Trip Report: May 16, 2018 5 Night Pacific Coast Cruise – Day 5

You can start this trip report from the beginning by clicking here.

Day 5: Victoria, British Columbia & Butchart Gardens

You can see the Navigator for this day by clicking here.

Today we were in Victoria, Canada.  All ashore was not until 10:15 am, so we didn’t have to get up early.  I woke on my own around 7:45 and went to the drink station on deck 9 to get some coffee.  I then woke everyone up, we all got ready for the day, and we went to Cabanas for breakfast at 9:30.  After we ate, we still had some time before we needed to leave the ship for our excursion, so we walked around deck 10 to see the sights of Victoria.  The weather was beautiful this day – sunny with a high of 68 F, although it was still a little but cool at this point.

Let me take a minute to tell you about how we decided on our plans for this day.  I have always heard that Butchart Gardens is spectacular, so that was an easy decision.  When I looked at their website, I saw that they offer afternoon tea in their restaurant.  Yes please!  Between Harry Potter and Downtown Abbey, I have an affinity for British culture and was excited for an authentic tea experience.  I knew the girls would like it because of all of the pastries.  So, the next order of business was how to get there.  I could have booked this through DCL, but decided not to as I prefer to explore on our own vs. be part of a large group, and be on our own time schedule.  The drive from the cruise terminal to the gardens is about 45 minutes.  At first I just thought we would take a taxi each way, but the more I thought about it, I decided it would be nice to hire a driver that would not only take us to/from the gardens, but also give us a little city tour.  I started researching car services and came across Ascot Limousine Services, which has great reviews on TripAdvisor. I sent them an email and within minutes, Gilles, the owner, called me to discuss our needs.  We determined which car would suit us best, I gave him a small credit card deposit, and we were all set.

We were supposed to meet Gilles right next to the ship at 11:00 am.  We disembarked about 10:30 so that we would have time to look around.

It was warming up fast, and we immediately started shedding our jackets.

There was a gift shop so we spent some time in there and I bought a magnet (I collect magnets for every place that we visit).  At about 10:50, we began to look for Gilles and quickly found him holding a sign with our name on it.  Not only was he wearing a Walt tie, but he looked just like him!  It was meant to be!

As we walked to the car, we ran into Tom & Kelly and said hello. We had told them about Gilles the night before at the Palo dinner, so it was funny that they got to see him.

The car that Gilles had chosen for us was so unique!  It was a Daimler Limousine, which is a British car popular with the Royal Family and European monarchs in general.  Considering the royal wedding had occurred the day before, it was very fitting!  I didn’t take any photos of the car at this time, but here are some from later in the day.

We got into the car and were on our way.  Three of us sat on the bench seat, and 2 of the girls sat in these little seats that unfolded from the floor.

Our first stop was Beacon Hill Park, which was a gorgeous park close to the cruise port that we only saw a portion of but has a lot of fun things like playground, a water park, and a petting zoo.  We only had a short amount of time so we just looked around one area that had a beautiful bridge on top of which Gilles was actually married.

These turtles were so cute.  Every time one of them would move, the log would roll and they were trying so hard to hang on.  Every few minutes, it would roll enough so that they would all fall off.  Then, they would climb back on and start the whole process over again.

Next it was time to head to the Gardens.  Gilles was a great tour guide and told us all about the things we saw on the drive.

It was hard to take pictures from a moving car, but I tried.  This was the best one I got of the many sights along the way.

Once we arrived at the Gardens about 12:00, Gilles dropped us off at the front entrance and told us that he would pick us up at 3:30 unless we called him to tell him differently.

First, a little bit of history about the Gardens.  They were created in the early 1900’s by the Butchart family and are still owned by a Butchart family member today.  They have been expanded and improved over the last 100 years and have been designated as a National Historic Site of Canada.  They receive over a million visitors every year!  Fun fact: these gardens were used as inspiration for the Canada Pavilion at Epcot.  If you’re interested, you can read more about the history of the Gardens here.

We grabbed a map and started exploring.  The Sunken Garden is the area I had heard most about, so we went there first.  On the way, we walked through this forest that felt like a fairy tale.

Then, we were greeted with a sight that literally took my breath away.

I had seen pictures before, but I was not prepared for how much more spectacular it was in person.

I don’t think I’ve ever before seen anything so beautiful on such a large scale.  It felt like a 3D painting that you could actually walk through.

There was a small structure with windows that you could walk into, and standing inside looking through the windows, I literally felt like a princess in a fairy tale.

When you first approach the Sunken Gardens, you are up high looking down into them.  Then, you walk down these stairs:

In the photo above, you can see the little structure I was talking about in the top left corner.

Once down inside the Sunken Garden, we walked along the pathways.

You eventually walk back up to a higher elevation and get more views looking down into the garden:

This fountain was installed in 1964 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Gardens.

After the Sunken Garden, you come to the Children’s Pavilion and Rose Carousel.  It was installed in 2009 and the 30 unique animals, chosen by the owner, were hand-carved by some of the few remaining carvers of carousel art and took many months to complete.

Next there was an area with some totem poles which were installed in 2004 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Gardens.

Then we walked through the rose garden, but unfortunately the roses were not blooming at this time.

Then we came to the Japanese Garden.

By this time, it was almost time for our 2:00 reservation for afternoon tea (fyi you can reserve it on OpenTable).  As we walked towards the restaurant, I turned around and took this picture.  Everywhere you look, it’s one breathtaking view after another.

This photo shows the restaurant in the background:

We went inside, checked in and had a seat in the waiting room.  And, guess who we saw………….drumroll……….TARZAN!  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you need to go back and read Day 1 of this trip report.  Yes, Tarzan was also waiting for a table at the restaurant with several other main stage performers.  And, just in case there was any doubt, he was carrying a GNC bag.  I’m serious, you can’t make this stuff up.

