Does Princess offer transfers or shuttles from Quebec cruise port to Montreal Airport?

[Robkat]

We are looking at a repositioning cruise on the Caribbean Princess, in July, from Fort Lauderdale to Quebec City.

We want to fly back to Florida from Montreal airport.

 

The best situation for us would be if Princess offers shuttles/transfers from the Quebec City cruiseport directly to Montreal airport.

Does anyone who has disembarked in Quebec City recently know whether this is possible?

 

We'd also be interested in hearing any other recommendations.  

We know about Via Rail, for the train, but can't find info about where we'd catch the train and where it would take us, and how far that would be from the airport.

And what about other independent shuttles that would do cruiseport pick-up, with a drop at Montreal airport?

 

Really, any insight or experienced info would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

 

Edited April 12, 2023 by Robkat

[Tapi]

I’m also looking at something similar. I haven’t looked at trains or shuttles, but this is what I’ve researched.
 

One option is a one way car rental. It’s a 2 hour 45 minute drive and it looks like it’s pretty straight forward and economical.
 

The other option is to fly from Quebec City to Montreal. It’s about a 35 minute flight. I’m learning that the difference in price between flying from Quebec City to Montreal to Atlanta (where we live) vs driving to Montreal and then flying from there to Atlanta is negligible once you factor in the cost of ground transportation. 
 

I’m leaning towards flying from Quebec City to simplify things, specially since the price difference is minimal. 

[Jadn13]

There’s a roll call for this cruise and someone posted detail train into. 
There’s also a transfer with a city tour offered by Princess.

[Jadn13]

Your flight would have to be after 6pm or the next day for this option.

[Jadn13]

Roll Call

 

[Rick&Jeannie]

Yes...there is a transfer.  We are booked on it after a NY - Quebec cruise this fall.  Flights are next to impossible out of Quebec (at least for us!)  It is a basic transfer...no additional activities shown in the post above.

[Robkat]

56 minutes ago, Jadn13 said:

There’s a roll call for this cruise and someone posted detail train into. 
There’s also a transfer with a city tour offered by Princess.

Thanks so much for this info.  

We've already read most of the thread and we're seeing so much useful info.

We're still a little unclear about the train, where we catch it, the schedules, etc. but hopefully when we finish reading the thread we'll find that info.

We are normally really good doing our own research, but we needed this info fast as we have to decide soon, so pointing us to the info was invaluable.

So ... Thanks again, and if anyone else would like to chime in with details/more info, we appreciate tremendously.

[Robkat]

12 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Yes...there is a transfer.  We are booked on it after a NY - Quebec cruise this fall.  Flights are next to impossible out of Quebec (at least for us!)  It is a basic transfer...no additional activities shown in the post above.

Omigoodness!  This is exactly what we were hoping for!

 

Did you book this through Princess?  Where was it available to book?  

Is there a specific code for booking this shuttle?  We've looked on the Princess site in Shore Excursions, and we can only see the longer 6-hour excursion.

Is this a bus shuttle?  Does it pick you up right at the QC cruise port and drop you right at Montreal airport?

Are there time options, or is it one fixed time?

 

Lol ... sorry for all these questions, but we're excited because this is what we really wanted.  Thanks for posting!

 

[d9704011]

15 minutes ago, Robkat said:

Omigoodness!  This is exactly what we were hoping for!

 

Did you book this through Princess?  Where was it available to book?  

Is there a specific code for booking this shuttle?  We've looked on the Princess site in Shore Excursions, and we can only see the longer 6-hour excursion.

Is this a bus shuttle?  Does it pick you up right at the QC cruise port and drop you right at Montreal airport?

Are there time options, or is it one fixed time?

 

Lol ... sorry for all these questions, but we're excited because this is what we really wanted.  Thanks for posting!

 

When is your flight out of Montreal (YUL)?  You need to plan back from that to figure out the best way to transfer from Quebec to YUL.  

[Rick&Jeannie]

2 hours ago, Robkat said:

Omigoodness!  This is exactly what we were hoping for!

 

Did you book this through Princess?  Where was it available to book?  

Is there a specific code for booking this shuttle?  We've looked on the Princess site in Shore Excursions, and we can only see the longer 6-hour excursion.

Is this a bus shuttle?  Does it pick you up right at the QC cruise port and drop you right at Montreal airport?

Are there time options, or is it one fixed time?

 

Lol ... sorry for all these questions, but we're excited because this is what we really wanted.  Thanks for posting!

 

Let me preface all of this by saying...we have never done this cruise before, so we don't know all of the details that might come up.

