Montreal is out for awhile

[sullyd]

11 hours ago, pascal030 said:

HAL handled this situation very well! They gave sufficient information. We’ve disembarked the Zaandam in Québec this morning. They offered 3 options: the airport, Montréal cruise terminal or disembarkation in Québec. The first bus for early flights was scheduled at 4.30 AM. The first independent bus for the Montréal cruise terminal at 5.00 AM. We disembarked at 7.30 AM and arrived at the cruise terminal at 10.45 AM. Off course riding a bus isn’t as comfortable as being on a cruise ship but they cannot control the water or remove bridges. 

 

11 hours ago, pascal030 said:

HAL handled this situation very well! They gave sufficient information. We’ve disembarked the Zaandam in Québec this morning. They offered 3 options: the airport, Montréal cruise terminal or disembarkation in Québec. The first bus for early flights was scheduled at 4.30 AM. The first independent bus for the Montréal cruise terminal at 5.00 AM. We disembarked at 7.30 AM and arrived at the cruise terminal at 10.45 AM. Off course riding a bus isn’t as comfortable as being on a cruise ship but they cannot control the water or remove bridges. 

We’re there plans for the embarking people at cruise terminal?

Thanks 

[Cruise4food]

14 minutes ago, sullyd said:

 

We’re there plans for the embarking people at cruise terminal?

Thanks 

The cruise port website has this message (linked as an image, not text). I realize it is Sunday and passengers should all be on board by now, but, if not, the ship is scheduled to be at Quebec City all day anyway. https://www.port-montreal.com/en/cruise-vessels-schedule.html

For those on the May 18 embarkation, you should watch the Montreal cruise port site.

 

 

[sullyd]

4 minutes ago, Cruise4food said:

The cruise port website has this message (linked as an image, not text). I realize it is Sunday and passengers should all be on board by now, but, if not, the ship is scheduled to be at Quebec City all day anyway. https://www.port-montreal.com/en/cruise-vessels-schedule.html

For those on the May 18 embarkation, you should watch the Montreal cruise port site.

 

 

Thank you

[DocJohnB]

2 hours ago, sullyd said:

Doc, keep us updated if they give any early information on weather or not they will be going to Montreal. 

Thanks 

 

sullyd - I will certainly try to do so.  Please keep in mind that the folks on this last cruise did not learn of the problem until the day before they were to arrive in Montreal.  I suspect it won't/can't be much different on our cruise.  Additionally, the day before is basically an "at sea" day and I do not use ship's wifi/internet.

[sprockie]

We were on the Veendam for this cruise exactly one year ago today.  We couldn't embark at the port in Old Montreal, but rather had to board the ship further downstream where the cargo ships dock.  Water was extremely high last year and we saw a lot of flooding.  It's worse this year.  

[1of4]

1 hour ago, sprockie said:

We were on the Veendam for this cruise exactly one year ago today.  We couldn't embark at the port in Old Montreal, but rather had to board the ship further downstream where the cargo ships dock.  Water was extremely high last year and we saw a lot of flooding.  It's worse this year.  

 

Last year the Vieux Montréal port was under renovation and no ships could use it for the season.

[Cruise4food]

34 minutes ago, 1of4 said:

 

Last year the Vieux Montréal port was under renovation and no ships could use it for the season.

Renovation was in year 2016.  Maasdam was first ship at new quay June 10, 2017. The high waters in 2018 did affect the Veendam, but remainder of the season was at the main quay. That berth in the cargo area is  for overflow during busy season and is numbered T3. During 2017 the quay was still restricted access. In 2018, Grand Opening allowed general public access to all areas except inside the terminals.

 

Edited May 5, 2019 by Cruise4food
Adjusted to proper years.

[sullyd]

3 hours ago, DocJohnB said:

 

sullyd - I will certainly try to do so.  Please keep in mind that the folks on this last cruise did not learn of the problem until the day before they were to arrive in Montreal.  I suspect it won't/can't be much different on our cruise.  Additionally, the day before is basically an "at sea" day and I do not use ship's wifi/internet.

Thank you!!

