Last year, I went on a fly-cruise with Princess Cruises, flying from Singapore to Seattle and setting off from the port for a 7-day cruise to tour the Alaskan seas, stopping at Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan in Alaska, America and Victoria, in British Columbia, Canada.
This post will be covering the shore excursion I went for in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
Fort Victoria was first established as a trading post in 1843 and has since developed into a busy metropolitan port city in Canada.
The population is around 80,000 within the metropolitan area and about 345,000 in Greater Victoria.
We arrived at Victoria in the evening and only have a couple of hours to explore the area. Hence we did not sign up for any shore excursion, but instead, explored the area on foot on our own. The metropolitan area is not too large and most main sites can be covered on foot.
The magnificent British Columbia Parliament Buildings is visible from afar due to it’s sprawling architecture and lighted exteriors. It’s a beautiful place to take some pictures:
The Royal British Columbia Museum/IMAX National Geographic Theatre, with large exhibits on local Aboriginal peoples, natural history, and modern history, along with travelling international exhibits:
The Inner Victoria Harbour which was so beautiful and reminds me of Darling Harbour in Australia:
There’s a market area at the harbour where you find handmade souvenirs and some local bites:
From the harbour, the shopping streets are a short distance away, featuring a good mix of local establishments as well as international brands:
If you prefer an alternative to walking, you can book a double-decker city bus tour with Princess Cruises for your shore excursion, or go for something more exotic like the horse-drawn trolley.
For me, I find it fun to round up the final leg of the cruise trip with a few hours in a Canadian city so I can boast that I have been to Canada too. Being the tacky tourist, I bought several bottles of maple syrups home.
This is the last post for my Alaska cruise adventure with Princess Cruises. For a full recap and to find out how you can go about cruising in Alaska, do read my previous posts. 🙂
