BobandBrenda Posted February 10, 2009 #1 Share Posted February 10, 2009 One of our ports is Victoria, BC and so far the shore excursions are a garden, teatime, butterflies and 3 pub crawl and most are in the eighty dollars and up. None of my group want to go to a garden, see butterflies, teatime, or a pub crawl. Is there anything close to port? We have me in my 50s, my husband 50, his mom in 80 and his sister in her late 50s. So were not zipline people but I cant see us hanging out in a garden. Thanks for any help Brenda Peoria, AZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yukon Posted February 10, 2009 #2 Share Posted February 10, 2009 Whale watching (for orca, unlike Alaska which is for humpbacks) is the main "active" excursion. On the assumption that you're doing a short late-afternoon visit, this is one of the cases where booking through the ship will work best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeattleCruiselover Posted February 10, 2009 #3 Share Posted February 10, 2009 One of our ports is Victoria, BC and so far the shore excursions are a garden, teatime, butterflies and 3 pub crawl and most are in the eighty dollars and up. None of my group want to go to a garden, see butterflies, teatime, or a pub crawl. Is there anything close to port? We have me in my 50s, my husband 50, his mom in 80 and his sister in her late 50s.So were not zipline people but I cant see us hanging out in a garden. Thanks for any help Brenda Peoria, AZ Depends on what time of day you will be there???? (NOTE: Please go over the the spring training complex after Friday and give the M's pitchers and catchers a thump on the head or two, and warn them that things had better be better this season.....:D) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare tetleytea Posted February 10, 2009 #4 Share Posted February 10, 2009 Do all the Inner Harbour places not stay open late if a cruise ship is in port? We stayed at a week in Victoria for our honeymoon (and let me tell you...Victoria is the primo place to honeymoon), and we had no problem finding plenty of things to do. We stayed busy the whole time, day and "night". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiseryyc Posted February 10, 2009 #5 Share Posted February 10, 2009 Yes if there is a cruise ship in port, then nearly everything stays open later (except for some reason the Museum!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mii Posted February 10, 2009 #6 Share Posted February 10, 2009 Also you might get more info by going to the Canada board. Marilyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeattleCruiselover Posted February 10, 2009 #7 Share Posted February 10, 2009 Do all the Inner Harbour places not stay open late if a cruise ship is in port? We stayed at a week in Victoria for our honeymoon (and let me tell you...Victoria is the primo place to honeymoon), and we had no problem finding plenty of things to do. We stayed busy the whole time, day and "night". Yeah, but, for some reason Princess does not (and maybe the others are the same) offer excursions to Butchart for their evening visits, and it is too far from the cruise terminal to get there and back in the limited four hours that you have in port, so timiing does have a bit to do with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Putterdude Posted February 11, 2009 #8 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Having eliminated most of the major attractions in Victoria you may just enjoy catching the shuttle from the Ogden Point pier (about $7 pp rtn) which drops you off in front of the Empress Hotel. From there you may care to stroll through the historic Empress Hotel, go for a little walk to the unique shops of Government St. come back and enjoy the buskers who preform on Esplanade of the Inner Harbour during the summer and if you are there late enough see the lights come on on the Provincial Legislature Buidling. All of the aforementioned is free. If you wish you can take a horse drawn carigage trip and there are a couple companies who offer this service. Victoria really is a lovely city and it would be a shame to visit there without at least seeing some of it. www.victoriacarriage.com/ www.tallyhotours.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyIL Posted February 11, 2009 #9 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Yeah, but, for some reason Princess does not (and maybe the others are the same) offer excursions to Butchart for their evening visits, and it is too far from the cruise terminal to get there and back in the limited four hours that you have in port, so timiing does have a bit to do with it. We're in Victoria from 7 p.m. until midnight in late May, and the Golden Princess has an evening excursion to the Butchart Gardens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breezey Posted February 11, 2009 #10 Share Posted February 11, 2009 We are in our 50's as well. Putterdude had some great ideas. Victoria is a lovely city and no need for expensive excursions. There are nice art galleries and shops to wander. You might want to reconsider and check out the Butchart Garden website. This is no ordinary garden and I thought the same about not wanting to go but after seeing the photos of the place, we do plan on spending a couple of hours there. As for tea, afternoon English tea is an experience in itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inkmahm Posted February 11, 2009 #11 Share Posted February 11, 2009 We are in our 50's as well. Putterdude had some great ideas. Victoria is a lovely city and no need for expensive excursions. There are nice art galleries and shops to wander. You might want to reconsider and check out the Butchart Garden website. This is no ordinary garden and I thought the same about not wanting to go but after seeing the photos of