Types of Ship

These days, the only large passenger vessels on the St. Lawrence are cruise ships. People travel by ship for pleasure, rather than out of necessity.

The Victory offers a number of itineraries, allowing passengers to explore the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence and the Maritimes, with stops in Quebec, Ontario and the United States.

The City of Quebec is of great interest to many tourists and its port facilities allow it to receive very large cruise ships. It is the top cruise destination on the St. Lawrence.

The MS Rotterdam, built in 1996, is a trans-Atlantic cruise ship that can carry 1,404 passengers.

This trans-Atlantic cruise ship, built in 1987, can carry 600 passengers.

In 2017, a new cruise terminal was built at the Alexandra Pier in Old Montreal. It was designed to better meet the needs of maritime and cruise lines. The revamped pier also features new public spaces.

On the same site, the Port Centre presents the History of Ships exhibit. Through photographs, texts, videos and six scale models of ships, visitors can learn about the history of maritime transport and of the Port of Montreal.

This exhibit highlights the Port of Montreal's key role in the socio-economic development of the city and in the settlement and industrialization of Canada.

Visitors can stroll next to the cruise ships along a wide wooden terrace, admiring the green roof with its 20,000 flowering and aromatic plants.

The AIDAvita can take on 1,266 passengers and 389 crew members.

Since the completion of the new facilities, more cruise ships have been calling at the Port of Montreal.

This 450-passenger ship travels between the Magdalen Islands and Montreal every week. The 8-day cruise allows passengers to enjoy the diverse features of the magnificent St. Lawrence River.

This smaller cruise ship, built in 1981, can accommodate 66 passengers and 14 crew members. It offers a number of itineraries on the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes.

