Settled on a trip to Vancouver Island, BC

I would stay in Victoria. Both are on the water. Victoria isn't a very large city (less than half the size of Baton Rouge), so it isn't that far from nature, so you would have the best of both worlds. I would stay in the harbor area, where you can walk to restaurants and the government buildings.

I will preface that by saying that I don't know much about the Brentwood Bay Resort, so it may be incredible.

We stayed at Abigail's in Victoria and it was great. I assume you mean you will be checking in after midnight because we checked in after noon and it was no problem. It is a small B&B type of place so it would not surprise me if the desk was not open 24 hrs. Of course the big famous hotel there is the Empress which is a block away.

Victoria is the most gorgeous city I have been to. It was just immaculately clean. We were only there a few hours as we were on a cruise but I would love to go back. It would be an amazing place to live but I am sure real estate must be insanely expensive there. If I ever won the lottery I would buy one of the houses on the water.

I have been to that part of the world twice, both times in conjunction with Alaskan cruises. The last time was in May of 2008. We arrived a week in advance of the cruise and divided our time between Victoria and Vancouver. That is when we stayed at Abigail's. We enjoyed it even though the room did not have much of a view. I would compare it to going to New Orleans and staying at a B&B in the Garden District or near St. Charles Avenue. We did not rent a car. Victoria is a small, compact and very walkable city. We took the bus to Buchert Gardens. Otherwise we walked every place else. Abigail's is centrally located. We did not go to the Grand Pacific but it looks very nice. It is a much bigger hotel right on the waterfront. You can't go wrong either way.