Will I make my tour?

I’m looking at booking a city tour while we are docked in Victoria. It says we are in port from 9 am to 6 pm. Would I be able to make a 10 am tour that leaves from the Empress hotel? I don’t want to cut it too close. Thanks for your help.

Too close to comfort for me. Last month were scheduled to be in port at 8 am but the ship didn't get clearance until later. We were some of the first off the ship and made it to the Empress around 9:30 for our 10:00 tour.

I'd agree that an hour (with perhaps as much as 30mins needed to walk to the Empress, depending how fast you hustle) does not leave much padding for any delay whatsoever in disembarkation. Consider doing the HOHO instead, which is totally flexible in timing as it just goes around and around all day - and IIRC has a couple of closer stops you can board at!

Maybe Victoria is the one port we just play it by ear. I definately want to go out to Butchart Gardens. Would we be able to do a HOHO tour and have enough time to see the gardens? How long does it take to see everything at the gardens? Do I have to book things in advance or will I be able to wait till we get to Victoria? Thanks for your help.

Yes, you can spontaneously see Butchart on the day no problem. While CVS shuttles do take advanced bookings, for much the same reason as your early tour slot I wouldn't bother (I don't believe it saves you any money to prebook). They run pretty much hourly in peak summer - but check your dates against the website schedule to see what trips are operating as they do vary seasonally. About a half hour drive each way, so you can safely assume you'll need about 4 hours total (1 for travel, 3 for the gardens).

If you want to take tea, are big photographers, slow walkers, or just huge garden geeks you could easily spend even longer onsite; if you're more of an 'I want to see it because everyone says I should, and I'm happy to walk around without sitting about or carefully reading names of the plants etc.' type you could get around it in 2 hours, maybe even less. Judge your time spend accordingly.

In port 9-6 realistically means you actually have 9:30-5:30 available at most between disembarking and back onboard times - 30-90mins of that needs to go to getting downtown and back (a cab will run about $10 and take 10mins each way, walking directly is anything from 20-25mins depending on your walking pace, while the leisurely route around the waters edge visiting Fisherman's wharf is more like 40mins). If you do decide to HOHO, with stops nearer the pier you can cut the travel time down to probably 30mins total walking.

In short, you'll have somewhere in the region of 3 hours or more to tour around (HOHO loop is about 90mins I think) if you do Butchart - since that's the far away part I would strongly recommend doing it first! That means you can plan to spend time at maybe 3 stops on the HOHO route. Worst case you can't get back on HOHO bus after getting off, you are looking at cheap cab fare to get to another site and/or back to the ship.

If that doesn't seem enough time for you, it's usually minimal hassle to simply disembark for good in Victoria. You do need permission from the line (they have to check with CBSA, as you will actually be entering Canada proper instead of just on a short day stop so need a full immigration/customs check done). Assuming they're OK with it, book a hotel in Victoria and schedule travel back to Seattle on the Clipper ferry or flying (either harbour to harbour on floatplanes, or YYJ-SEA on commuter jets/turboprops), or even extend further by taking BC ferries to Vancouver for more post-cruise nights, where you can easily take bus/train/plane/rental car to Seattle (or fly all the way home from YVR).