The official Quebec, Saguenay and Baie-Comeau cruise ports thread!

[mevelandry]

The Fjord is absolutely part of the reason we are considering the switch to Disney. It looks incredible. We are amateur photographers, so for us our port days are spent looking for images to snap. We both favor natural scenery and I'm also partial to interesting architecture. I had been pretty excited about PEI on the NCL cruise, but Saguenay looks so tempting. I've already asked my TA to put a hold on both of the Disney cruises, though I'm pretty terrified what they will cost. We have an OBB placeholder that would just squeak in under the time limit that hopefully we could use for one of them (assuming Disney doesn't black them out).

We are considering even doing them back to back. I looked up pricing for flights to Quebec City from Pittsburgh and was pretty shocked at how expensive they were. We can easily drive to NYC, so not having that airfare would partially offset the cost of the second cruise. At least that is what I tell myself.
Of course, when I get the quote from my TA this will probably all come to nothing.

Try with a flight to Montreal. From what I understand, it is much cheaper. Quebec is only a 2h30 drive, very easy to do by car, by bus or by train.

 

[gilsan]

I am interested in the cruise, so I checked flights from Halifax to Quebec City, there are no direct flights. You need to connect through Toronto or Montreal. Not even Porter flew direct they had 2 stops.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Anyone have any opinions on the train from Montreal to Quebec City? I used to have a co-worker who actually preferred the train from Toronto to Montreal, as it took about as much time at it would to fly (given all the wait times and security lines at the airport) and it was more comfortable. Is the train to Quebec City a nice (and reasonably short) trip?

 

[mevelandry]

Anyone have any opinions on the train from Montreal to Quebec City? I used to have a co-worker who actually preferred the train from Toronto to Montreal, as it took about as much time at it would to fly (given all the wait times and security lines at the airport) and it was more comfortable. Is the train to Quebec City a nice (and reasonably short) trip?

My boss (76 yo) takes the Via Rail train from Montreal to Quebec almost every time he has to go to Quebec. He usually picks the Business section in order to be able to work. Apparently the seats are very comfortable, there is room for the legs, there is free wifi (actually all sections have free wifi and power outlets)... It takes about 3h30 by train but both train stations have a very practical location. My work is right in front of the station and I help tourists finding the sites they are looking for all the time. The tickets usually go from 70 to 215$ depending on the moment you use it and the section you pick but be sure to subscribe to the newsletter because they go on promotion all the time (especially on tuesday mornings). They can go as low as 33$.

If you need to go from the Montreal (YUL) airport to the train station, it should be a 38$ flat rate by cab.

Or you can take the Public Transportation line 747 that will cost you 10$ and be valid for 24 hours. It's an interesting route for tourists because it stops near the most important subway stations, hotels. The "Gare Centrale" (train station) would be stop number 5.

 

[FigmentSpark]

That might be a great solution for people trying to either fly in or out for the Quebec City cruise. It would be a nice way to extend the vacation, too.

 

[mevelandry]

That might be a great solution for people trying to either fly in or out for the Quebec City cruise. It would be a nice way to extend the vacation, too.

Absolutely. There is much to do and to see in Montreal too.

 

[isabellea]

The HAL itinerary I'm looking at is Boston to Montreal with stops in Bar Harbor, Halifax, Sydney, Charlottetown, Quebec City. Just wondering how you think it compares to Disney's itinerary.

That's a great line-up too! I love Charlottetown and PEI. Do you like Anne of Green Gables?

 

[isabellea]

The Fjord is absolutely part of the reason we are considering the switch to Disney. It looks incredible. We are amateur photographers, so for us our port days are spent looking for images to snap. We both favor natural scenery and I'm also partial to interesting architecture. I had been pretty excited about PEI on the NCL cruise, but Saguenay looks so tempting. I've already asked my TA to put a hold on both of the Disney cruises, though I'm pretty terrified what they will cost. We have an OBB placeholder that would just squeak in under the time limit that hopefully we could use for one of them (assuming Disney doesn't black them out).

We are considering even doing them back to back. I looked up pricing for flights to Quebec City from Pittsburgh and was pretty shocked at how expensive they were. We can easily drive to NYC, so not having that airfare would partially offset the cost of the second cruise. At least that is what I tell myself.
Of course, when I get the quote from my TA this will probably all come to nothing.

Look for flights to YUL (Montreal) or Burlington, VT. You can then rent a one-way car and the drive to Qc city is about 3h. You can also take VIA rail (train) from Mtl. Both train stations are downtown, in fact the train station in Qc city is at a walking distance from the cruise terminal. I think many cruisers love Qc city because they disembark directly in the Old City part of town (or downtown if you prefer but nobody call the 'Vieux Québec' downtown..)

 

[waggles02673]

We are looking at the Sept 27 cruise from Quebec-NYC. We are platinum and will be booking on Mon. We live on Cape Cod in Massachusetts and wondering what the easiest way to get to Quebec from say Boston? No direct flights unfortunately from Boston so do we fly direct from Boston to Montreal and then either connecting flight to Quebec, train or towncar? How long is the the ride via car and train from Montreal to Quebec?

