Alcatraz

We are going on a Pacific Coastal cruise thru Celebrity on 10/1/17 and will be overnight in San Fran. We were going to do the ship's excursion to Alcatraz and Sausalito, but Celebrity is telling me that it is already fully booked.

Just wondering if anyone has booked Alcatraz and Sausalito through a another site, or at least just Alcatraz.

Thanks for any help.

Check Trip Adviser for tours that include Alcatraz .

Many comments about no availability but there may be a tour available for your day . OP may have waited too long to book .

Tours combine other locations with Alcatraz .

Did Sausilito with Alcatraz tour once . Alcatraz was interesting but Sausilito was a a waste of time .

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Touring Alcatraz is an extremely easy thing to do, without booking a third party tour. The tour and ticket office is a short walking distance from the ship. it is necessary to book ahead as it it busy.

http://www.alcatraztickets.com/

If you are staying overnight then do the Alcatraz at night tour. Book directly through Alcatraz on the Internet. Take an Uber, taxi, or trolley. It's super easy. The night tour IMO is the best time to tour the island.

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You can easily do Alcatraz and Sausalito on your own. There would be no benefit to using a tour. I strongly suggest not going with a tour.

For Alcatraz, you should buy the tickets directly from the official vendor. The link above is not correct. You must use this link: http://www.alcatrazcruises.com.

It is still way too early to buy Alcatraz tickets for October 2017. The tickets go on sale 90 days before the tour date. See https://www.alcatrazcruises.com/website/faqs-purchasing-tickets.aspx#purchase03. However, you should buy your tickets as soon as they become available, since they do sell out in advance.

The Alcatraz experience comes with its own tour. See https://www.alcatrazcruises.com/website/tour-comparison.aspx. It is a very good tour.

It is very easy to get to the Alcatraz ferry terminal. In fact, it is not far from the cruise ship terminal.

For Sausalito, I would either take a ferry or an Uber/Lyft to get there. Once you are there, you just walk around on your own. There isn't a whole lot to do there but stroll around.

You can easily do Alcatraz and Sausalito on your own. There would be no benefit to using a tour. I strongly suggest not going with a tour.

 

For Alcatraz, you should buy the tickets directly from the official vendor. The link above is not correct. You must use this link: http://www.alcatrazcruises.com.

 

It is still way too early to buy Alcatraz tickets for October 2017. The tickets go on sale 90 days before the tour date. See https://www.alcatrazcruises.com/website/faqs-purchasing-tickets.aspx#purchase03. However, you should buy your tickets as soon as they become available, since they do sell out in advance.

 

The Alcatraz experience comes with its own tour. See https://www.alcatrazcruises.com/website/tour-comparison.aspx. It is a very good tour.

 

It is very easy to get to the Alcatraz ferry terminal. In fact, it is not far from the cruise ship terminal.

 

For Sausalito, I would either take a ferry or an Uber/Lyft to get there. Once you are there, you just walk around on your own. There isn't a whole lot to do there but stroll around.

I second (or third) the suggestion to book as soon as the Alcatraz tickets for your date come up. I will admit I am the cautionary tale that missed out because I did not heed others warnings. We tried for some of the very limited standby tickets available day of, but none fit the port time. On the bright side it gives us an excuse to visit beautiful SF again ;)

I second (or third) the suggestion to book as soon as the Alcatraz tickets for your date come up. I will admit I am the cautionary tale that missed out because I did not heed others warnings. We tried for some of the very limited standby tickets available day of, but none fit the port time. On the bright side it gives us an excuse to visit beautiful SF again ;)

When booking the Alcatraz tickets does that include the ferry ride or do you have to book that separately and if so is that also 90 days before ? Dave

It includes the ferry ride. Book through the official site...there is only one vendor.

Doing both on your own won't be so easy depending on how much time you have.

Keith

We've done both Alcatraz and Sausalito when we've taken city breaks in SF (it's by far our favourite US city).

As has been mentioned you can only and should book tickets through the official vendor. As you're on an overnighter take the night tour - we thoroughly enjoyed it, spooky and atmospheric.

For Sausalito take a ferry - you'll sail past Alcatraz on the way - we enjoyed wandering through all the art galleries and stores, but tbh it wouldn't be at the top of my list for things to do in SF.

If you are staying overnight then do the Alcatraz at night tour. Book directly through Alcatraz on the Internet. Take an Uber, taxi, or trolley. It's super easy. The night tour IMO is the best time to tour the island.

 

 

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This, this, this!!!

Sausalito is a diversion at best, and I wouldn't go,out of my way to go there.

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We visited Alcatraz this past Oct when we're in San Francisco for the day. We were there from about 0800 until midnight so we had plenty of time. We got our tickets for Alcatraz apx 6 weeks prior to our cruise from the Alcatraz online website. They are timed tickets. We were given different time frames and listed our preference. We were assigned a time about a week or so out. So very easy. I would not suggest getting a time before about 1100 to as you need to allow time disembark and get over there. It was about a ten min walk to the Alcatraz Ferry. You need to be over there by the time on your ticket. It is self guided so you can stay as long as you want and catch the Ferry back when you are ready.

If you are lucky enough to have an overnight it is very easy to take the ferry on your own over to Sausalito. They depart nearly hourly. We have done this. Fun to walk around shop and eat. No shortage of restaurants and sidewalk cafes with some great water views. So much fun on a nice day.

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The night tour is on my list for our next visit. Since you're there overnight and if you decide to go during the day, try for the first tour in the morning as the island will not be crowded. After the first few ferrys' arrive it gets rather busy. Sausalito is a nice little town with shops and restaurants but I don't know if I would spend the time to get there if you haven't been to SF before. You could do a Hop on/Hop off tour; most of them have a stop in Sausalito and you'll get to a lot of other great sites as well.

Just a comment here. I would be careful relying on the hop on hop off to get over to Sausalito. The other couple we were traveling with tried this. Not sure what happened weather the busses were all full and did not stop but it cost them nearly a $50 taxi to get into Sausalito as the hop on hop off that took them over did not go all the way into Sausalito and dropped them off just after crossing the Golden Gate. They had gotten a two day hop on ticket and thought they would use it. We bought a one day hop on ticket and toured SF. The second day we took a much easier route and took the Ferry. This was on our West Coast cruise that overnighted in SF. We personally really love riding the Ferry and visiting Sausalito. For someone that has two days we think it is a relaxing fun thing to do and gets you out of the tourist crowd. We would recommend it especially if it is a sunny day.

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