Another question about cruising :)?

Question

I am trying to find a cruise leaving from San Francisco, CA for this December but I have had a hard time finding it. Can you help me? Also what destination is good for cruises leaving from CA? Is Baja good? or is there anything else better?

I am also confused about shore excursions fee. Does that mean that you have to pay everytime you get unboarded from the ship? What's that for?

One last question is, which is the best room that's worth the price? oceanview or balcony?

THANK's a lot for the answers, appreciate it :)

Answer 1

no you do not have to pay to get on / off the ship in the ports. you have to pay for excursions that take you places for touring.  but it is not necessary to buy the excursions through the cruises as they charge way too much money for this.   most places you can get off the ship and negotiate with a cab driver to take you where you want to go.  look at the packages the cruise shares to get get ideas or consult some of the travel tour books like fodors for suggestions.   just be sure to allow enough time to get back to the ship when it sails.  you should allow at least 1/2 to hour early in case of emergency / traffic. as they sail promptly and you would not want to be responsible for unexpected airfare to catch up to cruise at next port.    

in so far as rooms.  a balcony is nice / but they are tiny you can sit outside but not really tan / you don't usually have longer lounge chairs.   ocean view room as a window .    i myself prefer inside cabin because it's pitch black and i can sleep late.  the rooms are about the same size, expect that the balcony room is larger , but all cabins are pretty small.  do not worry about the size though .  there is a lot of public deck space and you can find private spots / indoor and outdoor to enjoy the view.  i'd rather go a couple times a year and take the inside than to splurge on a balcony.  but if you are going alaska, i might spluge and get the balacony as it's cool and would be nice to see things from the room.  if you are not in good health the balcony is nice cause you can have room service serviced on your own patio.  full service room service.  my grandpa had wheel chair so this was nice room for them not to have to navigate all over the huge ship.

san francisco cruises usually go north .   la goes down towards mexico.  

i would pick a newer ship myself.  six months old is perfect . the crew has time to get the routine down .  facilities are new / nice / each ship is usually prettier each time they roll one out.

Answer 2

First of all most cruises leaving from the San Francisco and/or Seattle area would be going to Alaska and the Alaska cruise season is from May to September each year.  So you are not likely to find any ships leaving from there unless they are headed on a 15 day round-trip to Hawaii and back.  Most of the cruises still going in December will be leaving from Sand Diego and/or Los Angeles cruise ports.  Links for these ports are below and they show many  cruises on several different cruise lines leaving in December.

San Diego Cruise schedule:

http://www.portofsandiego.org/sandiego_m...

Los Angeles cruise schedule:

http://www.pcsterminals.com/CruiseCalend...

The cruises from these ports typically go to 2 to 4 ports in Mexico, not just the Baja.  They include Cabo St Lucas, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Acapolco and a couple more stops.

When you book a cruise it includes your cabin, all meals all day, a show every evening, use of all of the facilities on ship including the gym, night clubs and lounges, library, game room and all sports activities and pools and hot tubs.  You have to pay for alcoholic beverages and soft drinks; coffee, tea, juices, milk, punch and lemonade are free all of the time.  When the ship gets to a port you are free to get off and go do whatever you want, be it beach, shopping, an excursions you arrange yourself, or just browse around the port/town.  There is no fee to get off or back on the ship and you can even do it multiple times while the ship is in port.  Just be back 30 minutes before sailing time which they will tell you verbally and in writing.

You can IF YOU WANT buy tours and excursions from the ship, but it is not required.

Both ocean view or balcony rooms are good but I ALWAYS book a balcony and if you do you will never get an ocean view or inside room again.  The balcony adds a lot to your cruise experience and that is why cruise lines now have many ships with mostly balcony cabins and thus they are much cheaper than they were years ago.

Answer 3

I don't see any cruises leaving from San Francisco in December either.  If you leave from San Francisco, your choices are to go north to Canada/Alaska or south to Mexico.  However, in December there are no cruises going north.  

The problem with San Francisco is that for a foreign flagged ship (and all the major cruise ships are foreign flagged except the NCL-America ships that stay in Hawaii) must stop at a foreign port before returning to the same port, and must stop at a distant foreign port before returning to a different US port.

Since the ship must go to a foreign port, a ship sailing from San Francisco must sail at least one full day in either direction (north or south) to get to a foreign port.  This adds at least two days to any cruise leaving from San Francisco when compared to a cruise leaving from San Diego, Los Angeles or Seattle.

Below is a link to some cruises leaving from San Francisco, though none leave in December.  Celebrity and Princess offer a few cruises out of San Francisco.  Other lines (like NCL or RCI) might offer one or two per year ...

http://www.expedia.com/pub/agent.dll?qsc...

Answer 4

Try here : http://www.smartcruiser.com/

and here : http://www.vacationstogo.com/