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Vacations By Rail Reviews (8)

Luxury Rockies to Toronto featuring VIA Rail's Prestige Class
WOW! Great - 5 Star rating on VBR’s Consumer Advertising & Pro-mo campaign!
BUYERS BEWARE! VBR, a 2-3 Star Travel/Booking agency.

I would like to start by saying, my wife and I have travel the world for the last 30 years. Some of our past trips we just planned ourselves while others where arranged by travel companies as private tours i.e.; Peru, China, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Ecuador, Copper Canyon Train, just to mention a few. All were very successful and went without a hitch.
After our initial contact with VBR, reading some of their reviews, looking over their Terms & Conditions (scary) and receiving their 1st of many Quote/Invoice, we were a little apprehensive about booking with them. But it was a trip we really wanted to take so we decided to risk all the negatives and proceeded with the booking
Be aware, once you pay the deposit, you are on the hook. You will not be sure of your final itinerary until about 2 weeks before the start of your trip and long after the final payment - (VBR Terms - 45 – day of departure 100% non-refundable). Make sure you have a clear understanding of the vague line items listed on your Quote/Invoice. Don’t assume anything i.e.; know the difference in transfers types. A private transfer can be by a Luxury Sedan or a Passenger Van, a scheduled transfer can be in an older bus that runs on a specific time schedule – we had all these on our “Luxury Tour”. It did make a difference in our experience.
Our January 2023 Luxury Rockies to Toronto featuring VIA Rail's Prestige Class started for us with many airline delays. By the end of the day our final scheduled arrival in Calgary of 8:06PM (actual was 9:30-10:15PM) verses the originally scheduled 1:40PM. VBR notified us that our original Private Transfer to Banff had been cancelled (with NO refund) but they were able to book another Private Transfer at a cost of $250 to us. It was in a Lincoln Navigator. (VBR Email - For reservation ##### I booked a private transfer to Banff with Allied Limousine. I’m just waiting for their email confirmation. If clients need anything or if they arrive early/late they can call 403-299-9555 to contact their driver). (Another VBR Email - The transfer company that we booked your transfer from Calgary to Banff through was unable to accommodate your late arrival due to the flight delays. Because it was a same delay cancellation the fee for the transfer was not returned to us). Buyer Beware - there was no time limit stated on our Quote/Invoice. (VBR #1 line item Invoice - Wednesday, January 4, 2023 Private Transfer - Calgary Airport to Banff (Brewster's Mountain Lodge).
By arriving a day early in Banff, even thought it was almost mid-night, we got a good night’s sleep and spent the next day doing a self tour of the down town Banff which we would have missed otherwise.
We enjoyed our 2 nights at the Fairmount Hot Spring Hotel. The 5 hr private sightseeing tour of Banff Nat. Park by Discover Banff Tours was not rushed, it was flexible and at an easy. At the start of the tour, a nice heard of elk to welcome us to the frozen & snow covered scenery, cold and beautiful but it was early January. Our Private Transfer from Banff to the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise was in a multi passenger tour van. It was OK but not what you might expect on a tour labeled as “Luxury”. Our one night stay at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise was the best of the four Fairmount’s we stayed at. From our 5th floor Lakeview room, the frozen lake bustling with ice hockey, ice skating, cross country skiing, an Ice Place and Ice Bar and even a horse drawn snow sled around the lake, together with the fresh fallen snow, made the Chateau a magical winter wonderland. We found the entire staff to be friendly and extremely helpful. We could not have asked for more – well maybe another night for sure.
Our “Luxury” trip continued with a “scheduled shuttle” (an older bus with 25-30 seats and a cracked windshield) that picked us up 3.5 hrs after the hotel check-out time and then drove about 1 mile before taking a 20 minute brake for the other passengers. We then headed on to the Fairmount Jasper Park Lodge. The route was Hwy 93 (per VBA promo - This morning you are off once again, this time to the beautiful town of Jasper. Your driver will take you on a scenic drive through the mountains, along the famed Ice Fields Parkway and into the resort town center of Jasper National Park. Keep your camera handy for this drive). Very disappointed, we were really looking forward to this famous scenic drive. Our very able drive did take us this route, the problem was we left late afternoon / arrived in Jasper after 8PM, long after dark. In fact, most of the drive was it was dark and even if it had been light would have been difficult to use your camera through the small bus windows. Poor planning by VBR (you don’t always get what is promised.
The Fairmount Jasper Park Lodge was a disappointment. It boosted 4 fine restaurants but only the dining room in the main Lodge was open. The only other place to eat was the Grab and Go which was only open during the morning. They appeared to be on “off season winter shutdown”. If it hadn’t been for the very competent & helpful Bell staff and a fantastic 6 hr dog sled adventure by Fire Creek Dog Sledding, we could have skipped the Fairmount Jasper Park Lodge all together.
The four day, three night Prestige Class, VIA Canadian Train trip from Jasper to Toronto was all it was suppose to be. Lots of snow the entire trip, viewed in pure comfort, great food and a fantastic staff. The train was 5 hours late leaving Jasper but arrived 1 hour early in Toronto.
Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto, as exspeced, was a grand hotel with a helpful staff. Our 8 hour private Niagara Falls tour, by Niagara Airbus, was for the most part, what we expected with a few exceptions. It would have been nice if our guide had ask what we wanted from the tour, which was to spend more time at the Falls, just walking and sightseeing. However, our guide always seemed to be in a hurry, pushing to move on to the next “what ever”. His style was more suited to a large group tour that needed to be herded on to keep on schedule. He seldom slowed down or stopped long enough to even take photos. That is not the fault of VBR but the tour company.
Our private transfer (another Lincoln Navigator) to the airport went smoothly and we returned home safely.
Over all, the Vacations By Rail Luxury Rockies to Toronto featuring VIA Rail's Prestige Class was a successful experience, since the good/fun was more than the bad. However I would not use them in the future.
Paul & Darlene

