Rocky Mountaineer Train Review | Cost Breakdown | Is it worth the MONEY?

in today's video we're going to give you an overview of our trip on the rocky Mountaineer railroad along the journey through the clouds starting in Vancouver through Jasper and Banff National Parks and ending in Calgary last month we took this trip and we will give you our full review of the rocky Mountaineer train and the gold leaf service we'll tell you how you can enjoy this luxury ride but also tell you in hindsight how you can save thousands of dollars and still have a great trip we're John at best Travelers in 2019 I retired after a long long long career very long very long but very good career now we were living in Florida and our friends suggested that we take the rocky Mountaineer railroad with them we love train travel and this sounded like just the ticket to kick off our retirement now this was actually before we had come up with the crazy idea of traveling full-time and starting this YouTube channel since that time we have sold our home given away all of our stuff and set out on a Grand Adventure a full-time World Travel we are coming to you this week from Scotland we are on a road trip in the Scottish Highlands and boy is this place beautiful now we've taken a few weeks to let this Rocky Mountaineer trip sink in so that we could give you an honest assessment of our journey and take a look at all the numbers to determine if this was the best use of our travel dollars we also wanted to reflect on how this luxury guided experience compares to our normal do-it-yourself type of travel now before we go further doing this with our friends will always make this one of our very best travel weeks it was just good for our souls to be with our friends who we love so much this just filled our hearts with happiness and we will always cherish this time with them the other point we want to make and we want to make this very clear the rocky Mountaineer railroad is a first class operation they were professional from the very beginning when making our reservations until the very end when we finish the trip the crew was entertaining the food was fantastic the coach was memorable and the experience was incredible when we travel we are very cognizant of our travel budget and while we are not budget Travelers we are bargain hunters and we did a video Once where we talked about where we fall on the scale of luxury to budget and we said at that time that we are somewhere in the middle we travel a lot like budget Travelers taking public transportation and visiting some low-cost countries but we also mix in those experiences with high-end travel too and the rocky Mountaineer is one of those luxury experiences still we want to make good decisions about how we spend our money we have great experiences every week so we want to tell you what we thought of the rocky Mountaineer tell you what service level we chose but also give you our honest assessment as to whether this trip was worth the money we spent we ultimately chose the journey through the clouds which is the nine-day trip starting in Vancouver traveling East to Jasper National Park and then taking a bus tour to Banff National Park and then on to Calgary in 2024 the same trip will cost about twelve thousand five hundred dollars for two people the first thing we think you should know in booking a trip with the rocky Mountaineer is that it isn't a trip where you travel the entire journey by train you don't sleep on the train and you only eat breakfast and lunch on board you know once the two-day train portion is over you do not travel with the rocky Mountaineer guides or train anymore they hand you off to Brewster tours and their best tours then take you the remainder of the way you know Rocky Mountaineer arranges everything and you still only pay one price even though the rocky Mountaineer doesn't have a guide to travel with you on the bus you know Brewster covers that I mean they created a seamless journey and kept us informed of all the itinerary the company has several routes including a new route in the United States now within those routes are different levels of service the two levels are gold leaf and Silver Leaf we chose the gold leaf this is the first class option and it has a two-story passenger car the upper level was very comfortable you know with great seating and full glass windows and a dome ceiling it has a dedicated dining car on the back side of the carriage there is an outside viewing platform where you can pop outside for pictures or to take in the fresh air the Silver Leaf is only one story and you dine at your seat both levels have a dome-shaped glass ceiling to allow light and viewing now within the two levels of service there are three options for hotels you can choose the standard room which is located at a hotel that's not the Fairmont okay the other two options are located at Fairmont hotels they have the superior room which is essentially a standard room at the Fairmont also a premier room which is the upgraded room at the Fairmont so let's talk about the experience overall we it felt very special to be on the train I cannot think of one thing that we would change about the train ride the food service was excellent and was on par with kind of a country club experience we were served local Canadian dishes and the plates were presented very well we thought the Brewster tour bus portion was first class as well I mean we had several outings on the bus there were standouts like the Columbia icefield Adventure where we got to ride out on Ice explorers and walk out on a glacier on another day we rode the Banff Gondola and walked to the top of the mountain and we looked down over the entire Valley and we had many other great stops along the way to see and experience the parks and we thought this was overall very good