DiscoverTown.com is an Authorized Reseller of Sold Out Alcatraz Cruises Tickets: Tour Packages including Alcatraz Night Tour
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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 at the box office

Alcatraz Sold Out? FAQs to Help Get Tickets

Alcatraz City Cruises is the official concessionaire of the National Park Service. Although they changed their name from Alcatraz Cruises to Alcatraz City Cruises in 2021, they are the one company providing ferry service to and from Alcatraz Island. When Alcatraz City 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 City Cruises. As such it has been granted the right to use the Alcatraz City Cruises logo in its Alcatraz resale promotions.

Alcatraz Tour Ticket Questions

Alcatraz Tour General Questions and Answers:

Alcatraz Tour Ticket Questions

How to obtain Sold Out Alcatraz Tour Tickets: Fastest Method

As an authorized re-seller we obtain a limited number of tickets, in advance, currently only available for Alcatraz Day 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 the link below:

Alcatraz Day Tour Tickets

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.

Are the Alcatraz Tickets resold by Discover Town Tours the official tours?

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 City Cruises. Find them here: Alcatraz Day Tours.

For more on Ticket Basics, click here.

What is the Alcatraz Ticket availability from Discover Town Tours?

  • Peak periods for Alcatraz Tours run from May to September… plus Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas holiday times.
  • For 2021, tickets are extremely limited.
  • Alcatraz Tickets sell out weeks in advance during peak seasons.
  • January and February are the slower months.
  • We buy tickets in advance from Alcatraz City Cruises for resale, and we are granted a limited number of tickets at the time of purchase.
  • Tickets from Discover Town Tours must be purchased 10 days in advance of the Alcatraz Tour for us to guarantee your Alcatraz Tour.

Why are Alcatraz Tickets sold as part of a combination tour?

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 City 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.

How do I purchase an Alcatraz Tour package from DiscoverTown Tours

  1. First head over to the Day Tour category pages.
    • Then choose a tour package.
    • Pick an Alcatraz departure from within that package page.
    • Enter the number of tickets and choose an Alcatraz date and time from the drop-down menu. If you see a “Book Now” message, that means Alcatraz tickets are available for that date/time/quantity.
    • Upon purchase, your screen will show a five-digit invoice number confirming receipt.
    • Again, once you make your purchase, the Alcatraz portion of your tour is locked .. Your Alcatraz tickets are taken from our pre-paid, limited allocation at the time of purchase.
    • Once your full tour package is confirmed, there are no refunds or exchanges. At the time of purchase, you will check a box agreeing to these and other terms and conditions.
    • After your order is placed, your ticket count and the names of your group members will be given to Alcatraz City Cruises. Your Alcatraz tickets will be waiting for you on the day of departure. They will have been set aside from our pre-paid allotment and go only to you.

What is the Voucher?

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.

Can I purchase Alcatraz Tickets at any time from you?

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, so we may sell out of our small stock, especially during peak periods.

And within 10 days before departure, we can't help.

Will I get to go inside Alcatraz? Or is it just a boat ride around the island?

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), 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.

Do you have Alcatraz Night Tours?

No, not for 2021 at least.

Alcatraz Tour General Questions and Answers:

How Long is the Alcatraz Tour?

Alcatraz Day Tours usually take 3 hours total time. The Audio presentation inside the prison runs about 50 minutes. For 2021, Boats leave the island every hour; you decide when to leave. 

Do you provide transportation to Alcatraz Landing, Pier 33?

No. You must get yourself to Pier 33 at least 30 minutes before the ferry departure time.

The Alcatraz tour departure times you list are not convenient for my group. Do you have other departure times available? Or can I use my ticket for another 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.

For all Alcatraz packages, can other tours be done Before or After Alcatraz?

  • Yes. If the schedules don't overlap, other tours can be done either before or after Alcatraz.
  • YOU CHOOSE the days for each tour.
  • For Alcatraz Packages that include Muir Woods or Wine Country you must select dates/times for these tours when you purchase the package.
  • Bay Cruises and Big Bus Tours do not require any date selection. But you may want to plan ahead as to which day you intend to activate those tickets and take those tours.
  • Bay Cruises and Big Bus Tours can be done the same day as Alcatraz - IF TIMED PROPERLY.
  • The Chinatown walking tour can be done on any day without reservation requirements. Instructions are included on your Voucher.
  • There are no hotel pickups for the hop-on-hop-off bus or the 1-hr Bay Cruise
    • If flexibility is important to you, these tours may offer your best option.
  • If you start the Big Bus hop-on-hop-off tour late in the day, your available hop-off time will be limited.

