Cruise stop in Victoria

[judyf]

We will be in Victoria from 6-12 pm on the NCL Pearl on Sat. 5/30.

 

I'm been researching some and I know we do not want to do the gardens sounds nice but just not our thing. We would like to see Victoria and get a feel for the location. Might plan a land vaction there someday.

 

I've decided that a tour of the area would be good to start off with, so we get to see as much of it as possible in the short time we have.

 

In your opinion would we do better with a Duck Tour or the Horse draw carriage tour?

 

Would it be worth it to book both? If possible, I'm not even sure if the duck tours run in the evening. We are leaning towards the horse carrige ride as we will split the price with 4 adults.Should I book ahead of time or can we book at the dock when we get there.

 

After doing this we might want to check out a few places if time permits. Want would your suggestions be, Empress hotel, the totem park, ect.?

 

Looking forward to any suggestions on the best way to do the above?

 

If I book a horse carriage ride where would we end and what would be best to do after, close by? Not big on shopping and we don't want to eat. just see Victora is the plan.

 

Thanks in advance on any itinerary's you might send my way.

 

Thanks

[Putterdude]

If your are planning a trip back then by all means skip the Gardens and concentrate on the city. My advice would be to take the shuttle bus into the Inner Harbour area...cost about $7 pp return, it stops across the street from the Empress Hotel. I would then suggest a stroll around & thru the Empress, the inner harbour causeway, walk around Totem Park and the Legislature Bldgs and perhaps on Govenment St. You then can decide if you wan't to do a carriage trip...if you do, you will find some located in the vacinity of the Legislature Bldgs. Victoria is a small town, only about 350 K, if very clean and safe to walk around in...you will encounter some panhandlers but a frim NO generally sends them on their way. Enjoy!:)

[judyf]

If your are planning a trip back then by all means skip the Gardens and concentrate on the city. My advice would be to take the shuttle bus into the Inner Harbour area...cost about $7 pp return, it stops across the street from the Empress Hotel. I would then suggest a stroll around & thru the Empress, the inner harbour causeway, walk around Totem Park and the Legislature Bldgs and perhaps on Govenment St. You then can decide if you wan't to do a carriage trip...if you do, you will find some located in the vacinity of the Legislature Bldgs. Victoria is a small town, only about 350 K, if very clean and safe to walk around in...you will encounter some panhandlers but a frim NO generally sends them on their way. Enjoy!:)

 

Thanks, no mention of the duck tour so I should scrap that?

 

If I'm reading your post correctly, the horse carrige rides CAN be booked when we arrive and we need to take the shuttle to get where they are?

 

Thanks for all the info.

[Luckysll]

I'm not sure whether the carriage tours can pick you up at the dock or not if you've reserved ahead of time.

 

Here are a couple of links for the carriage tours. You could certainly call them and see if you can reserve at the pier. If not, as PuterDude mentioned, it's a short shuttle ride (or walk) to the Inner Harbour where the carriages are.

 

http://www.tallyhotours.com/

 

http://www.victoriacarriage.com/tours-events.asp

 

Here's a link that lists several different tours - bus, walking, carriage, etc. You might find one here that will give you a good overview of Victoria.

 

http://www.ecotoursvictoria.com/page12/group12.htm

[notentirelynormal]

We booked two carriages in advance through Tally Ho. We made special arrangements to have them pick us up at the ship and take us into town. They are not allowed to "wait" at the pier so we had to be out front on time to do this. We ended up paying less money for a half hour more tour to rent the carriage then it would have been to take the group one offered by Princess.

[judyf]

Thanks for the info.

 

Which carriage tour did you book? Did you enjoy it? Were you able to take pictures during the ride? Also where did they drop you off?

 

We really like the idea of a carriage ride, just to get a feel on the layout and then after the ride we paln to walk explore Empress Hotel, Totem Park and walk around inner harbor.

 

This is our last cruise stop so it sounds like a nice relaxing way to end the cruise.

[Putterdude]

Sorry, I am not at all familiar with the "Duck tours" so really can't comment on them. There is the Harbour Ferries which can be fun on a nice day/evening. As for the horse carriages...I kind of have a fondness for Victoria Carriage over Talley Ho...not there is any issue with any of them.... I just always equate the Victoria Carriage folks with the smaller intimate carriages and Tally Ho with the larger ones...although that is not completly correct. As for reservations, if it is a priority with you then by all means make a reservation but I don't that I have ever been in Victoria where there wern't some carriages available.:)

http://www.victoriaharbourferry.com/

[judyf]

Thanks!! Great ideas

[notentirelynormal]

We did the premium tour for $200 for two carriages for 1-1/2 hours. An additional $30 to be picked up at the pier - which he ended up waiving. We made the reservations because we weren't meeting them in town at their booth, rather them meeting us at the pier. The $200 was for two carriages - 4 people in one, 4 and a toddler in the other. It was a nice way to start the day and see stuff a little bit off the beaten track. Basically $50 Cdn per person. We still would have had to pay to get into town and this was a little more special.

[judyf]

We did the premium tour for $200 for two carriages for 1-1/2 hours. An additional $30 to be picked up at the pier - which he ended up waiving. We made the reservations because we weren't meeting them in town at their booth, rather them meeting us at the pier. The $200 was for two carriages - 4 people in one, 4 and a toddler in the other. It was a nice way to start the day and see stuff a little bit off the beaten track. Basically $50 Cdn per person. We still would have had to pay to get into town and this was a little more special.

 

That's exactly what I'm thinking.

 

Which company did you use? Were you able to take pictures from the carriage?