As part of my June Canada East to West trip I chose the Rocky Mountaineer option. This occurred mid trip on Days 15 & 16. I opted to upgrade to ‘gold leaf’ from ‘silver leaf’ having read several reviews and with the expectation that this would be my sole RM trip. I must admit I was very pleased with my decision.
Day 1 had been eagerly anticipated. We were in the town of Jasper and faced an early bag drop off from our rooms (6:10) for delivery to the train. The previous day we had been handed our baggage tags and tickets by our TM, Yvette, who would be travelling to Vancouver by coach with those choosing the Sun Peaks travel option.
We had a brief and small brekkie snack at the hotel to tide us over before our short drive to the station at 7:30. We got the all clear to board at 8:00 receiving a very warm and friendly welcome from the 4 strong team that would be looking after us for the duration.
We found our perfectly positioned seats at the rear of our carriage and immediately appreciated the exceptional view from the domed upper floor.
We left the station at 8:31, a whole minute late ! I sat with Doreen amongst the 13 of us ‘going gold’. All seats faced forward in twos with plenty of legroom. There were 52 in our carriage (max 72) with no inter changeable movement allowed between carriages.
Everyone was welcomed aboard and offered an orange juice to toast our departure. Soon after we were handed cinnamon rolls with mixed fruit jam and coffee.
There were 10 carriages making up the train, 7 silver and 3 gold at the rear. Silver have a one level carriage with food and drinks served at your seat. Gold have 2 levels. The lower is where you dine in 2 sittings and the higher is where you relax and take in the amazing scenery. At the rear in Gold is an open standing platform allowing great photo opps. I spent quite a lot of time there !
We enjoyed early sightings of bears left and right before breakfast was served. We were sitting 2, but would be first tomorrow. About an hour later it was our turn. 26 of us made our way downstairs. Being one of the last two along with Jeane, who was also doing the cruise option later, we were ushered in and asked if we would like to join another two in the 4 per table set up. We enjoyed breakfast in the company of Michael and his wife who were from Munich and spoke good English. We had a good chat and even Brexit got a mention ! I ordered the eggs benedict having seen Michael Portillo tuck into it on his RM trip and remembered how good it looked. I wasn’t disappointed !
After breakfast it was back upstairs to enjoy the views as we ran alongside the Thompson River. An early highlight was outstanding views of the Rockies tallest mountain Mount Robson. The perfect blue sky allowed views of the summit, which is apparently a bit of a rarity.
Meanwhile, the offer of drinks was a constant. A bit early for the strong stuff, so a coke was good enough.
At about 12:00 lunch sitting 1 was called. Those on sitting 2 were offered cheese, biscuits, dried fruit and wine to keep us going. Soon it was our turn and we were off downstairs again as the hunger pains set in 🙂
A very good menu choice served with quality wines. Afterwards a bit of R&R was needed !
Our arrival time in Kamloops, our overnight stay, was a bit of an unknown. Much like it would be in Vancouver tomorrow this was all down to the timing and number of freight trains we met en route. On Day 1 this turned out to be about 5 with the longest requiring about half an hour. Doreen diligently counted the number of cars on the first one that passed and it was 116 !
We did arrive at 5:45 having been told it could be anytime between 5 and 8, so not bad. Before we left the train we were handed our hotel room keys. Bags were waiting in our rooms on arrival. We were loaded onto a coach for the 5 mins drive to the hotel. We walked in at 6:15 and then enjoyed a group walk half an hour later to stretch our legs. There was a nice park opposite the hotel ideal for our saunter.
Day 2 on the RM started early again. Pick up by coach was at 7:20. As we arrived at the station we were met with some disappointing news. Whilst being serviced overnight our carriage had ‘apparently’ developed a power fault at around 5:00. Our 10 carriage train on Day 1 was being joined by a 14 carriage train coming from Banff. We were informed we were to be integrated into the other gold leaf carriages. This did not sit well !
Names were called and given their ‘new’ carriage number. They did manage to fit all 13 of our group into one carriage, which was something. However, we received far less favourable seats. A few complaints were made, but there was little that could be done. We accepted our fate grudgingly.
To be fair to the staff they were most apologetic and were very keen to try and make amends as best they could. It was clearly no fault of theirs. Conspiracy theories did abound, though.
We left the station about 15 mins late due to the confusion. Once under way we were soon in stunning countryside. Bald eagles in or above nests appeared at regular intervals riverside and one even flew alongside for about half a minute. Bighorn sheep, Marmot, Deer and Ospreys were also seen. We were in sitting 1 for meals today and an executive decision had to be made at breakfast. Was it to be eggs benedict again ? Yes it was. So good.
I spent a lot of time at the back photographing, videoing and plain enjoying the amazing scenery as it passed by. Some time later it was back to the seat for drinks and then lunch. The same menu, but plenty of choice.
The landscape was starting to change to more farming/fields etc.. I decided a rest in the very comfy recliner was in order. This day was spent mostly in the company of Liz and was good fun. We even managed to win a quiz !
We finally reached Vancouver at 6:15 to be met by Yvette and Nell our driver. We were then off to our hotel and met up with those who went ‘silver leaf’. It was great to hear that they had had a thoroughly enjoyable time too.
These had been 2 luxurious and memorable days on the Rocky Mountaineer. Definitely one for the bucket list. We enjoyed luxury, comfort, great food, abundant drinks mixed with stunning views and scenery and were wonderfully looked after by dedicated, hard working and friendly staff. They did the Rocky Mountaineer proud.
I would certainly recommend including the RM in your plans if you can. It doesn’t disappoint !
