Day 7: Exploring Epic Victoria, Canada, on My Ovation of The Seas Alaska Cruise

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Ovation of The Seas – Alaska Cruise – Day 7

Day 7 was starting now. The last night of this adventure was upon us, and even though we still had a few things to do before going back to New York, I was kind of sad about our last hours in the Ovation of The Seas cruise. Alaska was behind us, and now we were back towards the south close to where we began this journey, still miles away from Seattle, because today was the last Port Day, this time in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It was my mom’s first time in this country and it was my first time in Victoria. I had been in Vancouver years and years ago, and it was nice to be finally back in a season different than winter lol.

As always, I had some spots saved on my Google Maps, just places I wanted to visit, and even though we had not done much walking and exploring during this trip, since in the other ports we had excursions, I was kind of excited to see what Canada had to offer.

But yeah, as we docked in Victoria, and waited for the gangway time, the Norwegian Sun was also arriving, which was the early entertainment for this warmer day of Spring.

And after getting ready, it was time to go to to the Windjammer for breakfast, since it was not still time to get out of the ship.

On the way to Victoria Downtown

After a quick immigration process where we only had to show the sea pass, we where in Victoria officially. The port was packed but we managed to quickly get onto one of the shuttles that take you to the Downtown Victoria. For approx 10 USD per person (roundtrip) they take you to in front of the Fairmont Empress hotel, diagonal to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.

The shuttle is double decked, and it is not only a nice option to go into the city, but also an informative one. The driver would make comments about the places we were passing by, and one that caught my attention was the Beacon Hill Park one. There were many species of animals in there, and as soon as he said there were deers in there, one showed up out of nowhere.

We passed by the Mile Zero Monument which is the start of the Trans-Canada Highway system. I was shocked at the amount of people visiting this monument though.

The day was perfect, sunny, not a single cloud in the sky. The information given by the driver was very good and interesting.

After we turned the street there it was, the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, the most famous postal of Victoria, and yeah, I agree is impressive.

Exploring the city of Victoria

And quickly after that, the ride was over and the driver drop us off right in front of the Fairmont Empress hotel. Our wrists were stamped, just like in some Disney park, to prove we had a return ticket. From here we were free, kind of like for the first time in a bit, since we had nothing scheduled for today, besides getting back to the ship lol.

We started walking towards the north in Goverment St, the touristy area of downtown, and jumped to a few souvenir stores. After this, we went to Tim Hortons, of course, the Starbucks of Canada.

Right next to where the Tim Hortons was located, there was this cool mall called Bay Centre Shopping Centre, with a Department Store called Hudson Bay, where we found some good deals. Very dangerous when you already have some souvenirs and full bags back in the cruise lol.

Again, walking north on Goverment St we arrived to the Victoria Chinatown, which had a ton of good restaurants and bubble tea stores.

Time to go back south towards the cruise, and the views of Victoria were always so majestic.

We took a shortcut through the Bastion Square street, which was full of street performers and little stores, bazar like, to go back to Government St.

After actually buying more souvenirs, we got back to the wharf area. There are some new public bathrooms around here, and a ton of whale watch companies. We had done the whale watch tour in Juneau, Alaska, so this time we just stayed in the city. The little taxi cabs looked cute though, we kind of wanted to ride them.

Not me taking a pic at the “Name of the City” monument lol. But the view was just amazing.

After an entire day of walking, we arrived back at the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia and had a picnic on the lawn. I wanted to buy tickets and explore it, but I did not want to force my mom to walk even more.

Back to the cruise

Time to go back to the cruise, and as promised, there were buses coming back to right in front of the place we were dropped off. We waited like about 5 min until the next one arrived, and quickly we were on our way to the cruise terminal.

The return also had the driver telling stories about Victoria and giving a lot of facts and information. After taking a bunch of pictures with the “Welcome to Victoria, Canada” sign, we had our passes scanned and went back into the cruise. The first thing I did in the cruise was to go to Le Pattiserie for some coffees, part of my Refreshment Package.

Since we spent so much time walking today, we felt we deserved a rest this evening (I know, still day time, but that’s how summer works in this side of the world). While we were just laying down on the chairs by the Solarium on the 14th deck, the Celebrity Solstice arrived like nothing happened at the very end of the day. I was in shocked, so I googled their itinerary and it seemed they would be on port just from 7 PM to 12 AM. I mean that’s cool, because with even similar itineraries to ours, they managed to add Ketchikan, Alaska, before heading to Victoria. 4 ports sound better than 3, but I really had enjoyed Ovation of The Seas, and all the entertainment and options I had on this cruise.

Back in our stateroom, and after taking a quick nap, we were leaving port. Next stop was Seattle. I was leaving Canada for now, but I had 2 more trips scheduled for this country.

We quickly got ready for the evening, and jumped to the last entertainment offering of the cruise: Farewell Showtime: Hosted by the Cruise Director and Featuring the Comedy of Stephen Thomas.

Last evening activities

I had missed his show on the day one, since back then it was at 10:00 PM, but this time it was early and he really had a number on all these tired guests lol. Everyone was laughing and having a good time. I would definitely recommend it if you are into PG but still kinda spicy American entertainment. I am sure kids can attend these shows, and I saw a lot of them, but they probably would not understand some of the jokes.

Last dinner, and we chose to go to the Main Dining Room. As always, since we had My Time reservations, we went just at any time we wanted and were seated in the first available tables. For the ppetizer I chose the Greek tapas, which were not what I was expecting, but they were just delicious, and kind of healthy.

The ship was slowly moving towars the not so far Seattle, during this sunset. The Main Dining Room located on the 4th floor always made the water look so close to us.

For the main course I opted for the salmon, which I had enjoyed during the cruise. I was feeling healthier tonight lol. The dish was delicious, and really showed me the advantages of eating here at the Main Dining Room.

Since it was the last night, all the kitchen and dining room staff did a number dancing around the main dining room. Back in Freedom of the Seas in the Bahamas they did this and I had completely forgotten about it. The show was cute, but I guess since it was the last night, and a lot of people were probably resting or packing, the main dining room was not full, and it was very quiet, not so much energy during this dance.

Finally, I had the chocolate tart, which the person next to me on the other table described as the best dessert they ever had on a cruise. I would not say the same but it was very delicious, and just perfect to end this night.

We still needed to pack, but we had already started earlier this evening, and only left out the clothes for tomorrow, for the breakfast and disembarkation process. We were also going to see a lot of things in Seattle, but you can already ready this HERE.