Rocky Mountaineer

Chaos at the beginning (one person with an iPad registering 100 people waiting to board coaches). Our luggage was left in our hotel room and not collected by the company. We found out about this late afternoon on day 1. It was driven to the half-way hotel and arrived after we had gone to bed (having stated the time of 10pm to contact us if it… Read more

arrived, due to the very early wake up time of 5.20am).

Day 2 was extremely long (16 hours on the train). At no time did a member of staff explain about it the delay and give us an estimated time of arrival. On board at 6.40am and disembarked at 10.45pm (also missing the best views of the Rockies due to darkness). Arrived at our hotel 11.40. This was longer than most long-haul flights!

Overall the worst two days of our 30-day trip. Would not recommend.

Standard apology reply from their customer service team. Expected more based on the cost of gold-leaf service

Don't risk this trip – My husband and I had to cancel this ecperience because of my husbands sudden heart problems. You refused our refund. How uncaring and inhumane is that. Its not as if you didnt have months of notice and would have filled our spot. Wont ever recommend you to anyone else

Train from hell – We went on Rocky Mountaineer some years back from Banff to Vancouver some years back as part of an Alaskan cruise holiday. We only went economy just to see what it was like. As others said it was not worth the money regardless of tier as we were all on the same train and had to endure hours of waiting on sidings supposedly for Freight trains to… Read more

pass which was absolute bulldust as we later found out that they were waiting for relief drivers who were always late. Due to this we missed out on paid dinners at our accommodation in Kamloops because we did not get there til 10pm. They just served some crappy soup on the train to compensate. In any case the food was ordinary at best despite the efforts of the poor single waitress trying to serve our carriage and possibly others. Then one of the staff tried to encourage us all to tip at journey's end. Never again.

Beware of booking – We booked ,silverleaf ,unfortunately we couldnt go because of covid. We paid Nzd 1800.00 deposit They do not give a cent back,not our fault yes they gave us credit which expires in October but we cannot use due to circumstances . Like they are stealing our money. We had booked a trip of a lifetime hotels etc refunded 100%also silver muse ship.. Rocky mountaineer no compassion advice be careful before giving deposit,never refund. Show details

Rocky Mountainer - not worth the pain – Booked on Rocky Mountaineer Gold Leaf for travel in August 2023. Trip cancelled due to Canadian Wildfires. Advised we could rebook by 2024 if there was availabilty. Attended their offices to request a refund as not possible to fly back to Canada in the short term. Staff not interested in helping, just said to send an email. Sent an email… Read more

explaining the situation and requesting a refund. Two emails later, still have not received a response. They are simply not interested and have zero customer focus. Very poor and would not recommend.

Rocky Mountaineer Gold Leaf …. has lost its lustre – Have just spent two days doing the Banff to Vancouver trip on the RM. It’s a very expensive experience that under-delivers on all the hype. Some thoughts for would be travellers: If you were able to, a one day trip between Vancouver and Kamloops would be a very scenic trip and arguably worth the money. But the Kamloops to Banff section is… Read more

generally plenty of trees close up. Certainly don’t do it if you want to really see the Rockies - for that you need to spend time in lovely Banff and explore Lake Louise etc and Yoho National Park off the train.

It’s a very comfortable train (and they do handle the logistics of moving your bags between locations very well) but for Goldleaf you expect premium wines and high quality food. The food is OK but it’s breakfast and lunch only and a single small serve of cheap “spicy mix” served in the afternoon. No premium nuts or nibbles and certainly no fancy hors d'oeuvres/canapés during the day.

As for drinks, it’s a managed service. They will come through the carriage and take an order and deliver it to your seat. There is no bar that you can go to. So you need to wait till they come back.

There are two main hosts who look after your carriage (and there’s a manager who swans around between several carriages). Our two (Chloe and Toni) did a great job smiling, interacting and delivering within the constraints and limitations of the rigid RM system.

Some pointers for RM management to take on board:

Apart from it being two days instead of ideally one (to give customers choice), the real issue is the overall product. It’s a monopoly so there’s no competition to keep RM on its toes. It shows.

The glossy publicity tells you what they want you to hear. There is no WiFi (as we’ve come to expect these days and which would have been very useful during our long stationary periods - see below) and we weren’t told there were USB ports between the seats to charge devices.

In the winter close down, RM management needs to do a hard review of its operations.

They need to be more honest in their publicity. People need to know that you will spend significant time parked on sidings waiting for coal and freight trains to pass. In our case we were more than two hours late disembarking on both days.

We were given a small butter chicken one day and three gyozas and some wild rice the next day as a late meal as a result. Both were about the standard of a supermarket pre prepared meal. Definately not premium.

Recruitment policy and staff training need a huge overhaul. We expected a passionate Canadian talking about their country and their history, not travellers reading from a script.

As for culture, there’s some work needed there. It was clear in observing staff interaction in the galley for example that everyone was “just doing their job” - there was no banter, interaction or camaraderie. One staff member failed to crack a smile for the entire two days.

Staff need to be trained in managing people’s expectations - they need to be able to confidently communicate what is going on (or not as was often the case).

