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San Francisco Excursion Options

panda24
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panda24

panda24

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DH and I are looking at two Princess itineraries. Our main interest is San Francisco. The time in port is showing 7am -11pm. We definitely want to do Alcatraz. The excursions on the boat are showing a 5 hour tour as all day? Has anyone done a b2b excursion with Alcatraz and Muir Woods. Or can you suggest a private company that would be able to do both? We'd also like to stop for a photo opt with the Golden Gate Bridge.

 

 

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panda24

panda24

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Good to know. Would it be possible to do the Alcatraz excursion and then be back at the ship in time to do the Muir Woods or vice versa? We haven't booked yet so I can't see the time options.

 

 

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Kamloops50

Kamloops50

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DH and I are looking at two Princess itineraries. Our main interest is San Francisco. The time in port is showing 7am -11pm. We definitely want to do Alcatraz. The excursions on the boat are showing a 5 hour tour as all day? Has anyone done a b2b excursion with Alcatraz and Muir Woods. Or can you suggest a private company that would be able to do both? We'd also like to stop for a photo opt with the Golden Gate Bridge.

 

 

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Muir Woods and Alcatraz probably aren't doable in one day. We I've look at Muir Woods it was almost a 7 hour tour.

Alcatraz can get easily cancelled if the wind is blowing in under the Golden gate.

Edited by Kamloops50
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karen1821

karen1821

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Yes. And all the tour companys have given a schedule of leaving around 10:00am and getting back around 7pm. So that gives us plenty of time, as we dock at 9am and leave at midnight.

 

Hi there, I see you are on the Explorer in Sept. I sailed with you to Alaska in 2014. I will look for you in Sept. We are coming into Seattle two days early. So ready.

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Semi Retired

Semi Retired

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Hi there, I see you are on the Explorer in Sept. I sailed with you to Alaska in 2014. I will look for you in Sept. We are coming into Seattle two days early. So ready.

 

Hi!

Yes, the cruise that I didn't make it to the Meet N Mingle because of a migraine. I may not remember everyone, as there we're some medical issues at the time. It was a cruise for me to relax and forget about stressful stuff.

Are you signed up on the roll call for this Explorer cruise?

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karen1821

karen1821

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Hi!

Yes, the cruise that I didn't make it to the Meet N Mingle because of a migraine. I may not remember everyone, as there we're some medical issues at the time. It was a cruise for me to relax and forget about stressful stuff.

Are you signed up on the roll call for this Explorer cruise?

 

Yes. Trying to figure out if there are any shuttles from the ship to Fishermans Wharf. Do you know?

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gwsster

gwsster

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There are combo tours that will take you to Alcatraz then across to Angel Island. Angel Island is the Ellis Island of the West Coast and was very interesting. There is also the Disney museum that you can take a taxi to.

 

 

 

DH and I are looking at two Princess itineraries. Our main interest is San Francisco. The time in port is showing 7am -11pm. We definitely want to do Alcatraz. The excursions on the boat are showing a 5 hour tour as all day? Has anyone done a b2b excursion with Alcatraz and Muir Woods. Or can you suggest a private company that would be able to do both? We'd also like to stop for a photo opt with the Golden Gate Bridge.

 

 

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reallyitsmema

reallyitsmema

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DH and I are looking at two Princess itineraries. Our main interest is San Francisco. The time in port is showing 7am -11pm. We definitely want to do Alcatraz. The excursions on the boat are showing a 5 hour tour as all day? Has anyone done a b2b excursion with Alcatraz and Muir Woods. Or can you suggest a private company that would be able to do both? We'd also like to stop for a photo opt with the Golden Gate Bridge.

 

 

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If you are willing to rent a car, you could easily do both Muir Woods and Alcatraz on your own. We did the repositioning of the Jewel of the Seas, Vancouver to LA, with an overnight in San Francisco last September. We arrived in SF around 7 am. We rented a car from Hertz which is near Ghiradelli Square. There are other hotel locations but with varied hours that didn't open early. My DH walked to the Hertz location right after we arrived and then came to pick me up at the pier.

