Alcatraz Tickets SOLD OUT?
Are you looking for an Alcatraz Tour
– but cannot find any available tickets?
Here’s how to get Alcatraz Tour Tickets
when tickets are sold out everywhere else!
Alcatraz Cruises is the official concessionaire of the National Park Service providing ferry service to and from Alcatraz Island. When Alcatraz Cruises sells out of tickets, select third-party tour companies are authorized to re-sell tickets.
DiscoverTown Tours is one such third party Authorized Reseller. DiscoverTown Tours is an Official Tour and Travel Partner of Alcatraz Cruises. As such it has been granted the right to use the Alcatraz Cruises logo in its Alcatraz resale promotions.
Alcatraz Tour Ticket Questions
Alcatraz Tour General Questions and Answers:
As an authorized re-seller we obtain a limited number of tickets, in advance, available for Alcatraz Day and Night Tours.
All Alcatraz tour tickets sold by DiscoverTown Tours are guaranteed. Once you make your purchase, the Alcatraz portion of your tour is guaranteed and locked in... Your Alcatraz tickets are taken from our pre-paid, limited allocation at the time of purchase.
To obtain Alcatraz Tour Tickets, please follow one of the links below:
Many of our guests have reported frustrations with other companies that make you wait 48 hours only to be told Alcatraz tickets are not available. Again, we either have the Alcatraz tickets, or we don't.
Yes. Alcatraz - as a portion of the tour packages we sell - is the only round trip ferry from the Official Concessionaire to the National Park Service, Alcatraz Cruises. This is true for Alcatraz Day Tours or Alcatraz Night Tours.
For more on Ticket Basics, click here.
Alcatraz tickets sell out fast. Often weeks in advance. If you missed the opportunity to buy directly from Alcatraz Cruises, tour companies selling tour packages is a viable option.
We operate under the rules of the National Park Service and Alcatraz Cruises, particularly the requirement to only resell Alcatraz as part of a combination tour package.
If you can put tickets/packages into your shopping cart here at discovertown.com, that means we have those tickets in stock and your search is over.
Combination tour packages are a great way to see more of the San-Francisco Bay Area and some of the wonderful sights it has to offer. However, if some guests choose to only go to Alcatraz, as you are not forced to attend the additional tours included in the combination package.
Upon purchase for all products, you can save or print your Voucher. We will also send you a duplicate email-based Voucher. The Voucher confirms all reservations and includes instructions for taking a tour(s).
We recommend that you download the Voucher. Regardless, you should receive a duplicate email with the word "Voucher" in the subject line. This should come within 2 hours after seeing your purchase confirmation (showing a 5-digit order number). If you do not obtain a Voucher, please check your junk mailbox... Then if another copy is needed, please email us at discovertowntours@gmail.com, and we'll get one out asap.
Note that there is no bar code or pdf attachment in the email, so you do not need to search for one. the email is the Voucher.
Although this website is open for business 24/7, we have a set number of tickets, so we advise that you make your purchase quickly to guarantee that we will have tickets for your desired date and time.
Our monthly allotment of Alcatraz is limited (Day and Night combined), so we may sell out of our small stock, especially during peak periods.
And within four days before departure, we can't help.
We resell the tickets that take you onto Alcatraz Island and put you inside the prison, always with the Cell House Audio Tour in 11 languages (Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish).
To be clear, some of our packages include a second boat ride (Bay Cruise or Sunset Cruise), but the round trip to Alcatraz Island is the core of all of our combination packages.
For more details on the Cell House audio and the island experience, click on the Alcatraz description tab once you are viewing any Tour Package page on this site.
Yes, subject to availability.
This is a great tour in high demand. It takes roughly 3 hours and is far less crowded than the day tour. Review the Alcatraz Night Tour description tab on any Alcatraz Night Tour Package here on DiscoverTown.com. This tour sells out well in advance of the day tour. We offer Alcatraz Night Tour Packages, particularly in winter, spring, and fall. We have them less often in summer and for Christmas week.