[DaveOKC]

We have sailed from both Montreal and Quebec City and much prefer QC,  Much more organized and the local taxis had no problem finding the ship (much unlike Montreal taxis!).  Only problem with QC is that air travel is harder (and more expensive) to find for us.

 

[1of4]

2 hours ago, Cruise4food said:

Renovation was in year 2016.  Maasdam was first ship at new quay June 10, 2017. The high waters in 2018 did affect the Veendam, but remainder of the season was at the main quay. That berth in the cargo area is  for overflow during busy season and is numbered T3. During 2017 the quay was still restricted access. In 2018, Grand Opening allowed general public access to all areas except inside the terminals.

 

 

Oh my goodness time flies!  I’ve been sick since 2015 so I knew it was after that.  Thanks for the correction!

[Cruise4food]

2 minutes ago, 1of4 said:

 

Oh my goodness time flies!  I’ve been sick since 2015 so I knew it was after that.  Thanks for the correction!

No problem. I live here and originally wrote 2017 (wrong year) but looked it up and found 2016. I notice that the Conveyeur (sp?) pier is now Berth T4 under the cruise port authority. 

[Cruise4food]

For those boarding Zaandam at Montreal in Aug 24, here is a custom watchface with countdown days till you board. Works on Wear OS watches. 

My new WatchMaker face!
CNE Zaandam

http://dk2dv4ezy246u.cloudfront.net/share/rJn4p8soN.watch

Get WatchMaker now on Google Play or App Store
www.getwatchmaker.com

 

[DocJohnB]

Watching the webcam.  Zaandam is getting ready to sail after 3 days in port.  Weather looks gorgeous.  Sunny and 64F.

[geocruiser]

I don't know about the water level in Montréal port .  But lake Ontario (NY side) is about or  more than 1 foot above it normal level.  They are sand bagging.  This water might effect Montreal as the water has to drain out the St L. river.

 https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2019/05/04/lake-ontario-flooding-plans-governor-cuomo-tours-shoreline-ijc-rochester-ny/1100886001/

[Level six]

We just disembarked on Saturday and were taken to Montreal by bus.  It was a 3 hour ride and we were in the early morning, 5:30am, so no traffic at all and it still took 3+hours.   Luckily our bus had a bathroom, some did not.  The ride wasn't too bad really.  There were people already at the port in Montreal waiting to catch the bus to Quebec to board the ship.  

It was not horrible, but it did make the end of the cruise much more stressful, plus having to get up at 4am!

HA did give a bag with a few snacks.  A muffin, some water and a small egg sandwich. 

 

HA did not give consistent information after it was announced that we could not port in Montreal.  At guest services I was told several different things (as were several others I talked to)First, everyone had to be off the ship by 7am, next, we had to leave at 4am, etc.  We never had a definite answer until we got our luggage tags at 5pm the day before leaving the ship. Of course it wasn't their fault that the river was too high, but I think they could have handled the situation better.  No port fees were reimbursed for Montreal.  

 

[CDP Cruiser]

For anyone sailing on the May 11th trip from Boston, I spoke with HAL about this on Friday and they said everything is still status quo for now. I live in Montreal in the flood zone and the water has gone down for the time being.  However, the snow is still melting up north which is sending the water down to us. We are still in high alert mode in Montreal but crossing our fingers the water will go down by the time we reach Quebec City on May 17th. 

[pascal030]

9 hours ago, Level six said:

No port fees were reimbursed for Montreal.  

 

Nor didn’t they charge us for extra port fees in Quebec. I suppose these where higher because of the extra stay...

[Stakeout]

looks like we'll be seeing a lot of QC on this upcoming 28 day cruise starting May 11 out of Boston.. we've done this cruise 5x over the past 6 years the same time of year---what we like to call the 'Lobster Cruise'--  had a couple of close calls with the bridges north of QC but always made it thru .. closest was less than a few meters in the center of the channel ( according to the Captain)..  we happen to like QC a lot ..one must adapt.. have fun... enjoy and snap those pics any chance I get  🙂  

 

here's a few pics from My SmugMug albums of the Bridges north of QC as the Maasdam passed under them--May 2015  14 day roundtrip Boston cruise

 

https://stakeout.smugmug.com/MaasdamCruiseBostonMay232015/Quebec-City-May-31

 

https://stakeout.smugmug.com/MaasdamCruiseBostonMay232015/Montreal-May-30

 

 

[sullyd]

Nice pics , coming from Boston on the 17th hopefully we don’t have to drive to Quebec on the 18th, but it is what it is . Wondering if they use comfortable buses or school busses to go from Montreal to Quebec. Anyone ever take the Train ? 