 

That being said...we have done MANY Princess transfers on quite a few cruises.  All I can tell you is what we have seen for EVERY other cruise we've done...it does not appear to ever deviate.

 

Yes, booked through Princess but NOT as an excursion.  Log in to your cruise personalizer (on Princess.com...NOT the app) and look under the Travel tab.  There is a "Transfers" section...scroll down just a bit.  For this particular cruise we are booked through a travel agent so it does not show up for us as it normally does.  If you are booked through a TA you will need to go through them.

 

Yes - bus shuttle. They will direct you to the proper bus as soon as you disembark the ship.  We have never seen time options since it is right when you disembark.

 

Yes, Princess transfers generally take you straight to the airport...or to a hotel if you are doing a post-cruise hotel package (as we are doing.)

 

Hope this helps!

 

[mom says]

If you want to DIY by train, it just takes a bit of Googling. The QC train station ( Gare du Palais) is only a few minutes drive from the Port de Quebec. Take a taxi. Look up ticket prices on the VIA Rail website. The Montreal Dorval Station is about 2km from the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport (YUL). Take a taxi. 

 

But trains aren't frequent and take around 4 1/2 hours, so you would have to disembark early to catch the morning train. 

[startedwithamouse]

4 hours ago, Robkat said:

Thanks so much for this info.  

We've already read most of the thread and we're seeing so much useful info.

We're still a little unclear about the train, where we catch it, the schedules, etc. but hopefully when we finish reading the thread we'll find that info.

We are normally really good doing our own research, but we needed this info fast as we have to decide soon, so pointing us to the info was invaluable.

So ... Thanks again, and if anyone else would like to chime in with details/more info, we appreciate tremendously.

The train is easily found if you use Google. Look to see how far of a walk from the cruise port, then how far of a walk to the airport.  We did a Google search, schedules, prices, everything comes up.  

[d9704011]

6 hours ago, mom says said:

If you want to DIY by train, it just takes a bit of Googling. The QC train station ( Gare du Palais) is only a few minutes drive from the Port de Quebec. Take a taxi. Look up ticket prices on the VIA Rail website. The Montreal Dorval Station is about 2km from the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport (YUL). Take a taxi. 

 

But trains aren't frequent and take around 4 1/2 hours, so you would have to disembark early to catch the morning train. 

Further to what mom says provided... as I understand it, the ship arrives in Quebec on a Thursday and is in overnight.  That means an earlyish departure on Friday morning ought not be a problem.  The train station in Quebec is located close by the cruise port.  The train station for Montreal airport (YUL) is located close to the airport (the stop is called Dorval, which is the municipality in which the airport is located).  There is a free shuttle for Via Rail ticket holders from Dorval to YUL.  I have attached a screen shot of a typical train itinerary for information.

 

This is a lot of fooling around to fly out of YUL instead of YQB... I'm sure there are good reasons!

 

Edited April 13, 2023 by d9704011

[Robkat]

11 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Let me preface all of this by saying...we have never done this cruise before, so we don't know all of the details that might come up.

 

That being said...we have done MANY Princess transfers on quite a few cruises.  All I can tell you is what we have seen for EVERY other cruise we've done...it does not appear to ever deviate.

 

Yes, booked through Princess but NOT as an excursion.  Log in to your cruise personalizer (on Princess.com...NOT the app) and look under the Travel tab.  There is a "Transfers" section...scroll down just a bit.  For this particular cruise we are booked through a travel agent so it does not show up for us as it normally does.  If you are booked through a TA you will need to go through them.

 

Yes - bus shuttle. They will direct you to the proper bus as soon as you disembark the ship.  We have never seen time options since it is right when you disembark.

 

 

Thanks to everyone for such good and detailed answers.  It has certainly clarified things for us, as we make our decisions.

To Rick&Jeannie: Thanks for getting back so quickly.  

We're just wondering, though, since your transfer is not a straight-to-an- airport in the same city as ship disembarkation, if the reason you have access to these particular transfers is by virtue of your having booked a Montreal hotel with Princess.  

The whole disembarking in one city and wanting to fly out of another city seems to be throwing everything off!  

When we asked for a quote and a hold, we asked our TA if we could get transfers to Montreal through Princess, and he told us "as per Princess, no you can't.  Other than transfers to QC airport, you're on your own."

We just couldn't believe this would be the case, since so many people want to fly home from YUL,  which is what sent us to CC'ers with experience.

So, with that in mind, does your transfer and hotel purchase show any kind of Princess code, which we could relay to our TA?

 

In any case, everyone has been very helpful and we do appreciate all the info from those "in the know"!  