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID *** and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me
Sincerely,
Sheila ***

Dear Revdex.comWe have been in contact with the customer and the customer has agreed to drop the complaint. If you have any questions, please contact me directly.Thank you,Todd ***CEOVacations By RailT***@vacationsbyrail.com

We had a good experience travelling through the Canadian Rockies with Vacations by RailWe got the hotels we were promised and all transfers took place promptlyWe enjoyed not having to make the decisions and arrangements ourselvesOnce in town, there was no activity manager to badger usWe took advantage of the supplied tour coupons on our own schedule
Natasha was good about answering questions beforehand and making changes I requested

Dear Revdex.com
We have been in contact with the customer and the customer has agreed to drop the complaint. If you have any questions, please contact me directlyThank you,
Todd ***
CEO
Vacations By Rail
href="mailto:T***@vacationsbyrail.com">T***@vacationsbyrail.com

I was very pleased with this company when I planned my recent trip to California from Chicago and back. Sarah was extremely helpful and knowledgeable, I would not hesitate to use Vacations By Rail and look forward to doing so.

We booked a tour through Vacations By Rail recently and couldn't have been more pleased. Not only was the tour itself great, but the customer service provided by Suzanne was fantastic. Because we drove to the starting point, rather than flying, we had some extra questions. Suzanne answered them all promptly (the same or next day) and completely so that we knew exactly what we needed to do. She was a real help and I would recommend Vacations By Rail without hesitation.

I think this company is a joke! We book a ten day trip with them and only received a small portion of what was paid for. After we arrived at the Train Station3 hours early and our tickets for our tours and information on our Hotels arrive at our home in Wisconsin while we are in Chicago awaiting a train. The first few hours on the train we had to evacuate the sleeping car we were in because of a break issue. We ended up spending the first 2 night sleeping in the lounge car Not to mention my we both have health issue one of us has 3 broken ribs and a broken vertebrae . We were told we would be taken by bus to our hotel from the train station and instead were dropped about 10 blocks away not knowing where to go with 10 days of luggage and had to walk. After arriving at the hotel we had been booked into a two double bed room??? Wow! If that isn't what a boyfriend wants for a romantic get away with his girlfriend. Which they were unable to change, so had 2 nights that way! When we called Vacation by rails we were told "well, you didn't ask for a single bed" and "We are not a tour guide".... really??? How crazy is that? What were we paying for if you have no idea what you are booking for us? Tickets were bought for us to attend tours, but... wait for it.... we were not given tickets and not even the person working for vacation by rails understood that we needed to find the tour office and get tickets. Again, I guess this was OUR PROBLEM and not the person the did the booking for us. The WHOLE trip was a mess and like this until I started calling and fixing things on MY OWN! I still have no idea what we paid for as we were not given information on what we paid to do or the ability to do anything without great frustration!!!! Now in the end [redacted] is going to refund the first part of our trip, but vacation by rail is not refunding anything??????? How can they charge us for a trip that even the company providing the service is refunding because the service was not received????? DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!!!!! ON TOP OF EVERYTHING ELSE THEY CHARGED US DOUBLE WHAT [redacted] WOULD OF CHARGED US!!!!! SO IN THE END WE STILL PAID FULL PRICE TO SLEEP IN A SLEEPER CAR AND BE IN COMPLETE PAIN!!! REALLY!!! This awful trip ended up being a price of around $7,500!!!!! SHAME ON YOU VACATION BY RAIL!!!!!!!!

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Address: 309 W Washington St STE 650, Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60606-3200

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