Free air fare

[Coleman41]

Has anyone sailed Boston to Quebec and used the discount airfare offered? If yes did you fly out of Quebec City or were you made to fly out of Montreal airport?

[CDNPolar]

What cruise line and what city do you dock?  Do you end in Quebec City or Montreal?

 

Quebec City and Montreal are a 3'ish hour drive between them.  I don't think that it is a coin toss which you will fly out of.

 

Both are on the St. Lawrence River, so whatever city you end in will be the city you fly from.  There is no way that you would disembark in Montreal but fly home from Quebec City.

[Globaliser]

5 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

Quebec City and Montreal are a 3'ish hour drive between them.  I don't think that it is a coin toss which you will fly out of.

 

Both are on the St. Lawrence River, so whatever city you end in will be the city you fly from.  There is no way that you would disembark in Montreal but fly home from Quebec City.

 

That's not my experience. I started a HAL cruise in Quebec City. I arranged my own air travel, but there were very many passengers who also flew to Montreal and were transferred to Quebec City by road. Given how small and quiet the airport is Quebec City is, compared to Montreal, I wouldn't be surprised if many of my fellow passengers had been travelling on flights that had been arranged by the cruise line. It was one of the few occasions on which a cruise line transfer from airport to ship was the option that made most sense, and a lot of people were making use of it.

[CDNPolar]

3 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

That's not my experience. I started a HAL cruise in Quebec City. I arranged my own air travel, but there were very many passengers who also flew to Montreal and were transferred to Quebec City by road. Given how small and quiet the airport is Quebec City is, compared to Montreal, I wouldn't be surprised if many of my fellow passengers had been travelling on flights that had been arranged by the cruise line. It was one of the few occasions on which a cruise line transfer from airport to ship was the option that made most sense, and a lot of people were making use of it.

 

Wow... well, if this is the case, probably the situation is that there are not many direct flights to Quebec City and many more to Montreal.  You would likely have to connect in Montreal to Quebec City. Perhaps it was cheaper to bus people from Montreal to Quebec City and more time efficient.

Edited January 19 by CDNPolar

[Coleman41]

My Norwegian cruise starts in Boston & ends in Quebec. The "fine print" states the cruise line has the option to fly you out of Quebec City or Montreal, their choice. 

[Globaliser]

10 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

Wow... well, if this is the case, probably the situation is that there are not many direct flights to Quebec City and many more to Montreal.

 

There's no "probably" about it.

 

In 2019 (the last directly comparable pre-Covid figures):

- Montreal (Dorval) had about 20.3 million passenger movements

- Quebec City had about 1.8 million passenger movements

 

In January to September 2022:

- Montreal (Dorval) had about 11.6 million passenger movements

- Quebec City had about 1.2 million passenger movements

 

In other words, Montreal handles about 10 times the passenger traffic that Quebec City does. It would therefore be no surprise if cruise lines do use both airports (as NCL has told the OP it could), or if it is actually a coin toss as to which airport is used for any individual passenger.

 

22 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

You would likely have to connect in Montreal to Quebec City.

 

There aren't actually that many airline seats between Montreal and Quebec City. Looking at weekdays next week, there are something around 4 x A319s and 3 x Dash-8s a day (each way), so only around 800 daily seats. That's unsurprising, given that there are both rail and road alternatives.