Are reservations needed for Big Bus Hop-on-Hop-Off or Bay Cruise components?

No reservations are needed for Big Bus. 

Red and White Fleet is restricting Bay Cruise capacity during COVID-19. Until further notice, reservations are now required when you get to the ticket window. Generally you can get on a boat without much wait. Often you will be able to make a reservation for the next departure. If the next departure is unavailable, the second departure will very likely get you on board, but until you have a reservation, your space is not guaranteed.

YOU CHOOSE when to activate your Voucher for the Bay Cruise or Big Bus: any time or day before or after Alcatraz, as long as the tours don't overlap. Allow time to be 30 minutes early at Alcatraz Landing, Pier 33… 

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 (Pier 41) for the Hop-On-Hop-Off.

What about reservations for Muir Woods or Wine Country?

  • For these tours, within 24-48 hours you should receive final confirmation as we secure final reservations with our tour partners. Once confirmed, tours cannot be changed. All confirmed reservations are final sales.
  • If you have not received a final confirmation for this part of the tour package within 24-48 hours, please email or call us.
  • For Muir Woods or Wine Country, courtesy shuttle pickups are only available at select hotels, primarily Downtown SF and Lombard Street.
  • Fisherman's Wharf hotels are walking distance to Tower Tours' office, so no hotel pickups are made there.
  • If pickups for Muir Woods or Wine Country are not available at your hotel, we will notify you.

Do you offer the Alcatraz Behind the Scenes Tour?

We do not sell the Alcatraz Behind The Scenes Tour. We know of no reseller that does. To our knowledge, these were sold only through Alcatraz City Cruises and they sell out many, many weeks in advance. For 2021, they are not even being offered.

If Alcatraz Cruises and DiscoverTown Tours are both sold out, do you have referrals?

Yes, sometimes we can make referrals. 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 10 DAYS OF DEPARTURE, CALLING OR EMAILING US WON'T HELP. SORRY.

Alcatraz City Cruises' website says they are the "The official website and only source for tour tickets to Alcatraz Island." How are you a source? How are you a provider of tickets?

This language is a little confusing. Alcatraz City 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 City Cruises ticket. They are the Official Concessionaire to the National Park Service. So cityexperiences.com/san-francisco/city-cruises/alcatraz/ is the Official Website. If you enter their old URL, AlcatrazCruises.com, it redirects to cityexperiences.com. We are an Authorized Reseller of Alcatraz City 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 City 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.

What about StubHub or Craigslist and such?

Alcatraz City Cruises requires that all purchasers over age 18 must show a photo ID that matches the name on the ticket. Alcatraz City 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.

When Alcatraz City Cruises is "Sold Out" - do they still sell same day Tickets?

No. Previously the Alcatraz City 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 City Cruises no longer has a set aside for same day tickets.

Is Alcatraz Wheelchair Accessible? How steep is the hill? What if I have mobility issues? 

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 on a regular basis. 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.

Anything else to know? 

  • FOR THE ALCATRAZ TOUR: Bring your email Voucher to Pier 33, Alcatraz Landing. If asked, you can show a printed copy of your Voucher or show it on your phone or tablet. They may simply ask for the name and ID of the Primary Traveler (who booked the tour) and the name of the resller - DiscoverTown Tours. All travelers over age 18 must show a government-issued photo ID.
  • There is no parking at Pier 33 Alcatraz landing, but there are several commercial lots within 5-6 blocks.
  • Plan to arrive at least 30 minutes before your departure, but not more than 2 hours early. You will not be able to get your tickets more than 2 hours before departure.
  • Expect fog or cool weather at any time. Wind-proof jackets are highly recommended for Alcatraz, Bay Cruises, and the open-air hop-on/hop-off bus. Skull caps are a smart idea.
  • We answer emails regularly. Normally at least once per day. See our Contact Page.
  • No Refunds or Exchanges on Alcatraz Packages. No Refunds for Missed Tours. No Refunds for Tours Not Used. At check out, you must check a box that you agree to the Terms and Conditions.
  • Stripe.com does not collect credit card data. All credit card information runs through Stripe secure payment systems.

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