Five ways into this guide
Pick the question you actually have. Each card goes straight to the answer. Spending a day ashore before or after the ship? Our guide to Québec City shore excursions explains why most people walk it instead.
Cruise lines here now
Who's still turning around here in 2026, and which ships only stop by.
Jump to lines →One-way, mostly
Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Fort Lauderdale or Miami on the other end — rarely Québec again.
Jump to the route →Which of two terminals
Terminal 84 or Terminal 30, and why the Port's schedules can disagree.
Jump to terminals →Where to leave the car
The Port's week-long app rate, the lot by the terminal, and who actually runs it.
Compare options →Airport, train or bus
The YQB taxi fare three sources disagree on, and the train from Montréal.
Jump to getting here →Québec City in brief
Québec City sits on the St. Lawrence, and its cruise docks sit right under the old walled city.
Wharves 21 and 22, the main cruise docks, are within walking distance of the Petit-Champlain district, per the city's tourism office. You can step off the train at Gare du Palais, eat lunch in the old town and walk to the ship.
The tourism office puts the season at May to October, and Holland America runs its Boston sailings from April.
Most of the dated departures we could confirm fall in September and October — partly because that's all the Port's schedule still shows.
Ask your line about spring and summer dates directly. Review each season
Cruise lines sailing from here
This is the one section on this page built to go stale, so it's kept in one dated block and not repeated elsewhere.
The Port of Québec lists seven lines that start or end cruises here: Crystal, Cunard (Queen Mary 2), Holland America, Norwegian, Pearl Seas, Princess and Silversea. The city's tourism office lists six — the same, minus Silversea.
What's left on the 2026 calendar. The Port's schedule, on its site and in its PDF, now only shows September 26 onward, so earlier 2026 turnarounds aren't visible there. From that date, the PDF marks these as embarkation and disembarkation calls:
- Holland America's Zuiderdam, September 26 and October 17. The September 26 sailing is seven nights to Boston; Holland America runs those Boston–Québec weeks, in either direction, from April through October. October 17 is different — a 14-night repositioning to Miami via Saguenay, Baie-Comeau, Charlottetown, Sydney, Halifax, Saint John, Boston and Norfolk.
- Explora Journeys' Explora III, September 27–28 (flagged as its first call here) and October 15. Explora isn't on the Port's line list or the tourism office's, but the schedule shows it turning around.
- Pearl Seas' Pearl Mist, October 2–3 and October 23.
- Princess's Sapphire Princess, October 2–4 and October 22–23. Princess runs a 10-day Boston–Québec sailing in both directions, and a 14-day run to Fort Lauderdale on October 23.
- Cunard's Queen Mary 2, October 3–5. Cunard's M625 begins here on October 4, overnights, and sails October 5 — at 5 p.m., per the Port's schedule — for New York, seven nights.
- Norwegian's Norwegian Jewel, October 6–7, leaving October 7 at 5:00 p.m. for Philadelphia, 10 nights.
Two loose ends. The Port's web schedule lists Victory II on October 6–7 as a turnaround; its PDF calls the same visit a port call. And Crystal and Silversea are on the Port's list, but we didn't find a 2026 Québec departure for either.
Visiting isn't embarking. Plenty of ships only stop here. Holland America's Volendam, for one, runs between Boston and Montréal and calls at Québec along the way. The Port's PDF marks turnarounds “Embarquement/Débarquement” and calls “Escale”; its website says “Destination” and “Stopover”. Check that word next to your ship's name.
Looking at 2027? An aggregator, GlobalJourneys, already lists Zuiderdam, Caribbean Princess, Queen Mary 2, Crystal Serenity and Explora IV departures from Québec, and Cruise Critic lists Norwegian Pearl to Philadelphia. That's aggregator data, not confirmed by the Port or the lines.
Sources: the Port of Québec's cruise schedule (PDF) and its cruises-from-Québec page; Québec City tourism's cruise planner; Holland America's 2026 Canada and New England announcement; Princess's 2026 Canada and New England release; Cunard's M625 listing; CruiseSheet's Norwegian Jewel listing; CruiseSheet's Zuiderdam-to-Miami listing; GlobalJourneys — checked September 26, 2026. Confirm your own line, ship and wharf before booking around this list.
One-way, mostly: how a Québec City cruise works
Québec City is a turnaround point, not a round-trip homeport.
The Port describes its itineraries as the St. Lawrence, Eastern Canada and New England, and almost every 2026 sailing starts here and ends somewhere else, or the reverse. So the planning question is what's on the other end, and how you get home from it.
Boston
Holland America's seven-day Zuiderdam sailings and Princess's 10-day Sapphire Princess sailings both run Boston–Québec, either way. Princess overnights in Québec on select sailings. See our Boston guide.
New York & Philadelphia
Queen Mary 2 overnights here, then sails seven nights to New York via Saguenay, Sept-Îles and Halifax. Norwegian Jewel takes 10 nights to Philadelphia. See our New York guide.
Miami & Fort Lauderdale
Holland America's Zuiderdam leaves on October 17 for a 14-night run to Miami. Princess's 14-day Canada & Colonial America sailing follows on October 23, calling at Saguenay, Charlottetown, Sydney, Halifax, Boston, Newport and Norfolk on the way to Fort Lauderdale.
