doug

E731 on the Grand is a balcony. It's considered a premium balcony because it has the aft view. The balcony is covered. I would be sure to pick cabins on the Emerald deck starboard side on the Grand. Port side cabins on the Grand tend to be noisy from the sound from the Vista Lounge.

Thanks for that helpful info!:cool: That is indeed my plan. We usually get a balcony cabin on the Caribe deck for our Caribbean/Hawaii cruises, but for this Alaska trip, our 50th anniversary, the cabin amenities and view are more important that a large balcony.

We booked E729 on the Grand last August in Alaska. We had a fantastic view from the extended balcony which was partially covered and there was no wind.

Thanks Suzie. I have been considering that specific cabin. It is a Mini, correct? I can't tell from the deck plans that it has an extended balcony (which is not that important to me), but I do appreciate hearing about the wind and that it is at least partially covered. I'm assuming the view is better from E729 near the stern than from the 6 or so Mini cabins farther forward on the Emerald deck?

Doug

E731 is a regular balcony cabin on the Grand. The cabin and bathroom are the same as any balcony cabin. We are booked in E730 next month on the Grand. We love the aft view and the covered balcony. Also, there is very little or no wind on these balconies.

 

The minis on the Grand Class ships do not have covered balconies except for 6 on each side of the Emerald deck. These cabins go quickly.

 

Happy 50th Anniversary. We are celebrating ours with a cruise to Alaska in June of this year!

 

Cheers, Denise

Thanks so much Denise! I appreciate hearing that, and solving the mystery. I was surprised to hear you say the wind was very little on that balcony, I'd expect it to be pretty bad since it was an aft cabin. But we have never had an aft cabin, so I cannot speak from experience.

So, I am not planning on booking one of the Emerald deck cabins.

Doug

I am thinking of booking this voyage on the Grand for our 50th anniversary in 2017. I like the idea of a covered balcony (Alaska cruise remember!), a better view, larger head and cabin, but don't particularly need a larger balcony for this voyage. I have read that the mini-suites on the Grand's Emerald deck might be preferred my many because they have a covered balcony, and some at least might have a better view than cabins farther forward on the Dolphin deck.

I see lots of recommendations for cabin E731 on Princess ships, but not specifically for the Grand Princess. They say it has a wider balcony and it's a Mini-Suite cabin. However, everywhere I go to verify that cabin is a mini on Princess' web page and other TA pages, cabin E731 is listed as a "balcony" cabin, category B4....not as a Mini cabin. I care about the view and size of the cabin more than the size of the balcony.

So, can anyone who has sailed on the Grand confirm that cabin E731 has the larger head and cabin as do the ME category cabins?

Confirmation is very much appreciated!:cool:

Worse case we are sailing on the Grand in April, and I could just go knock on on the door of E731 and ask, but I want to keep this 2017 cruise a secret from my wife for the time being......;)

Recently boarded from Port Everglades. Security is NOT Princess personnel. They don't really notice or care. There were three adults in our party, each brought 1 bottle. One person had a bag with all of them. We were in separate security lines (as directed by security staff) and the person holding all 3 bottles was never stopped or questioned.

 

The check in table was way off to the side and I never saw anyone stop there to ticket for extra bottles re: corkage.

 

So while none of us smuggled or brought more than our standard allowance, short of wheeling your own barrels through security I think you can bring as much as you want in practical application.

 

Your mileage may vary. this is not an endorsement to break rules. I am just reporting what I experienced.

I'd caution folks reading the above.....like the poster says, "Your mileage may vary.....". In my experience, you will most likely pay $15 for each bottle of wine you bring over your one "free" one. There are lots of exceptions, but best to be prepared......

Nope! Nothing at all like rum runners! The wine diaper is to keep your bottle of wine from breaking...but if it does, it absorbs 750ml of liquid. They are not designed to smuggle anything...it's to protect it.

Ah HA, I understand now. I still like using boxed wine instead.....part of that might be my Scottish ancestry....not that I'm thrifty or anyting! :rolleyes:

???

 

Why would you bring them home?

 

:D

My mistake:

To heavy to bring on board OR bring on an airplane. ;)

There are a few good ideas for smuggling wine also but they're all improvised. ;)

I don't bother to smuggle wine on board. But those Rum Runner flasks are much, much better IMHO that taking a chance with glass breaking, etc, plus they are much lighter than a glass bottle. For wine on a cruise, my favorite solution is still boxed wines, like Black Box or Botta.

