HAL and San Francisco?

[fud2468]

I've tried a search for this but found no answer.

We are seniors and feel Hal might suit us better than a couple of other lines we've used. We don't want to fly to get to ships any more--it's not so much a fear of flying as it is the discomfort of it.

We live 60 miles from San Francisco and naturally want to be able to cruise to/from there. In my search I found that HAL ships hit San Francisco going at least in one direction in 2010, but apparently not this year.

Is there any chance that Hal will in the future have cruises to/ from S.F. as Princess does?

Thank you,

Ray Mac

[judy3972]

Why don't you call HAL and ask?

I'm sure you will get the best answer directly from them.

Hope it all works out for you, I know when we went out of San Diego and came back to the same port it was great with no airline travel.

[andeesue]

Would you consider Princess? I knowthat they have several Alaska cruises this summer that would be convenient for you.

[andeesue]

Sorry! I just reread your post and see that you are aware of the Princess cruises out of SF. Good friends who are longtime HAL fans have enjoyed Princess as well.

[Himself]

The summer after 9/11 the Princendam did some 2 week cruises out of SF to Alaska

[Nancyquilts]

The summer after 9/11 the Princendam did some 2 week cruises out of SF to Alaska

Unfortunately,that was 9 years ago. Wish it would come back.

[garydm]

Crystal is once again doing 12 day RT from SF to Alaska. We did this trip with them about 5-6 years ago and it was so convenient to take Amtrak to Emeryville then hop on the Amtrak bus and it dropped you at the cruise terminal.

 

Gary

[fud2468]

judy3972, I emailed HAL but haven't received an answer yet. That's why I stated the question here, hoping someone might know.

andeesue, we've sailed on Princess before and will be taking an Alaska cruise with them in August. But as I said, I thought HAL might suit us better, and that's because of our ages. I felt HAL would at least be worth a try.

Ray Mac.

[Winters in NZ]

San Francisco seems to be such an under-used port. We took a Celebrity repositioning cruise last fall which gave us an overnight in that gem of a city.

Apparently the cruise terminal is going to experience a major transformation, so there should be an increase in the number of cruises which use San Francisco for embarkation/disembarkation in the future.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

From what I know I serious doubt any time in the near future you will see HAL sailing out of San Francisco. Actually if HAL had it their way they would find a way to totally eliminate sailing out of Calfornia. I actually would not be surprised to see them start to sail out of Ensenada :D California has imposed so many restrictions that the cost make it almost impossible to turn any kind of profit.

[Hawaiidan]

San Fran is an expensive and over the top restrictive port ( regulations fees) Thats why the majority of commercial shipping moved from San Fran to Oakland many years ago. too many problems for:rolleyes: a cruise line

[igraf]

Not out of the question. Carnival and Celebrity sail out of Ensenada.

 

igraf

 

 

 

 

...I actually would not be surprised to see them start to sail out of Ensenada :D ...

[califgary]

San Francisco seems to be such an under-used port. We took a Celebrity repositioning cruise last fall which gave us an overnight in that gem of a city.

Apparently the cruise terminal is going to experience a major transformation, so there should be an increase in the number of cruises which use San Francisco for embarkation/disembarkation in the future.

 

They will be building a new cruise ship terminal which will be open for business Nov 2014 -

[fud2468]

Still no response from HAL to my email.

However in the meantime I've searched and found that HAL does not really cater to an older age group any more than any other cruise line.

Ray Mac

[3rdGenCunarder]

They will be building a new cruise ship terminal which will be open for business Nov 2014 -

 

I wonder if they will take another look at fees and restrictions in order to encourage business there. A fancy terminal might look good to passengers, but I doubt it has a big effect on which port the line chooses to sail from. We disembarked from Zuiderdam in SF last fall. The cruise terminal reminded me of our early days on HAL in NYC. It's just a big space with luggage and a line for customs. Nothing fancy. It was fine for leaving the ship. Buses and taxis were right outside. Don't know how it would be for embarking, or how it might handle two ships at once.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Good example of building a new cruise terminal is San Diego. It stands totally empty and probably will for many years to come. HAL will not use it for this upcoming year and going into the following year will be used even less once the Oosterdam and Carnival Spirit heads down under. With the exception of an occasional repositioning stop and a few Hawaii runs hear and there San Diego will rarely see a cruise ship in the near future.

So I guess the old saying of "Build it and they will come" does not hold true for cruising" :D Or not in these economic times and if Calfornia continues with their high costs connected with port stops for these ship and the requirement of the fuel they burn.

[gregdude]

If you sail when schools are in session and take longer cruises (21+) all ships will have an older passenger complement. I do think, in general, most HAL ships do attract more older passengers than say Carnival or RCI.