Cruise ships dock at Ogden Point, a twenty-five-minute walk or a short shuttle from the Inner Harbour. Pedicab drivers and bike-tour operators wait at the terminal; the combined Butchart-and-city tours pick up at the pier; and several private operators sell shore excursions explicitly built around a ship's schedule.
The important question for any cruise excursion is the return time against your all-aboard, and whether the operator guarantees it. Tours listed here name the terminal as a meeting point; for anything else on the site, treat the meeting point and duration as your own responsibility.
Nanaimo also receives cruise calls, and the transfers between Nanaimo's port and Victoria appear in the transfers category.