11 Night Alaska cruise from San Francisco on the Star Princess  This was our 15th Alaska cruise and one of the best we have taken.

We recently moved from the Bay Area to northern California, so we chose to drive down the day before the cruise and stay overnight at the Best Western Plus El Rancho Inn in Millbrae. You can stay there and park your car during the cruise for one inclusive price of around $200. We then had the hotel shuttle take us to San Francisco airport the next morning to catch the Princess bus to the ship. This is the second time we have done this and find it very convenient. The hotel is older but very well kept and the staff is excellent. They do everything they can to make the stay and transfer as convenient as possible. The nice thing about taking the Princess bus is that you put your bags on the bus at SFO and don’t see them again until they get to your room. If you get to the airport around 10 AM, you will be on the first bus to the ship. We left SFO at 10:30 and were on the ship having lunch by noon.

When we arrived at the pier, we were surprised to see hundreds of people waiting in one line to check in and another line to board the ship. Being that we were the first bus to leave SFO, we did not know where all the people came from and how they got to the pier. In the past, there would usually be very few people arriving as early as we did. We never did find out why so many were there so early. Nevertheless, the check in went very smoothly and we were on our way in only a few minutes. We then went through security and directly to our room, which was ready for us before noon. Read more