Niagara Falls and Holland Cruise

[RocketMan275]

We would like to do a Holland cruise from Quebec City to Fort Lauderdale probably in 2021.  Wife would also like to visit Niagara Falls.  Has anyone done such a cruise with a precruise tour to Niagara Falls?  How did  you make the arrangements?

 

And, yes, I did try searching and I did check the Canada/New England Boards.

Edited August 31, 2019 by RocketMan275

[woodworker&knitter]

The distance between Niagara Falls and Quebec City is approximately 933km (580 miles), via ON-401 East.

Edited August 31, 2019 by woodworker&knitter

[RocketMan275]

2 minutes ago, woodworker&knitter said:

The distance between Niagara Falls and Quebec City is approximately 933km (580 miles), via ON-401 East.

I also understand that distance is far less than the distance to either location from Alabama.  Why not combine the two into one trip?

[Stpatsirish]

You should check out Via Rail. If you are flying to Canada and want to go to Niagara you can fly to Toronto or Hamilton (maybe even Buffalo or Rochester New York) And take the Via Train to and from Niagara. The best may be from Toronto. Then you can go to Quebec City from Toronto. You may have to change trains in Montreal.

 

if you are driving, you can drive Niagara Falls to Quebec City in a long day.

[Daisyloo]

27 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

We would like to do a Holland cruise from Quebec City to Fort Lauderdale probably in 2021.  Wife would also like to visit Niagara Falls.  Has anyone done such a cruise with a precruise tour to Niagara Falls?  How did  you make the arrangements?

 

And, yes, I did try searching and I did check the Canada/New England Boards.

 You could fly into Toronto and rent a car.  Drive to Niagara Falls and stay in a hotel for a day or two.  See the Falls and do the touristy things there.   Maybe spend a day in Niagara on the Lake,  a nice town nearby.  Maybe do a winery tour - this area is home to many wineries, some with lovely restaurants.  Then you could drive towards Quebec city, maybe stopping for a night in Kingston Ontario.  It's an historic city and a great place to do a tour of the Thousand Islands.  Then continue on to Quebec City.

[PoolSlider]

We very recently did a college visit trip where we flew into Buffalo (from New Orleans), rented a car and drove over the Queen Elizabeth Peace bridge to Niagara Falls. We stayed at the Embassy Suites at the funicular which was convenient. It was a Canadian holiday weekend so it was unusually crowded but we had gorgeous weather. It was well worth it. The boat ride into the Falls was hokey but a lot of fun; looking at the pictures, everybody on the boat is smiling and laughing. 

 

Our trip took us back over the same bridge to go see New York’s universities but it would have been delightful to keep driving further into Canada. Accept and expect delays at the bridge. The Canadian officer was friendly and charming; the American border officer was nasty and threatening in tone. 

 

I would love love to do the trip you are planning.

Edited August 31, 2019 by PoolSlider

[richwmn]

Not me, but some friends flew into Rochester and rented a car. They then toured Niagara Falls, stayed overnight and drove to Montreal. I believe they made a two day trip out of it enjoying that area of Canada.

 

On Via Rail, I took it from Ottawa to Montreal, then Montreal to Quebec City and had a great ride. Very relaxing and scenic ride. I would consider that as an option as well

 

[RocketMan275]

1 minute ago, Daisyloo said:

 You could fly into Toronto and rent a car.  Drive to Niagara Falls and stay in a hotel for a day or two.  See the Falls and do the touristy things there.   Maybe spend a day in Niagara on the Lake,  a nice town nearby.  Maybe do a winery tour - this area is home to many wineries, some with lovely restaurants.  Then you could drive towards Quebec city, maybe stopping for a night in Kingston Ontario.  It's an historic city and a great place to do a tour of the Thousand Islands.  Then continue on to Quebec City.

Not really interested in driving.  Really thinking of a flight into Toronto, hotel for the night, tour of the falls, and then travel to Quebec City with a night before the cruise.  