now now Jasper National Park and Banff National Park these places are outstanding and the bus ride actually takes you the full length of the 144 Mile icefield parkway which connects the two parks this is considered by many to be the most Scenic Drive in the entire world and I'll tell you it did not disappoint when we look back at experience we really thought about what well so from that perspective our journey was absolutely perfect spending time with our friends was a great way to experience the train if we were to do this trip alone without friends we think we would have done it well to make a few changes and you know in the big scheme of things we want the best value so we studied the numbers analyzed the data and reflected upon what made this experience worth the money ultimately we think there is a better option than what we did that's right so first if you're at a stage of life where you can enjoy any experience at any cost we would say go all the way out on this trip you know upgrade to the very best rooms and have a great time you know you will have a lovely route and you will have luxury accommodations you know you will love the many stops the best you know makes and you will meet some interesting people who are kind and friendly now as a side note Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise is a wonderful spot in the world and staying at this like iconic resort was amazing on this trip you're given three free days one in Vancouver before the train portion and two while inside the parks now this is a great time to arrange a guided trip you need to book these yourself but there are many options we took a trip to Bouchard Gardens in Victoria which included a ferry ride we even had high tea at the gardens that was one of my favorite things in Jasper we booked another tour of Moline Lake and believe it or not this was the first time we'd ever seen a moose in the wild I mean and we even visited every National Park in the lower 48 and never once saw a moose in the wild so this was pretty special to us yeah the lake tour was beautiful and we had a great time so if you can afford it Go All Out book extra tours and don't forget to make reservations for dinner at area restaurants now we will add the days that you're on the train you will not be hungry because they feed you a lot you know we ended up canceling our dinner reservation is because we were just full the part of the trip that didn't impress us were our hotel accommodations like we said perior level a room is a hotel since we travel full-time we don't feel the need to splurge on accommodations the fairmonts are classic Grand hotels but given the price we were paying we were underwhelmed it just felt like we were paying a premium to stay at the Fairmont when we weren't getting the level of comfort that we expected for the price Jasper was nine hundred dollars a night and Lake Louise's 1200 at the standard level at the alternative Hotel probably would have been just perfect for us and been just as comfortable as the room at the Fairmont so now by doing the gold leaf and staying at the lower level Fairmont we paid forty three hundred dollars more than the standard level traveling on the Silver Leaf this is a lot of money for rooms that we just didn't feel were quite worth it for us you know we didn't have air conditioning and for that price we were surprised that this wasn't included you know we were traveling at the end of July and it was still pretty warm yeah we've traveled on some great trains around the world and we know from experience that the upper level usually offers better viewing but on this route it's not much better the route didn't offer Vistas that you missed out on by being in the lower level the upper level didn't get you above the tree line I mean there's just no advantage to being up so high on this route because a lot of the journey was through the woods you know honestly we felt the bus section offered the best views of the park anyway and the train was a great place to visit and enjoy the social experience but remember during the bus portion ride you're getting getting the same experience as the gold leaf so there's really no difference it's just the dining car and the upper upper level viewing on the train is the only difference between the gold and the silver that that's our assessment like we said if you can afford the luxury Gold Leaf go all out and get the upgraded room too if not and you want a savings go silver either way you'll have a great trip on the rocky Mountaineer our Pro tip is if you really want to do the gold leaf first class service plan to go in the shoulder seasons of May or September where you can save up to two thousand dollars versus the peak rates in July if you have any questions or if you've taken the journey leave your questions or thoughts in the comments for other viewers to read last year we spent a month in New Zealand and rode all of their trains so if you like trains check out that video that's coming up next we even have some travel guides about our New Zealand Adventures on our website and we'll see you next time be sure to hit subscribe and follow along on our retirement Journey around the world

Channel: Retirement Travelers

Views: 84,466

Keywords: rocky mountaineer train, rocky mountaineer, luxury train, rocky mountaineer goldleaf, luxury train travel, rocky mountaineer train trip, rocky mountaineer train ride canada, rocky mountaineer gold leaf, rocky mountaineer silverleaf, rocky mountaineer train canada, luxury train ride, luxury train canada, luxury trains in the world, luxury train travel canada, train travel, rocky mountaineer 2024, rocky mountaineer canada, luxury train in canada, first class train, best trains

Id: -Qt2l1V5790

Length: 11min 24sec (684 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 26 2023