Victoria

[scottbee]

We are interested in either a bus or limo service taking us to Fisgard Lighthouse. We're looking to spend about two hours there exploring the lighthouse and fort. Can anyone recommend a transportation service or tour operator? My concern is that, if we take a cab, will there be cabs there waiting to take passengers back to the port area?

 

Any and all suggestions appreciated. TIA! :)

 

Just phone for a cab when you want to leave. There are many taxi firms in Victoria. If you google "Victoria Taxi" you'll find a number of companies that serve the "western communities" (the part of town that Fort Rodd Hill is in).

[KansasScrapper]

Personally I would grab a cab and go to Inner Harbour, walk around there, I am not sure if Musuem and Parliment buildings will still be open at that time. Explore Government street and Trounce Ally and then go to Bay Center and have an Ice cream at Marble Slab.

 

I notice your from there. I have a couple questions for you, if you don't mind. Do you recommend any wine? What can you tell me about the Victoria Gin? Also, what would a cab/Taxi ride run from the dock down to the Inner Harbor? We read they run a summer craft market during the summer? Will they run that late as we don't pull into port till 7pm. What time does the sun set there in the summer (July 4-10)? Thanks!!

[Urban trekker]

You will have light to 10PM.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Bellfree Bat]

I know that Butchart Gardens are quite large. How much time should we allow to do it justice? We are docking at noon and scheduled to depart at 10 pm.

[Yuprules]

I'm still wondering if the Gardens will be open late on the May 27th, so far the word was "maybe".

[quincytoo]

I notice your from there. I have a couple questions for you, if you don't mind. Do you recommend any wine? What can you tell me about the Victoria Gin? Also, what would a cab/Taxi ride run from the dock down to the Inner Harbor? We read they run a summer craft market during the summer? Will they run that late as we don't pull into port till 7pm. What time does the sun set there in the summer (July 4-10)? Thanks!!

 

Here there :) I just read this now sorry ...

 

I love questions :)

 

Wine....My dh collects wine and I don't know much about it but that I LOVE to drink it :D

 

Try any of the VQA BC Whites (right now I am liking Blasted Church, Grey Monk, almost anything Mission Hill and Cedar Creek or a BC Pinot Noir :) YUM!!!

 

I have never heard of Victoria gin???

 

Taxi ride should run you about $8-$10 with tip??

 

 

They do run a summer craft market on Government street on Sundays afternoon just before you get to China Town.

 

Quite often in Inner Harbour many artists and vendors will have stands set up during the day and evenings, lovely to walk around. I am planning to surprise my dh with a night at the Empress for Father's day and that is pretty much on night before we hit the Bengal Lounge for their famous curry buffet

 

It should stay light until at least 9:30 if not ten :)

 

Each time we are at BG we are there for at least two, maybe three hours.

[KansasScrapper]

Here there :) I just read this now sorry ...

 

I love questions :)

 

Wine....My dh collects wine and I don't know much about it but that I LOVE to drink it :D

 

Try any of the VQA BC Whites (right now I am liking Blasted Church, Grey Monk, almost anything Mission Hill and Cedar Creek or a BC Pinot Noir :) YUM!!!

 

I have never heard of Victoria gin???

 

Taxi ride should run you about $8-$10 with tip??

 

 

They do run a summer craft market on Government street on Sundays afternoon just before you get to China Town.

 

Quite often in Inner Harbour many artists and vendors will have stands set up during the day and evenings, lovely to walk around. I am planning to surprise my dh with a night at the Empress for Father's day and that is pretty much on night before we hit the Bengal Lounge for their famous curry buffet

 

It should stay light until at least 9:30 if not ten :)

 

Each time we are at BG we are there for at least two, maybe three hours.

 

Do you think we'd be able to get down town and back and find something to do being in port in the evening? Or would you suggest a ship excursion??

 

Thanks for your help.

[quincytoo]

Do you think we'd be able to get down town and back and find something to do being in port in the evening? Or would you suggest a ship excursion??

 

Thanks for your help.

 

 

When does your ship leave Victoria?? If it is 10 or later I would think you would be fine cabbing it downtown (Inner Harbour) and then back :0

 

We have never done a ship's excursion because of the high price.....that said, they do hold the boat till the ship's excursion is back....That said again, I truly think you would be fine cabbing it to Inner Harbour and walking around, explore the Empress, parts of Government Street, Trounce Ally, Marble Slab in Bay Center has the best ice cream downtown....

