Yay! New SFO terminal is done!

[shepp]

Looks really nice. And - at least for the time being - we Princess cruisers will be the major beneficiaries.

 

http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/New-SF-cruise-ship-terminal-to-open-4304945.php

[Colo Cruiser]

Nice!

[DrivesLikeMario]

Sounds like cruise ships won't be using it until 2014 though. What terminal do they come into now? The new one looks nice so far!

[timetravler]

This is really a step up from the old where you have to wait out on the sidewalk. This should have been built a long time ago. SF is such a beautiful port with much to see and do. But it can be difficult. I last boarded in SF in 2009 the Sea Princess. We took the 10am Vallejo ferry to then city and were on board by 11:40. It was a great experience. So I have only heard it being difficult to board. Still the new pier will really be a big plus. Oh we boarded the Sea Princess at pier 41, I think. Don't know where they board now.

[gcvt]

Sounds like cruise ships won't be using it until 2014 though. What terminal do they come into now? The new one looks nice so far!

 

We currently use Pier 35 which can fit two ships at a time. It's a warehouse at best. It's a rat infested craphole at worst.

 

So excited about this news! :D

[caribill]

So excited about this news! :D

 

Not ready for a cruise ship yet:

 

The Phase I construction that's completed now will allow the facility to be used for a variety of America's Cup events.

 

The second phase of construction will include completion of the cruise ship areas

[gcvt]

Not ready for a cruise ship yet:

 

The Phase I construction that's completed now will allow the facility to be used for a variety of America's Cup events.

 

The second phase of construction will include completion of the cruise ship areas

 

Oh, I'm well aware! But it's a good thing for our city.

 

We'll never get out from under our unfunded liabilities, entitlement programs, etc. but at least we'll have a first class cruise pier next year :)

[flamomo]

It'd be nice when the new one opens to cruise ships, if it means there would not be a repeat of the Embarkation from Hell in March of 2012 on the Star!! LOL!

[StLouisCruisers]

It'd be nice when the new one opens to cruise ships, if it means there would not be a repeat of the Embarkation from Hell in March of 2012 on the Star!! LOL!

 

I was thinking the same thing! A total nightmare!:(

[OceanPatter]

Like all of you, I'm greatly anticipating the opening of the new cruise terminal (to cruise ships) in 2014, although I believe that it can only accommodate ships up to 2600 passengers, and primarily the Grand Princess (which will be based in SF). Does anyone know otherwise?

[sunsetbeachgal]

We currently use Pier 35 which can fit two ships at a time. It's a warehouse at best. It's a rat infested craphole at worst.

 

So excited about this news! :D

 

Agree 100%. We were on the Sapphire in October and SF was a port stop..when I walked off the ship and into that nasty warehouse I could hardly believe it...cold, dark, smelled like bus exhaust, etc. I thought what a terrible first impression, especially for those embarking the ship. Glad to hear a new one is replacing it!!

[cruzisme]

Yes it will be great when it opens. Was shocked when we sailed into /SF to such an ugly space. But looking forward to the new terminal.

[deadzone1003]

Agree 100%. We were on the Sapphire in October and SF was a port stop..when I walked off the ship and into that nasty warehouse I could hardly believe it...cold, dark, smelled like bus exhaust, etc. I thought what a terrible first impression, especially for those embarking the ship. Glad to hear a new one is replacing it!!

 

Think of being in a time-warp, this is how people travel to Hawaii 70 years ago:D

 

Specs are 2600 people optimally and 4000 people peak capacity.

 

Remember, if there are 3 ships in port, one of them will be at the old terminal,

but that usually only happens when ships are repositioning to/from Alaska.

[ginnynj]

Looks really nice. And - at least for the time being - we Princess cruisers will be the major beneficiaries.

 

http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/New-SF-cruise-ship-terminal-to-open-4304945.php

 

Thanks for sharing. Looking really nice.

[gp1oseg]

Hopefully this will let other lines sail from SF we took a cruise from SF on NCL and 2 on Celeberty. With more options it might drive down prices. So we can cruise more often. Princess is a good line but overpriced out of SF because they have a captured audiance.

[iceleven]

Hopefully this will let other lines sail from SF we took a cruise from SF on NCL and 2 on Celeberty. With more options it might drive down prices. So we can cruise more often. Princess is a good line but overpriced out of SF because they have a captured audiance.

 

Even with the higher prices, isn't that offset by the airfare and hotels one would pay having to cruise from another port? Of course, competition would be great. I'm all for more options that allow me to not have to fly.

[bdjam]

For those of us who are real architecture geeks, there's a couple of websites that go into great detail about the new terminal and include links to renderings, floor plans, and this:

 

http://www.sf-port.org/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=2875

 

The James R Herman Cruise Terminal project site is here:

 

http://www.sfport.com/index.aspx?page=282

[shepp]

Just rode by there today: the terminal is really great looking in person, and I hope it's as efficient as it is beautiful.

 

And though 35 and 27 are certainly not wonderful, the SFO pier experience was still better than the Buenos Aires nightmare, or the massive inconvenience of Valparaiso, or... hey, I don't recall the terminals I've embarked from at Port Everglades being little Taj Mahals, either. And though traffic flow on the Embarcadero is awful, at least when I get off the ship, I see Coit Tower, not San Pedro.

 

Back in the day, I sailed out of SFO on X, which now slaps up big ads all over town but doesn't bother cruising out of anywhere closer than San Diego. Though I'm not sure why so few lines ever sail out of here, I doubt it had much to do with the piers being old. Yes, we're midway on the coast, and thus farther to Alaska, farther to Mexico and Panama, and often that means an extra sea day or two. So maybe other lines just figure they'll leave the market to Princess, a decision I'm not personally unhappy with.

