Question about Ice Cream & Victoria, B.C.

We will be on the Eurodam, July 14-21, sailing to Alaska. This all a first for us. We have never sailed on HAL or been to Alaska. I have been visiting the boards quite a bit and have 10 pages of notes saved so far.

Today, my daughter asked where is the best place to get ice cream on the Eurodam (so far, I don't have that info in my notes). The answer is probably the Lido, but I just wanted to double check. If they do serve ice cream daily, is it soft serve? Or scooped? Do the flavors change each day? Ice cream is my daughter's favorite food group! ;)

I'm interested in visiting the Abkhaki Gardens and Tea Room - a specific excursion for HAL ($109 pp which includes a city tour) and the description says it is not open to the public so I don't think I can book this on our own??? There are only 3 reviews, but all 3 gave it five stars and one person said it was better than the Empress Hotel.

I'm just looking for some insight. I understand that the Butchart Gardens also serves tea at a much better price (I have emailed them to make sure they will be serving late since our ship gets into port at 6 pm). It's cheaper. But once we pay for entrance to the gardens and pay for a taxi, I'm not sure Butchart will be more economical. Any tips on where to have the best tea experience would be appreciated.

As much research as I've done, I'm worried that there is still so much to learn. We only have one booked excursion. We plan to mostly tour on our own. We are a week away!!!!

Ice cream flavours change daily, in the lido. They have hard that is scooped. And great cookies.

IMO As for tea, go to the Empress. We have had tea at both the gardens and the Empress. The experience is very cool at the Empress and you can walk there on your own. That is way too much to pay for the other spot.

Butchart gardens is beautiful for the gardens.

For the past few years our cruises usually had scooped vanilla/chocolate/strawberry every day, plus one other choice that changed daily.

Ice cream in Victoria? There was one in Government street, close to the cruise ship bus drop off. From memory they offered 66 varieties to chose from. Very good indeed.

The soft serve machine may be a bit out of sight, but they do have soft serve as well. My husband is the ice cream king, I think. ;p

They used to have a board with the flavors listed, but on my last two trips, the board was empty without the daily info. Maybe they'll be posted on your cruise.

Ask about the soft serve flavors of the day, but vanilla is the "always available." It's my husband's favorite.

Ice cream is served on both sides of the Lido. One side opens later than the other side. 11:30 AM and Noon openings. Then it will close for a while in the afternoon and reopen for dinner time.

On our last few cruises there has only been chocolate, vanilla and strawberry with sometimes another flavor.

The gardens are open to the public but not after 5 pm even in the summer. And last tea serving at the empress is at 5:30. Butchart Gardens is open until 10 pm in the summer but probably not serving high tea. The white heather tea room does a lovely and reasonable high tea but their last sitting is at 3:45. Because of the late arrival into Victoria your best bet for a high tea experience might be on the ship itself. There is usually at least one but it has been 5 years since I was on a Hal ship. Someone will come along with more recent info I am sure.

Victoria is a lovely city and very walkable. She lights up after dark for a very pretty sight.

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Abkhazi Gardens can be done on one's own if one has an earlier arrival in Victoria. The last entrance to the Garden is at 4 pm. Here is a link to their website: https://www.abkhaziteahouse.com. If it can be done through the ship, I would suggest you book the excursion. It could be that they have made special arrangements for a private tour with tea. The Abkhazi Gardens are much smaller than Butchart and easily done in a hour, two hours with tea. They are lovely gardens, much closer than Butchart, and it's a good choice for a limited time in port.

Butchart Gardens is lovely and their tea is wonderful. Their last tea is served at 5 pm so that won't work for you, unless HAL has made special arrangements. Again, I would recommend this if you have more port time in Victoria. Afternoon tea may look to be less expensive but it does not include entry fees to the Gardens.

We did it when we arrived In Victoria at 1 pm (departure at 11:00 or so). We rented a car, drove out there, and between having tea and touring the gardens, we spent about 5 - 6 hours. Tea, alone, was at least 1.5 hours. But we were in no rush, either, and took an especially long time touring the gardens. As an aside, if one is turning 80 in the year in which one tours Butchart Gardens, they have a special where the 80 year old plus a guest get free admission to the Gardens and free afternoon tea. It happened to be my DM's 80th year when we went. It was a very special day. This was two years ago, and I calculated then the value of the "gift" to be $130 for two people.

You will be able to have afternoon tea on the ship, as someone posted above. It has, according to more recent reports, changed a wee bit. There is no longer a Royal Dutch Tea, nor any special teas like Indonesian Tea or the Cupcake Tea. I believe it's now held in a lounge (Ocean Bar?) and is tea with sandwiches and small sweets.

Hope this helps! Enjoy your cruise!

Main dining room evening dinner always has a special ice cream sundae on the dessert menu, or you can order from the various flavors of the day listed on the menu and request various standard sauces. MDR also offer sorbets and sugar free on the evening dessert menu.

Please check itinerary. I believe we don't get into Victoria until late and not sure if there would be time for gardens. And, we may have rain every day as well. I want to visit the Empress if at all possible.

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The gardens are open to the public but not after 5 pm even in the summer. And last tea serving at the empress is at 5:30. Butchart Gardens is open until 10 pm in the summer but probably not serving high tea. The white heather tea room does a lovely and reasonable high tea but their last sitting is at 3:45. Because of the late arrival into Victoria your best bet for a high tea experience might be on the ship itself. There is usually at least one but it has been 5 years since I was on a Hal ship. Someone will come along with more recent info I am sure.

 

Victoria is a lovely city and very walkable. She lights up after dark for a very pretty sight.

 

 

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We were in Victoria for a full day last week on a Crystal cruise and took the cruise line's tour to Butchart Gardens with high tea. Quality was just fair and we felt rushed..it was an assembly line atmosphere...not relaxing. I have not been to the Empress High Tea but having visited the hotel in the past and based on reputation...it has to be better than the one at Butchart Gardens. BTW the gardens are gorgeous...well worth the 40 minute ride from the cruise port.

If you get into port at 6pm, there is an excursion through HAL to butchart gardens but I doubt high tea is open then. We went to Empress hotel for high tea on another trip to Victoria and while the experience was nice, it was very expensive for what you get.

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The Victoria water taxis are fun and offer transportation or tours. You can get tickets in the main harbor...near the empress hotel.

In other ports, a little research will show you there are a plethora of short hikes that can be done right off the pier. I did a great, bit hard, hike out of skagway.

Our HAL ship docked at 6 pm. I contacted Butchart, and they were NOT doing a tea that late in the evening. I decided to do Abkhaki Garden & Tea excursion after all, and it was wonderful. You get a short tour of the city before you get to the garden (and Victoria is a very pretty city). I would say, it was a quick walk through the garden. I did take several pics with my daughter, but I didn't have time to really dawdle or make sure that we went down all the paths. The tea and the sandwiches/scones/pastries were EXCELLENT! And then when the bus (very comfortable too) takes you back to port, they take a different route so you get more touring/history.

Glad you enjoyed it LV!

I'm glad you enjoyed the tour. It's a good option for those short port times in Victoria. Thank you for reporting back.