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'Dreamboat' Floating Hotel Arrives For Dreamforce Convention

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- There's a new celebrity in town. And some are toasting it as a lifeboat for San Francisco's sold out hotels this week.

"I'm pleased that they brought it in to give us a little bit more room for this very large conference. So we're excited about it," said Karen Zetes, attending the Salesforce Dreamforce convention.

The Celebrity Infinity luxury cruise ship has become a bayside hotel for five days. They're calling it the "DreamBoat," housing 1,100 people attending the convention at Moscone Center this week.

"It's an excellent experience being on board, because we are able to offer more than 5 star service as a floating hotel," said Capt. Nikolas Francis.

Dreamforce attendees can get a room between $325 and $800 a night. Landlocked hotels are at a premium, with 160,000 conventioneers in town. This week's convention is the largest tech conference in the world.

"It's an interesting idea. As soon as they announced they were going to do it I immediately wanted to stay on the ship. New experience. First time," said Martin Zsembik of Long Beach.

It's the first time ever in San Francisco, a cruise ship being used as a stationary hotel.

Security is tight, even though it's not going anywhere. It's not going to be simple getting on and off every day, but there's plenty to do while on board.

"We have 11, 12, different restaurants," said JW Kuipers of Celebrity Cruises. "We have a lot different bars. We have outside pools, we have inside pools."

Not everyone is impressed with the luxury.

"I don't think it's a good idea to sneak these things in," said Jon Golinger of the Telegraph Hill Dwellers Association.

Golinger said there wasn't enough public notice about putting the city's first floating hotel on the waterfront.

"Turning the cruise terminal into a private exclusive club that no one can get into unless you belong to it, is certainly something that should have been done before doing it," Golinger said.

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