Alaska Cruise, Day 7, on the Golden Princess, May 2011

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Our first, and only, foreign port of this cruise. We arrive at 7:00 P.M. and leave at 11:00 P.M. And then on to Seattle, 76 nautical miles away, for disembarkation tomorrow morning.

Why bother with stopping in Victoria at all if we'll be there only four hours? Well, we have to visit a foreign port because of an U.S. maritime law from 1886. Basically the law goes like this:

In order to embark in a US port and disembark in a US port, the vessel must visit a foreign port.

The original law was much more stringent than this but there have been many modifications and reinterpretations since 1886. For instance the 1886 version said the foreign port had to be a "distant" foreign port "outside of North America."

The cruise south was pleasant and the sea was calmer. Mid-afternoon the sun came out and it was warm and there was great visibility.

Victoria at sunset looked like a beautiful city. We stayed on the ship and packed our bags. We put them in the hall before bed and hoped to see them at baggage claim tomorrow.