What has been the recent experience boarding in San Francisco?

[pris993]

Due to board the Royal Princess on December 22, 2022.  Wondering how the boarding experience has been recently.   I ask because my DH is 90 can't stand in line long waiting for the terminal to open.    

[Arizona Wildcat]

1 hour ago, pris993 said:

Due to board the Royal Princess on December 22, 2022.  Wondering how the boarding experience has been recently.   I ask because my DH is 90 can't stand in line long waiting for the terminal to open.    

If you arrive before the terminal opens you will obviously wait.  Seems a later arrival after the rush would make for shorter lines and a request for special assistance would provide an expedited boarding.  

If you are in the Green Lane boarding almost everywhere is just a few minutes. 

When I was  dealing with an achilles tear a quick mention to port personnel gave us personal assistance.

[VibeGuy]

If you’re arriving independently, I’d propose showing up after 12 noon. Even on the cloggiest days of late, the line to get into the building is almost always gone, or diminished enough that you can easily seek some boarding assistance and access the elevator in a timely manner. 

[DUCHESSRN]

SFO Boarding is not great ,I would wait until later of get a wheel chair .

Getting through the metal detector thing they seemed to a have a lets see how slow and frustrating we can make this attitude .

[marden1970]

When you pull up to give your baggage to the porter, find the people with the wheelchairs.  They will come right over to assist your DH and escort you both thru security and check in.  They will then turn you over to a Princess employee who will take you up the gangway and wherever on the ship you want to wait until the rooms are ready.  We use this for my DH as he has problems standing and walking up ramps.  There is a separate line for security and checkin for those in a wheelchair.

pr

[Cruise Raider]

We’ve cruised out of San Francisco several times in the last few months.  It’s been excellent every single time for those embarkations.  We arrived at Pier 27 about 11:15 last time and went right through security, then check in and were onboard by 11:30 - 11:35.  There were approx 2500 passengers onboard.  
 

Now, if for some strange reason your ship is embarking at Pier 35, that can be a nightmare.  But, I’m sure the Royal will get preference for Pier 27 if there is another ship in port.  
 

[rocklinmom]

40 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

We’ve cruised out of San Francisco several times in the last few months.  It’s been excellent every single time for those embarkations.  We arrived at Pier 27 about 11:15 last time and went right through security, then check in and were onboard by 11:30 - 11:35.  There were approx 2500 passengers onboard.  
 

Now, if for some strange reason your ship is embarking at Pier 35, that can be a nightmare.  But, I’m sure the Royal will get preference for Pier 27 if there is another ship in port.  
 

Thank you! I know one of the MDR's is always open for lunch on embarkation day, do you happen to recall which one it was on Royal and what time it ended? I think around 1pm? 

[Cruise Raider]

Just now, rocklinmom said:

Thank you! I know one of the MDR's is always open for lunch on embarkation day, do you happen to recall which one it was on Royal and what time it ended? I think around 1pm? 

It was the dining room on deck 6 on the Royal.  Lunch was open from Noon until 1:30 PM on our last cruise.  

[cruisequeen4ever]

Thank you, OP, for asking this question! I was wanting to pose the same one.

 

Thank you to everyone for the great info!

Edited December 7, 2022 by cruisequeen4ever

[partybarbie]

We arrived at Pier 27 at 11:00 am, on 11/13/22, and had no wait at all. The ship was already boarding. 

[Incognito1]

It was very fast.  We got there way early (maybe 11:00?) and got on straight away.  Our room was already ready.  We walked straight on.  The cruise was overall good except for some the passengers.

 

We probably won't cruise out of San Francisco again because the cruise was more than half locals who got great last-minute deals (Ruby).  They were extremely pushy, ill-mannered, swarmed places rather than lined up, saved a dozen prime seats per person for every show, decimated the buffet and hogged every seat there for hours while leaving lots of wasted food on their tables, and pushed through people without regard to anyone's safety.

 

Maybe an anomaly, but we're not willing to chance it again.

Edited December 8, 2022 by Incognito1

[pris993]

4 hours ago, Incognito1 said:

It was very fast.  We got there way early (maybe 11:00?) and got on straight away.  Our room was already ready.  We walked straight on.  The cruise was overall good except for some the passengers.

 

We probably won't cruise out of San Francisco again because the cruise was more than half locals who got great last-minute deals (Ruby).  They were extremely pushy, ill-mannered, swarmed places rather than lined up, saved a dozen prime seats per person for every show, decimated the buffet and hogged every seat there for hours while leaving lots of wasted food on their tables, and pushed through people without regard to anyone's safety.

 

Maybe an anomaly, but we're not willing to chance it again.

Sorry you had not so good experience with some locals.  I have cruised out of SF probably a 12 dozen times since Princess made it a home port.  Never experienced anything like what you are talking about.  San Francisco is my home port; I live in San Mateo out by SF Airport.  

 

[Cruise Raider]

14 hours ago, Incognito1 said:

It was very fast.  We got there way early (maybe 11:00?) and got on straight away.  Our room was already ready.  We walked straight on.  The cruise was overall good except for some the passengers.

 

We probably won't cruise out of San Francisco again because the cruise was more than half locals who got great last-minute deals (Ruby).  They were extremely pushy, ill-mannered, swarmed places rather than lined up, saved a dozen prime seats per person for every show, decimated the buffet and hogged every seat there for hours while leaving lots of wasted food on their tables, and pushed through people without regard to anyone's safety.

 

Maybe an anomaly, but we're not willing to chance it again.

