CVS Sightseeing

I took the Butchart Gardens tour that came with a package through my hotel (Hotel Grand Pacific – awesome place). It was the first time for me, so I didn’t know what to expect, and as good as the driver was, there were some places where the road was twisty – in retrospect I wish I would have taken some motion sickness pills ahead of time. Wouldn’t have bothered people who don’t get motion sick, and I did get through it okay with just some wooziness, thank goodness.
The driver was not only an excellent driver, but he was a fabulous commentator. I was in the very back, and the sound level was just perfect to hear him well, but not so loud your ears were ringing, like so many systems that assume you are deaf. He was pleasant, had a great sense of humor, and everything he said was interesting. He was very well informed, and he seemed to go right straight to the facts that would most interest most tourists, including Canada’s health care system, the pros and cons of being a Canadian, the government, and just really a lot of «insider’s only» type of fascinating information. You could tell he loves his job and educating people (he’d make a great teacher)…not your ordinary dull, dry, lame script here.
We had no problem at all with door-​to-​door service, and staying as long as we wanted, with a bus waiting for us pretty much right when we wanted to leave. Really great and memorable experience I’ll never forget. :)

My husband and I went to visit the Butchart Gardens for their Magic of Christmas experience on December 11, 2015. We traveled via a double-​decker CVS motorcoach to the Gardens — upon arriving at the Gardens, our driver parked and allowed us to exit (he did not turn on any of the bus’s interior lights to help us navigate our way off the bus, even though the sun had already gone down and it was dark — so we shuffled our way off the two story bus in the dark).
Once we got off the bus, our driver made no mention of what time the bus would be leaving the Gardens (to bring us back to downtown Victoria). We made a point of asking him what time he’d be leaving the Gardens so we could be sure to make it back to the bus in time. He told us that he was leaving immediately after we got off the bus and that the buses would be returning throughout the night to shuttle people back. We thought that was strange (we assumed that we’d have a set departure time), but after asking again to clarify, and receiving the same response from him, we went with it.
When we were finished looking at the Gardens, we returned to find out that the bus had left 15 minutes before we got there and the next one wouldn’t be leaving for another hour. We were then told that every bus had a set departure time and that our driver should have told us what time to back on the bus (he never informed us when we arrived at the Gardens or when we asked him repeatedly before we went into the Gardens). We ended up taking the public metro bus back to Victoria rather than waiting another hour for the next CVS bus to arrive.
Super disappointed with this experience — I’m not sure if the driver was new or in a rush but the least he could have done was to clearly explain over the speakers and also when directly asked what time the bus would be leaving.

Watch your head. Seriously.
My wife and I had a short stop in Victoria on a recent cruise, so we decided to do the sunset double-​decker bus tour. It was easy to find the CVS personnel and shuttle at the pier, and after a short trip, we got dropped off at the Empress Hotel, where we boarded the tour bus. Try to get there early in order to get the seat you want; they cram the buses full! We lucked out and found spots on the uncovered part of the upper level.
The tour itself was both interesting, strange, and dangerous. Victoria is a nice city, so it was great to be able to see so much of it in a short time. However, the speakers on the bus weren’t very loud, so we could barely hear our driver’s descriptions of things. Our driver seemed to make some strange navigational choices when going from place to place, but perhaps that couldn’t be avoided. The highlight of the tour was supposed to be the sunset view from the highest point in the city, but the timing was poor and the sun had barely started to set when we were there. While most of the tree-​lined roads have carefully pruned branches that pose no threat to riders on the top level, there were a few sizable branches that would have hit passengers’ heads if we hadn’t ducked in time.
Overall, it was a lackluster tour. I would have rather wandered the city on foot, but we were tired after doing a lot of hiking earlier in the week.

We did the Victoria Grand City & Castle tour. The check in was easy at the cruise terminal and the shuttle took us to our shuttle for our tour. The shuttle driver was incredibly friendly but the tour wasn’t all that engaging. My husband referred to it as «the real estate tour» as it went through numerous neighborhoods and we were told of the cost of housing in those neighborhoods. Given that I don’t have a spare million dollars and I’m not in the market for a vacation home, this wasn’t helpful information and it didn’t tell me more about the city of Victoria. Craigdarroch Castle was pretty but apparently the neighbors get mad if the shuttle bus drives to the castle so they drop you off at the street corner a quarter mile away. That’s all well and good if you’re not traveling with elderly parents. I wish I had known this in advance.

Last time we were in Victoria, it was one of the ports of call for a cruise we were on. Rather than booking through the ship cruise line, we booked through CVS Sightseeing instead. Saved a good amount of money and time with CVS.
We had a nice 20 minute walk from the port to the Empress Hotel. The Empress was where we were to meet. Took the bus to Butchart Gardens. The bus was very comfortable, and the driver gave informative commentary.
We spent several fun-​filled hours at Butchart Gardens. There are CVS buses and shuttles leaving the gardens to take folks back to Victoria. Our driver was very cool too. He took the extra time to take us all the way back to our ship instead of just dropping us off back at the Empress. Now, that is customer service!
So if you are in Victoria, BC for a cruise, do yourself a favor and use CVS Sightseeing instead. You will save both money and time! Just do not be late for your ship!

The buses were clean and bus drivers were professional. The price tag for the trip to Butchart was more than I’d expect but I would use them again.

