San Francisco Disembark Flight Doable ?

[Jeter02]

Is a 10:45am flight out of SFO on a Saturday morning doable from a cruise from the San Francisco cruise terminal? Not sure how San Fran traffic is. 

[PacnGoNow]

Not sure of your arrival time.  Sat traffic shouldn’t be too bad.

See’s a little early to depart SFO, but haven’t done this recently.

 

Here’s the PCL flight guidelines.

 

San Francisco

Embarking Passengers
For voyages that depart from San Francisco, the latest flight arrival is 3 hours prior to ship's departure for domestic flights.

Disembarking Passengers
For voyages that arrive in San Francisco, the earliest flight departure is 5 hours after ship's arrival for domestic flights.

[Jeter02]

2 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Not sure of your arrival time.  Sat traffic shouldn’t be too bad.

See’s a little early to depart SFO, but haven’t done this recently.

 

Here’s the PCL flight guidelines.

 

San Francisco

Embarking Passengers
For voyages that depart from San Francisco, the latest flight arrival is 3 hours prior to ship's departure for domestic flights.

Disembarking Passengers
For voyages that arrive in San Francisco, the earliest flight departure is 5 hours after ship's arrival for domestic flights.

I know that when you book through Princess EZ air they ask when flying home that you get a flight that's 1:00 p.m. or later. But I know I personally have flown several times from LAX or Seattle to go home with a flight that's much earlier just as long as I get off by 7:30 a.m. but I don't remember if I've done one that early though I may want to say about 11:45 I've done a flight

[PacnGoNow]

34 minutes ago, Jeter02 said:

I know that when you book through Princess EZ air they ask when flying home that you get a flight that's 1:00 p.m. or later. But I know I personally have flown several times from LAX or Seattle to go home with a flight that's much earlier just as long as I get off by 7:30 a.m. but I don't remember if I've done one that early though I may want to say about 11:45 I've done a flight

Yes, I look at the EZAir guidelines too when I book.  It also is on the travel summary and if you tried to book an excursion.

 

But, independently, you can do it earlier, as we’ve done also.

 

Maybe someone out there has done a Saturday recently?  This is domestic, I assume?  Is your checkin time 2 hours before?

0845? 

 

[sfpd3000]

1 hour ago, Jeter02 said:

Is a 10:45am flight out of SFO on a Saturday morning doable from a cruise from the San Francisco cruise terminal? Not sure how San Fran traffic is. 

It's doable but you're cutting it awfully close.  Assuming you're one of the first ones off the ship at around 7:15-7:30am, the taxis will be waiting.  Additional wait time for uber/lyft.  No traffic on Saturdays that early in the morning.  Will you be checking in any luggage at the airport?  Sometimes there will be a line for that.  Then there will be a line to go through security too.

[Jeter02]

38 minutes ago, sfpd3000 said:

It's doable but you're cutting it awfully close.  Assuming you're one of the first ones off the ship at around 7:15-7:30am, the taxis will be waiting.  Additional wait time for uber/lyft.  No traffic on Saturdays that early in the morning.  Will you be checking in any luggage at the airport?  Sometimes there will be a line for that.  Then there will be a line to go through security too.

Carry on luggage only, and I have TSA PreCheck 😉

[Jeter02]

41 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Yes, I look at the EZAir guidelines too when I book.  It also is on the travel summary and if you tried to book an excursion.

 

But, independently, you can do it earlier, as we’ve done also.

 

Maybe someone out there has done a Saturday recently?  This is domestic, I assume?  Is your checkin time 2 hours before?

0845? 

 

Yes domestic flight. Flying back to FLL from SFO. 

[sfpd3000]

21 minutes ago, Jeter02 said:

Carry on luggage only, and I have TSA PreCheck 😉

Barring any unforeseen circumstances (traffic accident on freeway, ship's late arrival), you should be ok.  You will probably arrive at SFO around 8am.

[Cruise Raider]

2 hours ago, Jeter02 said:

Is a 10:45am flight out of SFO on a Saturday morning doable from a cruise from the San Francisco cruise terminal? Not sure how San Fran traffic is. 

Just be sure to check to see what’s going on along the Embarcadero that day.  While it’s doable, that is cutting it really close for SFO.  I would also suggest checking the SF cruise ship port schedule. If there is another cruise ship in town that day, I would definitely opt for a later flight.  
Also, you might consider looking at flights out of OAK, right across the bay bridge if you can find a decent flight home.  

[CalTexCruiser]

Be advised that there have been recent incidents where protesters have shut down the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge for hours, so any travel across one of those bridges can be dicey if world events trigger any such protests.

