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Anyone familiar with Quebec Cruise Port


whitsmom

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We are cruising on the Jewel in October for the Fall Foliage cruise from Bayonne to Quebec.  I have been looking to schedule a pick up for the airport (Quebec City) and trying to schedule our flight home.  We are Delta people so I was extremely sad to find out that Delta doesn't use that airport.  I called Delta and was told that the closest airport from there for them is Montreal.  I am not sure how to go about scheduling transport from port to Montreal (such as a car service or taxi).  When I googled it I could only get info to Quebec airport.  I did see there is a train station nearby but I know nothing about trains so I am hesitant to schedule something like that on my own.  Any help will be greatly appreciated.  I think that Montreal airport is about a 4 hour "train" ride so I'm not sure about driving.

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24 minutes ago, whitsmom said:

We are cruising on the Jewel in October for the Fall Foliage cruise from Bayonne to Quebec.  I have been looking to schedule a pick up for the airport (Quebec City) and trying to schedule our flight home.  We are Delta people so I was extremely sad to find out that Delta doesn't use that airport.  I called Delta and was told that the closest airport from there for them is Montreal.  I am not sure how to go about scheduling transport from port to Montreal (such as a car service or taxi).  When I googled it I could only get info to Quebec airport.  I did see there is a train station nearby but I know nothing about trains so I am hesitant to schedule something like that on my own.  Any help will be greatly appreciated.  I think that Montreal airport is about a 4 hour "train" ride so I'm not sure about driving.

Driving is about three hours. You can google "Montreal car service" and there are plenty of options to take you even as far as Quebec (or, in this case, a pickup in Quebec), but since it is a three hour drive, expect it to me...expensive. No idea what exactly, but I imagine several hundred dollars each way. 

There is a bus that can get you from Quebec city center to Montreal airport with a change of bus in Montreal city center. Much cheaper, but of course it's a bus so...not as comfortable. I have no experience with it personally. Also no personal experience with the train between those two cities. 

I think this is a case where you need to analyze which is more important - loyalty to Delta, or ease of flying out of Quebec. No right or wrong answer, but only you can determine. I have a massive loyalty to American Airlines/OneWorld, but there are some times where I just need to suck it up and fly someone else once in a while for ease. 

 

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I am not sure it would be worth travelling hours to another airport to use a particular airline?!

 

It defn would cost more to do that, so there would be no savings. Plus the extra time required.  In all likelihood there would be an overnight  stay probably required as well.


Transportation is going to be more expensive than in the US, more limited and defn not as convenient as you maybe used to when travelling in and out of the USA. 

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1 hour ago, Zacharius said:

Driving is about three hours. You can google "Montreal car service" and there are plenty of options to take you even as far as Quebec (or, in this case, a pickup in Quebec), but since it is a three hour drive, expect it to me...expensive. No idea what exactly, but I imagine several hundred dollars each way. 

There is a bus that can get you from Quebec city center to Montreal airport with a change of bus in Montreal city center. Much cheaper, but of course it's a bus so...not as comfortable. I have no experience with it personally. Also no personal experience with the train between those two cities. 

I think this is a case where you need to analyze which is more important - loyalty to Delta, or ease of flying out of Quebec. No right or wrong answer, but only you can determine. I have a massive loyalty to American Airlines/OneWorld, but there are some times where I just need to suck it up and fly someone else once in a while for ease. 

 

I think United flies out of there (we flew with them once on the first leg of our Iceland tour.  I have never flown American so I will check to see if they fly out of there.  I think I will try to contract the train people and see what their schedule and etc is before I decide.  We might just need to rent a car and drive ourselves.  May see what hubby has to say on that...

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14 minutes ago, whitsmom said:

I think United flies out of there (we flew with them once on the first leg of our Iceland tour.  I have never flown American so I will check to see if they fly out of there.  I think I will try to contract the train people and see what their schedule and etc is before I decide.  We might just need to rent a car and drive ourselves.  May see what hubby has to say on that...