Transcription

(Music. View of a promenade along the St. Lawrence with a wooden lighthouse and the Trois-Rivières bridge in the distance. Maryse Camirand talks about various aspects of her profession. She is standing in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) I’d like to introduce myself. I’m Maryse Camirand. I am the navigation officer on a maritime and river cruise ship. It’s the first fully dedicated maritime and river cruise ship in Quebec, and we’re very proud of it. I work with Michel Harvey and the Harvey family, they’re the owners, (Photo of captains Michel, Luc and François Harvey in their work uniforms.) well, they were the owners of the MS Jacques-Cartier. Michel and I bought the MS Jacques-Cartier and overhauled it. The new MS Jacques-Cartier will be ready in 2019. (Kayakers paddling toward the MS Jacques-Cartier.) Who am I? I hold a captain’s licence, which allows me to work as navigation officer. (Maryse Camirand stands in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) I have a bachelor’s degree in administration and I’ve worked in the maritime sector. That’s the background that led me to converting the MS Jacques-Cartier. I don’t know if you’re aware, but the MS Jacques-Cartier has a rich history. It was launched in 1924. (Old black and white photo showing a crowd of people attending the launch of the MS Jacques-Cartier, which is decked out in flags.) The MS Jacques-Cartier was used as a ferry between Kingston and Wolfe Island in Ontario. Later, it was sent to make the Saguenay River crossing. (Old black and white photo of cars being carried on the MS Jacques-Cartier, then in use as a ferry to Île aux Coudres.) It carried timber. It was used as a ferry all over the place. In 1967, my father-in-law bought it and converted it for timber transportation. (Black and white photo from August 27, 1971, of the MS Jacques-Cartier loaded with timber at a wharf.) Everyone told him, “My God, Captain Luc Harvey, you’re insane. A steel boat can’t be used to carry timber.” (Maryse Camirand stands in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) But Luc proved it was possible. He and his wife Fernande Laurendeau ran that business for many years. (Photo of Fernande Laurendeau together with her son Michel Harvey, wearing his captain’s uniform.) In 1971, timber transport by road picked up speed and business started going less well. (Maryse Camirand stands in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) He’d come to unload timber and the foremen would groan. So finally, my father-in-law told himself, “Instead of letting you kill my business, I’ll go off on my own.” Over the winter, he converted the Jacques-Cartier into an excursion ship. (Photo of people aboard the white, yellow and blue cruise ship MS Jacques-Cartier in the early 2000s.) He changed his home port to Trois-Rivières in 1972. My mother-in-law was pregnant with my handsome Michel, the one I married and love deeply. (Maryse Camirand stands in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) In 1972, they set up at the wharf with a crew but there were no passengers. Zero passengers for three weeks. After three weeks, they had seven people come up. My father-in-law was so happy to see them that he said, “You can board—gratis!” That was the expression they used back then to say there was no charge. So that first cruise had seven passengers, and they paid nothing. The ship continued to run excursions from Trois-Rivières for 40 years. (Photo of members of the Harvey family receiving a regional Quebec Tourism Award in 2013.) Even during the last few years, we would carry more than 35,000 people. (Maryse Camirand stands in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) My husband Michel and his brother grew up on the ship. They’re a family of mariners. Michel is the fourth in a line of captains. (Photo of the crew of the MS Jacques-Cartier in the late 70s) And now our daughter Rachel is starting at the maritime college. We’re getting to the fifth generation. (Maryse Camirand stands in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) Operating cruises on the MS Jacques-Cartier is a way of life, not just a job. We’re like water gypsies. As I was telling you, my mother-in-law was pregnant, and she raised Michel on the ship. He’d ride his tricycle. He’d tow his little boat behind the ship. We did the same thing, we’d bring our two girls on board with their babysitter. (Photo of two babysitters with Maryse Camirand’s daughters at a Christmas party.) It really is a way of life. It was one big family on board, with the crew also. (Photo of Michel Harvey in his captain’s uniform aboard the MS Jacques-Cartier, together with his two young daughters wearing sunglasses.) We were like one big family. The ship would travel all over between Toronto and Saguenay. (Photo of Maryse Camirand and Michel Harvey in their company uniforms, together with their two daughters, in front of the river.) When Michel and I bought the ship, we asked ourselves, what will our future be? What are our plans for the Jacques-Cartier? (Maryse Camirand stands in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) We took a look at market trends and decided to convert it into a maritime and river cruise ship. We extended it by 40 feet. We added a floor and a half. We built 34 rooms. (Illustration of a spacious room on the MS Jacques-Cartier, decorated in navy blue and white, with a large window looking out at the deck.) Now we have a maximum capacity of 68 guests. (Maryse Camirand stands in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) We visit places others don’t go. All the harbours, bays, lighthouses and picturesque locations. (Photo of red, yellow and white houses along the shore of Isle-aux-Grues, in the St. Lawrence Estuary.) We take people out in Zodiac boats, on kayak excursions, and do active cruises. (Close-up view of the front of a yellow kayak moving along the calm water of the river.) We want people to discover and experience things in a new way. We want to show them Quebec, our way. (Photo of two women hiking in the mountains near a river.) We’re very proud of the renovated Jacques-Cartier. What’s more, (Maryse Camirand stands in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) all the work is being done right here in Quebec, in our private shipyard. It has economic benefits for Quebec. The money stays here. We’re really looking forward to taking the ship all over Quebec to visit its islands, harbours, bays, (Photo of Anse-Saint-Jean showing houses near the Saguenay River and the majestic fjord in the distance.) and lighthouses and go to see various specialists. (Maryse Camirand stands in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) Because we’ll be collaborating with various specialists. Every place we go, there will be special things to discover. We want to experience each location and taste its cuisine. We will visit great local chefs. (Close-up view of a salad with citrus and radish on a plate.) We want to experience everything each place has to offer. I’m so eager to get started that I should stop talking or I’ll leave right away! (Music. View of the St. Lawrence not far from the Port of Trois-Rivières. The Laviolette Bridge can be seen on the horizon.)

