Victoria Carriage Tour - Your Thoughts?

Has anyone taken the horse-drawn carriage tour in Victoria? We will be docked 5:30-11:30 p.m.

https://www.victoriacarriage.com

Please share your opinions. Thank you in advance!

NB: that this covers a multitude of possible routes & times - you are hiring the carriage for X minutes at Y cost. Also that the there's a much cheaper, much crappier trolley version - sold through cruiselines - where you are not in your own carriage but instead riding in a ~25 seater that basically only has good seats for the 5 folks on the outside of each side, as everyone else has people and/or horses butts in the way of their sightseeing... so assuming you get replies, ensure you can tell which service they're talking about, how long the ride was etc.

Sorry, but as someone who grew up in very horsey country I have never had any interest in riding in carriages, so while I'm quite aware of the Victoria ( and Vancouver) offerings - and can confirm the beasts used are in rude health and seem to enjoy their lives - I've never paid to get pulled around at walking pace around smelling poop! If you're someone who finds the concept 'romantic' then I'm sure both Victoria Carriage and Tally Ho would deliver an appropriate experience on a 'rent my own carriage' ride - just avoid the trolley version (if it sounds too cheap - there's a good reason!)

Had a little chuckle at Martincath's reply

I too grew up in horse country in a little town called Horseheads NY (they named it that for a reason) and grew up riding and taking care of horses. But we've taken more than our share of horse drawn trolley rides in Charleston, Savannah, Wilmington, Beaufort, etc and have to say that he is exaggerating a bit that on the trolleys the only good seats are on the outside and all you will smell is horse poop.

While we didn't take a carriage ride, we honestly didn't see too many of them around last September and what we did see were the four-person ones. But if they are anything like what we have taken in other cities, you will see some sights and hear some facts. I would check TripAdvisor ratings for those two outfits if you don't get much feedback here.

^Yes, perhaps some poetic license... but who said it was HORSE poop they'd be smelling? There are all sorts of issues with sewage treatment on the Island... ;-)

Not sure if the trolleys you experienced are the same as the ones we have here - they're lower than carriages, with rows of church pew type bench seats on top of a trailer running on automotive wheels. View potential is much like being on a bus - window much better than inside - but with the extra issue for the front row that the driver on their raised seat totally blocks all directly-forward viewing from the front middle seats.

If you're a family of 4, or can get together with another couple, renting your own carriage for an hour (and being able to choose your route) ends up costing about the same as the trolley version anyway. Reviews I've seen on cruiseline sites which track them, e.g. Carnival, have pax rating the Victoria trolley rides poorly (<50% recommend).

Sorry - we were talking about horses and you mentioned poop. Guess we knew where my mind went, lol

The trolley type wagons we've mostly been on have hard type benches with around 6 benches per trolley and is covered with the sides pretty much wide open, pulled by draft horses. I agree that the first row is not always the best. But like I said, we didn't see any when we were there last month, just the four-ish person one.