the place, we do plan on spending a couple of hours there. As for tea, afternoon English tea is an experience in itself. I love just wandering through Victoria shops. Putterdude did give great advice. I've also been to Buchart gardens twice now because I've gone with people who love to garden. I'd say if you plant your own flowers and you are really into them, it's worth a visit. For me, I like looking at flowers but I can easily do the whole place in an hour. It's okay, but not tops on my list of excursions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubytue Posted February 11, 2009 #12 Share Posted February 11, 2009 I'm seriouslly considering doing one of the walking ghost tours! I don't have the link handy. If anyone is interested, i can pull it up tonight and repost it. We've done Butchart, so i want something totally different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breezey Posted February 11, 2009 #13 Share Posted February 11, 2009 I love just wandering through Victoria shops. Putterdude did give great advice. I've also been to Buchart gardens twice now because I've gone with people who love to garden. I'd say if you plant your own flowers and you are really into them, it's worth a visit. For me, I like looking at flowers but I can easily do the whole place in an hour. It's okay, but not tops on my list of excursions. We wouldnt do it as an excursion either just something to do for an hour or so to look at the pretty flowers :) We went to Victoria a few years ago for a few days and wandering around the shops was just great so am happy to do that again. Some ports are just more conducive to wandering than spending a pile on excursions. I do love afternoon tea but not in a large tourist setting so we found one that has been highly recommended on Trip Advisor that we plan on going to as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yukon Posted February 11, 2009 #14 Share Posted February 11, 2009 I'm seriouslly considering doing one of the walking ghost tours! I don't have the link handy. It's at http://www.discoverthepast.com/gwalks.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobandBrenda Posted February 11, 2009 Author #15 Share Posted February 11, 2009 We are in port from 9:00am to 6:00PM. Now how are you being transported to see these whales? Im not going in a vessel same size or smaller than a whale. Brenda Peoria, AZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiseryyc Posted February 11, 2009 #16 Share Posted February 11, 2009 We are in port from 9:00am to 6:00PM.Now how are you being transported to see these whales? Im not going in a vessel same size or smaller than a whale. Brenda Peoria, AZ Quite often they are Zodiak's and yes they are smaller than whales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Putterdude Posted February 12, 2009 #17 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Prince of Whales which is one of the older an likely the largest whale excursion tour operator uses principally Zodaics but does have other vessels as well. Another one that comes high recommended is Orca Spririt and they do operate larger vessels....ones that have restrooms.:) http://www.princeofwhales.com/ http://www.orcaspirit.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubytue Posted February 12, 2009 #18 Share Posted February 12, 2009 It's at http://www.discoverthepast.com/gwalks.htm That's is :D Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yukon Posted February 12, 2009 #19 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Now how are you being transported to see these whales?Im not going in a vessel same size or smaller than a whale. We went with Five Star Whale Watching (booked through HAL the day before we arrived), and the boat is far larger than any whale - you can see photos of our trip at http://www.youralaskacruise.com/reviews/2007/page6.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJPacer Posted February 12, 2009 #20 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Originally Posted by Yukon It's at http://www.discoverthepast.com/gwalks.htm Sounds like fun. :eek: Wasn't able to find a price on their website. Do you know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imagineer Posted February 12, 2009 #21 Share Posted February 12, 2009 ...Prince of Whales has two gorgeous and very capable boats that are much larger and not Zodiacs. Go to their site and check out the 'Ocean Magic' and the 'Ocean Magic II'... ...here's the site link: http://www.princeofwhales.com/boats.html cheers, the Imagineer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzanne123 Posted February 12, 2009 #22 Share Posted February 12, 2009 We are booked on the HAL evening whale watch on a "high-speed Expedition catamaran." -- Any idea how this boat looks or who the vendor might be? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yukon Posted February 12, 2009 #23 Share Posted February 12, 2009 We are booked on the HAL evening whale watch on a "high-speed Expedition catamaran." -- Any idea how this boat looks or who the vendor might be? Thanks. http://www.wildcat-adventures.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yukon Posted February 12, 2009 #24 Share Posted February 12, 2009 We are booked on the HAL evening whale watch on a "high-speed Expedition catamaran." -- Any idea how this boat looks or who the vendor might be? Thanks. Sorry, the above link was the wrong one. We were on it in 2007 during our cruise on the Amsterdam - a very comfortable boat with both enclosed and open-deck seating areas - http://www.5starwhales.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzanne123 Posted February 12, 2009 #25 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Looks good to me! Did you see many whales in the evening? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.