Online tips provided as Friday night cruises are expected to sell out quickly

Oakland, Calif. - The Port of Oakland’s free harbor tours will return this May and run through October. The Port published its 2018 harbor tour schedule this morning. Due to their popularity, the Port has provide tips on its web site for how to reserve a ticket on the tour. These 90-minute harbor excursions are narrated and conducted aboard the Blue & Gold Fleet. Tickets can be reserved on the Port’s web site home page, HERE.

“Port of Oakland harbor tours allow us to connect directly with the communities that we serve,” said Port of Oakland Director of Social Responsibility Amy Tharpe. “The harbor tours are also a way of saying thank you to our community for supporting the work that we do.”

Last year, more than 3,000 attended the Port’s summer harbor tours. Every harbor tour has sold out since the excursions began in 2015. Each Blue & Gold vessel can hold 230 passengers per tour.

The Port will host two harbor tours a month on Friday afternoons departing from Jack London Square’s ferry dock at the foot of Clay Street. Ticket registration begins May 7 for the two May cruises. The first harbor tour is slated for May 11. Registration will take place the first Monday of each month for that month's tours. 

Tour organizers said the cruises were designed to give neighbors a close-up look at how the Oakland seaport works. The tours follow the port’s shoreline along Oakland Estuary and Outer Harbor, and passengers will be able to see working marine terminals, giant cranes and megaships. The tours will also provide views of the East Bay hills, the Bay Bridge, and, San Francisco’s waterfront and skyline.