NCL air to Quebec

[Topdog52]

With some of the crazy stories about NCL Air has anyone used NCL? We are going Sept. 2024 from Cleveland, OH.

The price is about $540 round trip for Passenger #1.  Just to fly to Quebec is over $750 for the 2 of us. Should I take the chance?  

[d9704011]

10 minutes ago, Topdog52 said:

With some of the crazy stories about NCL Air has anyone used NCL? We are going Sept. 2024 from Cleveland, OH.

The price is about $540 round trip for Passenger #1.  Just to fly to Quebec is over $750 for the 2 of us. Should I take the chance?  

Is this a B2B you're planning and need a round trip fare to YQB?  Also - September 2024?  A long ways off!

Edited May 17, 2023 by d9704011

[Topdog52]

NO, this is a Quebec to NYC and then home.

[genealogyfan]

 

No, don't do it. I remember last year when my friend and I took a cruise to Quebec City, I read most people who booked NCL air were routed in/out of Montreal. Then they had to take the bus to Quebec City.  Some took a train. Fortunately we booked our own flight from Quebec City. 

 

Alot of people on these message boards didn't read the fine print about an airport within a certain amount of miles away (or something similar) and had no idea they would be routed to/from Montreal and weren't happy.

 

Here's a  link after I did a quick search about NCL booked flights to/from Montreal for a cruise in Quebec City.

 

Also if you can avoid Air Canada at all cost, they are a horrible airline, with horrible customer service.

 

Edited May 17, 2023 by genealogyfan

[hallux]

1 hour ago, genealogyfan said:

I read most people who booked NCL air were routed in/out of Montreal.

This is actually covered in the promo T&C's, so an informed consumer would be aware of this - 

https://www.ncl.com/about/terms-and-conditions/promotions

• Guests embarking or disembarking in Quebec City may be reserved on flights arriving or departing from Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL) to ensure the most convenient schedule.

[DCGuy64]

For what it's worth, we flew Air Canada to Japan last month for a cruise and it was fine. We had no issues. We've used NCL Air successfully in the past and would so again.

[julig22]

Just have back-up plans to arrive in either Quebec or Montreal if you use NCL for your flights.  I've only flown to Quebec once and as I recall they don't always have daily flights so if there are no flights the day you choose to arrive you'll go to Montreal for example.

I'm using NCL for my flights but I'm doing the reverse trip, ending in Quebec, for exactly this reason.  But I don't know whether to sign up for the post-cruise excursion to Quebec or Montreal!

[genealogyfan]

50 minutes ago, hallux said:

This is actually covered in the promo T&C's, so an informed consumer would be aware of this - 

https://www.ncl.com/about/terms-and-conditions/promotions

• Guests embarking or disembarking in Quebec City may be reserved on flights arriving or departing from Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL) to ensure the most convenient schedule.

I was amazed at all the passengers who weren't informed and didn't read the fine print. There were alot of complaints on the message boards.

[Topdog52]

17 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Just have back-up plans to arrive in either Quebec or Montreal if you use NCL for your flights.  I've only flown to Quebec once and as I recall they don't always have daily flights so if there are no flights the day you choose to arrive you'll go to Montreal for example.

I'm using NCL for my flights but I'm doing the reverse trip, ending in Quebec, for exactly this reason.  But I don't know whether to sign up for the post-cruise excursion to Quebec or Montreal!

That is probably why they are chaging over $200 for transfers.

 

2 hours ago, genealogyfan said:

 

No, don't do it. I remember last year when my friend and I took a cruise to Quebec City, I read most people who booked NCL air were routed in/out of Montreal. Then they had to take the bus to Quebec City.  Some took a train. Fortunately we booked our own flight from Quebec City. 

 

Alot of people on these message boards didn't read the fine print about an airport within a certain amount of miles away (or something similar) and had no idea they would be routed to/from Montreal and weren't happy.

 

Here's a  link after I did a quick search about NCL booked flights to/from Montreal for a cruise in Quebec City.

 

Also if you can avoid Air Canada at all cost, they are a horrible airline, with horrible customer service.