We use Wine Diapers when we pack wine....

 

http://www.amazon.com/Diaper-Reusable-Absorbent-Eco-Friendly-Accessory/dp/B00308FONW

Those are similar to the Rum Runners we use for the "hard stuff".

I think the name is a bit better than the image I get from "Wine Diapers"! :eek: :cool:

Most of the SFO area hotels offer a free shuttle to/from the terminals. DoubleTree is one of them.

In my experience "most" is a bit of an over-statement. :cool:

I'm surprised no one mentioned boxed wines in this thread.

My wife and I always bring wine on Princess (etc) cruises and it is packed in our carry-on bags. Nice that Princess (and NCL) allow one 750ml bottle gratis per person, but even for a short cruise that might not be enough. So, we generally bring a 3l box of wine instead of bottles. That gives us plenty of wine, but of course we are way over the 750ml*2 = 1500ml limit per couple. We sometimes pay $15, but occasionally we pay for the amount over 1500ml, which is about another 1500ml, or two 750ml bottles of wine. So it costs us about $15-$30 to bring our Bota box on board, which we think is a bargain. The boxed wines are so much safer both transporting to the ship, and staring in the cabin. Boxes don't roll around, easily spill, etc.

A mox of wine might be something to consider on your next cruise. The problem with bringing a box, of course, is you are limited to just that one wine. Some of you might want a variety of wines, but luckily my wife and I like the same wine, and don't need variety (regarding wine anyway!) on a cruise.:cool:

I travel pretty often to SF and UBER has some options in SF that aren't offered elsewhere. I've been using Uber Pool which gives you a flat rate of about $14 from SFO to Fishermans Wharf. I've used it three times. They may pick up one additional passenger however the $14 is for one or two people so its cheaper than a shuttle.

My concern would be the "mountain" of luggage "we'd" have to fit in possibly a tiny car! Not that my wife packs a lot for these cruises......:eek:

On Uber's fare estimator, SFO-Fisherman's Wharf shows $32-$41 for UberX and $51-$66 for UberXL. As Philob commented, there's no "Uber Cab"...perhaps you're thinking of Uber Taxi which is a special service and not available in SFO.

 

Have a family member or friend who already uses Uber show you how it works. They can send you a promo code that will be good for about $15 or $20 off your first Uber ride. When you set up your account you provide a credit card to charge rides to. If it's a Capital One card you get a 20% discount. Cap1 owns an interest in Uber, the promo goes at least thru the end of this year.

 

I'm not familiar with SFO but they may have a curbside area for shared ride services. In any case you don't "hail" a car until you're curbside. Plug in your destination, the app will show fares for X, XL, etc. Select the service you want...the car that you hailed will pop up on a map, so you can see their progress towards you. It will also provide a vehicle description, plate #, and name/photo of the driver. The driver will almost always phone you to confirm all the details.

Thanks for that above. Very informative. I'd also forgotten about that discount on my first Uber ride, so I have to consider than also. Still, my wife seemed impressed with the idea of the limo (couple of posts above) picking us up at the airport!:cool:

Here's another option that give you plenty of space for your luggage. Rent a towncar? We did this with friends in Seattle for a cruise and it worked out great.

 

Right now you can book online for $49 plus tip. Hope this helps?

 

http://sanfranciscosuperlimo.com/

Thanks. Their "request a quote" page isn't working right now. I will give them a call later today. This would be an excellent option for us! Thanks for passing it along.

Made my day, and to think all these years I have just been using a stapler, generally at the hotel desk.

Yep, generally works fine. But I started using clear packing tape several years ago when one of my tags secured with only a staple was just hanging on "by a thread". It's an additional, simple, minimal cost/hassle protection. Even just regular old 1/2 inch tape is available at hotel desks, etc. I can't remove the cruise line's tags that are taped with using the nail clippers my wife keeps in her purse.:cool:

Distance is about 16 miles. Uber will cost you about $40 for two people. Here's a Airport site with costs for different transportation costs. It shows Uber cost.

 

http://www.fishermanswharf.org/airport-info.html

Hey, thanks to all for the good information. I also found THIS SITE that has useful information on it.

