We had a quick but beautiful stop in Victoria! The lush flowers, historic buildings, and gorgeous sunset made for a gorgeous experience in Canada.
Fun Fact: To have an international crew, cruise lines need to have an international stop. For many Alaskan cruise lines, that means a stop in either Vancouver or Victoria. It gets a little confusing because Victoria is on Vancouver Island, but Vancouver is also a city on the mainland. Make sure you know where you are headed!
Our ship only docked in Victoria for a few hours on the last evening of our cruise. We had no planned excursions and knew we had much to see with only a little time. We managed to catch a cab at the docks that took us into town and dropped us off at the Parliament Building. It is a beautiful building right in the middle of all the action in town. It is definitely worth visiting while in Victoria.
In the area surrounding the building, there are also several monuments. One of my favorites was the statue for Queen Victoria.
A couple of blocks from the Parliament Building is the Fairmont Empress. It is a gorgeous hotel and landmark in Victoria. We easily spent an hour exploring the hotel, grounds, and shops inside. As a historic hotel, I was surprised by the modern elements inside. The lobby featured a stunning chandelier. Definitely plan to spend some time at the Fairmont Empress during your time in Victoria.
Directly across from the Fairmont Empress is the harbor filled with many boats and yachts. The flowers, sunset, and boats made for a beautiful backdrop to explore the rest of the city.
If we had more time in Victoria, I definitely would have added Butchart Gardens to our list of things to do while in port. I was concerned that due to our late and short time in port, it would be too dark to see all the flowers. In hindsight, it definitely stayed light long enough that we could have explored the gardens. The flowers around the Fairmont Empress and the nearby harbor provided a glimpse of what the Butchart Gardens had to offer.
Near the Fairmont Empress, there are several streets in the area filled with restaurants, stores, and ice cream parlors. We even saw the captain of our ship getting some ice cream with some friends. There were many inviting restaurants, but since we had a time crunch, we decided to spend our time shopping. There were several specialty shops worth exploring. The stores were used to cruise ship tourists and accepted USD, but I was always given a choice of receiving any change in USD or CAD.
After an evening of exploring and shopping, we headed back to the ship for our last night onboard. It was a great end to an incredible cruise!
Gabi's Getaway Guides 