I can tell you that there is a train station right at the airport in Montreal. I've attached a link for the train service for your convenience.

https://www.viarail.ca/en?gclid=Cj0KCQiAxbefBhDfARIsAL4XLRrqxAjGa2lx7137RLCSfiE3OI3TV2X5cOwE0hEf3GTk00c31LHaiO8aArgLEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

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I took the ViaRail train from Toronto to Vancouver.  I LOVED IT!  I think you will enjoy taking the ViaRail.  They run 4 trains a day.  The cost will run about $84 to $300 per person (interesting fact that right now Business is cheaper than Economy Plus).  Warning - all fares has a limit on the amount of luggage. 

I would recommend that you give ViaRail a try.  Good luck!

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1 hour ago, whitsmom said:

I think United flies out of there (we flew with them once on the first leg of our Iceland tour.  I have never flown American so I will check to see if they fly out of there.  I think I will try to contract the train people and see what their schedule and etc is before I decide.  We might just need to rent a car and drive ourselves.  May see what hubby has to say on that...

Renting a car may work best. As far as YQB airport - United flies year-round from Newark; American flies seasonally from Chicago and Philly. Not sure where you live, but you can also get via Toronto or Montreal on Air Canada. 

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16 hours ago, Zacharius said:

Renting a car may work best. As far as YQB airport - United flies year-round from Newark; American flies seasonally from Chicago and Philly. Not sure where you live, but you can also get via Toronto or Montreal on Air Canada. 

We talked last night and are leaning toward renting a car but we haven't ruled out the train totally just yet.  Renting a car will make it easier with luggage so we can have some freedom to have lunch and etc on the way.  I will just do a later flight out to allow for which one we decide to do.

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1 hour ago, whitsmom said:

We talked last night and are leaning toward renting a car but we haven't ruled out the train totally just yet.  Renting a car will make it easier with luggage so we can have some freedom to have lunch and etc on the way.  I will just do a later flight out to allow for which one we decide to do.

If you don't absolutely need to leave the same day you arrive, do also consider spending a night in Montreal. It's always a good time and would cut back on the stress of needing to "rush" to YUL for your flight. 

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1 hour ago, whitsmom said:

We talked last night and are leaning toward renting a car but we haven't ruled out the train totally just yet.  Renting a car will make it easier with luggage so we can have some freedom to have lunch and etc on the way.  I will just do a later flight out to allow for which one we decide to do.

If your going to drive, one question I'd ask is Parlez-vous Francais? If not I'd take Via or stick to the Trans Canada Highway and familiarize yourself with the traffic laws.When I lived up in Ottawa, in Hull (across the river) at the time there was no turning right on red, there was no actual sign saying you couldn't turn, you just had to know.

https://www.quebec.ca/en/transports/circulation-securite-routiere/regles-conseils-vehicules/traffic-rules-intersections/turning-right-red-light

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18 minutes ago, tjcruisers said:

If your going to drive, one question I'd ask is Parlez-vous Francais? If not I'd take Via or stick to the Trans Canada Highway and familiarize yourself with the traffic laws.When I lived up in Ottawa, in Hull (across the river) at the time there was no turning right on red, there was no actual sign saying you couldn't turn, you just had to know.

https://www.quebec.ca/en/transports/circulation-securite-routiere/regles-conseils-vehicules/traffic-rules-intersections/turning-right-red-light

Meh, my French is not great but it's really not hard to just brush up on the (fairly minimal) differences in Montreal and/or Quebec driving laws. I wouldn't say that alone is a reason to not drive. 

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6 hours ago, Zacharius said:

If you don't absolutely need to leave the same day you arrive, do also consider spending a night in Montreal. It's always a good time and would cut back on the stress of needing to "rush" to YUL for your flight. 

I reserved a car with Hertz (thru Delta) so we will just walk off early with our luggage.  I got a flight out of Montreal after 6 pm so we can take our time getting to the airport and have a little time to enjoy the day and have lunch somewhere.

Now that we have finally got all this part settled and booked our excursions on sale last night - I can now relax.

