Misleading and Unscrupulous!
When this trip for 2 x people was booked on the 9th December 2017 for the Alcatraz tour on the 23rd December, the bundle included 2 x days of the Big Bus use. However when we went to redeem our tickets we were advised by the Big Bus team at 99 Jefferson Street that it only included 1 x day of the Big Bus use and they had advised Viator multiple times of this.
I've tried via the Viator website to locate a customer service link however when I click on a Complaints/Feedback/Kudos link, I receive a no results found message!
There are many reviews online of unscrupulous and misleading tour providers for Alcatraz tours, unfortunately it appears that Viator is another one of those. Rather surprising considering that Viator's parent company is a TripAdvisor!
Lift your game Viator.
The tickets were Big Bus San Francisco Sightseeing and Alcatraz Combo for 110 each 5 people totally 550. The Alcatraz portion was for December 26th. The instructions stated to go to the Big Bus Tour office in Fishermans Wharf at 99 Jefferson Street at the corner of Mason street one day prior. So on Christmas Day we went to the office and met with a very nice gentleman who made copies of our tickets and told us to come back on the 26th at 1:30pm and he would walk us to the bus to take us over to Pier 33. He also stated that we could get on the bus at our Hotel at stop 7 when we were ready to do the sightseeing portion of the purchase but suggested we do that another day because the Alcatraz would take most of the day. On the morning of the 26th we were at Café Mason waiting to be seated for breakfast when I received a call from BB stated that I was misinformed and that I actually need to pick up my Alcatraz tickets at 99 Jefferson Street before noon and then would need to walk to Pier 33.
We made it to the BB tour office before noon and picked up our tickets. I asked the lady there if my voucher would still allow me to board the sightseeing bus tomorrow at stop 7 and she assured me it would. Alcatraz was wonderful with the exception of not having enough time there but really that was a personal choice because we could have taken the late ferry back but chose not to.
December 27th we were at stop 7 Hilton Hotel at 9:00. The bus driver said that our voucher would not work but he would take us to the office and we could get the correct tickets. We had to ride all the stops back to 1 and talk to them at the tour office. She apologized and gave us the correct vouchers we had now wasted 1.5 hours. We got back on the bus and started our tour. By now we all had to use the facilities so we got off the bus at 7 and went to the hotel to use the restroom then walked up OFarrell for Starbucks and then back to stop 7. Waited for the bus and when it showed up the driver stated that he did not have room for any of us and another bus would be along. We waited a total of 40 minutes to get on a bus. Once on we made a stop at 10 so my son could go to some record store. Did not stay long and then waited for the bus. We did not get off anywhere else. At stop 13 we got off the bus to catch the Sausalito loop. The driver said that bus was not leaving for another half hour. He said we would have time to by an ice cream cone and then have to head back. We choose not to do that as we did not want ice cream we wanted to walk the streets and look at shops and we new we needed to make it back to stop 1 to catch the last bus. So we get back on the main bus and headed back. Did not make anymore stops. So this was how we spent our day from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
Once back at 1 I went in and asked to speak to the manager. The lady stated that she was the manager but I think she was just a sound board. She was not empathic at all. I told her that I thought paying 110 dollars per person to make 2 stops was a bit much. Taking into account Alcatraz it was still 73 per person. I feel that I gave a charitable contribution to BB.
I bought a premier 24 hour pass and thoroughly enjoyed the Alcatraz tour and the Night Bus tour of San Francisco. However, I was disappointed that the Alcatraz booking was for mid day 1:05 pm, which essentially made it impossible for me to utilize the hop on hop off portion of the ticket or to opt for the Sausalito cruise instead of the Night Bus tour. The amount of time necessary to get to the Big Bus depot on Pier 39 and then walk or ride to Pier 33 to queue in advance of one's boarding a mid day ferry to Alcatraz and then doing the reverse after finishing at a minimum 2 1/2 hours needed to cover the island, its buildings, exhibits and special programs used up the majority of one day.