[KansasScrapper]

When does your ship leave Victoria?? If it is 10 or later I would think you would be fine cabbing it downtown (Inner Harbour) and then back :0

 

We have never done a ship's excursion because of the high price.....that said, they do hold the boat till the ship's excursion is back....That said again, I truly think you would be fine cabbing it to Inner Harbour and walking around, explore the Empress, parts of Government Street, Trounce Ally, Marble Slab in Bay Center has the best ice cream downtown....

 

I just want to make sure we will be able to find a cab to get back with. We are in port till midnight, but we will not be out that late I am thinking probably 10-10:30ish. Oh I know we have Marble Slab here and it is great here as well.

[Putterdude]

You won't have any problem getting a cab back to the ship at Ogden Point from downtown. Your fare will be about $10 plus tip.

[jcjky]

Most tours spend about a hour and a half to two hours at the garden. We were able to see it within two hours.

[AQW]

Help please! :)

 

We will be in Victoria on Wednesday, June 10 from noon to midnight (Carnival Splendor). We want to see the Butterfly Gardens, but not Butchart Gardens... any suggestions on the best way to do this? All the tours I'm seeing include both locations, but if I'm understanding the layout correctly they are not adjacent - so we couldn't book a tour then choose to just spend all our time at the Butterfly Gardens while everyone else visits Butchart, correct?

 

We are traveling with four children (ages 4-8) - is the distance between the two sites walkable for these young children and my senior citizen mother? If not... any suggestions on how to go about just visiting the Butterfly Gardens?

 

I appreciate any input... thank you!

[cruiseryyc]

It is a long walk to Butchart's from the Butterfly Gardens - if all of your party were fit mid-twenties; I'd say go for it and catch your bus back then. Unless Grey Line or Cruise Victoria offer a drop off and pick up service at the Butterfly Gardens, then you probably will have to cab it, which would run you around $50 one way.

[quincytoo]

I just want to make sure we will be able to find a cab to get back with. We are in port till midnight, but we will not be out that late I am thinking probably 10-10:30ish. Oh I know we have Marble Slab here and it is great here as well.

 

Downtown Victoria, Inner Harbour area you truly will not have any problems getting a cab back :)

 

Ps I am 45 female, work out at the gym on a regular bases and I would not want to walk from Butterfly Gardens to BG especially with being timed.

[scottbee]

Help please! :)

 

We will be in Victoria on Wednesday, June 10 from noon to midnight (Carnival Splendor). We want to see the Butterfly Gardens, but not Butchart Gardens... any suggestions on the best way to do this? All the tours I'm seeing include both locations, but if I'm understanding the layout correctly they are not adjacent - so we couldn't book a tour then choose to just spend all our time at the Butterfly Gardens while everyone else visits Butchart, correct?

 

We are traveling with four children (ages 4-8) - is the distance between the two sites walkable for these young children and my senior citizen mother? If not... any suggestions on how to go about just visiting the Butterfly Gardens?

 

I appreciate any input... thank you!

 

The #75 bus will take you right in front of Butterfly Gardens as it's at the corner of two major (in that part of the burbs) roads, W.Saanich and Keating Cross. Cost is $2.25 for adults, a little less for seniors, children under 12 and free for children under 5.

http://www.bctransit.com/regions/vic/schedules/schedule.cfm?line=75&

 

Route 75 runs from either downtown (Fairfield at Blanshard) or the Royal Oak Exchange (Royal Oak Drive @ Hwy 17). Either way, the #30 or #31 bus (and the exchange to the other bus is free) takes you from the cruise terminal to the Royal Oak Exchange via downtown, so you could transfer at either.

 

This map hopefully shows you what you need to know

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=100934763039761071004.0004665d7f3e28f06866d&ll=48.496133,-123.430023&spn=0.263912,0.727844&z=11

[norwega]

just an fyi for all those who don't leave Victoria until late. from what I see on the bctransit.com website, the buses don't run past 7pm...We're on the Pearl and arrive at 6PM, so will have to cab it to get anywhere, other than walking of course... please correct me if I'm wrong.

[cruiseryyc]

just an fyi for all those who don't leave Victoria until late. from what I see on the bctransit.com website, the buses don't run past 7pm...We're on the Pearl and arrive at 6PM, so will have to cab it to get anywhere, other than walking of course... please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

What buses are referring to? Public transportation is alive and well in Victoria well past 7:00 p.m.

