The St. Lawrence narrows to 600 metres at the Old Port, a bottleneck that has anchored Montreal's maritime economy since 1611. By the 1970s containerization had hollowed the waterfront, leaving a belt of vacant quays and grain silos. The city reclaimed the corridor in stages, converting Grand Quai into a passenger embarkation hub in 2004 and synchronizing summer cruise schedules with the international fireworks competition that draws 3 million spectators annually. The pyrotechnic displays launch from Île Sainte-Hélène, 1.8 kilometres downstream, visible in their entirety from any vessel moving between Jacques-Cartier Bridge and the harbour mouth. Montreal dinner cruise fireworks offerings evolved from daytime sightseeing loops into timed evening departures when AML Cruises secured its Parks Canada licence for the harbour reach in 2002. The company operates three steel-hulled vessels—Cavalier Maxim, Le Petit Navire, and Le Bateau-Mouche Montréal—each fitted with climate-controlled salons and open promenade decks. Evening itineraries hold position in the deep channel opposite the launch barges, engines idling to counter the 1.2-knot westbound current. Five-course service runs concurrent with the display, courses timed so dessert coincides with the finale's crossette shells and titanium salutes. The menu rotates seasonally but follows a Quebec terroir framework: duck rillettes, bison tartare, Arctic char with fiddlehead ferns, Charlevoix veal, and maple-lacquered profiteroles. Wine pairings draw from Niagara and Okanagan appellations, served in Riedel stems to survive the hull's slight list during beam-on positioning. Service protocol requires galley staff to pause plating during the loudest aerial sequences, a rhythm honed over two decades of synchronized operations. The fireworks themselves are contracted by La Ronde amusement park, which stages 10 international teams between late June and early August, each country allocated a 30-minute slot and a budget approaching CAD 100,000. Boarding protocols at Grand Quai follow Transport Canada small-vessel regulations: passenger manifests close 15 minutes before cast-off, life-vest briefings are mandatory, and no re-boarding is permitted once the gangway retracts. The quay sits at the foot of rue de la Commune Ouest, a cobbled access road that retains its 19th-century width and grade. Departures occur regardless of weather; the vessels hold Canadian Steamship Inspection certification for year-round operation, though the fireworks schedule itself runs only during the ice-free months when the river maintains navigable depth above the Lachine Rapids.