[Daisyloo]

Just now, RocketMan275 said:

Not really interested in driving.  Really thinking of a flight into Toronto, hotel for the night, tour of the falls, and then travel to Quebec City with a night before the cruise.  

 

I guess you need to find a tour to the Falls from Toronto.  Maybe check on Viatour? 

 It's about a 2 hour drive from Toronto to Niagara Falls.

From Toronto to Quebec City you could take the train or fly.

[Stpatsirish]

If you are flying to Toronto and do not want to drive to Niagara Falls then you are looking at the train or trying to find a bus day trip. 

[WeRockChalkKU]

We were on a land tour last month that ended in Vancouver and then we flew on our own to Buffalo, rented a car and drove to Canadian side of Niagara Falls and rented from an Air BnB.  Loved having the rental car because we spent a day at Niagara-on the-Lake. Wished we had stayed there longer and been able to do more wineries there. We had considered flying to Toronto instead from Vancouver and then taking the bus to Niagara Falls but glad we did the Buffalo way instead. Another option to get to Niagara on the Lake once you are in Niagara Falls is to purchase the WeGo passes in Niagara Falls. It is mainly a shuttle system around all the attractions but it also goes to Niagara on the Lake. Additionally there are all kinds of day trips from Toronto.  We just liked being able to do some of the attractions at our own pace and seeing the Falls several times day and night. 

You have lots of options...just figure out what works best for you. Good luck.

[Winters in NZ]

1 hour ago, Stpatsirish said:

If you are flying to Toronto and do not want to drive to Niagara Falls then you are looking at the train or trying to find a bus day trip. 

 

I completely agree with your suggestions. Greyhound  gets you there too. A bus tour gets you to the highlights, and of course you don't have to worry about parking, etc.

 

Driving to Niagara Falls from Toronto requires that you drive on the Queen Elizabeth Way, the Q.E.W., which is extremely busy. Much better to take a bus or train.

 

We rented a car for the day while in Niagara Falls, to also enable us to visit beautiful Niagara-on the -Lake which is worth a visit.

 

Forget about driving across the bridge into New York State....the border is clogged with vacationers , freight trucks and Canadians heading into Niagara Falls NY for shopping bargains. You would be wasting too much valuable time sitting in line-ups.

 

 

 

 

[OVgirl]

I'd suggest flying into Buffalo. Rent a car, do the whole Niagara thing and return to Buffalo and fly to Quebec City or Montreal.

[bEwAbG]

2 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

I also understand that distance is far less than the distance to either location from Alabama.  Why not combine the two into one trip?

 

Would you recommend that someone visiting Huntsville include Disney World in their trip?  It's an odd sentiment. 

 

There is enough to do in the general Niagara Falls area to make it into a multi-day trip of its own.

[RocketMan275]

7 minutes ago, bEwAbG said:

 

Would you recommend that someone visiting Huntsville include Disney World in their trip?  It's an odd sentiment. 

 

There is enough to do in the general Niagara Falls area to make it into a multi-day trip of its own.

Would  you recommend I make two trips to Canada?

 

[WeRockChalkKU]

Hopefully you will also spend at least a couple of days in Quebec City pre cruise. 

 

So so many options and so many great places to visit. Enjoy! 

[bEwAbG]

58 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Would  you recommend I make two trips to Canada?

 

I would not try to squeeze in Niagara Falls as a day trip.  It's doable, but you'll be spending a lot of time in transit.

[RocketMan275]

2 hours ago, WeRockChalkKU said:

Hopefully you will also spend at least a couple of days in Quebec City pre cruise. 

 

So so many options and so many great places to visit. Enjoy! 

 

1 hour ago, bEwAbG said:

 

I would not try to squeeze in Niagara Falls as a day trip.  It's doable, but you'll be spending a lot of time in transit.

Thank you for the suggestions.   We will see.

[rafinmd]

If you can spare the time this would be my strategy:

 

Fly to Toronto, book an airport hotel for the first and the 3rd or 4th nights.