 

 

[DCGuy64]

Just now, Topdog52 said:

That is probably why they are chaging over $200 for transfers.

You can have those taken off and keep just the airfare. That's what we did. The wording is "may" be reserved (on flights out of Montreal). If the air savings are worth it for you, I'd have the transfers removed, see if you do end up flying out of Montreal and then paying your own transfers. Our transfers were $75 each and instead we caught a cab to the port for $25.

[Topdog52]

Am I understanding you correctly? You paid a cab $25 to go from Montreal to the port.

[NCMtnBoys]

I don't think I'd do the NCL air for just the $210 savings. You have no say in the flights, routing, layover, etc. No changes can be made with NCL after they assign the flights, you're stuck with what they assign you. It'd be well worth the $210 to retain control of your flights.

 

On the other hand, we're using the NCL BOGO air offer for a cruise from Athens in September. I was reluctant to go that route and hate giving up control of the flight planning, but the difference between using their promo and booking air ourselves is upwards of $2000. 

[RN_Prof]

We used NCL Air this year while sailing in/out of Miami from Chicago. I felt it was a mess and decided to book our flights directly for our Cruise out of Quebec this fall. I found a direct flight from O"Hare to Quebec through American Airlines. Now I am so glad we did.

[Topdog52]

The $210 savings is just to get to Quebec. We would still have to book flights from from NYC to home,which would be another $547.

[robbinsca]

We are going to Quebec City for the Sky on 10/2. The flight goes only as far as Montreal.I asked for a variation to arrive a day early and was told I would have to arrange my own transit to QC then. We just accepted the same day travel. I figure it is up to NCL to get us to the ship on time. 🤞

[d9704011]

6 hours ago, robbinsca said:

We are going to Quebec City for the Sky on 10/2. The flight goes only as far as Montreal.I asked for a variation to arrive a day early and was told I would have to arrange my own transit to QC then. We just accepted the same day travel. I figure it is up to NCL to get us to the ship on time. 🤞

Same day travel from California to Quebec City?  Are you sure that your flight is not scheduled for October 1.... out of LAX or a red-eye out of SNA?

Edited May 18, 2023 by d9704011

[DCGuy64]

19 hours ago, Topdog52 said:

Am I understanding you correctly? You paid a cab $25 to go from Montreal to the port.

No no, our cruise was from Miami. When we initially bought the cruise tickets, we opted for the BOGO air, and there was a $75 per person transfer fee. We had our TA remove that and just caught a cab from the airport to the port instead for $25.

[junglejane]

I was one of those people posting last year about my NCL Air. We were on a Boston-Quebec cruise and booked under a BOGO promo. I freely admitted I hadn't carefully read all the Terms & Conditions and had no one to blame but myself. My only excuse was that this was a first time on NCL for me and I was used to Princess EZAir which gives you a lot more transparency and control. The fact that it was $249 total should've made me realize it was too good to be a desirable itinerary!

The air itinerary didn't come out until about 60 days prior to the cruise. The flight from Phoenix to Boston was a red eye with a connection at O'Hare at about 4 am. The return was a nonstop but it was from Montreal. Because we were doing a post cruise extension in Quebec, the NCL arranged bus to the Montreal airport was not an option. They had us on a 9:00 am flight out of Montreal but were on our own to get there.from our hotel in Quebec. We ended up just eating the $249 and booking our own air. I would be very hesitant to use NCL Air again due to the lack of control. We are booked on the NCL Sun next year in Japan, and will book our own air. 

Edited May 18, 2023 by junglejane

[julig22]

6 hours ago, d9704011 said:

Same day travel from California to Quebec City?  Are you sure that your flight is not scheduled for October 1.... out of LAX or a red-eye out of SNA?

I suspect same-day travel as in ARRIVING on the day of the cruise.  Cruiseline always works backwards, so arrive same day or 1-2 days prior.  When you leave depends on your location - something people tend to not factor when discussing airfare.

