Victoria in the evening?

Hi guys -

Our ship is scheduled to be in Victoria on Saturday, June 9 from 7pm - Midnight. Any thoughts on excursions or things to do? We have been to Victoria once before - in the daytime - but unsure of nighttime offerings.

Butchart for example shows that they close at 5pm that day, though our ship offers a 'dusk' excursion there, so I'm assuming they have some arrangement. I'm guessing I couldn't do it too well on my own at that time of day. Thoughts or other suggestions??

There's not much to do as far as "tourist" attractions at night in Victoria other than what your ship has arranged and this:

http://www.discoverthepast.com/gwalks.htm

Lot's of great eateries and "nightlife" but you can get that on the ship. If the tours don't interest you, a few hours walking around the inner harbour and downtown would be fun as it shouldn't get dark till almost 9pm in early June. It's only a 20 minute walk from the dock.

Thanks for the tips :)

We walked the circle to the inner harbor/Empress area and back again on our last trip, so maybe we'll just do that again and enjoy the twilight hours. Actually, I didn't mention that it's our last night aboard ship, and we have late TD, so we'd have to skip our last MDR meal to go into port - or eat first then take a late night stroll with the hour and a half left to us after dinner...

We did the Butchart excursion through HAL. The gardens are closed to the general public, and you do get to enjoy the evening, but it's pretty rushed. Our tour was paired with a stop at the butterfly gardens, but the butterflies are all sleeping at 10 o'clock at night. If they do just Butchart only, it can be an enjoyable visit, but it is still rushed. Our bus driver did give us a great tour through downtown on our way back to the ship, though.

Same for us......

it will be our last night and won't arrive until same time as you.

It doesn't seem we'll see much.

Not too far from the walking route from the pier to the Inner Harbour is Barb's Place (http://www.barbsplace.ca/). We went there for dinner when we were in Victoria on a non-cruise trip a few years ago. Authentic fish & chips wrapped in newspaper, right on the water.

http://www.tourismvictoria.com/default.aspx

Here is the website for our tourist office in Victoria, you may get some ideas there.

Usually if the weather is decent, a Saturday night can be busy in the Inner Harbour with Buskers and artists selling their wares. The Royal BC Museum is nearby and may be open later in the evening, a walk through the Empress Hotel is always lovely and a stroll up Government would be nice if you wanted to do a little shopping. Have a great time. :)

Thanks for the tips! :)

Hi guys -

 

Our ship is scheduled to be in Victoria on Saturday, June 9 from 7pm - Midnight. Any thoughts on excursions or things to do? We have been to Victoria once before - in the daytime - but unsure of nighttime offerings.

 

Butchart for example shows that they close at 5pm that day, though our ship offers a 'dusk' excursion there, so I'm assuming they have some arrangement. I'm guessing I couldn't do it too well on my own at that time of day. Thoughts or other suggestions??

I have booked my wife and daughter on the Butchart Gardens excusion through Princess for that same night. I plan on just heading downtown to see what is open since we've done the gardens at both day and nighttime.

I just returned from Victoria yesterday. I am told that the Gardens are open at night sometime in June. I'm told that at night it is simple magical.

We were in Victoria last week and we took a pedicab tour around town. It was pricey, but we shared the costs with another couple. Our driver was quite entertaining and we rode through some local neighborhoods, a park, and the downtown area. The pedicabs are right outside the area where you get off the ship.

The pedicab would be fun.

There are also two horse drawn carriages excursions that are worth considering.

www.victoriacarriage.com/

http://www.tallyhotours.com/

we will be docking in Victoria, B.C. in sept from 7-11:59pm. is there anything to do at that time? are ship tours ok to take? how would it be during at night? will they adjust the tours because it seems that the tours cater to day time hours.

Bear in mind that scheduled Victoria arrival times are frequently overly optimistic - especially in Spring and Fall. Most ships making these calls are doing the Outside Passage, where weather, winds, and currents frequently work against arriving in Victoria on time.

Then throw in a few knuckleheads who could not manage to re-board the ship on time at the previous port call. If the Captain was nice enough to wait for them, he then has to decide to burn extra fuel (and give up his annual bonus) to get to Victoria on time, or stay on the budget and turn that 7pm arrival into a 9pm arrival. Option #2 is most often the case.

In the 4 seasons I sailed the outside passage, we arrived late at Victoria far more often than on time.

we will be docking in Victoria, B.C. in sept from 7-11:59pm. is there anything to do at that time? are ship tours ok to take? how would it be during at night? will they adjust the tours because it seems that the tours cater to day time hours.

If you venture away from the Inner Harbour area, I'd strongly recommend a ship's tour. Butchart Gardens is approx. 30 minutes away by bus, and depending on what day you're in port, it may be closed to the general public.

Sept 1-15, they're open from 9-9 (gardens close at 10). Sept 16 onward, they close the gates at 5 PM. We went in late May with the same port times, and only chartered tour buses were there.

We had late arrival to Victoria last Alaskan cruise. We strolled around- too far. Saw some sights alright. Lots of Crack smoking was what we found. Then 2 guys burst out of a bar- fighting. Was pretty interesting, but we rather high-tailed it back to the ship. We were going to stop and eat, but a lot of the places asked for id, and we were with minors.

Two of my nephews (of age) stopped at a little store and each bought a beer. They drank them out of paper bags because they didn't know if it was legal-drinking alcohol on the street. I started laughing!! Two blocks ago people were doing crack- I don't think you will have an issue with the beer!

We had late arrival to Victoria last Alaskan cruise. We strolled around- too far. Saw some sights alright. Lots of Crack smoking was what we found. Then 2 guys burst out of a bar- fighting. Was pretty interesting, but we rather high-tailed it back to the ship. We were going to stop and eat, but a lot of the places asked for id, and we were with minors.

Two of my nephews (of age) stopped at a little store and each bought a beer. They drank them out of paper bags because they didn't know if it was legal-drinking alcohol on the street. I started laughing!! Two blocks ago people were doing crack- I don't think you will have an issue with the beer!

I have no idea what you may have seen, but unlike AZ where drug addicts are incarcerated we tend to treat addiction as a disease rather than a crime and try to rehabilitate addicts rather then throw them in jail and have them come out worse then they went in. As a 5.5 month resident of AZ I shake my head with people being incarcerated for even possessing drug paraphernalia ....and don't get me going on your gun legislation. As for purchasing beer in a little store, beer can be only purchased in licensed liquor stores not in "little stores".