2 x Canadians down without the kids. We booked over a month in advance which was critical to getting a spot at Alcatraz. Our confirmation was emailed to us a few days before arrival and absolutely no probs at all. The day before our tour we walked down to the BigBus spot beside the 7-Eleven and got our confirmation slip of paper and our assigned time (1230 the next day). The absolutely amazing lady at the counter told us to wait until after our Alcatraz tour to grab our hop on and hop off tickets as they would be good for after the tour and the next full day (24hrs).
The next day we walked down to pier 33 and there was zero line-up for us to grab our actual tickets. We sat on the bench, hung out and people-watched for a while. There are food and drinks down there as well as a washroom trailer so excellent for a pre-tour break.
On the ferry over there is some food and drink as well. Ferry was great, took about 15 minutes.
The Alcatraz tour is amazing. Definitely dress warmly and do the audio tour. We took about 3hrs total to do it. There is some walking and some stops for reading signs or watching movies. Alcatraz was definitely a major highlight, can't say enough good about it. Ferry back is about 15 minutes and you can just hop on whenever you want, no set time.
The bus tour itself is great. They give you headphones but I would recommend bringing your own. You will either get a live guide or the recording. We had both. We loved the recording but our live guide (an Irish gentleman named Donna) was absolutely fantastic. Really enjoyed his banter and knowledge. On the evening of our Alcatraz tour we boarded the bus at about 5 and did the full ride (about 2 hrs). This allowed us the chance to see what we would actually hop off on our next day. On day 2 we also took the Sausalito tour but that was kind of underwhelming for us but we aren't really boutique shoppers.
One thing I would recommend is when you get your map take a look at the coupons. There are actually some good deals on there and we are definitely not coupon people lol.