[julig22]

2 hours ago, junglejane said:

I was one of those people posting last year about my NCL Air. We were on a Boston-Quebec cruise and booked under a BOGO promo. I freely admitted I hadn't carefully read all the Terms & Conditions and had no one to blame but myself. My only excuse was that this was a first time on NCL for me and I was used to Princess EZAir which gives you a lot more transparency and control. The fact that it was $249 total should've made me realize it was too good to be a desirable itinerary!

The air itinerary didn't come out until about 60 days prior to the cruise. The flight from Phoenix to Boston was a red eye with a connection at O'Hare at about 4 am. The return was a nonstop but it was from Montreal. Because we were doing a post cruise extension in Quebec, the NCL arranged bus to the Montreal airport was not an option. They had us on a 9:00 am flight out of Montreal but were on our own to get there.from our hotel in Quebec. We ended up just eating the $249 and booking our own air. I would be very hesitant to use NCL Air again due to the lack of control. We are booked on the NCL Sun next year in Japan, and will book our own air. 

I'm booked on the Boston-Quebec cruise this September.  But there are post-cruise excursions to both Montreal and Quebec. Both have a disclaimer to wait to book until you have your flight info but I'm going to take a leap and book the Montreal one now, as I don't want to lose out.  I have learned that if you book a post-cruise excursion, NCL air will try to get you a flight to match (no guarantees).  But also, by looking at the schedules for Quebec vs Montreal to my chosen airport, Montreal is a much better fit to the NCL parameters.  If I got it wrong, I can just cancel the excursion once I get my flight info.

Note - NCL will give you all the transparency and flexibility you want if you book through their Premium Air department. But you don't get heavily discounted airfare prices.

[junglejane]

@julig22 What you say makes perfect sense to me and I'm sure that for many situations the Montreal airport location is not a problem. What caused us problems was that we were doing a 3 day post cruise hotel stay in Quebec. That meant that we couldn't take advantage of post cruise excursions to Montreal or the shuttle they had going from the dock at disembarkation to the Montreal airport. Plus NCL Air gave us a morning departure time from the Montreal airport that would've been problematic to make from our Quebec hotel. Again, it was our fault for not studying the terms & conditions. Lesson learned.

[raven72]

We have booked cruise from Quebec to New York on the Joy beginning Sept. 13; 2023 using the NCL flight option. Are we incorrect to assume that they will fly us in to Montreal the day before and we will require overnight accommodations in Montreal for that night and they will shuttle us to Quebec the day of embarkation? If this is a possibility does anyone have recommendations for lodging close to the airport for the evening in question?

Any additional information regarding this would be most helpful.Thank you in advance.

[julig22]

8 minutes ago, raven72 said:

 Are we incorrect to assume that they will fly us in to Montreal the day before and we will require overnight accommodations in Montreal for that night and they will shuttle us to Quebec the day of embarkation?

They will most likely fly you into either Montreal or Quebec arriving the day of your cruise - unless you ask for a 1-day deviation.

[junglejane]

@raven72 The NCL website says:

 

My cruise arrives/departs from Quebec City, Canada. Why are my flights booked to arrive/depart from Montreal (YUL), Canada?
As a result of limited flight availability into Quebec, guests embarking or disembarking in Quebec City may be booked on flights arriving or departing from Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL). Ground transportation is available at the same cost from Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL) or Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport airports.

https://www.ncl.com/air-service-standards

 

 

[cruiseny4life]

On 6/3/2023 at 3:23 PM, raven72 said:

We have booked cruise from Quebec to New York on the Joy beginning Sept. 13; 2023 using the NCL flight option. Are we incorrect to assume that they will fly us in to Montreal the day before and we will require overnight accommodations in Montreal for that night and they will shuttle us to Quebec the day of embarkation? If this is a possibility does anyone have recommendations for lodging close to the airport for the evening in question?

Any additional information regarding this would be most helpful.Thank you in advance.

They will fly you in the day of the cruise...probably...unless you request a deviation. Call NCL, ask for a one day pre-cruise deviation. Be sure they send you a new confirmation showing the deviation. You do not need to book the NCL hotel, but they will offer this to you. 

 

As @junglejane mentioned, you may fly into Quebec City or Montreal.