We have experienced some rude groups from several different embarkation ports, so it’s not exclusive to San Francisco.  We may have been on that same cruise with you on the Ruby and if so, I know the exact group you are talking about.  It is awful when one group takes over and can be noticed by other passenger as doing such.  
I’ve noticed that nearly every cruise out of San Francisco has nearly 90% of their passengers from the Bay Area and greater Sacramento area.  It’s just so convenient for us locals. 

[KLM3164]

We had a great experience with boarding the Royal 2 weeks ago. We arrived at the parking garbage (80 Francisco) at 10:30 and were on the ship at 11:00. We walked straight to our cabin to drop off our luggage and rooms were ready. When we walked into the terminal they had already boarded suites, elites, platinums and groups 1 & 2. I was amazed at how quickly the process went despite the ship being at 109% capacity with 3,887 people onboard. We’ve always had a smooth boarding process in SF but of course YMMV.

[KLM3164]

22 hours ago, rocklinmom said:

Thank you! I know one of the MDR's is always open for lunch on embarkation day, do you happen to recall which one it was on Royal and what time it ended? I think around 1pm? 

The embarkation day lunch was in the Concerto dining room (deck 6 midship) from 12:00 to 1:30.

[Incognito1]

11 hours ago, KLM3164 said:

I was amazed at how quickly the process went despite the ship being at 109% capacity with 3,887 people onboard. 

That explains why they took off more than 50 waiters from the Ruby for the Royal!  Wow.  What do they do with the extra passengers? Convert crew cabins? Cabins that were set aside for illness?  Curious.

[VibeGuy]

The industry standard for cruise occupancy is based strictly on lower berths.  So if a ship has 1500 cabins, 100% occupancy is 3000 guests.  
 

However, many cabins sleep more than two guests.  If 150 of those 1500 cabins are sold as triples and 50 more are sold as quads, the utilisation is reported as 106%. (3200 guests over 3000 lower-berth occupancy). 
 

Over the last few years pre-shutdown, I believe Carnival *Corporation*’s North American brands averaged 110% annual occupancy.   So this is still a bit soft.  

[KLM3164]

13 hours ago, Incognito1 said:

That explains why they took off more than 50 waiters from the Ruby for the Royal!  Wow.  What do they do with the extra passengers? Convert crew cabins? Cabins that were set aside for illness?  Curious.

We were on the Lido deck and I noticed that most of the balcony cabins in our hallway had 4 occupants. Even some of the inside cabins had more than 2 people. That’s why we were over capacity. It would be interesting to know how many passengers can really sail if every bed/couch/upper berth was filled. As stated by @VibeGuythe cruise line considers 100% capacity to be double occupancy in each cabin but obviously many cabins can sleep more than 2 people. On our sailing they offered several people on our roll call the opportunity to “move over” to another sailing because the ship was so full.

[VibeGuy]

You can’t actually sell *every* triple and quad as a triple or quad, at least on the Grand/Gem-Class ships.  The muster station and fire zone capacities can be exceeded when there are still berths available.  This has bit me a few times - friends have offered to let me bunk with them but the fire zone was sold out. 

[LadyL1]

Going back to the original gist of this thread about boarding, as first time on Princess have a few questions.  If you are in a suite do you have to choose a boarding time, or just arrive at one’s convenience? On the App it says we are in green lane.

Also as we are not residents of USA, so we have to collect the medallion at the port: would this be at the checking-in hall or on ship?

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, LadyL1 said:

Going back to the original gist of this thread about boarding, as first time on Princess have a few questions.  If you are in a suite do you have to choose a boarding time, or just arrive at one’s convenience? On the App it says we are in green lane.

Also as we are not residents of USA, so we have to collect the medallion at the port: would this be at the checking-in hall or on ship?

As someone who cruises frequently out of San Francisco, I can tell you that nobody has ever checked our arrival time.  You can choose one if you wish, though .. it’s easy enough so, why not?  
everyone, regardless of their room type is in the same line going through security.  
After your security check, you will be directed to the priority line for check in.  They will provide you with your medallions there at check in.  It really doesn’t take much longer if you don’t have your medallion mailed to you.  If you are in a full suite (not a mini suite), you will be given the opportunity to board first, along with any elite passengers and club class mini suite passengers.  
Lately, embarkation has been a breeze!  Actual embarkation onto the ship, after security and check in, has started around 11:00  - 11:30 AM.  The room ps may not be ready when you first board but we’ve been allowed to drop off any carry on luggage in our cabin.  
BTW, embarkation lunch is held in the MDR on deck 6 midship.  You will have a club class entrance if in a full suite or club class mini suite.  Otherwise, just go to the entrance on the opposite side of the ship.  It beats having to eat up in the buffet.  Enjoy … 
 

[LadyL1]

1 hour ago, Cruise Raider said:

……….. It really doesn’t take much longer if you don’t have your medallion mailed to you.  If you are in a full suite (not a mini suite), you will be given the opportunity to board first, along with any elite passengers and club class mini suite passengers.  
Lately, embarkation has been a breeze!  Actual embarkation onto the ship, after security and check in, has started around 11:00  - 11:30 AM.  The room ps may not be ready when you first board but we’ve been allowed to drop off any carry on luggage in our cabin.  
BTW, embarkation lunch is held in the MDR on deck 6 midship.  You will have a club class entrance if in a full suite or club class mini suite.  Otherwise, just go to the entrance on the opposite side of the ship.  It beats having to eat up in the buffet.  Enjoy … 
 

Cruise Raider

Thank you for your detailed info, and sure we will enjoy the cruise to Mexico, immensely.

Yes, we are in a full suite , and again knowing about the embarkation lunch is useful.

FYI, as we are from UK, we are not able to have the medallion mailed to us, and have to collect at port.

[Thrak]

Boarded Ruby Princess December 2. Possibly the easiest and smoothest boarding ever.