This day did not start well. And almost ended in disaster. But sandwiched between those two bad ends was a lot of fun.
While at sea on Day 17 we had booked a “hop-on, hop-off” bus tour. We had $50 excursion credit to use and this tour would take us across the Golden Gate Bridge, which was a bucket list item for Marlene. We were notified, on the app, that the excursion was booked and we received an envelope with tickets. But I didn’t look at the tickets until I got up on Day 18.
Big surprise: the tickets were for the Costa Rica excursion that had been cancelled! What kind of idiots send us tickets for a cancelled excursion from 4 days ago?
So down to the Shore Excursion desk. Which was closed. Next, Guest Services. They told me to go to the meeting spot – the theater – at 8:45. So we got some breakfast, got dressed for the day, then headed to the theater. Or, more accurately, I headed to the theater and Marlene, who was just a few feet behind me, I thought, apparently didn’t understand the plan and didn’t see me, so she went ashore.
I managed to get tickets and found Marlene on the dock. We found our bus and headed out for the day. A very chilly, cloudy day. On the top, open-air bus. VERY chilly.
We got off at Pier 35 – near where we were SUPPOSED to dock – and wandered down to Fisherman’s Wharf, then to the cable car.
Yes, we were supposed to dock downtown but got moved about 4 miles south, to Pier 80. Due to pier damage, we were told. But we learned later that the damage occurred 3 days ago and Norwegian never bothered to inform us that we were going to be in a place that was VERY inconvenient. Basically we docked at a pier that was used for offloading foreign cars. To get anywhere from the ship a person would have to traverse about a quarter mile of parking lot. Most people had to take an excursion or an Uber ($70 to downtown). Marlene and I agreed that the cruise line handled this situation VERY badly. They should have arranged a shuttle between Pier 35 and Pier 80. The fact that we had to find our way back to the ship became very significant at the end of the day.
We had to wait a bit to board the cable car. We took it from one end to the other. Marlene didn’t think it was worth the $8 fare, but I felt we had to do it – it is an iconic thing to do in San Francisco.
After the cable car ride we walked back uphill, to Chinatown. There were lots of shops with exotic food there. We bought some canned dace and crackers for lunch. I ate the crackers but found the dace to be disgusting – too sweet, with bones, in an oily sauce.
We ate our “lunch” in Washington Square, then spent some time trying to find the bus stop, which we thought was in the square. Turned out to be 3 blocks away.
We continued the bus tour and got off in Haight-Ashbury, the funky ’60s hippie neighborhood. It is still a vibrant community. We found a nice coffee shop where we had coffee, gelato and a cookie (and a much-needed bio break). Marlene found a Goodwill and bought another dress. Then we got back on the bus to go over the Golden Gate Bridge.
It was COLD on the bridge and in Marin County on the other side. But we got some good photos.
We took the bus back to the Ferry Building then figured out how to get on the F trolley line (cheap – just $1.50). We rode that for nearly 30 minutes, then had to transfer to the 15 electric trolley. We waited about 15 minutes for that and rode another 20 minutes. We then had to walk nearly a mile to the ship.
That is where it got interesting.
As we were approaching the security checkpoint a guy in a car stopped and told us to hurry – we were the “last two.” That puzzled me as I believed we had over an hour to return – I thought our “back on ship time” was 10pm. Well, as I stepped on the gangway they started to raise it. We were, indeed, the last two passengers to board. The “back on ship time” was 8:30 and we boarded at 8:28pm. I had NO idea that we were cutting it close. I’m glad I didn’t know as I would have been freaking out.
Now I need to figure out how I could have gotten the time so badly wrong.
We had a quasi-Easter dinner in the buffet. It wasn’t what I was expecting as they were out of ham. But we had a lot of shrimp.
I took a photo of the Bay Bridge as we left. I was hoping for a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge too, but it wasn’t lit.
15,000 steps. And a near-miss on returning to the ship.