My friends asked me to pick them up. How long can you wait at the pick up drop off area or is it just in and out? Fyi I'm driving in from the Merced central valley area.

I concur with Jeff above. Passengers debark according to their desired time which is between 0700-1030hrs. Know which debark time your friends have chosen, park beyond Pier 27 to facilitate pickup, as it is extremely crowded. Safe travels Hugo.

There is a parking lot there as well. Free

Last time I took a cruise in that terminal with Princess it took me 2 hours to get my luggage and another hour from my pickup to wait through the line to get in there. It is an absolute parking lot out there. Please allow yourself three to four hours for the whole process and make sure you bring a Book to read or something as you're waiting in line. And go to the bathroom before you come for goodness sakes. There's no place for people in cars to use the restroom. In my opinion the best way to do it is to have the people collect the luggage across the street and take a bus down a few blocks. Then you can pick them up there. Best of luck

They tell you what time for each person to get off the ship. It could take about 1 to 2 hours to get to the car. You cannot wait for the people to come out. You should park near by and when they are out, they should call you to come get them.

As recall, we collected all luggage first then called my friend which waiting area to pick us up, it was rather congested then. Finding luggage could be a headache and might take longer time than expected.