 

We then drove to Muir Woods, getting there just after 9am. The close parking lot was full but the overflow lot, which is really much closer than it looks on the website, still had lots of spots. When we left, it was full, so going early is important. We got their before the cruise line excursions but not before a few smaller private excursion buses. There were at least six big buses when we left and it was getting very crowded. We had a nice leisurely walk out and did a higher, dirt trail instead of the boardwalk type trail coming back. We were there on a weekday in late September, if you are there on a weekend, I would skip it based on everything we read about large crowds.

 

We left Muir Woods and headed to Sonoma. Went to a winery we like, stopped for lunch along the way. Headed back to Sausalito to do some shopping. We went over the Golden Gate and headed to the Presidio. Forget where else we went but we headed back to the ship around 7pm.

 

If you were able to get afternoon tickets for Alcatraz or even the night cruise, you could easily do Muir Woods on your own, return car and head to the pier for your Alcatraz ferry. The Hertz we used allowed after hours drop off, which was another reason we used this particular office. We just returned the car to the public parking garage the Hertz is in, kept the keys, and went there in the morning to complete the return. None of the other rental agencies that we called would let us do an early pick up and a late drop. We were also using rental car return points for a free rental so I think we only tried Hertz, Budget and one other. An Enterprise might work with pick up and drop off, we didn't have a free rental with them so didn't check.

 

We did a lot of driving and sightseeing since we knew we could come back whenever since we were overnighting. You have a long day in port, so if should be doable.

 

People on our rollcall used a Dylan's Tours and were able to rent a van for just them and totally customized what they wanted to do and in what order. The tour company gave them lots of suggestions on what order to do things in so they got the most for their time. They all had great things to say in the reviews I saw after the cruise.

 

http://www.dylanstours.com/

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panda24

panda24

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Thank you so much for the Dylan Tours rec. I just booked with them. We will get to see Muir Woods, Sausalito, and Alcatraz. Plus the price was cheaper than the cruise line and smaller groups.

 

 

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reallyitsmema

reallyitsmema

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Thank you so much for the Dylan Tours rec. I just booked with them. We will get to see Muir Woods, Sausalito, and Alcatraz. Plus the price was cheaper than the cruise line and smaller groups.

 

 

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You're welcome. The people from our cruise that used them had nothing but positive things to say about their day. Glad you can do all that you wanted to do.:)

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marys350

marys350

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You're welcome. The people from our cruise that used them had nothing but positive things to say about their day. Glad you can do all that you wanted to do.:)

 

Hi Reallyitsmema,

I was on your roll call for the Jewel of the Seas repositioning cruise last September and enjoyed meeting you onboard the ship. My husband and I were part of the group that did Dylan's Famous Tour including Muir Woods, Sausalito, and San Francisco and we highly recommend Dylan's Tour company.

 

Panda24, I'm sure that you will also have a great day doing the tour that you picked, which includes Alcatraz. I'm glad that you were able to find a tour that includes all the sites that you want to see during your stop in San Francisco.

 

:) Mary

Edited by marys350
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reallyitsmema

reallyitsmema

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Hi Reallyitsmema,

I was on your roll call for the Jewel of the Seas repositioning cruise last September and enjoyed meeting you onboard the ship. My husband and I were part of the group that did Dylan's Famous Tour including Muir Woods, Sausalito, and San Francisco and we highly recommend Dylan's Tour company.

 

Panda24, I'm sure that you will also have a great day doing the tour that you picked, which includes Alcatraz. I'm glad that you were able to find a tour that includes all the sites that you want to see during your stop in San Francisco.

 

:) Mary

 

Hi Mary,

 

I was hoping you would see this thread.:) I remember how accommodating Dylan's was when you were setting up that tour. Had we not been renting a car, we would have tried to get in your group.

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SadieN

SadieN

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Yes. Trying to figure out if there are any shuttles from the ship to Fishermans Wharf. Do you know?

 

 

It's a flat, less than a mile walk to Fisherman's Wharf. Last year we happened upon a free black 'party bus' shuttle waiting at port. They had discounted tickets to some of the attractions.

 

 

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