Victoria

[KansasScrapper]

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. ;)

 

It was going to cost us more as an excursion thru the ship.

[Putterdude]

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. ;)

 

No sure of the age of your travellers but the ferry fare for car is $45 each way, the adult fare is $13.75 each way and children 5 to 11 are $6.75 each way. So $150 may be an under estimate. I know of no less expensive way to do it other that to park your car at the Tsawwassen ferry terminal, walk on the ferry and connect with transit on the Victoria side which will save you the $90 fare for the car.

[sooper]

Thanks Putterdude for confirming... On the bcferry site there's a discount until 6/25 so it'll be $30/car and $9/adult o/w. Seems like it'll be better to spend $60 for the car to have the convenience.

[phantomII]

Are US dollars widely accepted in Victoria? If not, where can I change money after getting off the NCL Pearl?

[Putterdude]

Are US dollars widely accepted in Victoria? If not, where can I change money after getting off the NCL Pearl?

 

Yes $US are widely accepted in Victoria...no problem at all. You will however not get much in the way of exchange, if any at all, as the $CDN is now within about $0.10 of the $US, you will likely get your change in $CDN and I would recommend that you not use notes larger that $20 US as there has been a lot of counterfitting of $50 and $100 notes and merchants are loath to accept them. If you wish you, should be able to get some $CDN at the PAX Service desk aboard ship or any bank ATM downtown Victoria.:)

[Luckysll]

Are US dollars widely accepted in Victoria? If not, where can I change money after getting off the NCL Pearl?

 

There is also a currency exchange place right at the pier. I noticed it a couple of weeks ago when picking up some friends who were coming in on the Carnival Splendor. Don't know what their exchange rate is or if they have less of a transaction fee than an ATM, but you can always check them out.

[KansasScrapper]

Can we use US currency in port???

[Putterdude]

Yes you can, if you look 3 posts up you will find a more complete answer.

[Deep68]

We are going to be in Victoria from 2pm until 10pm in August.

 

Want to try and complete the following.

 

1. Light Afternoon Tea - just tea and scones.

2. Gardens - using CVS Cruise Victoria from downtown

3. Mini Pub Crawl - one or 2 pubs for dinner.

Looking for some british style food/pubs - we are Brits who live in USA.

 

Any suggestion on tea rooms and pubs would be appreciated that would fit this criteria.

Also does this sound too much to try for this time frame

[cruiseryyc]

You've got a lot crammed into a few hours. I suggest to save time you have tea out at the Gardens and forget about a pub crawl.

[scottbee]

We are going to be in Victoria from 2pm until 10pm in August.

 

Want to try and complete the following.

 

1. Light Afternoon Tea - just tea and scones.

2. Gardens - using CVS Cruise Victoria from downtown

3. Mini Pub Crawl - one or 2 pubs for dinner.

Looking for some british style food/pubs - we are Brits who live in USA.

 

Any suggestion on tea rooms and pubs would be appreciated that would fit this criteria.

Also does this sound too much to try for this time frame

 

There's no way you'll pull that off in 8 hours.

 

Tea and Scones; The Empress Hotel is the snazzy Tea and Scones, but if you're looking for something a little more 'local' and less touristy, try Murchies Tea and Coffee on Government Street, it's a tradional tea shop with a lot of excellent pastries. If you really want Tea and Scones, The Blethering Place would be my choice, or maybe the James Bay Tea Room (close to the cruise ships).

 

Gardens; Butchart is 15 miles out of town, and getting there will require a longish bus ride or tour bus. The gardens themselves will take at least a few hours to visit, so I would plan 4-5 hours downtown-downtown. However, there are some other, smaller but very nice gardens you could visit, Beacon Hill Park is about a mile from the cruise terminal (just walk east along the waterfront). The Lt Governor's mansion has some very nice gardens too, located on Rockland Ave, or if you travel a little out of town, Royal Roads University/Hatley Castle also has some beautiful gardens. The 1st two have the added benefit of being free and close to downtown.

 

Pubs; Now we're into my category. If you like British Pubs, there's two to visit. #1 Spinniker's (possibly the best brewpub in Canada), #2 Swan's.

 

To get an idea of where all this lies with respect to the cruise terminal; check out this google map: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=100934763039761071004.0004665d7f3e28f06866d&ll=48.421796,-123.379984&spn=0.034518,0.090981&z=14

[Gator83]

Hi,

 

I will be in Victoria in a few weeks and the cruise ship will be there from 5pm-midnight. I am currently booked to go to Butchart Gardens through the cruise line and their schedule is to leave the port at 5:30pm and I believe leave the gardens at 9:0pm. The more I think about it I think that won't be enough time at the gardens for the $69 cost. I am thinking that I could come back to Victoria another time and see the gardens then when I have more time. If I don't do the gardens I am thinking about just taking some sort of city tour...could be a double decker bus or something else. What are your thoughts on doing the gardens considering the cost and time constraint and do you have any suggestions for a tour company to see the city.

 

Thank you