Cheap and last-minute cruises from San Francisco

The lowest total fares from San Francisco are on the shortest trips, Carnival's 4-night runs to Ensenada. The lowest fare per night can be on a long Hawaii cruise instead. Every fare on this site is a starting price for one person in the cheapest cabin listed, with taxes and fees included.

This site lists fares and sells nothing. For the current lists, use cheap cruises, sorted by fare and by fare per night, and last-minute cruises, which shows every sailing in the next 60 days.

What are the cheapest cruises from San Francisco?

The cheapest by total fare are Carnival's 4-night trips to Ensenada, which run from May to early September. The lowest starting fare on the whole schedule was $513 per person on 3 November 2026, with taxes and fees included. These are the lowest fares at each common length:

Length	Sailings	Lowest fare	Lowest per night
4 nights	16	$513	$128
5 nights	4	$769	$154
7 nights	6	$900	$129
10 nights	43	$996	$100
11 nights	2	$1,182	$107
15 nights	3	$1,541	$103
16 nights	22	$1,124	$70

Each figure is the lowest at that length, so they come from different ships and months. Fares change daily, and the cheap cruises page shows the sailing behind each one.

Short trips here are seasonal. If you want a cheap cruise in winter, the shortest choices are Ruby Princess's 5-night trips to San Diego and Ensenada in late November and April, and after that the 16-night Hawaii trips. The short cruises guide has the dates.

Which cruise from San Francisco is cheapest per night?

Divide the fare by the nights, and the answer can change. On 3 November 2026, the lowest 4-night fare, $513, came to $128 a night. The lowest 16-night fare, $1,124, came to $70 a night. When we wrote this on 3 November 2026, the lowest per-night fare on the whole schedule was a 16-night Ruby Princess Hawaii cruise, and every 4-night trip cost more per night.

A per-night figure settles price, not time ashore. Carnival's 4-day Baja trip has one port day, at Ensenada. Princess's 16-day Hawaii itinerary of 8 November 2026 has 10 sea days, four island days and an afternoon in Ensenada.

The daily costs on board also grow with the length. Gratuities, drinks and Wi-Fi are charged by the day, so a long trip at a low rate per night picks up more of them. Add the daily gratuity, $17 or $18 a person in a standard cabin on 3 November 2026, to the per-night fare before you compare.

What are the cheapest cruises from San Francisco by destination?

Baja has the lowest fares, and the long routes start higher. These were the lowest on 3 November 2026:

Route	Lowest fare	Lowest per night
Baja and Ensenada	$513	$128
Pacific Coast	$900	$129
Alaska	$996	$100
Hawaii	$1,124	$70
Mexican Riviera	$1,569	$143
Panama Canal	$2,025	$127

Every Alaska and Hawaii sailing here is a round trip, so you need no flight home from another port. The Panama Canal sailing is one way to Fort Lauderdale, so add a flight back to its fare. The Alaska guide and the Hawaii guide compare the sailings on those routes.

By line, the lowest fare on 3 November 2026 was $513 on Carnival and $769 on Princess. For a 10-night Alaska trip it was $996 on Carnival and $1,049 on Princess.

What are the cheapest cruises from San Francisco in 2027 and 2028?

In both years the lowest totals are the summer 4-night trips to Ensenada. These were the lowest fares on 3 November 2026:

Year	Sailings	Lowest fare	Lowest per night
2027	53	$515	$70
2028	44	$513	$77

The 2027 short trips are on Carnival Luminosa and the 2028 ones on Carnival Legend. Across both years, the 20 sailings shorter than a week started from $513.

The 2028 list shows only what is on sale today, and most of it is past the end of the port's published schedule, so those piers are not out yet. The fares are real starting fares all the same, and you can book them now.

Are taxes and port fees included in cruise fares from San Francisco?

Yes. Every fare on this site includes taxes and fees. Princess's own itinerary pages show prices the same way, as an average per person with taxes and fees included. Other booking sites do not always, so check which figure you are reading before you compare one with ours.

Taxes can still rise after you book. Carnival's ticket contract says that if government action raises taxes and fees, it can pass the extra on to guests even after the fare has been paid in full.

Our fare is for the cheapest cabin listed, which is not always an interior. Where the cabin is unknown, the fare reads "lowest available fare", and a higher fare can buy a better cabin. Each fare on the schedule names its cabin and the date it was read.

What does a cheap cruise from San Francisco leave out?

