We embarked at San Francisco port #27. Since we are local to the area, we did not do any exploring of the city and took a ride-share to get to the port. We arrived about a half an hour before our embarkation time, which gave our group of 8 time to drop off all of our checked luggage. We all printed out the baggage claim tickets and attached them to the handles of the bags. This part of the embarkation process took us the most time. Once we dropped our bags, we proceeded up the stairs and through security with little wait. The check-in desk split out group up by cabins, which was just fine. We got our embarkation picture and the got on board the ship.

Our cabin was ready for our use when we got there, so we dropped off the carry on baggage and headed to the buffet for some lunch. The crew and staff were ready to help with beverage retrieval and table busing.

We did the Traditional Dining first seating, which turned out to be 5pm, not the 6pm that our travel summary quoted. Put a slight change in some of our plans since most folks in our party do not typically eat dinner that early, but it all worked out. If you are booking your cruise well in advance, I highly recommend signing up for Traditional Dining. Have a table ready for you when you arrive, with the same amazing waitstaff night after night is almost magical. Read more