We call this the "get out of the snow and cold" trip and did the same cruise.last winter with the same friends. This was a weird one but we enjoyed it greatly. After leaving Hawaii a passenger became critically ill. We doubled back toward Hilo with the thought they could do an emergency evacuation by helicopter. It was determined the patient couldn't tolerate that so we sailed all the way back to Honolulu. This was ABSOLUTELY the correct decision by Capt. JP and Princess. But this put us WAY behind schedule. Princess had to get permission from the US Govt. to not make the stop at Ensenada (Jones Act). Then we hit an extended stretch of rough seas which slowed us down and the ship arrived about nine hours late to SF. We got three separate disembarkation plans as the situation developed. I can't praise the Captain enough. Since we had never left the U.S. (this never happens with ships of a foreign registry as most cruise ships are) we did not have to go through Customs which sped things up getting off the ship. At this point my praise for Princess Ez-Air. Since we booked out flights through Ez-Air we were automatically re-booked, put up at the Hilton Union Square in SF, and given meal allowances all paid for by Princess. Granted the registration at the hotel was a bit chaotic since the hotel had short notice of the arrival of a lot of guests. Princess had a couple people on hand to explain things. Luggage was delivered to our room and then picked up again a few hours later since we had transport to the airport for a VERY early flight out (again paid for by Princess). I know there will be those who'll find fault with this and that. Some people aren't happy unless they're complaining. But I thought overall Princess did an excellent job with this issue. I will have been booking air travel through Princess for quite some time now and after seeing how they handled this will absolutely continue to do so. Kudos to Princess Cruises!
The furnishes are a bit worn but everything was clean and everything worked perfectly.
SF has much to offer in terms of things to see, restaurants, etc. Good public transit available.
This gave a good review of how lava flow alters the landscape and helps the island get larger.
A nice city to do some shopping.
The downtown area is full of places to eat, places to shop, etc. If you're looking for a really cool t-shirt this may be the best place around to do that.