Anyone actually used a Uber Cab? In SFO or anywhere? My wife and I (mostly my wife's items!:rolleyes:) will have two large roller-bags and two smaller ones....plus at least one other hand carried bag like a purse or laptop bag sized. I suspect we could get that in the typical large yellow taxi (Crown Victoria), but I don't think it would fit in a regular Uber cab (UberX size). So I think we will probably need to get an UberXL, which is an SUV. Any suggestions on that?

From what I can determine, the cost of an UberXL will still be $15 or so less than the regular yellow cab......not that spending an additional $15 will break me after $7k for the cruise!:eek:

Thanks ya'll.

Doug

You had better hope that should you need your passport and don't have it that there is a US consulate/embassy nearby that is open. Otherwise the paper that the passport info is printed on is worthless.

"Worthless" is probably too strong.......that copy of a passport has most of the information an embassy would need to issue a duplicate......and having just that copy has been very useful to me on several occasions while in Europe.....in the Caribbean I think one could get by with a library card. :cool:

We travel a lot, but avoid air whenever possible. We have to fly into SFO for a Princess cruise in early April. I've never used Uber Cabs, but heard good things about them.

Couple questions:

How do I use Uber cabs? I understand there is a "smart phone" app I need on my phone?

I heard not to call for a ride until we're at the airport ready to go....I assume that means I've already gotten my bags. Where do I meet the Uber cab?

Anyone know how much I'd save by using an Uber Cab over a regular taxi? I know it's even less expensive to use a shuttle or BART other means, but Uber/taxi seems like the most straight forward and simple....which is worth several bucks to us!:cool:

Thanks!

We made several extra copies of each of our luggage tags, then sort of home laminated them, using clear plastic packaging tape, hole-punched them using an office paper punch. We then packaged them with our cruise documentation and paperwork, along with enough smallish nylon tie-wraps, and then attached them to all our luggage, including carry-on, checked and any miscellaneous items (ie. CPAP, etc) at hotel on embarkation morning.

 

...VTX-Al

Me too. I don't see any reason to spend a lot of money on luggage tag holders. That packing tape is as strong if not stronger. It's a very good idea to also use the cruise line luggage tags on your carry on bags....amazes me how many folks I see not doing that....and then seeing bags on the lido deck that evening looking forlorn and lonely......:rolleyes:

Leialoha and Dave,

 

Any chance you'll still be on the Diamond for the September 2016 sailings? I hope so.

Look at a couple of pages earlier and you'll see a link Dave posted where they will put their schedule when they know it.

Doug

Princess offers "Stay & Cruise" packages that provide transfers from the airport to a hotel and then on to the ship the next morning. It may not be the least costly option but it takes all the head aches and luggage handling out of the trip.

PS - I was at the opposite side of the Navy---fast attack submarines.

Oh, you WERE at the opposite side of the Navy! I was in P3s ASW trying to find you guys during many exercises! The other guys with the Slavic accents were much easier to find! :cool:

Thanks for the info on the "Stay and Cruise". I'll check into that. Sometimes convenience comes out ahead of cost!

Try here for hotels: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2210314

Thanks. Been looking at that one.........................apparently none of the hotels in the Fisherman's Wharf or Marina area have shuttles to either the airport or the pier. Looks like Shuttle/BART/cab from the airport to the hotel is going to be the best bet....I am unfamiliar with "uber" cab and will have to check that out also. We are in our mid-60s and don't want to lug around our 4 suitcases any more than we have to! :o

There are shared van rides to all parts of San Francisco .

This is usually the cheapest .Here is a link to the San Francisco airport

web site with approximate costs.

 

http://www.flysfo.com/ground-transportation

Updated link is http://www.flysfo.com/to-from/ground-transportation

Just got off the Star Princess(3/21-4/5) RT Hawaiian out of SF and used Pier 27. All well now. Any questions, just let me know. Nice area and better flow for bus, cab, and car traffic.

 

Pooh

We are flying into SFO on a Friday night in April. Thinking of spending one night at a hotel, them going to the Grand Princess for our Hawaii cruise the following day. After the cruise we plan to fly home that same day.

Looking for recommendations for transportation SFO to hotel to ship then ship to SFO. Plus hotel recommendations....I am cheap....something around $150 if possible!

Doug