Opening of the cruise season | Explore the diversity of the St. Lawrence

The international cruise season opened on April 10 on the St. Lawrence River with the arrival in Quebec of the MSC Poetry, from the MSC Cruises company. This marks the start of a season that will see 46 ships pass through the river basin’s ports, another notable increase for this booming tourism industry.

In all, we are talking about 400 operations in the nine stops on the Saint-Laurent, in Montreal, Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Saguenay, Baie-Comeau, Sept-Îles, Havre-Saint-Pierre, Gaspé or the Îles‑de‑la‑Madeleine – that’s almost 100 more than last year. As far as traffic is concerned, Quebec should still record over 400,000 passenger days, with no less than 500 days of stopovers at the dock, not counting stays organized before or after cruises. “We should observe a slight growth in terms of passengers, but what is remarkable is that our destination is not attached to a single category of ships,” says René Trépanier, general director of the St. Lawrence Cruise Association. (ACSL). This is the opposite of the Caribbean, for example, which exclusively welcomes very large tonnage ships, those we call the contemporary class. »

Thus, the river basin sees its waters crisscrossed by 30% small vessels, approximately 40% medium-tonnage vessels, as well as 30% large liners. The M.S.C. Poetry, which carries 2,500 passengers and 1,000 crew members, is considered a large ship – the port of Quebec occasionally welcomes vessels of 5,000 passengers. However, smaller cruises are often more luxurious and attract a wealthier clientele. “These are people who take repeated cruises, there are sometimes 8 or 10 of them in their lives, and they are looking for diversity,” explains Mr. Trépanier.

The director of the ACSL thus clearly displays his ambition to attract tourists who might be tempted to go to Alaska, for example. “When we compare ourselves to Alaska, we have an important historical cultural offering,” he maintains. We have our big cities, Quebec, Montreal, Trois-Rivières, which offer a tourist experience linked to culture and history. But we also have the variety of our stopovers in the region, the Gaspésie, the North Shore, the Fjord-du-Saguenay. When we add it all up, we manage to stand out with a very diverse offering, well balanced between nature, culture and history. »

All this without counting expedition cruises, like the one organized next January by the French company Ponant. “We are making a significant breakthrough in this market, it is a world first,” says René Trépanier. We are going to have the first luxury winter cruises in the Northern Hemisphere; between November and February, all expedition cruises normally go to Antarctica, but we managed to convince Ponant to keep one of its ships in the Northern Hemisphere. For the moment, we are really optimistic because sales are going relatively well. »

Read our article “A first winter cruise in Quebec”

The growth of cruises in Quebec can also be explained by significant investments undertaken over the past fifteen years in most of Quebec’s ports, but other improvements will soon be necessary if the province wants to maintain its attractiveness in a sector that is growing. is committed to the path of sustainable development. “In 25 years, the industry will have to be carbon neutral and one of the main means on which companies are banking is electrical connection at shore,” René Trépanier tells us. The companies tell us that they are going to go where we can connect in the future. Ships can already do this in Montreal, but it is important that this is also the case in Quebec. The advantage we have in Quebec is hydroelectricity; the project is therefore to install two electrical connection terminals at the port of Quebec. This is a major project, a determining element for the future of cruises, but it represents very significant costs. The State absolutely must invest in this. »