(Music. Photo of Maryse Camirand in a white wedding gown, surrounded by eight captains, including her husband, her brother-in-law and her father-in-law, all in uniform.) I’m very lucky. I married into an old seafaring family. Everyone knows the Harveys, they’re from Île aux Coudres and almost all of them are captains. My brother-in-law François is a captain. My father-in-law Luc is a captain. My husband Michel is a captain. (Portrait of captain Michel Harvey wearing a cap and a white short-sleeved shirt with shoulder stripes.) We’re nearly all captains in the family, including myself. (Maryse Camirand stands in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) Can you break into a maritime career if you don’t come from a long line of mariners? Of course, and it’s getting more and more possible. And there are also more women in maritime careers. If you go back 20 or 25 years, there were far fewer women. There were a few, but not as many. (View of a commercial ship on the St. Lawrence.) Now it’s more accessible. I teach at the maritime college, and I see it in my classrooms. (Maryse Camirand stands in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) We get people from all walks of life now. It’s not just the children of maritime workers. Of course, they’re still around! When you’re raised in a family of mariners, the call of the sea is strong. But there are also students from other backgrounds. There are two major branches of maritime careers. There are maritime careers on board, and there are maritime careers on shore. That can make a huge difference. If you’re looking at careers on board, there are two broad categories. There are the people working on the deck—those steering the ship, the deckhands and all that. Then you have careers in the engine room. That can be a good choice for people who are mechanically inclined. But people are afraid. They think they’ll have to go to sea for four or five months at a stretch. No, no, no. Not all maritime careers are like that anymore. (Filmed images of the Ocean Basque 2 carrying out dredging operations on the St. Lawrence near the Port of Trois-Rivières. It is being stabilized by a tug. Next to it is a barge used to collect dredged sediment, stabilized by another tug.) You could work on a tug and come home every night or nearly every night. You could be a pilot on the St. Lawrence and come home regularly. You could work on a ferry. You could work on a small excursion ship. (Maryse Camirand stands in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) All of these jobs let you go back home regularly. You might be thinking, “I’d like a bit more adventure. I want to explore the north or travel to other countries!” There are other jobs that offer those options. You can leave for longer periods. But companies are very well organized these days. You might get one month on, one month off, three weeks on, three weeks off. It’s very well managed. Yes, it’s an adventure. But navigation is more than just a job. (Aerial photo of a cargo ship passing through the Saint-Lambert locks while cars take the road to the Victoria Bridge.) Navigation is in your blood. It’s freedom. (Music)

(Music) To support our industry, (Maryse Camirand stands in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) we also need lots of people on shore. What do they do? They might work in management, they might be inspectors. (Photo of an inspector wearing a blue uniform and hardhat, taking notes on a tablet in front of a cargo ship on the frozen river.) They might be researchers. Sometimes we take researchers and biologists out on the ship. They get on board with us. (Photo of a man on a research ship wearing an orange vest and a hardhat.) That’s fun also. What else do workers on shore do? They could be longshoremen, loadmasters, and all sorts of other interesting professions. (Maryse Camirand stands in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) And there’s another reason why these jobs could be attractive. You’re going to think it’s strange to hear a woman say this, but I’ll tell you anyways. When we women decide to have children, this can be an attractive choice. I got to have the best of both worlds. I could bring the kids on board with their babysitter. Not everyone can do that. What often happens is that you take an on-shore job while the kids are small. But the call of the sea is strong. You always end up going back. On shore, you can leverage your experience by teaching, for example. Many of my peers teach at the maritime college, or work in management. When you’ve got experience in navigation, it’s a lot easier to manage navigation. It all fits together. There are so many maritime career opportunities. It’s not complicated. When you’re starting out, there are two paths to choose from. The first path is the official one. You go to the Institut Maritime du Québec in Rimouski, our national school. We’re very proud of it. (Photo of the Institut Maritime in Rimouski. Music.)

(Maryse Camirand stands in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) The other path you can choose involves continuing education. That’s the path I took, by the way. As I said earlier, I got my bachelor’s degree in administration. I didn’t want to go back to college, since I already had a degree. That’s why I chose the continuing education option. I had accumulated sea time. So I took the exams, and I rose through the ranks via continuing education. You don’t have to go spend four years in Rimouski. Since last year there’s a new professional diploma in seamanship. It’s great! (Photo of two men and a woman, wearing hardhats and orange work uniforms with reflective bands, standing in front of blue containers.) It’s very quick. They teach you about marine emergency duties and firefighting. When there’s a fire aboard a ship, you can’t call the firemen. You need to know how to deal with it yourself, out on the water. (Maryse Camirand stands in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) So they teach you how to do that. You learn about evacuation procedures and get trained to man a wheel or serve as a deckhand. And in just a few months, you can get an exciting job on a ship, without spending years in school. If you enjoy it and want to continue, great! You’re welcome to keep going. But it makes a big difference. You should also know that right now we’re very short of workers. There are many sectors that are short on labour, but it’s especially true in the maritime sector. So feel free to join us! It’s a really exciting life. (Music. Photo of the ticket office for the cruise ship MS Jacques-Cartier, featuring a wooden lighthouse, on the shore of the St. Lawrence in Trois-Rivières.)

