Quebec City one last time

Today was a beautiful sunny day in Quebec City. The plan was to simply load our luggage into the car in preparation for tomorrow’s start homeward. It was a simple plan but the rest of the story comes under the heading “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up”

Our departure 19 days ago was from berth 22 and we parked the car nearby the port with only minor difficulties described earlier. We returned to the port but to berth 30. When I looked at the map as I planned the trip, it looked like it was a simple walk along the dock westward to rue Dalhousie followed by a 10 minute walk to the parking structure. The Port of Quebec had a different version.

The first issue was getting off the ship. In most of our ports there were 2 gangways for disembarkation but not today. Today about 2000 travellers had to exit single file through a single gangway. We managed to leave the ship about an hour after the gangway opened. We then traversed a serpentine walkway to the terminal exit. Walking to the west was not permitted. We had two choices. A shuttle to somewhere undetermined or a walking tour to the east to exit the terminal following a GPS track back to the west resulting in a 30 minute 6,000 plus step trip across the Quebec waterfront.

On our way out of the port at berth 30 we managed to find a king security person who confirmed that there was a parking lot immediately outside the terminal. It was not, however, clear how to access it. We could see only busses and taxis in the area and no private vehicles. When we found our car we were pleased that it started immediately but some settings such as temperature units needed to be reset. I set the GPS to the published address of the Terminal for berth 30 and we crossed our fingers. The route retraced our walking path right back to the terminal. Our cruise ID medallions were our ticket past port security and we parked within 50 metres of the ship.

We boarded the ship easily enough returned to our rooms and disembarked again with our two largest suitcases, happy again for wheels on suitcases. As I opened the trunk of the car we noticed that a spider had taken up residence and seemed displeased that we had destroyed his home. He skittered off while we packed our luggage away. The morning experience over, we rebounded the ship just in time for lunch. Hopefully our final disembarkation tomorrow morning will be uneventful.