MomOf3As

Oh wow, thank you very much martincath! I haven't done a lot of planning on the Vancouver part of our trip yet since there's so much planning needed for the Alaskan cruise, so all the information you shared will be a huge help! I'll need to step up on my Vancouver research, but I will add the Japanese and Chinese gardens on my to do lists. I hope we can visit a lot of these places in three days!

We're renting a car so we con't have to carry our luggage around everywhere. Plus, with 3 children it's just easier overall and probably cheaper too. We're planning on bringing a backless booster for our 4 year old and 2 mifold travel seats for the 7 and 8 year olds, but you mentioned different specs for car seats in Canada? I only read that kids up to 8 need at least a booster. Another thing to add to my research list!

Ooo, well Vancouver has some fantastic botanical and Japanese gardens! You can easily google this, but Van Dusen ranks right up there!

 

Have a great cruise and post-cruise experience. :)

I haven't researched on things to do in Vancouver yet, only places to eat. :D

I'll read up on the gardens you suggested! We usually make it a point to visit botanical gardens and aquariums in most of the places we visit. I'm really excited to see Butchart though, I know it ranks highly in the top gardens in North America (though Missouri botanical gardens is spectacular as well!).

Thanks!

A suggestion then - see if the cruiseline will let you disembark in Victoria. It's a common request, many other posters have confirmed being allowed to do it, but it's not 100% as CBSA need to be involved to clear your entrance into Canada properly (customs as well as immigration).

 

Enjoy the fireworks as late as you like on the night, stay in a hotel, then work your way over to Vancouver by ferry (a rental car will make this efficient, and allow you to see others parts of the island, but you can book coaches that connect with the ferry and drop you in downtown Vancouver if you want to avoid a car rental).

 

Given the savings on Butchart tickets alone will more than pay for a hotel for the night, and you'd also be able to cancel whatever transportation you have for Seattle-Vancouver, and you will literally only lose out on bed and breakfast, this plan would be both $ and time saving as well as allowing you all to get a little off the beaten track.

Oh, now that is something to consider! I will have to call Holland America tomorrow to ask if we can do this. That would be ideal if we could though. My only problem will be the car rental -- we're renting one in Seattle, driving it to Vancouver, then Olympic National Park, then returning to the airport in Seattle. I remember pricing a Vancouver-Seattle rental and it was significantly more expensive. I will still check it out. Thanks for the suggestion!

Agreed. As we know, the short 6 hour stop in Victoria is legally necessary to satisfy the PVSA, but is certainly not optimal for making the most of this beautiful city. :)

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We'll be heading to Vancouver for three days after our cruise, so hopefully we'll be able to see a bit more. It's our first visit to Canada, and I agree the 6 hours in Victoria barely counts!

Thank you for your responses Langley Cruisers and martincath!

We live in St. Louis and we've been members at the Missouri Botanical Gardens for a few years now, so I'm hoping my kids will enjoy Butchart as much, if not more. Plus, they're used to late nights when we travel (Disney World has fireworks at 11pm!), so I'm not too worried about them falling asleep. I'm still bringing a small stroller, though.

I didn't factor in the time needed to clear the port after docking. It's probably why the tour doesn't leave until 7:15 pm when we dock at 6. I guess the cruise's excursion is the safest way to do the trip, but it hurts my heart and my wallet to know we can do it a different way for probably less than half the cost. I wish that tour had a different rate for the kids younger than 5, even just a few dollars to lessen the sting. I'd hate to miss the ship on our last day of cruising though, so I'll just have to suck it up!

Thanks again!

Hi! I'm new to this site, and I've been learning a lot of things from these forums so thank you for that! It's our first cruise to Alaska, and second cruise over all.

Our ship (HAL Oosterdam) is stopping in Victoria on July 8, Saturday from 6pm-11:59pm, and we booked the ship excursion to Butchart Garden. We are paying $90 per adult, and $50 per child. Our kids are ages 8, 7 and 4 years old. I was reading some of the posts on here and followed a link to the garden page which shows the entrance fees were so much lower, and my 4 year old even gets in for free. Is it really worth it to buy the cruise ship excursion, or is there a better way for my family of 5 to do the tour? I'm worried about the short time at port, but I also don't want to feel like I'm paying too much.

Thank you!