(Maryse Camirand stands in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) Why did we choose Trois-Rivières as our home port for the Jacques-Cartier? We’re really happy about it because our family has been operating the ship out of Trois-Rivières for more than 40 years, and it’s always been our home port. We want to keep up that tradition. Of course, we don’t plan to dock at Trois-Rivières every night. That wouldn’t be a great sign, because we want to travel all over the place. But we also want to carry the message and carry the name. We’re very proud of our community. It’s important to us. Where will we leave from, where will we go? We’ll travel all over starting in 2019, from Saguenay all the way up to Toronto. (Photo of Toronto with its skyscrapers and the CN Tower, taken from Lake Ontario.) It’s going to be great because we can offer a mix of nature, culture and discovery. (Maryse Camirand stands in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) There’s the Saguenay Fjord, which needs no introduction. It’s beautiful, as everyone knows. Then there’s the Tadoussac area, and all the lighthouses in the region. (Photo of a whale raising its flukes as it dives into the river.) They call it the Lighthouse Trail. There are the islands of the St. Lawrence and the Saguenay Fjord. We also plan to offer a cruise to Toronto. (Maryse Camirand stands in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) Then we have Quebec City—of course the Europeans all find Quebec City very charming. (Photo of Quebec City showing Château Frontenac all lit up, the historic buildings that surround it and the river in the distance.) There’s Trois-Rivières right here (Maryse Camirand stands in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) with its rich cultural and social life. (Photo of the Musée des Ursulines and the old stone houses of Trois-Rivières.) We’ll even offer visits to a sugar shack. We’ll visit a sugar shack here in Trois-Rivières (Maryse Camirand stands in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) for a taste of the local culture. (Photo of maple syrup on snow in front of a wooden sugar shack with red-framed windows. Music.)

(Music. Maryse Camirand stands in front of a window showing a view of the promenade along the river.) We’ll have 23 crew members and 68 guests. It’s a family business of course. There’s my husband Michel Harvey, myself, and our daughters Rachel and Amélie, who is 14 now. She’s more inclined to communications. I think she’s going to end up working with people. She loves interacting with the public. We’re all part of the crew. But it goes beyond that. We’re like a big family. Of course, we have other maritime specialists on board, other officers, marine engineers, and a chef. We’re very happy about that, because good food makes a big difference. People want to eat well on board. We want to prepare regional specialties. We’re going to need a good chef and service teams. But it will be like a big family. After a week or ten days with 68 people, you start to feel like one big family. Before, the Jacques-Cartier would do two-day cruises and we had no rooms on the ship because it could accommodate 400 passengers. People would sleep in a hotel, and we had them on a crazy schedule. We’d leave from Trois-Rivières and travel up the Saguenay. We sent them to bed late and had them up early. And when they left, many people would cry. They were so happy. They would hug us. I think with this new format, when people leave it’s me who will be crying because everyone will be so happy. We’re going to build great bonds, it’s going to be amazing! That’s what we’re working towards. This is a way of life. It’s way more than a job. It’s a way of life. And we’re very proud of it! (Music. View of the promenade along the St. Lawrence, the lighthouse, the Port of Trois-Rivières and the Laviolette Bridge in the distance.)

The cruise-excursion company AML has a fleet of around ten vessels, which take passengers on short excursions in various sectors of the St. Lawrence.

The AML Cavalier Maxim can carry 750 passengers and offers guided day and evening cruises between Montreal and the Boucherville Islands. Visitors can enjoy brunch or dinner on board. A two-day cruise between Montreal and Quebec City, including a night in a hotel in Quebec City, is also available.

The AML Louis Jolliet can carry 1,000 passengers and offers various cruise packages, mainly in the Quebec City region.

