Booked the night tour for 20th March - very excited - and suddenly a little bit scared!
Thanks for your advice everyone

Maudvilla
x

Hi Maudvilla
Can I ask you who you booked the night tour with, we looked at the web site of blue and gold fleet but they are only giving tickets out at the moment until the end of feb..we go in may but want to book the tour as soon as we can.
Thanks..Tracey..

Can anyone help me, which sites have you trusted to send tickets out for Alcatraz? I have seen some sites, but not sure if they are ok. Have any of you got any experience on this, thanks.

If you just want to go to Alcatraz blue and gold fleet own the rights to trips to alcatraz we booked up online and collected tickets from the booth on day we wanted to go you just need to show your passport and your booking Ref they e-mail you

http://www.blueandgoldfleet.com/

There are tours advertised on the net which say city tour then trip to alcatraz in my opinion give them a miss and book a city tour up seperate to alcatraz,Because blue and gold fleet have the rights to alcatraz these other tours book a block booking at a certain time and if the city tour is running late,the tour can be rushed or you have no time to relax or have a bit of lunch.Hope the info helps.

I had no problem through blue and gold, book the night tour well worth it.

Thank you for your replies, it is too early to book yet, but i am interested in the night tour. i wont tell my daughter thou, she might freak out

I have just been on this web site, and nowhere now that i can see does it offer the tour to Alcatraz for day or night. Does anyone know why this is? if they are no longer doing it, then what alternative do we have for a tour company please.

Thank you.

Michelle.

I am going to answer my own question here and state that Blue and gold fleet are not doing the alcatraz tour no more, that said i am worried now where to get tickets from. Another site i tried said they send an e ticket 10 days before we go, but that no good if i am not going on line anywhere in the USA.
What other sites that are reputable can we use please, any ideas?

looks like this is the new website where to book tickets..

http://www.alcatrazcruises.com/index.aspx

Not sure when they took over.....

If you are worried about booking online this is what you could do, as soon as you get to san francisco go down to fishermans wharf and get your tickets and have a quick look round pier 39 they usually sell out pretty quick but you will have a good chance of getting a ticket for the next day or the day after....

Hi

You can book quite easily with the website posted above. They are the ONLY official tour company for Alcatraz. No other ferry company can take you there.

The Blue and Gold Fleet had the boat contract for Alcatraz up until the end of Sept 06. Then Hornblower Ferries won the contract for the next 10 years, hence the new website to book the trips on.

I booked my trip with them and visited Alcatraz 2 weeks ago (trip report to follow, only got home today!). No problems what so ever with booking online. Take your reservation email down to Pier 33 on Fishermans Wharf to collect your tickets before you board.

The only reason I know about the change in ferry contracts as the day we went for our trip, there were a load of protesters outside shouting '... Do the right thing, don't get on the boat ...' I obviously asked what it was all about and was told it was the staff from The Blue and Gold Fleet who had lost out on the contract and were not taken on by the new company. Also something to do with unions but not sure what.

I would recommend you take the night tour, it is the most comprehensive. It's the last tour of the day at 4.20pm. The hospital wing is open to the night tour only. Alcatraz was definately my San Franciso highlight.

Hope this helps

Hi thanks for your replies.

I am all for booking on line, but what i do not understand is the e ticket? some companies have said they will send confirmation to print off 10 days before the trip, but i will already be in america 10 days before. I dont want to find a pc somewhere in the states and start printing e ticket off.

What i hoped would happen is confirmation comes via email straight away and thats the evidence we require to give at pier 33 or 39 whichever it was.

Hope you understand what i am trying to say

On the website above, i cannot find where it says get the tickets from?

Thank you.

We did alcatraz a few years back. Fortunatly we booked the trip before leaving the UK as when we went to the dock to get the trip they were booked out for weeks ahead and you could not just walk up and go. We booked over the phone but I expect that it can be done online these days.

By pure flook we chose a weekend that was an anniversary weekend and the island was full of ex guards, inmates and residents at intevals each telling their stories to the crowds. We sat in a lecture by the son of one of the Governors on the subject of the Alcatraz riot when they overpowered the guards, got their guns and barricaded themselves in. The Natonal Gurad having to blast their way in through the roof to get control back.

A brilliant day.

Hi Derwentrocker

The link above is the ONLY official website to book for Alcatraz. If you book with anyone else, you are booking through a 3rd party. You should book direct with the official website. You go through all the normal booking stages on the website, date, payment etc and final bit confirms your reservation and gives you a reservation number. Print this off and take it to the booking office approx 1/2 hour before your boat is due to depart. The booking office is at the entrance to Pier 33, just past Fisherman's Wharf. You then receive your tickets and just join the queue to depart on the ferry. We visited only 2 weeks ago.

Sorry, should also have said that I didn't get an email but an immediate confirmation when I got to the final stage of the booking process. This is what you can immediately print off. If I remember rightly, it's only when you get to confirmation stage that they list all of the details you need, ie where to collect tickets etc.

Many thanks to Jannerlilly, I have booked my night tour and printed off my tickets ready for December 10th.

You are welcome neavsie. Glad to be of help
I hope you enjoy the night tour. Make sure you take something warm as it gets really cold out there.