Victoria vs Prince Rupert???

[knuts1]

we are a family of 5 doing a cruise in Aug 2009 and trying to decide on one of 2 cruises. NCL Pearl does Victoria and NCL Star does Prince Rupert. Both have a Whale watching excurisions but we are trying to decide which would be better? anyone that has done both would be a great help.

[Budget Queen]

Are glaciers of any interest?? IF so, Glacier Bay is a far better choice, with Tracy Arm, I highly recommend the costly add on NCL jet boat tour, an absolute must.

 

In your timeframe, Prince Rupert would have some good touring options. In Victoria, you barely have enough time for much.

 

A toss up. :) I've sailed both ships to Alaska and will be on the Star again next year. Look at the overall itinerary and interest priorities of your group.

[StarTrkGeek]

we are a family of 5 doing a cruise in Aug 2009 and trying to decide on one of 2 cruises. NCL Pearl does Victoria and NCL Star does Prince Rupert. Both have a Whale watching excurisions but we are trying to decide which would be better? anyone that has done both would be a great help.

 

I've been to both ports (on Celebrity Infinity). Price Rupert is just a little fishing village. It's NOT the best place for whale watching (Icy Strait Point is the best place for that). There's not much to do in Prince Rupert, although they have the best halibut and chips anywhere this side of Great Britain.

 

Butchart Gardens (http://www.butchartgardens.com/) in Victoria is one of the most beautiful places in North America. Don't miss it!!!

[Putterdude]

Prince Rupert is a relatively unspoiled fishing town which is just finding its way back as a port of call on some of the Alaska cruise ships; it is somewhat simillar to Ketchikan. Victoria is a 150 year old city of 350,000 people, is quite British in nature, is our provincial capital and is distinctly different from Prince Rupert. I would choose Prince Rupert only because I don't go there that often but for a first time visitor I would recommend Victoria.

[Costafox]

We did both ports on our repositioning cruise from San Fransisco on the Serenade in May. In Prince Rupert we did the bear watch to the Khutzeymateen Reserve, this was the only tour that we booked through the ship and it took up all our time in port - in fact we were late back so we were glad that we had reserved through RCL as they had to wait for us to get back. This was one of our best excursions - the scenery was fantastic and the bears were wonderful - however I think that viewing the bears very much depends on what time of year you are there.

In Victoria the 4 of us got a taxi from the port and we took a trip around the city centre, then to Criagdarroch Castle, then to the Governors Residence to view the wonderful gardens and finally to Butchart Gardens. The driver waited for us there, although he did other fares in the meantime and then took us back into town three hours or so later and dropped us off at the Empress Hotel. I think we paid $140 plus tip for the whole trip. We then spent the rest of the afternoon in the BC Museum before making our way back to the ship - a very full day!

 

Both ports were fantastic for us but I think Victoria has many more options if the bear excursion in Prince Rupert is not available.

 

Best Wishes

 

Gill

[kb996]

I prefer Prince Rupert and Tracy Arm. ONLY if you do the NCL excursion in the smaller boat up Tracy Arm. If you see it from the ship it is nothing special, from the small boat ... SPECTACULAR. The port time in Prince Rupert is much longer then Victoria, giving you time to walk around this nice town and talk to the people.

 

The Pearl and Glacier Bay were also very good. Glacier Bay is amazing, but when we went there were not the chunks of ice floating as there were in Tracy Arm, though you do get up close to many glaciers (No guarantee of even seeing the glacier in Tracy Arm, but with the little boat excursion you should).

 

The port time in Victoria is very short. We had enough time to go into the city, walk around and vist their museum. They had a Titanic exibit.

 

Planning on going again next year on the Prince Rupert / Tracy Arm itinerary.