 

Having said that, I once had a taxi driver get me from downtown SF during rush hour (around 5pm) to SFO in under 30 minutes to get to my flight with 20 minutes to spare.  He knew all the shortcuts through downtown to avoid congestion.  Gave him a big tip.

[Jeter02]

15 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

Just be sure to check to see what’s going on along the Embarcadero that day.  While it’s doable, that is cutting it really close for SFO.  I would also suggest checking the SF cruise ship port schedule. If there is another cruise ship in town that day, I would definitely opt for a later flight.  
Also, you might consider looking at flights out of OAK, right across the bay bridge if you can find a decent flight home.  

Love this idea! I actually just want to look at OAK but the times are roughly what they are if I was to have left from SFO and they sadly don't have any non-stop which is usually a big preference of mine. But I truly immensely appreciate that beautiful recommendation.

[Jeter02]

3 minutes ago, CalTexCruiser said:

Be advised that there have been recent incidents where protesters have shut down the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge for hours, so any travel across one of those bridges can be dicey if world events trigger any such protests.

 

Having said that, I once had a taxi driver get me from downtown SF during rush hour (around 5pm) to SFO in under 30 minutes to get to my flight with 20 minutes to spare.  He knew all the shortcuts through downtown to avoid congestion.  Gave him a big tip.

Woohoo!!!! That's amazing! I'd like to think I would be fine as I'm always at risk taker but like I said this is slightly earlier than I typically get a flight like I said he usually have done as early as 11:45. 

 

Does anyone know how early the ship starts doing their disembarkation? I know what it usually is in Fort Lauderdale but unsure with SFO.

[Cruise Raider]

1 minute ago, Jeter02 said:

Love this idea! I actually just want to look at OAK but the times are roughly what they are if I was to have left from SFO and they sadly don't have any non-stop which is usually a big preference of mine. But I truly immensely appreciate that beautiful recommendation.

We live nearby OAK (now renamed Oakland San Francisco Bay Area airport) and would always be my first choice of airports in the Bay Area.  It’s so much smaller and just a more user friendly airport than SFO.  However, I feel your pain with respect to flights that have one or more stops, so at times, I do also book out of SFO.  We are lucky to have a third choice here in the Bay Area, SJC in San Jose but, it’s quite a bit further out from Pier 27 in San Francisco.  It’s larger than OAK, smaller than SFO, but still has some nonstops flights that OAK may not offer.  It also strikes me as being a very clean airport.  

[Cruise Raider]

7 minutes ago, Jeter02 said:

Woohoo!!!! That's amazing! I'd like to think I would be fine as I'm always at risk taker but like I said this is slightly earlier than I typically get a flight like I said he usually have done as early as 11:45. 

 

Does anyone know how early the ship starts doing their disembarkation? I know what it usually is in Fort Lauderdale but unsure with SFO.

They usually start disembarkation around 7:30 - 8:00 AM, the latter time being due to late arrivals into port. There is oftentimes a huge line up early in the morning going as far back as past the vista lounge, especially for walk off on shorter cruises.  They are filling the ships lately and those out of SF are no exception.  Unless there is a bigger delay, you should be able to be out on the curb by 8:30 at the latest. The port of SF uses facial recognition software for disembarkation, so it is pretty quick once you are on that gangway.  

[Jeter02]

7 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

They usually start disembarkation around 7:30 - 8:00 AM, the latter time being due to late arrivals into port. There is oftentimes a huge line up early in the morning going as far back as past the vista lounge, especially for walk off on shorter cruises.  They are filling the ships lately and those out of SF are no exception.  Unless there is a bigger delay, you should be able to be out on the curb by 8:30 at the latest. The port of SF uses facial recognition software for disembarkation, so it is pretty quick once you are on that gangway.  

I love when the port uses facial recognition does make a huge world of difference. Thank you so much for letting me know a rough estimation of when I could be out by the curb That helps.

[ldubs]

1 hour ago, Jeter02 said:

Woohoo!!!! That's amazing! I'd like to think I would be fine as I'm always at risk taker but like I said this is slightly earlier than I typically get a flight like I said he usually have done as early as 11:45. 

 

Does anyone know how early the ship starts doing their disembarkation? I know what it usually is in Fort Lauderdale but unsure with SFO.

 

It can be done but I think you are pushing it.  I would suggest upon disembarking you catch your airport ride outside of the cruise terminal area.  Walk down and across the street to meet your Uber or whatever.  Reason being even on a Saturday morning traffic into the cruise terminal drop off/pick up area can be very congested and inch along.   

[MacMadame]

1 hour ago, Cruise Raider said:

We live nearby OAK (now renamed Oakland San Francisco Bay Area airport) and would always be my first choice of airports in the Bay Area.  It’s so much smaller and just a more user friendly airport than SFO. 