[Mizwoodym]

We were in Victoria last saturday evening on the Star Princess and got a very entertaining bus tour which included two cemetaries.. It was called ghosts and graveyards but ended up being mostly a historical tour. It was very entertaining. The cemetary we spent an hour in had many graves from the 1800's. We stopped in several spots around town where the driver told us some history on some houses with little side ghost stories. We then stopped in downtown for a short half hour to walk around as an added bonus. It was a long enough tour to make us all wish we could have spent a weekend there. We came back with nothing but raves about the city...the parts we saw were very clean and beautiful. We got back to the ship in enough time for a late 930 dinner. We stayed up and watched the two other ships in port sail away and we sadly sailed away at midnight back to the port of seattle to end our cruise.

[norwega]

cruiseryyc,

thanks for the correction! I must have been looking at a schedule that didn't include the "evening" timetable.

Here's a bus map

 

http://www.transitbc.com/regions/vic/schedules/map.cfm?region=10&

[Luckysll]

Help please! :)

 

We will be in Victoria on Wednesday, June 10 from noon to midnight (Carnival Splendor). We want to see the Butterfly Gardens, but not Butchart Gardens... any suggestions on the best way to do this? All the tours I'm seeing include both locations, but if I'm understanding the layout correctly they are not adjacent - so we couldn't book a tour then choose to just spend all our time at the Butterfly Gardens while everyone else visits Butchart, correct?

 

We are traveling with four children (ages 4-8) - is the distance between the two sites walkable for these young children and my senior citizen mother? If not... any suggestions on how to go about just visiting the Butterfly Gardens?

 

I appreciate any input... thank you!

 

While Butterfly Gardens is okay, there's also the Bug Zoo, which your children might enjoy. It's right near the Inner Harbour, so no need to take buses, cabs, etc. to get there.

 

Here's the link:

 

http://www.bugzoo.bc.ca/

 

A block away from the Bug Zoo, is Miniature World (on the side of the Empress Hotel), which is also a place young children enjoy.

 

http://www.miniatureworld.com/

[LUVNICK]

Hi my 18 year old son and i are going to be in Victoria on June 10th from noon till midnight off the Splendor. The most important thing I want to do is go Orca watching. I can get on a tour at 1pm or 5pm. Which is best for seeing the whales? Is there anything that my daredevil son might be interested in outside of the whale watching? Getting to and from the peir to where we need to be, sounds like the most efficient way would be to take a cab. Would love to see the town also, so any advice how I can fit it all in would be great.:) Any advice on the best whale tour would also be wonderful.

[Needs_A_Vacation]

We were thinking of going to the gardens after dinner and taking the bus up there. But the return buses from the gardens seem to run less frequently as the night goes on. If we happen to miss the last bus, is it easy to get a taxi out there without waiting a long time? I'm all for public transportation, but I'm a little worried about getting stranded in a strange city and having to get back to the ship on time!

 

Thanks.

[LeftcoastBC]

Hi my 18 year old son and i are going to be in Victoria on June 10th from noon till midnight off the Splendor. The most important thing I want to do is go Orca watching. I can get on a tour at 1pm or 5pm. Which is best for seeing the whales? Is there anything that my daredevil son might be interested in outside of the whale watching? Getting to and from the peir to where we need to be, sounds like the most efficient way would be to take a cab. Would love to see the town also, so any advice how I can fit it all in would be great.:) Any advice on the best whale tour would also be wonderful.

If the whales are around you will see them. They don't have any favorite time :) Pick the best time for yourself and cross your fingers.

[LeftcoastBC]

We were thinking of going to the gardens after dinner and taking the bus up there. But the return buses from the gardens seem to run less frequently as the night goes on. If we happen to miss the last bus, is it easy to get a taxi out there without waiting a long time? I'm all for public transportation, but I'm a little worried about getting stranded in a strange city and having to get back to the ship on time!

 

Thanks.

 

The gardens are quite a ways out of the city. Go within your own comfort zone and enjoy whatever you do. I am unsure of how quick a taxi would respond to out there and even if they would given business in town unless you made prior arrangements. A tour sounds best for you.

[sooper]

There are 5 of us thinking of visiting Victoria from Vancouver prior to our cruise. We'll have a rental car, so if we drive to the ferry and over it's $150 roundtrip for all + $28/pp for Butchart Garden. Is this about right or is there a better way? This must be an extraordinary garden... for $58 per person it would cost us to visit it. ;)