Alcatraz Day Tours usually take 2-2.5-3 hours total time. The Audio presentation inside the prison runs about 50 minutes. Boats leave the island every 30 minutes; you decide when to leave. Night Tours are on a set return schedule and the total time is just about 3 hours.
During the day, there may be a queue to get on a return boat. You may not be able to get on a boat right away if enough people are in line before you, you may wait another 30 minutes for the next boat.
No. You must get yourself to Pier 33 at least 30 minutes before the ferry departure time.
Alcatraz Tour departures are time-specific and date-specific. The schedule departures we offer cannot be changed. Occasionally we may have referrals that might offer a different time.
NO RESERVATIONS ARE NEEDED for these tours.
YOU CHOOSE when to activate your Voucher: any time/day before Alcatraz…
This may be in the afternoon once you have completed Alcatraz… or possibly in the morning before the Night Tour (if you give yourself sufficient leeway)... or any time/day after Alcatraz.
We recommend the hop-on-hop-off tour for another day, when you have no major commitments in the evening.
You must get yourself to Fisherman's Wharf (Pier 43&1/2) for the Bay Cruise or get yourself to Union Square (Geary & Powell Streets) or Fisherman's Wharf (99 Jefferson Street) for the Hop-On-Hop-Off.
We do not sell the Alcatraz Behind The Scenes Tour. We know of no reseller that does. To our knowledge, these are sold only through AlcatrazCruises.com, and they sell out many, many weeks in advance.
Yes, sometimes we can make referrals. Including for the Night Tour. If the Alcatraz date you seek is unavailable, but more than four days away, check out our Referral page. If we have referral dates that can help you, then Contact us for possible referral.
IF YOU ARE SEEKING TICKETS WITHIN 4 DAYS OF DEPARTURE, CALLING OR EMAILING US WON'T HELP. SORRY.
This language is a little confusing. Alcatraz Cruises is indeed the only provider of ferry service to Alcatraz Island. They are the source of the ferry service. So you need an Alcatraz Cruises ticket. They are the Official Concessionaire to the National Park Service. So AlcatrazCruises.com is the Official Website. We are an Authorized Reseller of Alcatraz Cruises, guided by their policies for Tour & Travel Operators.
They also say "Don't be fooled by unauthorized sellers..." but they don't immediately explain that they give select companies authorization for resale. If you go to Alcatraz Cruises' FAQ page and find “FAQ's About 3rd Party Ticket Sales” you will see that they do authorize resale under restricted conditions, including tour packages. We follow these regulations.
Alcatraz Cruises requires all purchasers over age 18 need to show a photo ID that matches the name on the ticket. Alcatraz Cruises states that "visitors are required to show proof that they are the actual purchaser of a ticket, and if unable to confirm this ‘proof of purchase’ they may not be allowed on the boat." Previously reseller tickets just listed the name of the reselling company. Now all tickets include the name of the individual guest.
If you purchase a ticket with the name of someone else on it, your photo ID won't match the ticket.
No. Previously the Alcatraz Cruises Same Day Ticket Advisory did set aside a very limited number of tickets for same day sale at 7:30 am on a first-come, first served basis. People would often arrive at the dock at 5:00 am. In the spring of 2019 this policy was cancelled. Alcatraz Cruises no longer has a set aside for same day tickets.
The ¼-mile walking road on Alcatraz is steep, equivalent to a 13-story rise over that distance. But the SUSTAINABLE EASY ACCESS TRANSPORTATION (S.E.A.T.) tram is there for guests with mobility issues.
This tram is available roughly twice per hour. It runs from runs from the Alcatraz Island dock to the Cellhouse ... and back down to the dock. It has retractable ramps that allow for both manual and power wheelchairs.
Once at the prison, inside the Cellhouse there is an elevator.
Boarding S.E.A.T. is on a first come, first served basis. Guests with mobility issues using this tram may be accompanied by one other person in their group, space permitting.
Groups can meet up at the Cellhouse or the Alcatraz Island dock. S.E.A.T. is not for mobile children/strollers.
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