[Level six]

4 hours ago, pascal030 said:

 

Nor didn’t they charge us for extra port fees in Quebec. I suppose these where higher because of the extra stay...

True, this was my first HA cruise, but have sailed with other cruise lines over 35 times. I have been on several cruises where we had to dock over night due to some kind of weather or mechanical problem, (one time in Singapore for 3 nights on NCL, once on Princess in Hamburg because  of the Elbe river flow, one night in Yokohama on NCL,.... just to compare expensive ports that were last minute replacements) and always got the missed port fees back and have NEVER been charged for extra port night that was replaced.  I guess HA does things differently.   

[bebe08]

1 hour ago, sullyd said:

Nice pics , coming from Boston on the 17th hopefully we don’t have to drive to Quebec on the 18th, but it is what it is . Wondering if they use comfortable buses or school busses to go from Montreal to Quebec. Anyone ever take the Train ? 

We just got off the Zaandam May 4 and were bused to Montreal.  Our bus was a very comfortable coach with a washroom onboard.  It is about a 3 hour drive.  The train is a great option.  We were taking the train from Montreal to Ottawa anyways at the end of the cruise, so tried to change our tickets to go from Quebec to Ottawa but as it was last minute couldn't make it work. 

 

As someone who lives very close to the Ottawa river and has to deal with the flood threat and the uncertainty that this causes, I completely understand that HAL had no choice but to make the change, and that it had to be fairly last minute as water levels are changing daily.   HAL did a good job of communicating the change, providing options and it was well organized.  The port of Montreal unfortunately did not seem that well organized when we got there.  

[richwmn]

18 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

We have sailed from both Montreal and Quebec City and much prefer QC,  Much more organized and the local taxis had no problem finding the ship (much unlike Montreal taxis!).  Only problem with QC is that air travel is harder (and more expensive) to find for us.

 

I don't know about Montreal Taxis but in 2014 I embarked in QC. After arriving on Via Rail (btw a very good experience) I went upstairs to where a cab was waiting. I asked to go to the cruise terminal and he said he didn't know where that was. We tried to work it out for a couple of minutes until another taxi arrived and I said maybe he knows where the Veendam is. That was the key, the first cab driver didn't understand cruise terminal but did know the name of the ship!

 

[DaveOKC]

23 minutes ago, richwmn said:

I don't know about Montreal Taxis but in 2014 I embarked in QC. After arriving on Via Rail (btw a very good experience) I went upstairs to where a cab was waiting. I asked to go to the cruise terminal and he said he didn't know where that was. We tried to work it out for a couple of minutes until another taxi arrived and I said maybe he knows where the Veendam is. That was the key, the first cab driver didn't understand cruise terminal but did know the name of the ship!

 

 

Funny story!  In both Montreal and QC it is hard to imagine how a taxi driver would not know where the cruise ships are (especially when you are boarding the taxi so close to the RIVER!).  Perhaps a language problem or ???

[richwmn]

4 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

 

Funny story!  In both Montreal and QC it is hard to imagine how a taxi driver would not know where the cruise ships are (especially when you are boarding the taxi so close to the RIVER!).  Perhaps a language problem or ???

Maybe a language problem. I kept trying variations of cruise, terminal, port etc and he didn't understand until I said Veendam. Also, when we got to the port I asked him where I needed to go. He pointed down the road toward the ship. As I was walking I looked and saw a skyway overhead. I realized I needed to find the entrance to the building. When I did, everything went smoothly. I must add this was after "normal" hours and Veendam was overnighting.

 

[lij1972]

I will be taking this cruise and am worried about this happening on my cruise.  If this were to happen, would I be able to make an 11am train in Montreal?

 

Thanks,

Lisa