![\"img_0962\"](\"https:\/\/askviptravelista.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/IMG_0962-e1479267087826.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
After a good nights rest we were up and ready to go, too bad it was only 3:30 am.\u00a0 Instead of forcing ourselves to go back to sleep, we looked out onto the balcony and watched the sun rise.\u00a0 We decided to enjoy the view and take a few photos.\u00a0 It was quiet and very beautiful at this time of the morning.<\/p>\n
After breakfast and walking the track, we begin to take care of the final business we needed to do on the ship, like looking at and purchasing final pictures, checking our on board credit balance, packing, etc.\u00a0 These “little” chores took up most of the morning. We were
\ntold that if we keep a watch, we maybe able to see whales.\u00a0 Now that we know what to look for, we decided to sit on the balcony to\u00a0hopefully see one.<\/p>\n
We would\u00a0not be arriving in Victoria until 5:30 pm.\u00a0 In the meantime, we planned on having lunch, dinner and going to several raffles that we signed up for during the week between meals.<\/p>\n
We arrived in Victoria at 5:00 pm and was able to debarked by 6:00 pm.\u00a0 Fortunately, getting off the ship and through customs was very fast and easy.\u00a0 The temperature was around 90 degrees but we took our jackets, because we knew we wouldn’t be back until late that night.\u00a0 We then took a bus to our tour location (The Empress Hotel) and was at the site ![\"img_0968\"](\"https:\/\/askviptravelista.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/IMG_0968-e1479267882136-225x300.jpg\")
by 7:00 pm.\u00a0 When we got on the bus it was very hot inside.\u00a0 One of the riders complained<\/p>\n
to the bus driver who said that “if you want to pay the $250.00 fine I would have to pay for an idling\u00a0 bus with no passengers let me know and I will gladly turn the air conditioner up high”.\u00a0 We later found out that in order to kept the air\u00a0 fresh and free of pollutants, the city of Victoria, British Columbia fines anyone who sits in an idling car for more than 3 minutes.\u00a0 The only cars that might be excluded are electric cars.<\/p>\n
Our tickets said the tour was to begin at 7:30 but once we got there we were told the tour wouldn’t begin until 8:00 pm.\u00a0 Rather than stand in the heat for an hour, we began to explore the city. First stop, something cold to drink.\u00a0 Because I paid in US dollars, it was cheaper.\u00a0 As we walked downtown the city just reminded me of another big city with all the usual stores and a few I didn’t recognize.\u00a0 Victoria did have a China Town, but that too reminded me of the ones I have seen in San Francisco and Philadelphia.\u00a0 There were beautiful totem poles throughout the city as well as something I haven’t seen in the US in many years, working phone booths!!\u00a0 There were many street performers, including one dressed like Darth Vader from Star Wars. Not wanting to miss our tour bus, after about 45 minutes we headed back to the starting point.<\/p>\n
When we boarded the bus the first thing the tour guide said was that he was reversing the tour because it was going to get dark very soon and we won’t be able to see very much.\u00a0 He took us to the highest point in the city which looked out over the bay area where the cruise ships were docked.\u00a0 It was unbelievably gorgeous. \u00a0 Along the way we went through a lovely park and a few upscale neighborhoods.\u00a0 The homes were really pretty but the prices were over a million dollars.\u00a0 We\u00a0 made it back to the city where the most beautiful thing was the government building which was outlined in lights.<\/p>\n
The tour guide returned us to the pier where we boarded the ship and made the final preparations for departure the next day.<\/p>\n
Take advantage of your free time\u00a0:\u00a0<\/strong>Many shore excursions begin a few hours after\u00a0or end a few hours before the ship departs. This time is a great opportunity to explore the city or area around the port some. After all, each port is a new city to see.<\/p>\n Pack before leaving the ship on the final day:<\/strong>\u00a0You will have very little time to have your luggage outside your door when you return from your excursions. To use your time wisely, make sure to at least prep for packing earlier the day before your cruise ends so that you are not rushing to pack.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After a good nights rest we were up and ready to go, too bad it was only 3:30 am.\u00a0 Instead…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[121,42],"tags":[122,151,154,153,21,152],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/askviptravelista.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/askviptravelista.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/askviptravelista.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askviptravelista.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askviptravelista.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/askviptravelista.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":582,"href":"https:\/\/askviptravelista.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491\/revisions\/582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/askviptravelista.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askviptravelista.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askviptravelista.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}