The name change is dumb. But the airport is great! You can park your car and walk right into the terminal. It's our favorite too and we also find ourselves going out of SFO a lot for the same reason (sometimes cheaper and more non-stops).

 

My experience with traffic in the Bay Area is that it can be bad no matter the day or time but going from the pier to SFO should be okay, They say to get to the airport 2 hours before your flight but we find that if we get to the parking lot 2 hours before (so about 1.5 hours once we hit check-in), that's good enough.

[Cruise Raider]

33 minutes ago, MacMadame said:

The name change is dumb. But the airport is great! You can park your car and walk right into the terminal. It's our favorite too and we also find ourselves going out of SFO a lot for the same reason (sometimes cheaper and more non-stops).

 

My experience with traffic in the Bay Area is that it can be bad no matter the day or time but going from the pier to SFO should be okay, They say to get to the airport 2 hours before your flight but we find that if we get to the parking lot 2 hours before (so about 1.5 hours once we hit check-in), that's good enough.

I understand that the name change was because people from outside the area didn’t know how close it was to San Francisco .. really only about the same distance as it is to SFO, which isn’t in San Francisco either.  I’m sure you know that being from Fremont.  
Anyway, SFO is suing OAK for the name change.  That is really dumb, IMO!  
What’s nice is just living in the Bay Area so we don’t have to fly to the nearest port.  It does limit where we can go on cruises, though. 

 

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, ldubs said:

 

It can be done but I think you are pushing it.  I would suggest upon disembarking you catch your airport ride outside of the cruise terminal area.  Walk down and across the street to meet your Uber or whatever.  Reason being even on a Saturday morning traffic into the cruise terminal drop off/pick up area can be very congested and inch along.   

Our friends always have their ride pick them up down at the bottom of Lombard Street, pretty much right across the street from the pier.  They probably save a half an hour of their ride waiting in traffic into and out of the terminal drive through that way. 

 

Edited June 1 by Cruise Raider

[Jeter02]

5 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

Our friends always have their ride pick them up down at the bottom of Lombard Street, pretty much right across the street from the pier.  They probably save a half an hour of their ride waiting in traffic into and out of the terminal drive through that way. 

 

Love this!!!! Thanks for the tip. 

[Hawkeye78]

We just got off the Crown on Sunday May 26 and went to SFO for an 11:50 am flight. We had no issues. We actually had some breakfast from the buffet first and did walk-off with our bags around 8 am. They had us line up in the Vista lounge with a winding line but if moved quickly. Once off, we walked across the street to Lombard street and got an Uber ride. Arrived SFO at 8:45 and checked a bag then went through security (w/TSA Precheck). So a 10:45 am flight is probably doable but you can't always assume the ship will dock on time and no traffic problems. Good luck!

[MacMadame]

3 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

I understand that the name change was because people from outside the area didn’t know how close it was to San Francisco .. really only about the same distance as it is to SFO, which isn’t in San Francisco either. I’m sure you know that being from Fremont.  
Anyway, SFO is suing OAK for the name change.  That is really dumb, IMO!  

I am waiting for the first news story of someone flying into Oakland and being shocked that they aren't at SFO. 🤣

 

3 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

What’s nice is just living in the Bay Area so we don’t have to fly to the nearest port.  It does limit where we can go on cruises, though. 

Our cruise doesn't start in SF but ends there. It's so nice to just have our son pick us up at the port and not have to deal with getting to an airport to get home.

[Jeter02]

29 minutes ago, MacMadame said:

I am waiting for the first news story of someone flying into Oakland and being shocked that they aren't at SFO. 🤣

 

Our cruise doesn't start in SF but ends there. It's so nice to just have our son pick us up at the port and not have to deal with getting to an airport to get home.

Which is why I love cruising out of Fort Lauderdale.  20 minutes from the house. 

[Cruise Raider]

26 minutes ago, MacMadame said:

I am waiting for the first news story of someone flying into Oakland and being shocked that they aren't at SFO. 🤣

 

Our cruise doesn't start in SF but ends there. It's so nice to just have our son pick us up at the port and not have to deal with getting to an airport to get home.

 

It still has the OAK airport code but I know what you mean.  I am sure there will be more than once that this happens.  I guess they want more business there in Oakland but I love the smaller airports but because they aren’t usually quite so crazy.  Just as LGB in the Los Angeles area is so much better than LAX, Oakland is usually so much nicer than SFO. 

 

And I agree, sailing back into your home port is always better than leaving from there if you have a repo cruise.  

[ldubs]

8 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

Our friends always have their ride pick them up down at the bottom of Lombard Street, pretty much right across the street from the pier.  They probably save a half an hour of their ride waiting in traffic into and out of the terminal drive through that way. 

 

 

We have used that same spot when being dropped off.