Victoria at 7:00PM!

[Loveprincess]

Hi All, was wondering if anyone out there has docked in Victoria at 7:00PM. Are any of the shops downtown open at this hour? Wondering what to do other than dinner.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Budget Queen]

Yes some shops are open, there are carriage rides. Frankly- this stop isn't for visitors, only to satisify the Passenger Act. :) There also would be some tour offerings by Princess- your best bet. You will need a shuttle to the inner harbor if going independent.

[geoherb]

We stayed on the ship when the Star Princess stopped in Victoria in 2003. We had visited a couple of years before and knew that there wasn't anything we wanted to do in the few hours the ship would be there.

 

If we had not been before, we would have taken the Butchart Gardens excursion.

[critterchick]

Butchart Gardens are amazing, so if they offer the night tour, I would do that (assuming you like gardens, of course). If you're only there for a few hours, I would also recommend a ship's excursion.

[seattlekckckc]

We made sure to eat dinner really early, and then we got off and got some shopping and drinking done. At the time we were motivated by a rockin' exchange rate, which is not nearly as nice now. We just took the shuttle bus for a couple bucks into the marina part of town, right by the Empress hotel.

 

I went to Butchart Gardens on a day trip a few months ago (we live in Seattle), and it was amazing!!! I would strongly recommend going on that ships tour. I would NOT recommened doing that on your own. It is pretty far out of Victoria, and the entire time I was driving there I was picuring being on a cruise ship and having some sort of traffic problem!!!

 

Casey

[ALaver]

There is an amazing observatory if you are in Victoria at night. The ship probably offers a tour there, but we took a taxi ourselves and had an amazing time as our group of 10 were the only ones there.

[calikak]

We also didn't get off the ship in Victoria when we were there on the Diamond last year. We live in Seattle so we've been there lots of times and our favorite thing to do there, the Provincial Museum, would have been closed. They served dinner earlier that night so people could get into town sooner, but we preferred to spend the evening finishing our packing in a more leisurely manner and have a relaxing evening.

[regnig]

We scheduled an early dinner and then took the Princess tour of Butchart Gardens. On the way to the gardens we were given details about the city and told about all the places we were passing. On the way back to the ship the bus stopped a couple of places for picture taking. The gardens are beautiful and well worth the trip. Since it was our last night on the ship we had our bags all pack and ready to put out in the hall when we returned to the ship.

[Loveprincess]

Thanks all for your suggestions. I'll love for some of the ship excursions!!