Fortunately I had booked a ticket beforehand via the internet as upon arriving at the wharf, many people were disappointed as tickets were sold out for the following four days! It was a glorious summer day when I visited the Rock. The visit was extremely well organised, upon disembarking from the ferry, a tour guide spoke to everyone about the history of the prison and then we were invited to view a short movie which prepared us for the tour. After heading up the hill to 'the big house', everyone was given a head set with which we could wonder around the various cells and hear the stories of the prisoners along the way. This made the tour far more informative than otherwise would be the case. I spent about four hours on the Rock, it was so enthralling. The ticket price of $16 was great value as this included the ferry ride, entrance fee and audio commentary. I would thoroughly recommend a visit to Alcatraz while in San Francisco.

We bought the City Pass ahead of time and we were able to exchange the Golden Gate cruise for the Alcatraz cruise for 2.50 more. This also included the audio tour. At 11:45 a.m The ferry ride over was nice and the kids enjoyed it and we got some great pictures of the bay. No fog! As you come off the ferry, there is a ranger talking about the history of the island and it is informative. If you can go on one of the ranger walks. There are things that the visitors often overlook that are very interesting. I wouldve never walked into the first building, but he pointed out a hole in the ground that was used to hold military prisoners, 40 at a time! how miserable! The only way out was with a ladder.I tagged along for a bit but my husband and kids got a little antsy and wanted to move on ahead so we did. Inside the cellhouse thats when the reality sets in. If these walls could talk! This is when the audio tour is so worth it. Pause it and walk through and restart where you need to. Keep in mind if you have little ones they may forget to do this and keep it rolling and miss some important info. They do open and shut the cell house doors and it gave an eerie clank. We went into a few of the tiny cells, and toured the dining area. To see freedom so close and yet so far mustve been torture in itself.
D block was spooky. I walked through each of the solitary confinement cells and a few of them in my opinion felt cold and the energy there wasnt good. My husband and daughter had the opportunity to actually go into solitary D12 and they closed the door for about 30 seconds, while the darkness enclosed them. You couldnt see anything..And they were glad to get out!
Alcatraz is also a wildlife refuge and they had a ranger showing people the different birds and eggs.
My other daughter a teenager got alot out of it by discovering it wasnt always a prison. And the history behind Alcatraz itself.
On the day we went 8/9/06, there was an ex con who was doing a book signing Darwin Coon. When asked questions about Alcatraz he was very brief. It was the worst place he had ever been. Would I do this tour again? Probably so. I would like to do the night tour next time.

just went today to alcatraz- was happy that I bought tickets online since it was monday am and they announced they were sold out til wed late afternoon. So buy tickets online early- buy the audio package ticket since i would of beeen lost w/o it since nothing else was available for a self guided tour(ie paper) I had more fun looking at the baby seagulls since it was nesting season. So I saw alcatraz, would I go agian- no-- 7/3/06

I visited Alcatraz June 2006 and found it was value for money $16 USD per adult. This price included the use of audio headphones supplied once on the island. This is definitely a must as you obtain very useful information through audio messages guiding you through the tour (different languages provided for) about the prison, inmates, living conditions etc of the time. I did notice that there were several people on the island who did not possess the headphones and can only wonder how much they missed out on as there is virtually very little written information around the interior of alcatraz to provide you with an informative tour.

Somewhat disappointing was the exterior condition of alcatraz and the amount of seagull deposits that made for a smelly, dirty environment.