What about Montréal? We didn't find a 2026 sailing between Québec City and Montréal on any line's site.
Holland America's Volendam runs Boston–Montréal and only calls here — if you're on it, Québec is a port day, not your start. Boarding in Montréal instead? Our Montréal departure guide covers the Grand Quay, parking and the airport.
Common stops on the way include Saguenay, Charlottetown, Sydney, Halifax, Bar Harbor and Portland, though content varies by line and sailing; our Canada & New England guide covers the region.
Price the flight home from the other end before you book the cruise.
Cruise terminals
Two cruise terminals handle most of the traffic. A couple of other wharves take the odd ship.
| Terminal | Address | Wharves | Turnarounds on the 2026 schedule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terminal 84 — Ross-Gaudreault, Pointe-à-Carcy | 84 rue Dalhousie | 21 & 22 | Zuiderdam (Sept. 26), Queen Mary 2, Pearl Mist (Oct. 23); Sapphire Princess (Oct. 2) and Zuiderdam (Oct. 17), per the PDF |
| Terminal 30 — the newer terminal | 300 rue de l'Estuaire | 30 | Explora III, Sapphire Princess (Oct. 22); Norwegian Jewel and Zuiderdam (Oct. 17), per the web schedule |
| Wharf 93 — Coast Guard wharf | Not printed on the Port's pages we read | 93 | Pearl Mist (Oct. 2–3), on both schedules |
| Wharf 81 — Quai Paquet, Lévis | 6075 rue Saint-Laurent, Lévis (south shore) | 81 | None we saw; the Port lists it among its cruise docks |
Terminal 84 is the one just steps from the Petit-Champlain district, per the Port. It lists up to 40 check-in counters, up to 500 seats, free Wi-Fi, a tourist desk and a restaurant, Le Café du Monde.
Terminal 30 was built in 2020 and got its passenger ramp in 2021, per the Port; CruiseMapper dates its inauguration to July 5, 2022.
It has up to 32 counters and up to 1,000 seats — twice Terminal 84's seating — and the Port says a shuttle serves passengers and crew.
Where the sources disagree. On the same day, the Port's web schedule put Sapphire Princess's October 2 turnaround at Wharf 30 and its PDF put it at Wharf 21.
Norwegian Jewel's October 6–7 call split the same way, 30 against 22. So did Zuiderdam's October 17 turnaround — Wharf 30 on the web, 22 in the PDF.
Princess says its Québec cruises leave from Ross-Gaudreault, yet the Port places its October 22–23 turnaround at Wharf 30.
Your line's documents settle it. Volatile — confirm your terminal before travel
Leaving bags after you get off. The Port runs a luggage check for disembarking passengers only, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., at C$10, card only; it doesn't say per bag or per item.
Holland America says it's at both terminals and quotes C$10 or US$7. Budget for the Port's figure.
Parking, in short
The Port sells long-term cruise parking at its Louise Basin lot: C$84 for 7 days or C$165 for 30, bought in its mobile app, per the Port. Review periodically
It's about a 15-minute walk to Terminal 84 and 12 minutes to Terminal 30. Who runs it, and the lot next to Terminal 84, get the full page.
Where should I park for a Québec City cruise?
The Port's app-only week rate, the pay-station lot by Terminal 84, the Indigo question, and why a one-way cruise changes the math.
See the full picture →Getting here: airport, train or bus
Jean Lesage International (YQB) is the closest airport — about 20 minutes away, per the Port, or about 25 by Holland America's and Cruise Critic's count. The tourism office puts it at roughly 20 km.
Taxi. The Port lists a fixed rate of $41.40 between its docks and YQB, “subject to change without notice.”
Read that as the daytime fare. The airport posts separate day and night flat-rate tables, and the night rate, 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., is higher — one 2024 blog put it at about $47.60.
The tourism office's getting-around page agrees on $41.40, but its cruise planner says around $45 by day and $50 at night.
Holland America says about C$40, and none of them says whether tax is in.
The airport's taxi counter is on level 1, between international arrivals and the currency exchange.
Uber and Lyft both pick up at YQB, booked in their apps, per the airport.
Bus. RTC route 80 runs from the airport toward downtown via the Les Saules terminus, and route 76 goes to the Sainte-Foy stations.
Both connect to the high-frequency 800 and 801 into downtown, per the airport — a transfer, not a one-seat ride to the Old Port.
A ride is C$4.00 in exact change, or C$3.85 on a single ticket since July 1, 2026, per the RTC. The Port's page still shows an older C$3.75.
Timing differs too — 45 to 55 minutes in one 2024 blog, over an hour per Cruise Critic.
Buy at the RTC ticket machine in the terminal, near airline check-in.
Train from Montréal. VIA Rail runs from Montréal Central Station to Gare du Palais in about 3 hours 15 minutes, per the tourism office, or 3 hours 26 on average, per VIA, with 34 departures a week.
The Port says both terminals are a 15-minute walk from the station; Cruise Critic says about 10.
We couldn't find a published fare.