The second day train to Niagara Falls for one or 2 nights.  Leave your cruise bags at the airport hotel.

Enjoy Niagara Falls

The day after your second night in Toronto fly to Quebec.  I would normally recommend the train but not for this trip.  I am quite sure VIA corridor service runs in segments so you would have a significant layovers in Montreal and Toronto if you tried to take the train to Quebec.

 

Niagara Falls is a great destination that I don;t think you can cover in a day trip.  Go for it.

 

Roy

[cormike1]

I would suggest flying into Toronto and taking a tour to Niagara Falls.  If you don't like driving, traffic to the Falls is usually very busy no matter what day it is, look at maybe "Viator.com" as they offer tours all over the world so I am sure there would be options for you once in Toronto.  You could then fly from Toronto to Quebec City (1 1/2 hrs. approx.) or take the Via train from Toronto to Quebec City, which would probably be an all day event.  I would allow 2 days in Toronto/Niagara Falls and at least 2 days in Quebec City before your cruise.  Both are wonderful places to see!

[WeRockChalkKU]

Go to Rome2Rio.com website and you will see plenty of transportation options. 

 

Taking the train from Niagara Falls to Quebec City doesn’t appear to be very time consuming or expensive. 

 

If you you end up thinking that you’d fly anywhere within Canada to another Canadian city then considering the smaller local airlines. 

 

[rafinmd]

21 minutes ago, WeRockChalkKU said:

Go to Rome2Rio.com website and you will see plenty of transportation options. 

 

Taking the train from Niagara Falls to Quebec City doesn’t appear to be very time consuming or expensive. 

 

If you you end up thinking that you’d fly anywhere within Canada to another Canadian city then considering the smaller local airlines. 

 

I don't see it that way.  I looked it up on VIA's website and it is just over 15 hours NF to QC, and about 12 hours to Toronto:

 

sev

 

There are several nonstop flights a day from Toronto to Quebec, about 1 1/2 hours.

 

Roy

[WeRockChalkKU]

30 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

I don't see it that way.  I looked it up on VIA's website and it is just over 15 hours NF to QC, and about 12 hours to Toronto:

 

sev

 

There are several nonstop flights a day from Toronto to Quebec, about 1 1/2 hours.

 

Roy

Sorry...my bad.  I wasn’t paying enough attention and clicked on the wrong Quebec City. I was paying more attention to a football game as I was answering. Thanks for catching that. But Rome2 Rio site is usually very helpful in figuring out all your transport options.

 

[kazu]

1 hour ago, cormike1 said:

I would suggest flying into Toronto and taking a tour to Niagara Falls.  If you don't like driving, traffic to the Falls is usually very busy no matter what day it is, look at maybe "Viator.com" as they offer tours all over the world so I am sure there would be options for you once in Toronto.  You could then fly from Toronto to Quebec City (1 1/2 hrs. approx.) or take the Via train from Toronto to Quebec City, which would probably be an all day event.  I would allow 2 days in Toronto/Niagara Falls and at least 2 days in Quebec City before your cruise.  Both are wonderful places to see!

 

I agree with all of this except Viator.  They are middlemen and with a bit of research, you can get a better price and more private experience, but Viator is certainly an option.

 

Definitely flying is faster.  Via Rail is meant to be scenic and they have a lot of stops.  It’s a nice trip (I’ve done it a number of times to get to Ontario) but it’s not cheap and it takes a long time without question.  It’s the most expedient way to get there, but if you have the time and spring for a sleeper car, it’s a nice way to go 😉 

[kpov1821]

2 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

 

Thank you for the suggestions.   We will see.

Husband and I are flying into Toronto from Texas and spending a few days visiting Niagara Falls and surrounding area.  We'll then catch Via Rail to Ottawa and then on to Montreal for our cruise to Boston.  We are taking a day tour to Niagara Falls (picked up at hotel in morning and returned to hotel in evening).

Edited August 31, 2019 by kpov1821