11 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Yes, Princess transfers generally take you straight to the airport...or to a hotel if you are doing a post-cruise hotel package (as we are doing.)

 

Hope this helps!

 

 

[Robkat]

5 hours ago, d9704011 said:

Further to what mom says provided... as I understand it, the ship arrives in Quebec on a Thursday and is in overnight.  That means an earlyish departure on Friday morning ought not be a problem.  The train station in Quebec is located close by the cruise port.  The train station for Montreal airport (YUL) is located close to the airport (the stop is called Dorval, which is the municipality in which the airport is located).  There is a free shuttle for Via Rail ticket holders from Dorval to YUL.  I have attached a screen shot of a typical train itinerary for information.

 

This is a lot of fooling around to fly out of YUL instead of YQB... I'm sure there are good reasons!

 

This is really good info and thanks for posting it.

In the Via Rail invoice, is that price shown per person or is that for 2 people?  

Also the info about the shuttle from Dorval to the airport is really good to know, so thanks also for thinking of adding that!

It seems like the QC train station is very close to the cruise port, do you think it would be walkable?  Our luggage is pretty contained (we don't have several bags each) and we're walkers ... so if it was within a half mile or so, I wouldn't see a problem for us ... IF it's doable.

 

[d9704011]

1 hour ago, Robkat said:

This is really good info and thanks for posting it.

In the Via Rail invoice, is that price shown per person or is that for 2 people?  

Also the info about the shuttle from Dorval to the airport is really good to know, so thanks also for thinking of adding that!

It seems like the QC train station is very close to the cruise port, do you think it would be walkable?  Our luggage is pretty contained (we don't have several bags each) and we're walkers ... so if it was within a half mile or so, I wouldn't see a problem for us ... IF it's doable.

 

The cost shown is for two people, taxes included.  The walk from the cruise terminal to Gare du Palais (Quebec train station) will take about 15 minutes on level ground... quite doable.

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 hour ago, Robkat said:

We're just wondering, though, since your transfer is not a straight-to-an- airport in the same city as ship disembarkation, if the reason you have access to these particular transfers is by virtue of your having booked a Montreal hotel with Princess.  

 

So, with that in mind, does your transfer and hotel purchase show any kind of Princess code, which we could relay to our TA?

 

 

 

1) I guess that's a possibility.  We've never had an issue getting transfers either straight to airport or to a hotel post-cruise.  Like I said...this particular cruise was handled via a TA (very unusual for us) but if I remember correctly, they had me contact Princess directly to arrange for the hotel package.  (I couldn't swear to that...)  I just noticed that you said you are going through a TA...(sorry).  Will he/she allow you to try directly? I'm pretty sure that I did it direct...

 

2) Nope...no "code".  It just shows as an addition on our itinerary listing.  LE CENTRE SHERATON MONTREAL

 

Don't forget...Princess phone/chat reps are NOTORIOUS for giving incorrect info!  I would call back to get another rep and see what kind of answer you get.

[Lady Meer]

On 4/12/2023 at 11:03 PM, Robkat said:

We are looking at a repositioning cruise on the Caribbean Princess, in July, from Fort Lauderdale to Quebec City.

We want to fly back to Florida from Montreal airport.

 

 

 

Hi Robkat

 

Last year we took the Princess excursion which included 3 hours in Montreal and then going on to the airport. This is what I wrote on our roll call!

 

"We booked the Princess excursion to Montreal airport giving us about 3 hours on our own before being taken to the airport. It didn’t work out like that - we were over an hour late leaving the ship. How long does it take to get 40 people plus bags onto a bus? We eventually arrived in Montreal just before 1 pm and were told we would be picked up at 2 pm. 
 

We arrived at the airport before 3 - our check in didn’t open until 6.30 pm. We got to the business lounge an hour later to find that we had to queue to get in 😳. The food wasn’t good and the white wine was undrinkable (we had to queue to be served). 
 

Our plane was 2 hours late leaving Heathrow so we took off at midnight.

 

We have seen enough of Montreal airport to say we will not go there again. The whole experience was horrible plus we have never waited in line to get into a business lounge.

 

However, on the positive side, we did enjoy the cruise. We thought the food was excellent and the service (club dining) very good. Our room steward was one of the best we have had. The ship was ‘tired’ but after a couple of days we didn’t notice that."

