Taxi in Montreal

[Moriah]

I'll be taking taxis in Montreal - Friday night from the Greyhound station (I'm arriving from Vermont) to my hotel, and Saturday morning from the hotel to the ship. I've already ascertained that there isn't a language problem (ie the drivers usually speak English), but does anyone know if they use the modern taxis that are equipped to accept credit cards, and/or if they take American cash, or if I need to get a few loonies and toonies before I leave? (I assume any bank would do that?) I'm staying at the Marriott Courtyard Montreal Downtown. Any idea how long a drive from there to the pier?

[sail7seas]

All the times we rode taxis in Montreal (many), we had no problem with language. As a back up, just in case, I always wrote down the address to which we wanted to go. If our accent was so bad the driver could not understand our slaughtering of the beautiful French language, they could read my printing. :)

 

Credit cards were accepted in most taxis we rode but we always used cash....... U.S $$ No driver ever refused our U.S. money though the exchange was lousy. :) They accept it as a very nice courtesy..

[cp556]

I'll be taking taxis in Montreal - Friday night from the Greyhound station (I'm arriving from Vermont) to my hotel, and Saturday morning from the hotel to the ship. I've already ascertained that there isn't a language problem (ie the drivers usually speak English), but does anyone know if they use the modern taxis that are equipped to accept credit cards, and/or if they take American cash, or if I need to get a few loonies and toonies before I leave? (I assume any bank would do that?) I'm staying at the Marriott Courtyard Montreal Downtown. Any idea how long a drive from there to the pier?

 

 

I believe we used American dollars for our Montreal taxis. The Canadian dollar is pegged nearly 1:1 to the USD.

 

The ride from the Marriott Courtyard Downtown to the HAL pier was less than 10 minutes. And the front desk at the hotel ordered the taxi for us when we were ready to leave.

 

BTW, the breakfast buffet at that Marriott was wonderful.

[Moriah]

 

Credit cards were accepted in most taxis we rode but we always used cash....... U.S $$ No driver ever refused our U.S. money though the exchange was lousy. :) They accept it as a very nice courtesy..

 

perfect! Thanks.

[sail7seas]

perfect! Thanks.

 

We have sailed that itinerary many times (love, love, love it) and never converted money to Canadian. We used credit cards most of the time and the few times we made very small purchases with cash, no one ever refused it.

Our cash purchases were always small so the conversation rate wasn't much of an issue.

 

[Moriah]

I believe we used American dollars for our Montreal taxis.

BTW, the breakfast buffet at that Marriott was wonderful.

 

Great! (but I think I'll save my appetite for the welcome aboard Mariner's lunch) Getting excited now!

[DaveOKC]

I'll be taking taxis in Montreal - Friday night from the Greyhound station (I'm arriving from Vermont) to my hotel, and Saturday morning from the hotel to the ship. I've already ascertained that there isn't a language problem (ie the drivers usually speak English), but does anyone know if they use the modern taxis that are equipped to accept credit cards, and/or if they take American cash, or if I need to get a few loonies and toonies before I leave? (I assume any bank would do that?) I'm staying at the Marriott Courtyard Montreal Downtown. Any idea how long a drive from there to the pier?

 

Getting to the hotel should not be a problem, but a taxi to the pier might be (even though it is a short distance). We (and others we talked to) had issues with the taxi driver finding the correct pier (evidently they do not go there very often). You might ask the doorman at your hotel to explain to the driver where you are going (and again have a piece of paper with the address on it). Even once you are at the pier it can be confusing, as the area is not well marked (we finally exited the cab and had to wander around to find the entrance).

[Moriah]

You might ask the doorman at your hotel to explain to the driver where you are going (and again have a piece of paper with the address on it). Even once you are at the pier it can be confusing, as the area is not well marked (we finally exited the cab and had to wander around to find the entrance).

 

This is good information. I hope I won't have to do too much wandering with my luggage...

[sail7seas]

Getting to the hotel should not be a problem, but a taxi to the pier might be (even though it is a short distance). We (and others we talked to) had issues with the taxi driver finding the correct pier (evidently they do not go there very often). You might ask the doorman at your hotel to explain to the driver where you are going (and again have a piece of paper with the address on it). Even once you are at the pier it can be confusing, as the area is not well marked (we finally exited the cab and had to wander around to find the entrance).

 

 

 

You are correct.

EVERY time we caught a taxi to take us back to the ship after our day in Montreal, without exception, we had a hard time getting the taxi driver to understand where we wanted to go.

 

I took to clearly writing down Iberville Cruise Ship Terminal and the address.

Still the drivers were confused as they have very few cruise ships coming in. DH had a great sense of direction and he was able to direct the driver where to turn etc after having been there a few times.

 

Here is a link to the Iberville Cruise Terminal. Save yourself aggravation and print out the page. :)

 

http://www.port-montreal.com/en/access-to-passenger-terminal.html

 

Edited July 8, 2014 by sail7seas

[Moriah]

You are correct.

EVERY time we caught a taxi to take us back to the ship after our day in Montreal, without exception, we had a hard time getting the taxi driver to understand where we wanted to go.

 

I took to clearly writing down Iberville Cruise Ship Terminal and the address.

Still the drivers were confused as they have very few cruise ships coming in. DH had a great sense of direction and he was able to direct the driver where to turn etc after having been there a few times.

 

Here is a link to the Iberville Cruise Terminal. Save yourself aggravation and print out the page. :)

 

http://www.port-montreal.com/en/access-to-passenger-terminal.html

 

 

Thank you so much. I'm doing that right now!

[richwmn]

Getting to the hotel should not be a problem, but a taxi to the pier might be (even though it is a short distance). We (and others we talked to) had issues with the taxi driver finding the correct pier (evidently they do not go there very often). You might ask the doorman at your hotel to explain to the driver where you are going (and again have a piece of paper with the address on it). Even once you are at the pier it can be confusing, as the area is not well marked (we finally exited the cab and had to wander around to find the entrance).

 

Not Montreal but in Quebec City I too had a small language problem with the taxi driver. I asked twice to go to the cruise dock and was told he didn't know where it was. There was another taxi arriving and I was about to go there when I mentioned the name of the ship (Veendam in my case) and he immediately know where I needed to go.

 

Rich