We were quickly seated and our authentic tea experience began.

There is a set menu for afternoon tea (which you can see here), so the only thing you have to choose is your tea flavor.  There is a separate children’s version which is a smaller quantity with a more kid-friendly selection.  We all 5 chose a different tea so that we could sample all of them.

The first course was the English Trifle which was delicious:

Then it was time for the rest – the 3 tiered tower of savories (bottom), sweets (middle), and scones with cream and jam (top).  The towers in the first two photos are meant for two people to share, so there is two of everything:

This was the children’s version, with a few different items and only meant for one person:

The tea was great, the food was incredible, and the experience was memorable.  We thoroughly enjoyed it.

By this time it was about 3:00 and we still wanted to go to the gift shop before meeting Gilles at 3:30, so off we went.  There is a very large store with all sorts of interesting items, from souvenirs to tea to flower seeds to clothing to housewares.  We love gift shops so we were in heaven.  We bought a magnet, an ornament, and these really warm, soft slipper/sock things with the maple leaf on them.  They are fleece lined socks really, but have the grippy things on the bottom so you can wear them like slippers.  We each got a pair.  We also ran into Kenney and Bunny in the store, and they were there with the DCL port adventure.  They were a little out of breath and sweaty and said that in order to be back at the bus at the correct time, they had to go through the gardens really fast.  Also, they said that they did tea first and then the gardens, which meant that they did the tea early, before they were really that hungry, and then did the gardens later in the day when it was hotter.  So, in hindsight, I’m glad we didn’t book this through DCL and did it on our own.

We finished shopping right at 3:30 and went to find Gilles.  He was waiting in a nice shady spot.  The girls told him all about our day.

We got in the car and started the city tour.

Gilles took us all over the city showing us the sights, but I didn’t take any pictures because pictures from a moving car just don’t turn out well.  At one point, we stopped at this scenic overlook:

Can you see the Wonder?

At some point Gilles showed us his bar:

We got closer to the harbor area and saw all of the boats and sea planes.  Gilles lives in a condo right here that has a view of the harbor.

This one couldn’t stay awake:

This is the famous Empress Hotel.  Gilles said that even though it is beautiful and historic, there are much nicer hotels to stay at in Victoria.

All aboard was 6:00 pm, so at about 5:30, Gilles dropped us off at the Wonder and we said our goodbyes.  He was an excellent driver and tour guide and we thoroughly enjoyed our day with him.

Since we had early dining at 5:45, we had to rush to drop our stuff off in the room and get to dinner in Animator’s Palate.

I forgot to photograph the menu, which is a bummer because my photos from last year are blurry:

The Black Truffle Pasta Purseittes (excellent):

The Pennete Bolognese (very good):

The “lighter note offerings” Jumbo Shrimp Salad (very good):

The Black Bean Chipotle Cakes (excellent):

I forgot to photograph the dessert menu, but this is the Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake (good):

The Crunchy Walnut Cake (good):

The Cookies ‘n Cream Sundae (very good):

The Lemon Icebox Pie (okay):

Tonight was the night where the dining rooms starts in black and white and slowly changes to color:

After dinner, we walked past the Oceaneer’s Lab so that we could turn in the 2 wristbands that we never used.

At 8:30, we went to the Walt Disney Theater to watch Disney Dreams.  We were sitting on the 3rd row and saw an altercation occur on the front row as we were waiting for the show to start.  If you have ever been on a Disney cruise before, I’m sure you are aware of the policy that you cannot save seats in the theater.  There’s no way you couldn’t be aware of it, because they mention it over and over and over.  It’s also printed on the Navigator every day.  So, it shocks me that people still think that the rules don’t apply to them.  There was a woman on the front row saving seats, and some people came and tried to sit in them, she objected, they reminded her of the policy, voices were raised, she yelled, they yelled, they stomped off and quickly came back with a concierge host (they were concierge guests), a cruise staff CM arrived, an officer arrived, there was huddling & whispering & talking on the wave phones, etc.  Nothing seemed to happen before the show began.  But, when the show was over and we were walking out of the theater, it appears (although I cannot be certain), that a security guard was waiting for the offenders.  I really wanted to see what was happening but there were too many people and we just had to move with the crowd.  That was actually the first time that I remember seeing a security guard on any cruise, ever.

After the show, we went to the atrium to watch the “Til We Meet Again” show.  We secured a spot with a good view by the railing on deck 4.  There is video of the party on my Instagram highlights under “Cali Coast”.  Stitch came up near us on deck 4, so we got a quick photo.  Since she was wearing her Stitch jacket, Stitch acted like she was the real Stitch and he went to stand in line.  It was really cute.

Karaoke started right after this in the D Lounge, so we went to that and then went to bed.

This was actually the final night of this cruise, although it didn’t feel like it because we were staying on for the next sailing, a 7 night to Alaska.  Earlier in the day we received this letter with instructions for what to do the next day:

I’ll give a lot more details about the back-to-back process on the first day of the Alaska trip report.  We were keeping one of our rooms from this cruise and swapping one out for a verandah room across the hall.  So, we were able to just move all of our stuff to the room that we were keeping the following morning.

You can see my highlight video of this cruise here.

Up Next: Alaska, Day 1 – Vancouver

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You can read my other trip reports here.

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Disclosure: I pay for all of my own Disney vacations, but occasionally I am sent on assignment for a family travel website, kidtripster.com.  We were each given complimentary admission and afternoon tea at Butchart Gardens for the purpose of a review for kidtripster.com.