A cheap fare leaves out the same things as an expensive one: gratuities, most drinks, Wi-Fi, excursions and parking. These were the daily gratuities per guest on the lines' pages on 3 November 2026:

Line	Standard cabin	Suite
Princess	$18, or $19 for mini suites, cabanas and Club Class	$20
Carnival	$17	$19

Carnival charges them for guests aged 2 and older, and Princess for each guest. The other costs on the lines' pages that day:

• Drinks. Carnival's CHEERS! package was $83.94 per person, per day bought before the cruise and $89.94 on board, both with its 20% service charge. Princess listed a Classic Soda Package at $14.99 and a Zero-Alcohol Package at $29.99 per person, per day, before its 20% service charge.
• Wi-Fi. Carnival's cruise-long plans ran from $20.40 to $25.50 a day bought before sailing, and from $25 to $35 a day on board.
• Parking. The port says there is no temporary or overnight parking at the cruise terminals, and points to Metropolis lots at 55 and 80 Francisco Street. The parking guide covers the options.

Shore excursions and specialty restaurants are also extra on both lines.

How much do gratuities add to a cruise from San Francisco?

This table adds gratuities for two people sharing a standard cabin, at the rates above. The totals are our arithmetic, counting one daily charge per night, and they leave out drinks, Wi-Fi, excursions and getting to the pier.

Trip	Rate per person, per day	Gratuities for two
4 nights, Carnival	$17	$136
10 nights, Carnival	$17	$340
10 nights, Princess	$18	$360
16 nights, Princess	$18	$576

Those amounts stay the same whatever you paid for the cabin, so they weigh most on the lowest fares. Carnival lets you prepay them online until 11:59 PM Eastern time, two days before you sail.

Are there last-minute cruises from San Francisco?

Yes, though the choice depends on the season. The last-minute page lists every sailing in the next 60 days. In winter that is mostly Ruby Princess's 16-night Hawaii cruises, which leave one after another, so a 60-day window holds only a few departures. From May to September it adds Carnival's 4-night trips and the Alaska departures of both lines, and the list gets longer.

A last-minute Hawaii cruise is still a 16-night trip. Check that you can take that much time off at short notice before you compare its fare per night with a short one.

Why do some cruises near departure show Check prices instead of a fare?

Because in a sailing's last three weeks we print a fare only when a recent reading backs it up. Our booking partner gives us two records for each sailing. Its sailing page is a cached copy that can have gaps, and its catalog is complete but can lag behind. Neither is the live price a reader sees when they open the sailing, so we compare them before we print anything.

This is the rule the site runs on every build:

• More than 21 days before sailing, we use the sailing page if it was read in the last 8 days. If the page has no interior fare, the catalog fills the gap, unless the page shows a lower fare.
• In the last 21 days, we trust a sailing page only if it was read that day or the day before. If that page has a gap and differs from the catalog by more than 25%, or shows no fares at all, we print no fare, and the row says Check prices.
• Sailings in their last 21 days are read every day. The rest are read weekly.

On 3 November 2026, Ruby Princess's sailings of 8 and 24 November showed Check prices for this reason. Both were inside the 21 days, and the page read that day listed no fares. When we tested the rule on sailings close to departure, a page with no fares meant the sailing was no longer on sale on four of eight. So a missing fare can mean sold out, or it can mean our sources went blank. The line or the booking site has the real answer.

Are last-minute cruises from San Francisco cheaper?

We cannot say yet. Our fare records for San Francisco start in November 2026, so we hold no history showing how one sailing's fare moves as it gets closer, and we will not guess which way yours will go.

What we can show is one day at a time. The cheap cruises page compares the median fare per night for sailings in the next 60 days with the whole calendar. That compares different sailings, not one sailing over time, and in San Francisco the next 60 days can hold very different trips from one season to the next.

What should you check before booking a last-minute cruise from San Francisco?

Check the money first, because you will be past the final payment date and inside the cancellation charges.

• Princess. Final payment is due 90 days before departure on sailings of 1 to 13 days, and 120 days before on 14 to 24 days. Cancelling at 30 days or less costs 100% of total charges on 1 to 13 days, and at 60 days or less on 14 to 24 days. Princess says government taxes and fees are not subject to the charge.
• Carnival. Its ticket contract charges 100% of the total fare at 14 days or less. On 2 to 5 day cruises it charges the deposit or 75%, whichever is greater, from 29 to 15 days out. Alaska cruises and cruises of 6 days or longer have charges from 90 days out.
• Documents. Confirm what you hold before you book, because there is little time to replace anything. The documents guide covers each kind of trip.
• Getting here. Add a flight or hotel booked at short notice to the total. See airports to the port and hotels near Pier 27.

Does this site sell cheap cruises from San Francisco?

No. We list starting fares and do not sell cruises, so we cannot hold a price or a cabin. The fare you pay is the one the seller shows when you book. Some of our links may earn a commission, and the affiliate disclosure explains how.