Rocky mountaineer train

[keepingsanity]

Has anyone done a trip on the Rocky Mountaineer? My partner has a big birthday in 2025 and I'm looking to plan a trip.
I've seen organised tours but they are about £5k pp
Can it be done cheaper? Any recommendations of itinarys or tour operators?

We are looking too. ( sorry my watch thread isn't working)

I did it this year it was a fabulous tour. The tour I did was Vancouver, Kamloops, Lake Louise, Banff and Calgary.

It is very expensive but in my view worth it. This is because they use good hotels e.g. at Lake Louise you stay at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise with a lake view.

I assume you are talking £5k for 2 of you for just the train journey. If you are including nights before or after then just book the train journey and book hotels separately. Kamloops is the only place you have to use as part of the package.

I found Vancouver to Calgary to be cheaper than the other way round.
Have a look at packages that include an Alaska cruise, these can be very well priced for couples.

@Sisterpita thanks for this did you do a tour if so who with?

Yes I've seen that the Rocky mountaineer is expensive so was thinking of a package.

I also like the idea of being looked after.

Will look at the cruises too thank you

Hello! Rocky mountaineer is amazing but it’s not for everyone, my parents did it fairly recently and like scenery and trains but in the end they found it a bit tedious. If you are comfortable driving you can visit all the same places, enjoy same the scenery and save a fair bit money. The Fairmont in lake Louise is a particularly spectacular hotel!

I did my own very expensive package, I am a confident traveller and this was a bucket list for me so I pushed the boat out.

I booked

• Air Canada Business Class flights via Air Canada
• 2 nights at Pan Pacific via Expedia after checking in Trivago and hotel websites
• Cruise direct with Cunard,
• 7 night Rocky Mountaineer direct with Rocky Mountaineer
• 2 nights in Fairmont Palliser in Calgary via Expedia.

The Canada hotels were vv expensive and about a week before I travelled I checked and because I booked cancelable hotels I was able to get both cheaper and saved £200.

I did price up packages but none did what I wanted. These are some that I looked at:

https://www.newmarketholidays.co.uk/holidays/north-america/alaska-cruise-and-the-rocky-mountaineer

https://www.iglucruise.com/rocky-mountaineer-alaska-cruise

https://travel.saga.co.uk/holidays/destinations/north-america/canada/rocky-mountains-and-alaskan-adventure.aspx

https://www.rivieratravel.co.uk/escorted-tours/canadas-rocky-mountaineer-alaska-cruise

You will also find the time of year affects the price. The prime time is end of July/early August when the salmon run. I went early July and was about 3 weeks too early but it was still a fantastic trip.

We did a daytrip when on holiday in Vancouver to Whistler on a Rocky mountaineer train some years ago.

Thanks for these they're great! Excited!

We got back last week from a trip across Canada including the Rocky Mountaineer. We actually preferred the 3 day trip we took on the Via train from Toronto to Jasper. On The Rocky Mountaineer, the hosts spent an inordinate amount of time telling us what an amazing time we were having. I was left thinking "I'll be the judge of that, thank you". The hotel at Kamloops was distinctly budget and the fire alarm went off at 6:30am when we were all getting showered and dressed for a 7:00am pickup. We had to evacuate the hotel and stand outside until it was found to be a false alarm. As there was only one person on duty overnight in the hotel, this took a good 10 minutes. Looking at the reviews for The Thompson hotel in Kamloops it was a regular occurrence. We were told that our luggage would meet us at our hotel in Vancouver. It didn't. The customer services centre was no help, they promised to investigate and call back. No call back. Luckily I had put Airtags in the cases and we tracked them to another hotel and went to fetch them ourselves. The views were good and the food excellent, considering the size of the kitchen, but the menu was identical on both days. Plenty of choice so could choose other things but that surprised me. However, my sister in law did it last year and loved it. Maybe I'm just fussy!

I'd also look at inside passage cruises including Skagway, you can take the scenic railway there. Not sure which line it is but you fly to Seattle, stay 2 nights (be sure to go to the Klondike museum, Seattle was the starting point) then take the cruise up to Skagway where the gold rush pioneers landed, the the train up where they trekked over the mountains. Alternatively you can board at Vancouver. You can book a package including flights through U.K. based cruise agencies

If you are going to do an Alaska cruise I agree with @gotomomo Skagway is a good port with the railroad excursion. The railroad is a lovely trip but the Rocky mountaineer is much more.

I always recommend a cruise that includes Glacier Bay plus Juneau for whale watching.

Same as @Cyclistmumgrandma we did two nights with Via rail. It was wonderful. Much cheaper than the RM but same route and we slept on the train (which I absolutely loved)
Great viewing car, great food, lovely bar/lounge, freedom to move around.
I would have hated getting off and decamping to a hotel each night.

This is brilliant thank you so much to think about and investigate