Why add a trip on the iconic Rocky Mountaineer to your Alaska cruise?
My husband and I just had an amazing five-week trip to Alaska and Canada. A combo of an Alaska cruise with HX Expeditions, a luxury train trip on The Rocky Mountaineer, self-driving in Alaska (Homer and Seward) and Canada (Vancouver Island), an independent couple of days in Vancouver and a tour in Canada with Intrepid Travel. Trains, planes, automobiles and a cruise ship!
All of it was wonderful and we’d do it all again in a heartbeat but you don’t always have five weeks to explore. If you’re doing an Alaska cruise, that’s a week to 10 days or so. A couple of days on The Rocky Mountaineer plus an Alaska cruise and you have a once-in-a-lifetime two-week trip – coastal grandeur on your cruise and mountainous splendour on The Rocky Mountaineer.
The Rocky Mountaineer offers several itineraries and some start or finish in Vancouver. Alaska cruises usually start or finish (sometimes both) in Vancouver so there’s an easy connection to the iconic Rocky Mountaineer.
What Rocky Mountaineer trip did we do?
We did a two-day trip called “First Passage to the West,” starting in Banff and finishing in Vancouver. The trips run in both directions. Trips are seasonal, running from April through late October. This ties in with the Alaska cruise season.
There are two classes of passage – Gold Leaf and Silver Leaf. We travelled in Gold Leaf.
You are not able to move between the carriages on your journey so I can’t comment on Silver Leaf. Let me tell you about Gold Leaf…
How does The Rocky Mountaineer work?
As long as you stay in a designated partner hotel, you are picked up and dropped off so no need to worry about anything other than being ready at the appointed time.
Luggage is magically transported to and from your hotel room. You can even elect not to see any part of your luggage until the end of your journey if you prefer.
Travel is during the day only so that you don’t miss any of the amazing scenery. Also, that means a comfortable night’s sleep in a proper hotel bed with no train sounds nor movement.
During the day, train hosts perform a dual function of drinks service (and some snacks too) with commentary via a roving microphone. The commentary was historical and geographical information about the regions we were travelling through as well as information about the wildlife we were seeing or might see and upcoming photo opportunities. The commentary was engaging and dynamic. If something was seen further up the front of the train, that information was radioed to our hosts and communicated to us.
What’s the food and drink like?
Excellent. Breakfast and lunch are provided onboard.
Meals are served in the restaurant which basically fits half the passengers. You’re divided into two groups. On one day, your group is first service for meals and that swaps on the other day so as to be fair to all.
Drinks are provided in the restaurant and at your seats. There is tea, filtered coffee and hot chocolate, non-alcoholic drinks, Canadian wine, beer and cider and international spirits. The drinks service was continuous.
The team serving food and drink could not have been more friendly nor attentive. Very impressive as they worked hard for long hours.
Breakfast was a choice of a few items (hot and cold) and lunch was a three-course affair with a shared starter, many choices for main course (including vegetarian) and two choices for dessert.
What are the seats like?
The leather seats are super comfy. Think Premium Economy on a top airline. The seats are heated and recline with a footrest. Heating, recline and footrest are electric and adjustable to your taste. There are armrests, a stowaway table and a roomy seatback pocket.
There is no overhead storage (as the roof is glass and for viewing) so anything you carry onboard needs to stow under the seat in front. We both had reasonably bulky day packs and they stowed away with no issues at all.
What is the carriage like?
Gold Leaf has two-level glass-domed carriages. Downstairs is the dining car, two luxe toilets, an elevator for wheelchair passengers and an outdoor observation deck. We both loved spending some time outdoors.
Upstairs is the bar and rows of seats configured 2-2. There are a few conversation groups of two seats facing two seats but every other row is two seats, the middle aisle and another two seats.
What is the scenery like?
Incredible! It is roughly broken up into three sections – the green forest of The Canadian Rockies, the semi-arid, mustard colours around Kamloops and then more green forest - this time, the Coastal Mountains.
The Rocky Mountaineer is almost always following a river or a stream or a lake – all of which are stunning (and some of the rivers are flowing so fast they are scary!). The layers of green forest are beautiful, there are waterfalls along the way and The Rocky Mountaineer itself is very handsome with its immaculate navy and gold livery, winding its way around curves and bends.
There’s also amazing wildlife along the way. We saw bald eagles and ospreys and their enormous nests (Eagle and Osprey Alley has to be seen to be believed!). We also saw bighorn sheep, mountain goats and deer. A few lucky people even saw a bear as we left Banff but we weren’t quick enough to spot it.
What is included?
Breakfast, lunch, all drinks, hotel accommodation (one night on our trip), transfers (if you are staying at one of The Rocky Mountaineer’s designated partner hotels) and luggage transport.
Basically, you only pay for dinner and any souvenir merchandise you may wish to purchase.
Is The Rocky Mountaineer a trip worth doing?
In a word, YES!!!
Only about 100,000 people a year are lucky enough to travel on The Rocky Mountaineer. We were very grateful to be two of them and we’re sure you will be too!
If you want to see what our trip was like, have a look at our reels on Instagram and Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel so you’ll see when our long-form episode about our experience on The Rocky Mountaineer is live. You’ll also see reels and episodes there about our other Canadian and Alaskan experiences.
