I believe this is a fairly new tour so thought I would share my thoughts about my recent trip
The itinerary was excellent with just the right balance between trips and free time. The large number of optional trips meant that you can easily choose the right balance for you between trips and free time.
I choose to do all the trips and this still left plenty of time to explore, Banff, Jasper, Kamloops and Vancouver on my own.
The holiday was off to a good start after being greeted by friendly rep Karylin at check-in desks at Heathrow. After security I went to lounge and spied a few fellow Just You travellers so introduced myself –TIP: put your second luggage label on your hand luggage so that you can be spotted by your fellow travellers and start to introduce yourself. I would add that there is no pressure to do this – if you would rather keep to yourself, no one is going to think it odd.
All the hotels were of a high standard, although the Lobstick Lodge in Jasper was a little quirky. All four hotels were close enough to the town centre with about a 10-15 minute walk in Banff and Jasper. In Kamloops and Vancouver you were in the centre of things.
All the trips from the Helicopter ride on day one to the trip in Vancouver Island were worthwhile – but the unexpected highlight for me was the trip that was described in the brochure as an “evening nature walk in Jasper” – A very understated description for what turn out to be a 40 minute drive up a narrow and winding mountain road followed by a 30 minute hike up Mount Edith Cavell to see a glacier close up. A spectacular trip – the high altitude made walking a little tougher than normal, but the excellent guide made plenty of stops to allow you to catch your breath.
The Rocky Mountaineer was as good as it looked like it would be in the brochure– I would definitely recommend upgrading to Gold Leaf if you can – our group was split 50:50 between gold leaf and silver leaf - I know the Silver Leaf people enjoyed the trip and had no complaints – but then they probably didn’t know what they were missing.
Gold Leaf = non-stop spectacular views, non-stop drink, lots of high quality food – excellent staff and great to have the use of the outside deck.
We were a group of 34 with about a 70:30 split and a large age range. Everyone got on with the rest of the group – everyone was punctual (with really makes a difference) – We were lucky to have the best rep, Karylin and even our coach driver for the first half of the holiday, seemed to be enjoying himself as much as we were.
To give you a feel, I have put together a shorter version of a video I created of the holiday.
[video=youtube]https://youtu.be/V_SBK7sRlmw[/video]
