This was our second Princess cruise, and we went into with high expectations. As the title of the review says, they were exceeded. By a lot!
We arrived in San Francisco the day before embarkation, and did all the usual tourist stuff. We stayed at the Tuscan Inn, about four blocks from the pier. Rooms were small, but very nice. Service was great. We would be happy to stay there again. On embarkation day, before boarding, we took the antique fire truck tour of the Golden Gate Bridge. Kinda hokey, but a lot of fun anyway. Embarkation was a breeze. We had heard a lot of horror stories about embarkation/disembarkation in San Francisco, and we found them to be inaccurate, at least in our case. We had no problems whatsoever.
Our cabin was an aft-facing balcony, and it was fantastic. It was great to sit out there and just watch the wake and the sunrise/sunset. We had no issues with smoke, vibration or noise. It was a dream!