This ship can take up to 689 passengers, accompanied by naturalist guides, on whale-watching excursions from Baie-Sainte-Catherine or Tadoussac to the heart of the Saguenay-St-Lawrence Marine Park.

This ship offers day and evening excursions from the wharf of Trois-Rivières. It can carry 121 passengers and offers 90-minute trips in the area.

This boat's shallow draft of barely 60 cm allows it to offer exclusive itineraries, as it can visit places that are inaccessible to other boats. It takes passengers to explore the Boucherville Islands, entering small bays and getting close to nature. As they travel along the river, passengers can also take in views of the city. Le Bateau Mouche has a capacity of 190 passengers and offers guided day cruises, dinner cruises and special events.

Les Bateaux de Croisières Julien Cloutier offers close-up views of Percé Rock, Bonaventure Island and marine birds and mammals. A stopover at Bonaventure Island allows passengers to observe the island's northern gannet colony.

Percé Rock is hundreds of millions of years old. A major tourist attraction, it is of interest to many excursionists.

Visitors can admire the majestic Saguenay Fjord and get a closer look at the whales with one of AML's Zodiac boat excursions. Passengers are accompanied by a naturalist captain. Some Zodiac boats can carry 24 passengers, others 60.

People with a taste for adventure can shoot the Lachine Rapids in an inflatable boat, accompanied by an experienced guide.

The company Rafting Montréal offers excursions in jet boats specially designed for the rough waters of the rapids. Passengers have the opportunity to safely enjoy a unique and exciting experience.

In addition to Rafting Montréal's jet boats, the boat Le Saute-Moutons also offers exhilarating excursions on the Lachine Rapids. This boat can hold a larger number of passengers.

The AML company's river shuttles Tandem and Transit provide service between the Old Port of Montreal (Jacques-Cartier Pier), Jean-Drapeau Park (Île Sainte-Hélène) and Longueuil (Réal-Bouvier Marina). Passengers can bring their bikes on board. The shuttle can carry 196 passengers or 150 passengers and 70 bicycles.

The Navark company rents out various boats, which can carry from 6 to 200 passengers along the river.

Since 1971, the Société des traversiers du Québec (STQ) has enabled millions of people each year to cross the St. Lawrence or to visit islands on foot, by bike or by automobile. The STQ oversees a network of 13 maritime services that cover the region from Montreal to eastern Quebec, including the Lower North Shore and the Magdalen Islands.

Two ferries, the NM Alphonse-Desjardins and the NM Lomer-Gouin, make the crossing between Quebec and Lévis.

The Bota Bota spa-sur-l'eau boat was originally a ferry, the Arthur-Cardin. It was built by Marine Industries in 1951. In the 1950s and 1960s, it made the crossing between Sorel and Berthier. In 1967, it was converted to a showboat, and the Ministry of Culture and Communications renamed it L'Escale. It toured villages and towns along the St. Lawrence, presenting theatre performances. In 1973, L'Escale was purchased by Conrad Handfield and moored on the Richelieu in front of the town of Saint-Marc, where it continued to be used as a floating theatre. After the death of its owner in 1997, shows were put on in the boat for another ten years. In 2008, the theatre was dismantled and the boat left Saint-Marc. After an overhaul, it was given the name Bota Bota spa-sur-l'eau.

This ship, built at the Marine Industries shipyard in 1967, makes the crossing between Sorel-Tracy and Saint-Ignace-de-Loyola. It was named in honour of Sorel businessman Lucien Lachapelle, who operated the crossing before the Société des traversiers du Québec took over.

This ferry, built at the Davie shipyard in Lauzon in 1985, is assigned to the crossing between Sorel-Tracy and Saint-Ignace-de-Loyola. It is named after the wife of the first Seigneur of Saurel and captain of the Carignan-Salières regiment.

Built in 1954 at the Davie shipyard in Lauzon, this ship makes the crossing from Isle-aux-Coudres to Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive. It is named after renowned 17th century explorer Pierre-Esprit Radisson.

This ship makes the crossing between Tadoussac and Baie-Sainte-Catherine, and sometimes also travels between Sorel-Tracy and Saint-Ignace-de-Loyola. It is named in honour of the famous author of Menaud maître-draveur.