In Victoria recently for a visit, I decided I finally had to make it out to Butchart Gardens. (I’d been to Victoria three times before, but had never actually been before.) I did not have a car, so my options for getting there were city bus or CVS Tours. I was tempted to save a few dollars and go with the city bus (I am not afraid of public transportation nor the «adventures» it might bring). My husband, though, liked the idea of the «comfort and convenience» the tour bus would afford. And so we went with that. It turned out to be a good choice.
First, I really liked that, for the Butchart Gardens Tour, anyhow, you buy a RT ticket and can come back on any of CVS’ buses that day. (So, you are not limited to a certain amount of time if you want more, or stuck there for longer than you’d like to be if you want less.)
The ride out was fine. The driver gave commentary along the way, but much of it was pretty lame (like, did you know, that in some parts of Canada, English is the primary language, but in other parts, it is French?). He really seemed to be making it up as he went along. But, he got us to the gardens quickly and in one piece; so, that is what really matters.
We were going on a Saturday in the summer and, as you may know, Butchart Gardens has fireworks on Saturdays in the summer. And, CVS Tours has buses lined up to get you out of there and back to downtown Victoria after the show.
And, that was where taking CVS Tours instead of the city bus really paid off. We left the gardens (after a fabulous fireworks show), got on the bus, and, after it filled up (which was pretty quickly), we hit the road. I had had some concerns that leaving the gardens after the fireworks would be like leaving a venue after a concert — and we could be stuck in traffic in the parking lot for an hour; but that was in no way the case.
When we got back to town, the driver (a different one than on the way out) let the bulk of the passengers off at the Empress (the primary stop for the tour), but also drove some people to the doors of their hotels. I knew there were some places closer to our hotel where he mentioned stopping, so we asked him which would be the best for us to get off for our hotel. He offered to take us there! At one stop before ours, he let some people off at a back entrance to their hotel, which, was easier for him to access; he actually waited until they were safely inside before he left. That is service you don’t get on the city bus! He could not drive us right to our door as our hotel (the Inn at Laurel Point) has a narrow driveway not conducive to accommodating a 40 foot-​long bus, but he did drop right at the edge of the driveway. Certainly a lot closer than we expected to get and very much appreciated at 11:00 at night when were tired.
That is superior customer service and why I am very glad we opted to go with CVS Tours for our trek to Butchart Gardens.

Let me start by saying this review would’ve been a 4, but the 10:45 bus from the butterfly gardens to the Butchart Gardens did not show up and we had to wait for the 11:30 bus. Of course if we had known this we would’ve spent 45 more minutes with the butterflies and/​or in the gift/​souvenir shop instead of sitting on the bench waiting…
We booked our trip for today through the Concierge at the Marriott Inner Habour. We went from the hotel to the butterfly gardens and then to the Butchert Gardens then back to Victoria. Ironically we had the same driver, Dave, on all three legs of our trip. The bus was clean and the a/​c worked great. Along the way Dave shared his knowledge of the area.
Our return bus, to Victoria, had a flat tire and Dave was able to get us all transferred to another bus in a matter of moments.

The butchart garden bus tour is worth it, the city tour is lame, not much to see. Almost everything is within walking distance downtown.

We did the Butchart Gardens holiday lights tour and it was great. Super convenient and the drivers we had were both entertaining and knowledgeable. The tour is definitely not cheap but being in Victoria without a car, it’s one of the more reasonable options for getting to the gardens since admission is also included.

We rode a CVS bus to get from downtown Victoria to Butchart Gardens on a Sunday in August 2013. The ride to the gardens was as-​advertised: timely, comfortable, and informative. The ride itself was never the problem.
Passengers have the option of buying transportation-​only tickets or transportation + admission combo tickets. When we arrived at the gardens, the driver passed out tickets at random, which meant some who purchased combo passes were left without the garden tickets they had paid for. The driver was sweating bullets once the problem became apparent, and we felt bad for him as he hurriedly tried to fix the problem.
Unbelievably, the exact same thing happened when the same driver came to pick us up a few hours later. It was like Groundhog Day. Same panicked look, same sprinting to the admission gate to find out who had the wrong tickets, same everything… except he had the gall to blame the prior group of passengers for the delay! It might’ve been funny if we didn’t have a ferry to catch. We ended up leaving 25 minutes late and made it to the Clipper just before they closed the gates.
So bottom line: the service was as-​advertised, but they desperately need a new ticketing system. You’re probably better off on the $ 2 public bus, even when the timeline is tight.

We did the hop on and off day pass and it was well worth it. We got to see the city in such a awesome way. We only had a day here and without this there was no way of even seeing half the places.
Our driver even took us to a few extra places at the end since we were the last bus of the day. It really was worth it.

We would book with CVS tours again.
Our trip started a bit rocky as the shuttle that was to pick us up forgot about us.
after contacting CVS — we loaded up into taxi’s (at their expense).
The rest of the day went without a hitch. The staff are professional and courteous.

We went on a 90 bus tour, just the general one that goes around Victoria. We liked it, and were able to see lots of the city, especially parts you probably wouldn’t see on your own. The tour guide knew his stuff and was very friendly, not the most exciting narrator, but not bad either. I would recommend this if it is your first time in Vic

I booked with CVS for the Butchart Garden Tour this past Memorial Weekend, because they offers numerous daily departures to and from the Butchart Gardens from Downtown Victoria, and also provide a fully narrated tour, air conditioned motor coaches, and free downtown Victoria hotel pick-​up for $ 42 (adult fare) round trip. The price also included the admission to the garden, as well as all taxes.
The drivers were courteous and very punctual. The best part for booking with them is that — stay as long as you want at the Gardens, you don’t have to come back on a specific trip. All the tour schedules are listed on their website. It’s easy to book on-​line.
The only down side is, if you ever need to contact them, the best way is to call them directly and speak to someone, because I’ve tried emailing and leaving voice messages, but they never responded.