Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Victoria - Celebrity Eclipse Honolulu to Vancouver Land Cruise Trip - May 20, 2023

Today we would finally see land.  We were up early hoping to catch the pilot and absolutely amazed as we stepped up on deck.  The fog was still very think behind us although the tips of snow capped mountains started appearing above the fog.  As we moved towards the front of the ship, the fog started to clear and gorgeous landscape of British Columbia started to appear.







Pilot Boat











The port of Victoria







A couple pigeons joined me on deck

This day's excursion booked through Celebrity took us to Craigdarroch Castle and Butchart Garden.  As we walked off the ship with our shore excursion group, Holland's Nieuw Amsterdam pulled into port.






We started the morning at Butchart Gardens.  With less than two hours to explore the expansive gardens, I had to be selective in where I spent my time.  I discovered the most amazing sunken garden which is where I spent significant time.





















































After a beautiful morning at the Butchart Gardens, we continued on to Craigdarroch Castle.  The two buses doing the same excursion dropped us off at the bottom of the hill and then we walked up to the castle.  Unfortunately, the small castle really wasn't big enough to handle two double deck buses full of people so it was just wall to wall people and hard to really see anything or read any of the information.  We kept trying to find less crowded ways but eventually just headed for the exit.  So unfortunately, this was not a great part of the excursion.








The view from the top floor


The bus then took us back to the pier where I took a few more photos of the two ships in port.  Then we headed back to the ship to find some lunch.


With sail away, a late sunset, and continuing into the Haro Strait towards Vancouver, I didn't want to sit down for a long dinner in the main dining room so we had said our goodbyes to our excellent wait staff the night before and headed to the buffet for dinner.  This allowed me to watch sail away before dinner and step out whenever we passed something interesting.  The scenery was breathtaking and the food in the buffet was really good.  They had a cook to order grill with various types of meat and made to order asian stir fry and pasta stations plus plenty of other options (including all the good bread I wanted).



Nieuw Amsterdam


Putting back the barrier where they had the gangway

The Discovery Princess waiting for a berth to open up so they could come in for an evening port day.

Beyond the Discovery Princess is the Norwegian Encore also waiting to come in to Victoria.


The Nieuw Amsterdam leaving

Sea planes make regular trips between Vancouver and Victoria and land in the harbor



Discovery Princess



I believe this is one of the many ferries that operate in this area between Vancouver, Victoria, and some of the other islands.

Norwegian Encore

Discovery Princess


Norwegian Encore



Holland's Westerdam also scheduled for Victoria that evening

Nieuw Amsterdam cruising along side of us while we ate dinner in the buffet

We passed the Nieuw Amsterdam and they followed us for a while (although at some point in the night, they passed us again and docked in Vancouver before us)

Sunset was gorgeous!


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