Alcatraz Island Guide Recensioni 

Over priced

There were just too many other people. The experience felt very rushed and lacking information and organisation.

Great experience, logistically well planned out and executed. Accommodated a lot of people well. We were a group of four, on the self guided walking tour two of our tour "walkman" type radios worked great - the other didn't sync with where we were, but we were able to work around that. Boat ride was great, appreciated the ride up the hill for us older folks. Great day - thank you all.

I would have liked to see more of the prison. it felt very short lived and not value for money.

Tricked into spending more than the direct purchase price

This site is a scam.

To many stairs and kind of boring

It would be nice to know in advance that the tour is no longer offering visits to certain areas such as medical, dining, and showers and that the cell house tour was cut short from the past.

Check in, boarding on/off the island and at the pier were easy, the ferry and island were super clean, and overall it was a very pleasant tour. The only thing that was disappointing was the length of the audio tour and the depth of content, both of which were lacking. I went on a tour about 10 years ago and remember it being so much more memorable.

Ferry was quick and easy to the island. Staff was very friendly and most had a smile on their face.

Easy booking,

We loved the tour. I was not expecting such a historical tour! The history over there is amazing. We loved the headset narration was excellent!

I enjoyed the experience, the history behind every location is very elaborate and educational. The audio tour that you can pause/play is very handy.

Liked the talks and demonstrations

Interesting tour, lots of great information! Sad some of the exhibits were closed but understandable in an effort to preserve and continue with operations.

The boat ride was seamless, the island and the history was really great. The pre-recorded guided tour really helped my family and I better understand Alcatraz and its history.

Our only issue was one of the volunteer guides, "Mother Constance." She is a historical reenactor of the Civil War. She mainly kept to her character and presented information as she felt it would have been seen from that time period, but she deviated from it to include a modern perspective that incorrectly stated that the cause of the Civil War as not due to slavery. Several states cited protection of slavery as their main reason for succession (i.e., Mississipi, Georgia, Texas, S. Carolina) and VP of the Confederacy Stephens stated that slavery was a main motivator for succession. She stated the Civil War was about state rights- but she left out that it was the states' right to enslavement that was the motivator. She also said that San Francisco was largely confederate at that time, it was not. In addition, she emphasized that in the 1960's when native Americans took over Alcatraz it was not "abandoned" in order to discredit the movement, why Alcatraz was taken over, and the fight for rights. She was caught up on this point, which is questionable, to invalidate the movement. It was very black-and-white in her telling and we would have preferred a non-biased source to better teach us about what happened and why.

All in all, we truly enjoyed the actual tour of the prison, but wish we had walked by "Mother Constance."

The entire experience was wonderful! Very organized and streamlined system for boarding/disembarking. There are ferries back every 20-40 minutes, you are able to stay as long as you want. The self-guided audio tour was fantastic. I would highly recommended doing this in SF.

Everyone was super helpful and friendly, loved the volunteer presentation by Steven and the audio walk through was so easy to follow!

Bring back the HUMAN tour guides!!!! I used to LOVE Alcatraz when they had human tour guides! This time I paid almost $200 for a tour of the prison for myself and a family member who’s a senior citizen. The icky, gross, tour headsets wouldn’t work correctly, and there wasn’t a single park ranger around/in sight to assist us with fixing them!!!! So, we went through the whole darn tour only having access to the little information that was noted on the actual displays. It was so dreadfully BORING and a total let down for my family member!!! I would be willing to pay more $$$ for a VIP tour in which:
1.) We’re taken up to the prison via the tram, by a HUMAN tour guide who points out key information about the prison and the island on the way up, and
2.) we’re also shown additional parts of the prison that are closed to the general public.

BRING BACK THE gosh-darn HUMAN TOUR GUIDES!!!!

I decided to take my visiting friend to a "tourist" destination. As a resident I have only gone there twice before. It serves as a toursit destination but also its unique history as a prison and the 19 month takeover by indigenous peoples. So it serves as a valuable educational site for the many people that visit it across the wor4ld.

The crowds were worse than any others I've experienced in many years. Way too many people were let on to the island/into the cell block at the same time. It ruined the experience. And I couldn't even get on to the boat I had booked, even though I arrived 30 minutes early. And most of the island is roped off too but that's more of a minor thing. And the audio tour isn't even that great (it was informative but I thought it would be a little more dramatic and include more stories). So honestly I don't think it's worth it at all. It's not even about the money. It's a waste of time for an uncomfortable and lame experience overall. The whole process is disorganized and horribly managed.