Thanks

 

[DisneyRomes]

Thank you SO very much for making this thread. My family and I are seriously thinking of taking the NYC-Quebec cruise. We are from CA and have family in NY so could have a nice family visit and then hop onto the cruise ship. I was hoping they would have a week long Canadian coast NYC-NYC, but this cruise sounds fantastic, except I do wish it stopped at PEI too (I love Anne of Green Gables). I saw in an earlier post that the port is in walking distance of the train station--is this an easy walk? Like 3 kids (7, 5, and 3), 4 adults and a swarm of luggage easy? Is the train ride to Montreal scenic? The kids don't do great on long rides...for us, it looks like the price difference in airline tickets for Montreal vs Quebec City to home is about $125 per person...once cruise is done it seems like everyone just wants to be home and I'm wondering if minus the cost of the train ticket it is worth the difference to fly out of Quebec...if it were NYC to NYC it would be easy and I would already have everything figured out, lol.

 

[mevelandry]

We are looking at the Sept 27 cruise from Quebec-NYC. We are platinum and will be booking on Mon. We live on Cape Cod in Massachusetts and wondering what the easiest way to get to Quebec from say Boston? No direct flights unfortunately from Boston so do we fly direct from Boston to Montreal and then either connecting flight to Quebec, train or towncar? How long is the the ride via car and train from Montreal to Quebec?

Thanks

MTL-Quebec by car it is 2 hours and a half and by train 3 hours and half.

The downside of the trip by train is that you have to go from the airport to the train station by bus (line 747) or cab.

 

[waggles02673]

MTL-Quebec by car it is 2 hours and a half and by train 3 hours and half.

The downside of the trip by train is that you have to go from the airport to the train station by bus (line 747) or cab.

Thanks for the info.

 

[isabellea]

For those considering Charlottetown, PEI as a port: http://www.canadianliving.com/life-...rce=canadian-living_Life_and_Family-All_Users

 

[isabellea]

The walk from the train station (Gare du Palais) and the main cruise terminal is less than 1km or 11 minutes walk according to Google Maps. The last time I took the train between Montreal and Qc city, I don't remember it being scenic. I guess it depends if you want to visit Montreal too or not. If not, a flight to Qc city might be better for only 125$ extra. I think there are some direct flights from NYC and Boston to Qc city...

For flights from Boston: https://www.flyporter.com/en/book-flights/where-we-fly/boston-to-quebec-city

 

[isabellea]

From a local newspaper:

 

[cruiser21]

The Fjord is absolutely part of the reason we are considering the switch to Disney. It looks incredible. We are amateur photographers, so for us our port days are spent looking for images to snap. We both favor natural scenery and I'm also partial to interesting architecture. I had been pretty excited about PEI on the NCL cruise, but Saguenay looks so tempting. I've already asked my TA to put a hold on both of the Disney cruises, though I'm pretty terrified what they will cost. We have an OBB placeholder that would just squeak in under the time limit that hopefully we could use for one of them (assuming Disney doesn't black them out).

We are considering even doing them back to back. I looked up pricing for flights to Quebec City from Pittsburgh and was pretty shocked at how expensive they were. We can easily drive to NYC, so not having that airfare would partially offset the cost of the second cruise. At least that is what I tell myself.
Of course, when I get the quote from my TA this will probably all come to nothing.

I picked a random date this Sept Phoenix to Quebec. It was 161.00 on Canada air and 151.00 on AA one way. I thought that was really cheap for flying that distance. Generally you get the best prices on airfare 2-4 months out.

 

[FigmentSpark]

DH and I were talking about this one. One thing he reminded me was that Quebec City is very French. Will it be hard for English-only speakers to get around and manage?

 

[DisneyHelen]

Most people are bilingual but we did have a taxi driver who spoke no english!

 

[mevelandry]

DH and I were talking about this one. One thing he reminded me was that Quebec City is very French. Will it be hard for English-only speakers to get around and manage?

Most likely harder in Quebec than if you were in Montreal (in Montreal most people are very fluent in both languages). But I believe that you should be fine when visiting tourist sites. Be aware that all the signs will be in French (it's the law), some of them might be bilingual but the english will be written in very small characters. That is why I recommend to be prepared (and why I was offering help.)

Don't expect people to speak english in Saguenay though. I've lived in that region for years and a lot of people (especially older people, younger people know a little more because of internet) don't know how to speak english at all. They don't learn it because they don't need it at all.

 

[Pens Fan]

I've spent a good portion of the day comparing the ports on the NCL cruise we already have booked vs the DCL version. For us it comes down to Charlottetown, PEI and Sydney, Nova Scotia on NCL vs. Saguenay and Baie-Comeau on DCL. Halifax and Quebec City are included on both cruises, so that doesn't factor into the decision. We have a short time in Sydney (7 hours between docking and sail away, so the Cabot Trail is probably not realistic, though there are plenty of other nice options there that would work. Saguenay looks amazing and right up our alley, and so does PEI.

Where I'm at a loss is Baie-Comeau. What exactly is there to do there as a tourist? From what I'm finding online it's not really a big tourist town. I'm sure the scenery is beautiful, but for someone who really tries to stay away from cruise line tours, there seems to be very few options. Is anyone familiar with this area and can help me see what I'm missing?

Thanks!!! (and thanks again for starting this thread, @mevelandry !)