Sailing into San Francisco

Crown Princess Wine Country Coastal Cruise, Day 3 -- February 27, 2015

This is an exciting day filled with anticipation! We will be sailing into San Francisco around 1PM, going under the Golden Gate Bridge. We have driven on the Golden Gate Bridge many times but passing through under it is not an everyday event.

My basic breakfast food at the buffet. Loved the sausages!

Spent my morning watching the world go by at the very quiet Skywalker. No whales though.

This was the only time that I had lunch at the buffet. Everybody had the same goal in mind, have a quick lunch and be ready for the sailing in. We managed to grab a table then took turns getting in the long lines for food.

Anxiously waiting for the big moment.

As with Venice, San Francisco is a wonderful port for sailing in.

People cheered, horn blared, absolutely exciting!

Goosebumps!

A quick shot from the back of the ship on deck 16 as we leave the bridge behind.

Alcatraz

San Francisco!

Pier 39

Bay Bridge on the other side.

A closer shot of Pier 39.

Fisherman's Wharf

Coit Tower

Transamerica Pyramid

Pier 27 where we would be docked.

From our cabin window.

After the ship was docked at around 2PM, everybody wanted to go ashore at the same time. The lines to leave the ship was horrendous. We decided to wait a while until the lines ease up a little. By 3:30 the lines were gone and we were ready to go but my friends wanted to have afternoon tea in the main dining room. So ChC and I decided to go get the ferry tickets to Angel Island for the next day at Pier 41.

There is a complimentary shuttle that takes passengers to Pier 39, but we decided to just take the 10-minute walk.

Again, we were fortunate to have excellent weather that day and the walk was actually very pleasant.

After purchasing the needed tickets, we walked back to Pier 27 and waited for the rest of the group to come out. By now, the terminal was a lot quieter.

After meeting up with the others, we walked from the pier to Chinatown. ChC wanted to visit the cafe that we had been several times before for memory sake and I desperately needed to get a pair of sunglasses to replace the one that was broken the day before. We enjoyed a light meal of pork chop rice and won ton noodle at the Washington Cafe and I bought two pairs of sunglasses for $10. Mission accomplished!

To my surprise, Chinatown was awfully quiet. I remember how busy it used to be bustling with locals and tourists on those crowded streets. 

Catholic Church in Chinatown

As an RV owner, I thought this driver was very brave driving through the steep and narrow streets of San Francisco in this huge RV.

After a couple of hours in Chinatown, we walked back to the pier. It was a little easier going downhill, but as the sun slowly disappearing the weather turned cold and windy.

We were not ready to get back on the ship yet, so we walked further up to Pier 39 and did some more shopping before heading back to the ship.

Coit Tower at night.

We made it to dinner at the main dining room before 9 and enjoyed a great surf and turf before calling it a night.