Alcatraz Tours

[samserena]

Hi all,

Does anyone have a recommendation for which company to do Alcatraz Tours with?

We're just after one of the 3 hour style ones that departs in the morning.

I've found two sites:
http://www.alcatraz.us/?event=offer.detail&offerId=18345&startDate=09/01/2014&endDate=09/30/2014
&
https://www.alcatrazcruises.com/website/tour-comparison.aspx

One is double the price of the other!

Thanks,
Sam

 

[letsgoreds]

First includes a separate boat tour (golden gate bridge). It has been years, but we took the ferry and picked up the audio tour and self-guided/walked the site.

 

[bcla]

Alcatraz Cruises (really Hornblower Cruises and Dining Yachts) is the official "concessionaire" to the National Park Service. If you're interested in seeing Alcatraz, they're all you need. It used to be possible to get transportation to Alcatraz without an audio tour included under the previous concessionaire (Blue & Gold Fleet) but since Hornblower took over the operations, the audio tour is included.

Basically you get a museum style audio device with headphones. You do it at your own pace and can restart any section of the tour if you don't want to do it in a specific order. If you check the schedule, there may be presentations by park rangers. The last time I went, I didn't check the schedule but noticed a presentation going on about Al Capone. It was especially interesting because the ranger sounded like he was from the Chicago area and had a dramatic style like he was narrating a documentary. He was a superb storyteller.

The one caveat is to book early if you can. It's possible to go same day, but you can't count on it. Also - if you go by yourself, you're free to leave on any boat up to the last one of the day.

 

[samserena]

Great info! Thank you!