 

We stopped in Montreal in a really busy area with lots to see.  Unfortunately it was 1pm when we arrived and were told that we had to leave at 2 pm which gave us enough time to either eat or do a quick look round the local area.  The restaurants were all mega busy.  Some pax were late back to.30the bus as they got lost so we didn't leave until about 2.30 pm.  Apparently a lady was on the bus had a flight before 5 pm so she shouldn't have been on the bus.  When we arrived in Montreal she should have been sent to the airport in a taxi (15 minutes away) so the rest of us could have stayed for the full 3 hours. As you can imagine it was a very disappointing end to a great cruise and the annoying fact is that it could have been avoided.

 

On the plus side, the business lounge did stay open for the BA passengers (about 30 of us) until our plane was boarding but the food and drink areas were closed!

 

Good luck.

 

 

[Robkat]

LadyM: Thanks for posting this ... It must have been disappointing to have that excursion turn out the way it did.  

We've pretty much decided that we're going to do a hard pass on that particular excursion ... even on the Princess site, it only gets 3/5 stars, so not very positive!

 

We're thinking we'll take the train to the Montreal airport, and then get an airport hotel so we can get an early flight back to Florida the next day.  

We're still in early days with our planning, but this does seem like the easiest and less hassle way to go about things.

 

As an alternative, once we're actually have the cruise reservation, we'll look at Princess hotels in Montreal on offer, which would include transfers to the hotel.  However the cruise lines aren't exactly known for offering decent hotel package prices, so that option may quickly fizzle out!

 

Thanks again for your input.

[Lady Meer]

Robkat - I think you’ve made a great choice.

 

If you haven’t arranged anything yet for Quebec, we went on a great ‘free’ walking tour with Samuel Dubois and can thoroughly recommend him.

[Rick&Jeannie]

4 hours ago, Robkat said:

As an alternative, once we're actually have the cruise reservation, we'll look at Princess hotels in Montreal on offer, which would include transfers to the hotel.  However the cruise lines aren't exactly known for offering decent hotel package prices, so that option may quickly fizzle out!

 

It is true...you can definitely "get a better deal" on a hotel package *if* you are only looking at the dollars.  We take the stance of letting Princess handle each and every detail, along with those transfers so we just sit back and relax, knowing that we just have to show up someplace at a certain time!  

[d9704011]

4 hours ago, Robkat said:

LadyM: Thanks for posting this ... It must have been disappointing to have that excursion turn out the way it did.  

We've pretty much decided that we're going to do a hard pass on that particular excursion ... even on the Princess site, it only gets 3/5 stars, so not very positive!

 

We're thinking we'll take the train to the Montreal airport, and then get an airport hotel so we can get an early flight back to Florida the next day.  

We're still in early days with our planning, but this does seem like the easiest and less hassle way to go about things.

 

As an alternative, once we're actually have the cruise reservation, we'll look at Princess hotels in Montreal on offer, which would include transfers to the hotel.  However the cruise lines aren't exactly known for offering decent hotel package prices, so that option may quickly fizzle out!

 

Thanks again for your input.

If that's what you're thinking of doing, take the train from Quebec to Dorval, Via Rail shuttle to YUL and stay at the in-terminal Marriott.  You'll be right beside the US departures area for a quick and easy getaway in the morning.

[Ombud]

On 4/12/2023 at 3:50 PM, Jadn13 said:

Your flight would have to be after 6pm or the next day for this option.

I do these!! Love them. A chance to see a little of the other city and not worry about luggage

 

@Lady Meer the tour company should NOT have accommodated her. If my tour was shortened for a passenger's flight I'd push for a partial refund (1× $59 tour was shortened & I got $20 refund)

[Lady Meer]

52 minutes ago, Ombud said:

I do these!! Love them. A chance to see a little of the other city and not worry about luggage

 

@Lady Meer the tour company should NOT have accommodated her. If my tour was shortened for a passenger's flight I'd push for a partial refund (1× $59 tour was shortened & I got $20 refund)

Darn - never thought of asking for a refund 😡.  Thanks for the info will remember next time (if there is one)!

[Robkat]

1 hour ago, d9704011 said:

If that's what you're thinking of doing, take the train from Quebec to Dorval, Via Rail shuttle to YUL and stay at the in-terminal Marriott.  You'll be right beside the US departures area for a quick and easy getaway in the morning.

@d9704011. Excellent!  Great minds must think alike because I had just come into CC to ask you if you (or anyone else) had any recommendations for hotels in and around either the Dorval train station or the airport!  We were pleased to see your recommendation and immediately went and booked that Marriott.  As you point out, it will be perfect for our very early flight the next day. 👏👏

NOW ... to wait until Sunday when our TA is working and get the actual cruise booked.

Thanks so much for being mindreaders! 😂