Carriage Ride in Victoria, BC and other ideas

I am cruising with my elderly mother and my sister. My mom really would like to do the Tea at the Empress Hotel in Victoria, but our ship arrives at 6 pm. I thought a good alternative would be a private carriage ride through the city. I'm thinking of doing the Tally Ho tour that is 1 hour. If I schedule the tour to start at 7 pm (I figure that gives us time to get off the ship and get to the location where we can start the tour.), we should be done around 8 pm.

Would it be feasible to go to the Empress Hotel after that and look around in the lobby? I'm not sure there would be time to see Miniature World. Is there a place to just sit and get a drink?

Any other ideas for 3 women instead of this? We've already done Butchart Gardens.

Maggie

Don't see why you can't stop in the Empress and check the lobby out after your carriage ride.

IIRC, you can go up the stairs and then take the ramp to the right to get to the Dining room and bar

If you're cruising in peak season, the Empress do 'afternoon' tea well into the evening... they know which side their bread is buttered on profit-wise, and cruisers taking tea brings in a metric crapton of income for them! You can check Open Table for available slots on the date you'll be visiting.

You'll find that miniature world and all the other tourist sites tend to close before your ship arrives though, as cruisers don't spread the love much away from a few shops, the Empress, and Butchart on these short evening PVSA-compliance stops, so it's not worth anyone staying open specially that would not already get business from locals in the evenings. I think Craigdarroch might do some after-hours tours via overpriced cruiseline excursions, and the Royal BC Museum opens late on Fri/Sat evenings through summer (they show IMAX movies so they need to keep ticket-takers working anyway), but other than that it's pubs & restos and a bit of souvenir shopping, otherwise just looking at the outside of buildings in downtown...

If you're cruising in peak season, the Empress do 'afternoon' tea well into the evening... they know which side their bread is buttered on profit-wise, and cruisers taking tea brings in a metric crapton of income for them! You can check Open Table for available slots on the date you'll be visiting.

 

You'll find that miniature world and all the other tourist sites tend to close before your ship arrives though, as cruisers don't spread the love much away from a few shops, the Empress, and Butchart on these short evening PVSA-compliance stops, so it's not worth anyone staying open specially that would not already get business from locals in the evenings. I think Craigdarroch might do some after-hours tours via overpriced cruiseline excursions, and the Royal BC Museum opens late on Fri/Sat evenings through summer (they show IMAX movies so they need to keep ticket-takers working anyway), but other than that it's pubs & restos and a bit of souvenir shopping, otherwise just looking at the outside of buildings in downtown...

I checked the Empress site and it looked like they stop serving at 5 pm. But I'll check open table. Didn't look at that.

And the Miniature World said they closed at 9 pm. Not sure we would have time for that.

Maggie