Holland America Alaska Cruise Victoria Port of Call

Victoria has been a place T have talked about visiting many times. It just hasn’t worked out. So, I was excited it was one of our port cities.

We docked about 6pm. It was a lovely evening.

One thing I would have liked to see while in Victoria was Butchart Gardens. I knew, though, for me the quick visit that we would get if we booked an excursion wouldn’t be enough time to enjoy the gardens. The almost $350 price tag for the 5 of us to do the excursion didn’t seem worth it.

Instead, after doing a bit of research, I found that we could walk to the downtown area and see the Parliament buildings.

You never know, though, what the walk will be like until you get there. It was great. The direction towards downtown was marked well right at the cruise terminal. There were also women handing out maps. We gratefully took one. We walked one route to the Parliament buildings, and another route back to the cruise terminal.

The city was beautiful. It was an easy half an hour walk, one way. That gave us enough time to enjoy the city, but also plenty of time to get back to the ship.

FISHERMAN’S WHARF
We didn’t stop here, except to let the kids play a bit in the grass. But, it looked intriguing. It’s definitely on my list of places to check out when we do a Victoria trip.

PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS

EMPRESS HOTEL

VICTORIA CAUSEWAY MARINA

I was surprised at how crowded the city was. It couldn’t have been only cruise passengers. Apparently many people agree that Victoria is a wonderful city.

Our visit to Victoria was quick. But, it was long enough to decide I would like to go back. It was a nice end to our cruise.