Coming from the U.S. by rail? The Port suggests Amtrak to Montréal, then VIA.
Bus from Montréal. Orléans Express runs downtown Montréal to the Gare du Palais bus terminal in an average 3 hours 15, with 15 departures a day between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., per Orléans.
The tourism office says about 3 hours, almost hourly from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
From Montréal-Trudeau airport (YUL) there are five a day, averaging 4 hours 15, from stop 8 on the arrivals level.
Driving from Montréal is about 250 km, 2 hours 45 to 3 hours on Highway 20, per the tourism office.
| From | Distance / time | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Québec City (YQB) | ~20 km / 20–25 min by car | Taxi $41.40 fixed by day, per the Port; higher from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Other sources say $40 to $50. Uber and Lyft by app. |
| 45 min to over an hour by bus | RTC 80 or 76, then a connection. Not a direct ride to the terminals. | |
| Montréal | ~3 h 15 to 3 h 26 by VIA Rail | Arrives at Gare du Palais, a 10- to 15-minute walk from both terminals. |
| ~3 h to 3 h 15 by Orléans Express | Also arrives at Gare du Palais. About 4 h 15 from YUL. | |
| ~250 km / 2 h 45 to 3 h by car | Highway 20 is fastest. On a one-way cruise, remember the car stays here. |
Flying home to the U.S.? Montréal-Trudeau has U.S. preclearance, so you clear U.S. customs before you board.
Québec City's airport didn't, as of March 2024 per Wikipedia — and its own FAQ answer didn't load for us, so check it before you book.
Canada's border agency recommends a valid passport either way. Review periodically
Flight timing. Princess is the only line we found with Québec-specific guidance.
On its sailings that overnight here and leave at 5:00 p.m. on day two, the latest flight in is 10:00 p.m. on day one. Getting off, the earliest flight out is 8:00 a.m. on day two, with 10:00 a.m. preferred.
On any other line, ask yours.
The taxi, the buses, the train and the transfers, with times and prices, are on Nearest airport to the Québec City cruise port. Flying in the day before? We ranked the 20 best hotels for a Québec City cruise and picked a few nicer nights.
Stay the night before
Twenty hotels for a Québec City cruise, in the Old Port, Old Québec and by YQB, ranked on the walk or ride to the ship, breakfast and distance. These are the top six. Tap one to see why, or hold a room.
Planning a Québec City cruise?
Tell us your line and what you want out of it.
Boston one-way, Queen Mary 2 to New York, a few days in Old Québec first — tell us the actual situation and we'll match you to the line, the ship and the sailing that fit, priced honestly before you commit.
Answers verified against current pricing and itineraries before you book.
Québec City FAQ
Which cruise lines sail from Québec City?
The Port of Québec lists seven lines that start or end cruises here: Crystal, Cunard (Queen Mary 2), Holland America, Norwegian, Pearl Seas, Princess and Silversea. Its own 2026 schedule also shows Explora III turning around here, though Explora isn't on that list. The Port's schedule only runs from September 26 onward, so check your line for earlier dates.
Which terminal does my ship use in Québec City?
One of two, most of the time. Ross-Gaudreault (Terminal 84) is at 84 rue Dalhousie, Pointe-à-Carcy, serving wharves 21 and 22. Terminal 30 is at 300 rue de l'Estuaire. The Port's web schedule and its PDF disagree on the wharf for some sailings, and Princess says it departs Ross-Gaudreault while the Port puts one of its October turnarounds at Wharf 30. Your cruise documents decide it.
How do I get from Québec City's airport to the cruise terminal?
A taxi is the simple answer. The Port lists a fixed $41.40 between its docks and Jean Lesage airport (YQB), subject to change — a daytime fare, since the airport posts a separate, higher night rate from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. The tourism office's cruise page says around $45 by day and $50 at night, and Holland America says about C$40. None says whether tax is in. Uber and Lyft work at YQB through their apps, and RTC buses 80 and 76 run from the airport with a connection.
Is a Québec City cruise round-trip or one-way?
Mostly one-way. The 2026 turnarounds run to or from Boston (Holland America, Princess), to New York (Cunard's Queen Mary 2), to Philadelphia (Norwegian Jewel) and, late in the season, to Miami (Holland America's Zuiderdam) and Fort Lauderdale (Princess). We didn't find a 2026 sailing between Québec City and Montréal; Holland America's Volendam runs Boston to Montréal and only stops here.
Where do I park for a Québec City cruise?
The Port's Louise Basin lot sells long-term cruise parking in its mobile app: C$84 for 7 days or C$165 for 30, per the Port. It's about a 15-minute walk to Terminal 84 and 12 to Terminal 30. The Port doesn't say whether tax is included, and Holland America and Cruise Critic point to Indigo instead, so read our parking page before you drive.
Can I take the train from Montréal to a Québec City cruise?
Yes. VIA Rail runs from Montréal Central Station to Gare du Palais in about 3 hours 15 minutes, per the tourism office, or 3 hours 26 on average, per VIA, with 34 departures a week. The Port says both terminals are a 15-minute walk from the station; Cruise Critic says about 10. We couldn't find a published fare.
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