West Coast Cruise Day 10

July 02, 2018

West Coast Cruise Day 10

Day 10 Friday, April 6, 2018

Today is another port day, this time San Fransisco, California. We woke up early so I could take a few pics from our balcony before heading to breakfast again at Sabatini's.

Now off to breakfast...

Danishes

Belgian Waffle with Whipping Cream + Sausage & Bacon

Scrambled Eggs & Sausage

Bagel with Cream Cheese

Rasher of Bacon

Breakfast Menu

Originally, a friend of mine that lives in the area was to show us the town, but her in-laws invited them on an all expenses paid vacation to Las Vegas. Naturally, she cancelled on us LOL. I don't fault her in any way. Now this little wrinkle in our plans caused us to schedule a tour with Kirill, owner of Tour Limo. He met us at the pier on time, but that was the last good thing he did. We should have cancelled the tour once we entered the car & he asked what we wanted to do for the day. My wife reminded him that we had already discussed this via email. Off we went in the pouring rain. Our first stop was a viewing area of the Golden Gate Bridge. He practically shoved us out of the car to take photos, while he took a personal call from his office. (more on this below)

Photo op as we exited the ship

Stop #2 was at the Marin French Cheese Company. We enjoyed 5 different free samples & bought 2 packs of cheese.

Company logo

Sample #1

Sample #2

Sample #3, #4, & #5

Cheese & pickles

Souvenirs

Snack time back at The Palace

Stop #3 was Cowgirl Creamery. At this juncture, Kirill tries to slide us into an existing tour. The manager explains to us that it is a prepaid event, they can squeeze us in, but it will last a little over an hour. We really don't have time, so as we shop, he has a meeting with the manager. I assume it's to sell his services as a tour guide.

Souvenirs

For stop #4, we visited the Heidrum Meadery, where I got to try mead for the first time. 4 samples in all. Delicious stuff. I need to find some near my house.

Business Card

Neat wine rack

Sample #1

Sample #2

Sample #3

Sample #4

Menu

Stop #5 was where we finally got to eat lunch. We actually stopped at 2 other eateries before this. They were both closed, so by process of elimination, we landed at The Marshall Store. This turned out to be an awesome lunch, consisting of oysters & chowder. For some reason, our guide parks a block away & makes us hike back to the restaurant. He kept doing odd things like this during our whole trip. I'll explain more below.

Hot sauces on each table

Raw oysters

Chorizo topped Oysters

New England Clam Chowder

Tri-Tip Sandwich
House Smoked Beef, Garlic Aioli, Grilled Onions, Salsa Verde, Lettuce, Tomato

Merch Area

Souvenir Hot Sauces

While we were eating, we overhead the staff talking about how a coworker had called in because of his street being flooded. I didn't really pay much attention to it, because I trusted that we were going towards a different area. Boy was I wrong! He took us not through one flooded area but THREE! At one point he stalled the truck. We live in Houston & just went through the nightmare that was Harvey. So we know first hand how dangerous things can get. He had the nerve to laugh this off. Said it was fun to him.

This was pretty much our guide's attitude

After we returned home, my wife left a review on TripAdvisor. While writing this up, I took a look at his Yelp & who would have guessed that the link for his website, leads to another company. We probably picked the worst tour guide ever.

After that terrifying ordeal, I need a drink. Thankfully the ship is well stocked with liquor.

Petit Fours in our cabin

(Left) Crown Royal Old Fashioned
Crown Royal whisky enhanced with fresh orange, maraschino cherry and Angostura bitters
(Right) Aperol Spritz
Aperol, Prosecco and soda water with a fresh orange slice