 

And yes, Princess can charge whatever for SFO departures and still sell out most sailings. Hey, it's much more expensive to live here than in Galveston, but having spent the day seeing the Chinese terracotta warriors at one of the world's greatest Asian art museums, eating an In-N-Out double-double animal style at the Wharf, and riding down the sunny Embarcadero to see a show at the Cartoon Art Museum before heading home to my Mission District apartment overlooking some lovely Victorians, I do think that sometimes you get what you pay for.

 

I hope you all enjoy sailing from San Francisco more than before.

[TheBestIsYetToCome]

We currently use Pier 35 which can fit two ships at a time. It's a warehouse at best. It's a rat infested craphole at worst.

 

So excited about this news! :D

 

I agree. That quonset-hut-slash-wind-tunnel is the most inglorious welcome to one of the greatest cities in the world.

 

This is very, very good news and it just put a Princess cruise back into the mix for our next vacation.

[shepp]

This is very, very good news and it just put a Princess cruise back into the mix for our next vacation.

 

With all due respect...how much time do you actually spend inside a cruise terminal? Thirty minutes? An hour? Two, max? Yes, it's very good news, but the very, very worst terminal experience I (and many other folks) have had was in Buenos Aires, and even that wouldn't keep me from sailing into Argentina again...I don't think.

[gcvt]

With all due respect...how much time do you actually spend inside a cruise terminal? Thirty minutes? An hour? Two, max? Yes, it's very good news, but the very, very worst terminal experience I (and many other folks) have had was in Buenos Aires, and even that wouldn't keep me from sailing into Argentina again...I don't think.

 

Enough to know it's a craphole and a terrible beginning to a vacation :p Put it this way, after our RCI cruise 13 months ago we began telling the GF's best friend about how she should go on one with us and how fantastic it is. Well, she did the BVE with us last September on Star. She works across the street from Pier 35. The look on her face when she entered the Pier was absolutely priceless...a look of horror like I've never seen. It's a big part of the experience! On ship, she had a wonderful time, of course.

 

The GF works at the Exploratorium which just moved to Pier 15 so I go by the cruise pier quite often. It's pretty darn exciting. We can't wait to walk through it on our way to Hawaii! World class city needs a world class pier.

 

Heck, if they kept sailing out of 35, we'd still cruise out of SF. But the new pier is good for the cruise industry as a whole.

[TheBestIsYetToCome]

With all due respect...how much time do you actually spend inside a cruise terminal? Thirty minutes? An hour? Two, max? Yes, it's very good news, but the very, very worst terminal experience I (and many other folks) have had was in Buenos Aires, and even that wouldn't keep me from sailing into Argentina again...I don't think.

 

I, personally, wasn't willing to spend one more minute there, not when there are plenty of great trips out there that don't start or end there. It's chaotic and unpleasant, leaves you wondering if your luggage will ever arrive, and just starts the trip off in an unpleasant way, and I just didn't want to do it again. Now I will.

[shepp]

Enough to know it's a craphole and a terrible beginning to a vacation :p Put it this way, after our RCI cruise 13 months ago we began telling the GF's best friend about how she should go on one with us and how fantastic it is. Well, she did the BVE with us last September on Star. She works across the street from Pier 35. The look on her face when she entered the Pier was absolutely priceless...a look of horror like I've never seen. It's a big part of the experience! On ship, she had a wonderful time, of course.

 

Well, clearly people have differing thresholds of "horror." I can only hope your friend never, ever has to go through the Tenderloin; she won't survive the experience. Or goes to a bus terminal in South America. Or a train station in India. Or...

 

Honestly, having negotiated the terminal something like a dozen times...it's a big old drafty shed. Big deal. I never saw a rat. I never smelled crap. The Platinum/Elite waiting area, while not particularly lovely, was still nicer than the crowded corner I endured in Port Everglades. And in fact, in its looming warehouse-ness, 35 seems a lot like the old Exploratorium space at the Palace of Fine Arts.

 

Sometimes I do wonder how much of the non-shore-excursioned world some of my fellow cruisers have actually seen. Yes folks, even San Francisco isn't all Pier 39 and Nordstrom. But I'm betting the new terminal will please everyone's refined sensibilities.

[gcvt]

Well, clearly people have differing thresholds of "horror." I can only hope your friend never, ever has to go through the Tenderloin; she won't survive the experience. Or goes to a bus terminal in South America. Or a train station in India. Or...

 

Honestly, having negotiated the terminal something like a dozen times...it's a big old drafty shed. Big deal. I never saw a rat. I never smelled crap. The Platinum/Elite waiting area, while not particularly lovely, was still nicer than the crowded corner I endured in Port Everglades. And in fact, in its looming warehouse-ness, 35 seems a lot like the old Exploratorium space at the Palace of Fine Arts.

 

Sometimes I do wonder how much of the non-shore-excursioned world some of my fellow cruisers have actually seen. Yes folks, even San Francisco isn't all Pier 39 and Nordstrom. But I'm betting the new terminal will please everyone's refined sensibilities.

 

The GF and her friend lived in, and met in the TL - one living at Geary & Larkin and the other up on Leavenworth. And the GF's friend has traveled to South America twice.

[shepp]

The GF and her friend lived in, and met in the TL - one living at Geary & Larkin and the other up on Leavenworth. And the GF's friend has traveled to South America twice.

 

Then I can only imagine the "unparalleled horror" thing is a bit of humorous hyperbole. Have you ever been at Golden Gate and Jones at night?