This trip was a replacement for the one that COVID cancelled and they changed it to be a one-way.  Originally, the one we had booked was a loop and on a different ship. 

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6 hours ago, Zacharius said:

Meh, my French is not great but it's really not hard to just brush up on the (fairly minimal) differences in Montreal and/or Quebec driving laws. I wouldn't say that alone is a reason to not drive. 

I worry about that some; however, hubby has been to Canada before on business so hopefully it won't be too hard.  I will be using a translate app if needed.  Thanks for the link, we will review it for sure!!! 

I feel that driving will be the less stressful way for us and we won't have to worry about having a luggage issue for the train.  I have promised myself that I will keep my packing at a minimum but that has yet to be seen....😂

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52 minutes ago, whitsmom said:

I will be using a translate app if needed. 

You will encounter very few people who aren't at least conversational, if not fully fluent, in English. There are plenty of people in Quebec who do only speak French, but you're unlikely to encounter many or any in your relatively short visit to the two largest cities in the province. If you make stops in between the two, it's possible but it won't be a big deal. Road signs will all be in French, but they'll be pretty self-explanatory (for example, the stop sign won't say "Stop", but you'll know it's a stop sign). 

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Montreal has major airports so plenty of options.  Quebec City is a small(er) town and like most small(er) towns the airline options are more limited.  When I sailed from Quebec City I flew to Montreal not because of a particular airline but because it was so much cheaper with more options.   I did a one way car rental and drove from Montreal to Quebec City.   

Highly suggest you go a few days early and explore Quebec City, it's a great city.  

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11 hours ago, tjcruisers said:

If your going to drive, one question I'd ask is Parlez-vous Francais? If not I'd take Via or stick to the Trans Canada Highway and familiarize yourself with the traffic laws.When I lived up in Ottawa, in Hull (across the river) at the time there was no turning right on red, there was no actual sign saying you couldn't turn, you just had to know.

https://www.quebec.ca/en/transports/circulation-securite-routiere/regles-conseils-vehicules/traffic-rules-intersections/turning-right-red-light

Montreal island has no right on red but that is not province wide.  

Americans do quite well in Quebec and are welcome.  It's Canadians from other provinces that Quebecers aren't fond of.

My phone is my GPS and it worked fine in getting me from Montreal to Quebec City.  That included a stop to get some of those fresh Montreal bagels I love so much.    

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On 2/17/2023 at 7:35 PM, twangster said:

Montreal has major airports so plenty of options.  Quebec City is a small(er) town and like most small(er) towns the airline options are more limited.  When I sailed from Quebec City I flew to Montreal not because of a particular airline but because it was so much cheaper with more options.   I did a one way car rental and drove from Montreal to Quebec City.   

Highly suggest you go a few days early and explore Quebec City, it's a great city.  

Our cruise ends at Quebec City on October 30th; however, we cannot stay longer due to work (not retiring for a couple more years) and we are flying to Germany on December 3rd for 11 days of Europe Christmas Markets and etc with friends.  I have a car rental reservation and our flight out of Montreal is 6:30 pm so we can take our time getting to the airport and enjoy lunch somewhere along the way. 

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Having driven all over the Province, do not worry about road signs. Yes, the "stop" sign might be in French but it's still the familiar red octagon. French is spoken more the further East one gets, but virtually everyone is also fluent in English, especially the closer you get to Montreal.  One caution: the road near St. Anne du Beaupre (between QC and Mont.) is hilly and can very easily get foggy/slick. Otherwise it's a lovely drive along the St. Lawrence.

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Have Canadian money if you plan on spending anything, or use a credit card.  American dollars will be gladly accepted, but most likely at par, especially at smaller places. 
 

I agree with driving not being an issue.   I spent my first 27 years two hours from Quebec City.  I’ve driven up there a lot and never had a problem. It’s more similar to the States than different.  Just remember that the speed limits are in km/hr.  90 or 100 on the speed limit sign isn’t as fun as it seems at first glance. 

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