Good Bye Sir Francis Drake, Hello Star Princess!

This morning we packed up our brand new luggage (compliments of Alaska Airlines). Everything managed to fit… Phew!!!

We took some last minute photos of the hotel for those of you who are reading this to see if you want to stay at the Sir Francis Drake when you are in San Francisco.

The cable car goes right by the hotel!

If you don't care to read about the hotel room, may I suggest you skip ahead as I am about to ramble on!

The Sir Francis Drake!

We would both recommend this hotel. The location is unbeatable, the staff were all very kind to us, the room was very clean and nicely decorated (albeit small) and the bed was quite comfortable.

The bathroom was compact (it reminded me of our bathroom in the apartment we rented in Paris!) but clean and nicely designed. Of course there were little details that were off if you are a perfectionist (Ex.  someone hung the shower curtain too high so water got on the floor)… but who needs to be that picky?

I do think we got the “priceline” sized room because we booked on Priceline, but it was fine for us. We paid 165 US a night after several days (almost a month!) of bidding on Priceline, but 165 was by far the cheapest room you are going to find in Union Square for a 4 star hotel. Also I would caution you to be quite picky about your hotel choice, as from one block to the next the scariness factor varied greatly.

The lobby was quite beautiful!

I wouldn’t bother buying anything from the mini bar if you stay here as there is a Walgreens across the street.

The mini bar was a drawer in the dresser!

This is where we picked up our breakfast food and fruit, snacks and drinks for the room. When we checked in they also gave us a complimentary card to get a coffee and pastry for breakfast each day, but we didn’t end up taking advantage of this. They also have a wine reception from 5-6 each day, but again we didn’t end up making it back for this, so can’t comment on it. I think Internet is also an important factor when choosing a room… it helps with the last minute research about what to do and how to get where you want to go. This hotel charges $13 a day for internet, unless you are a Kimpton Karma member. I just signed up for this from my hotel room when I logged on to the internet for the first time, and was not charged for the internet at all during my 3 day stay. Finally, I was quite pleased upon checkout that the phone calls I made to the airport during the luggage fiasco only cost $1 each. Very reasonable.

Okay, as usual I went off on a tangent there. We headed downstairs to catch a cab to the port at about 11:00. The doorman/Beefeater hailed a cab for us with his whistle. It took awhile (5 - 10 minutes), which we later discovered was because traffic was snarled up because of the St. Paddy’s Day Parade.

This is what a "Beefeater" looks like... I still don't know what that means...

Side note: Later, on the cruise, a guy we met in the hot tub told us that it was also the day of the “Nude Bicyclist” parade. I’m not sure if he was pulling my leg, but he seemed sincere. This is something I’ll need to look up when I get home. There are all kinds of reasons why I think a nude bicyclist parade would be a bad idea! This guy also told us there is a district in San Francisco where clothing is optional. Also something for me to research when I have internet again that isn’t 80 cents a minute and SUPER SLOW! (Not mentioning any names… Princess Cruise Line) End of side note.

The trip to the Pier was hair-raising as our driver was a horn-honking, speed up so you can slam on the brakes, aggressive driver (To be fair, I think you would need to be aggressive to drive here) who was quite angry at the Uber cabs and cabbies who were coming in from other areas and taking his business. Not sure what’s going on in this town, but he’s not happy about it!

When we arrive at the Pier it was an easy check in. They started allowing the first group on at about 5 after 12, and we were on the boat by 1. When we got on the boat we were able to go right to our room and put our carry-on stuff away.

We had an inside cabin (it has been YEARS since we’ve had one of these!) but it was surprisingly roomy. It had a nice big bed, cruise ship size bathroom (with the smallest shower I’ve ever been in!), desk with a big mirror and large sized closet. The closet was about 8 feet long with lots of hangers, and also had a floor to ceiling shelf with a door on it. The safe was in the closet… good for keeping your money and passports in, but the laptop didn’t fit.

Once we check out our room we head out to find some food. We find the buffet up on the 14th floor and eat it out on the pool deck. I would rate the food as okay. I was expecting it to be better, as others have raved about Princess Cruise Lines having really good food. It definitely did the trick of filling us up though.

Next we toured around the boat a bit checking things out. This is not an easy boat to find your way around… and it didn’t seem to get easier as the week progressed. I’m directionally challenged anyway, so I expect it, but even the Handsome Man was frustrated with the design. Sometimes we would be walking somewhere and you would go through a door and end up in a space where there should be doors to the stairs, but it ends up being all closed off. Then you have to backtrack go in a different door and go up a different flight of stairs. It’s hard to explain, but it was weird and confusing.

We found plenty of places to take a little rest 😴

We ran into a nice man and his wife who asked me to take their picture… this was the person we ended up seeing everywhere all week! Suddenly a stranger is an old friend. I nicknamed him the “raspberry beret” guy because of his hat.

For some reason Steve took a picture of me taking their picture... and only now do I notice that his beret was not in fact raspberry after all!

Steve and I went up on the deck for the sail away to get our last glimpses of beautiful San Francisco. Surprisingly our boat sailed right under the Golden Gate bridge!

Not sure why we needed this level of protection... but these guys escorted us out of the harbour (or harbor as those crazy Americans spell it!

I guess I didn’t have to walk that 30,000 steps yesterday! The boat took me right under it! I was surprised, because I didn’t think we would fit under… it looked like a close call when we went under, but I have to assume the Captain isn’t going to take a bajillion dollar cruise ship under a bridge he’s going to crash into… especially since where he stands on the bridge is at the top of the boat 😀

Yep! That's how it looked! Seems like we're going to crash!

All of these people screamed as we sailed under the bridge!

After the sail away we decided to find a hot tub to sit in before dinner. We had changed our reservation from “anytime dining” to the late seating, so didn’t have to be ready for dinner until 7:45.

We found a nice “adults only” hot tub and pool area right at the front (or was it the back?) by the gym/spa. Above this area is a place called “The Sanctuary”. This is an enclosed area with cushy chairs where children are not allowed. Would you believe there is a surcharge of $40 per day to use this area??? This is ridiculous… which is proven by the fact that on the whole entire trip I only saw one person in there. The “serenity stewards” that worked in there have the easiest job on the ship 😉 This is one of my beefs about cruising now… all the extra charges. The point of a cruise is that everything is included. Okay, I sound like I’m complaining. I shouldn’t be. I know that I’m very lucky to be able to travel this way!

After our relaxation time in the hot tub we get ready for dinner where we meet half of our tablemates. (The other 4 people showed up the next day) I thought the dinner was quite nice and the service was excellent. Quite comparable to other cruise lines we have been on.

After dinner we watched the welcome aboard show and then headed up to the nightclub for some dancing. It was virtually empty, and the drinks were BOGO… so we had a fine time! And although the club was virtually empty Mr. Raspberry beret was there waving to us and dancing his little heart out! 🕺