Hurtigruten Kicks Off Quebec’s Cruise Season
In the presence of the Minister of Tourism, Caroline Proulx, The Port of Québec has launched its earliest international cruise season with the arrival of Hurtigruten’s MS Fram at the Ross Gaudreault Cruise Terminal.
The expedition vessel is the first of its kind to call at the port which has an expanding season and facilities to accommodate a variety of ship sizes and types.
Hurtigruten operates a growing fleet of 16 ships exploring destinations around the world such as Antarctica, South America and Caribbean, Canada, Northwest Passage, Svalbard, Greenland and Norway.
“The Port of Québec is thrilled to welcome so many new cruise lines this summer starting as early as May 2 with the MS Fram. Hurtigruten is a pioneer expedition ship company paving the way for an evolving cruise industry. Their vision is aligned with the strong commitment of the Port of Québec in sustainability and we are fortunate that they chose Québec City as their turnaround port,” said Mario Girard, president and CEO of the Québec Port Authority.
This year, nine ships will make inaugural calls to Quebec: Hurtigruten’s MS Fram, Ponant’s Le Champlain, TUI Cruises’ Mein Schiff 1, MSC Cruises Spa, MSC Meraviglia, Peace Boat’s Ocean Dream, Viking Cruises’ Viking Sun, Scenic’s Scenic Eclipse, Oceania Cruises’ Riviera and Holland America Line’s Zaandam. Five of those lines are inaugurals to the port including TUI, MSC, Peace Boat, Scenic and Hurtigruten.
The 2019 Canada cruise season will see record deployment from Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, and Cunard including numerous overnights in Quebec, offering passengers more time to enjoy the city.
Holland America Line (HAL) has the longest and most extensive cruise season in Quebec. Four HAL ships will make 34 calls from May through October. Princess Cruises will offer six 10-day sailings and one 13-day repositioning cruise on its newly renovated Caribbean Princess, with overnights in Quebec on every sailing. Princess will also make its first summer call in Quebec, departing on Aug. 9. Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 is offering an extended Canada deployment in 2019 with five overnight calls to Quebec between summer and fall 2019.
Quebec City has seen record breaking growth year-over-year. In 2018 the port welcomed 230,940 visitors, a nearly 15% increase over the 200,000 visitors in 2017.
PHOTO CAPTION
Seen, from l to r, are MS Fram Captain Ole Johan Andreassen; President of Port of Québec, Mario Girard and Minister of Tourism, Caroline Proulx.
