I was looking for a cruise out of San Francisco and Princess fit the bill. The cruise terminal is easy to reach and Princess was well organized to board 3,000 passengers. My advice to cruisers is to exit your vehicle (taxi, Uber or personal transportation) at the curb before turning in and wheel your luggage to the ship's porters the last one hundred yards. The cab ride from the hotel to the cruise port took 10 minutes--the ride from the cruise port's turn-in to the ship took another 20 minutes because it takes time to off-load luggage and once you are in the queue you're stuck. Disembarkation was also well organized. I purchased the airport transfer service and got there in record time.

The ship was very nice with subdued decor (my previous cruises were on Carnival--enough said.) I stayed in a balcony cabin, towards the front of the ship.

The elevators were slow and sometimes very crowded with scooters, wheelchairs, and a generally older crowd that can't negotiate the stairs too well, but most people took it in stride. Read more