Having read others’ reviews, I am sure that Cody, the Community Coordinator for the Rocky Mountaineer will do his job and jump into his ‘apologist mode’ defending the product. And I’m sure he will point to some fine print that addresses my complaints. In anticipation, I simply ask that he save the words and instead have this review agendaed on a subsequent senior management team meeting.

Be very careful with your booking as the offer no refunds at all – We are booked for 2024 and then because we found a package that included the Rocky Mountaineer we wanted to cancel. Very rudely via our travel agent told no we lose the money. They were not even open to trying to work with us and transfer the deposit and use as an upgrade. They would actually make more money. Has left a really bad taste of… Read more

Canada for what was supposed to be an amazing trip. Now we will be doing it but with bitterness. If you can find another way to do this trip and or go via a tour package the tour operator has to deal with possible cancellations.

Wish I had read all the reviews here before booking as would have to agree with all of them.

Beyond Frustrated – My husband and I were forced to cancel our trip on Rocky Mountaineer when he decided not to go. We wanted to change his passenger name to my sister! This required no other changes to the reservation except a typing change! For the $8,000 we forfeited maybe the office staff can take some typing lessons! Beyond frustrated! Show details

Rocky Mountaineer -Great Train Robbers – Buyer Beware ! This company has zero customer relation skills and is unethical at best. A group of 6 paid them over $30K back in 2019 for travel in 2020. They cancelled, immediately changed their Terms and Conditions, and refused refunds. They instead only offered to hold our money in credit to rebook at a later date. Of an extensive itinerary… Read more

using both larger and smaller family owned businesses in our itinerary, this was the ONLY one who refused to refund payments.

Their product offerings are now of lesser quality and experience, so even if you rebook, you don't get what your originally paid for, and the cheeky mongrels even expect you to pay more for their new tours and receive less than what we originally paid for. DON'T BOOK THEM UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, and make sure you read all the reviews about their unscrupulous behaviour, and lack of care for their customers.

Booked in Luggage stolen in the the care of Rocky Mountaineer – We booked in 2 back packs at Kamloops for the second leg of our journey from Kamloops to Vancouver on morning of 29/07/2022. At Vancouver, only one back pack was in the Rocky Mountaineer Railway Hall. We searched and only found one bag so reported a missing bag to one of their staff. That person said to get on our bus and they would deliver the… Read more

missing bag to us. The bag never arrived on 29/07/2022 or after. We phoned and emailed R M but had no success in finding out what happened to our back pack. Today, they have offered $450 compensation for the loss. There was a mobile phone, HP Laptop and a Tamron Camera lens, plus incidentals, total value A$5000. Not happy.

Disgusting service! – Fools. My parents were supposed to travel 2 years ago from Australia but couldn’t due to Covid travel restrictions. They have kept there money the entire time, now my dad has cancer and can’t travel and they refuse to refund. Disgusting/ appalling service! Show details

Modern Train Robbery – Before you spend a penny for a trip on the Rocky Mountaineer please be sure to read their Terms. Any monies paid for a reservation will NOT be returned—not even if you change your mind an hour later, if COVID shuts the Canadian border down, if an avalanche covers the tracks, if you become hospitalized, if you have a death in the family, if you… Read more

die. Their paragraph 12 spells it out very clearly and any attempt to cancel the reservation will result in a terse message attesting to their policy. Their trip has been on my bucket list for all of my 87 years. My failure to read their Terms cost me $2853.89 although I acted long before an anticipated May trip. Don’t repeat my mistake as you will be subject to the greatest train robbery in existence.

BEWARE BEFORE YOU BUY A TOUR WITH ROCKY MOUNTAINEER – We paid our deposit for a tour with the Rocky Mountaineer in 2019 and full payment mid Jan 2020. Rocky Mountaineer cancelled our tour because of the pandemic. We asked for a refund and was told they would not provide 100% refund even though their 2019 terms and conditions CLEARLY STATES A FULL REFUND WOULD BE PAID IF THEY CANCEL A TOUR. Instead… Read more

they changed their T&C April 2020, issued a travel voucher and keep changing the expiry date as Covid continues to cause havoc around the world. We received 100% refunds from Holland America, all Airlines and all accommodation without any issues. All we want is OUR money back so we can reschedule at a time that suits us and when WE are comfortable to travel. All Rocky Mountaineer have done is left a very bad taste in our mouths to even want to travel on their train ever or even visit Canada at all in the future. It seems most Australian travellers who had purchased tours with them to travel in 2020 & beyond are in the same boat. What are they doing with all of our hundreds & thousands of dollars that doesn’t legally belong to them????? You can’t take peoples money for a purchase and then just decide to change the terms and conditions for a house or car etc but apparently Rocky Mountaineer can do what ever they want!

Stole from pensioners – Booked and paid for trip in 2019 for June 2020. We didn't cancel- Rocky Mountaineer did. Now refused to refund money. Saved this money for a trip of a lifetime. Would NOT trust Rocky Mountaineer ever again. Show details

Great Train Robbery – In January 2020 as two couples we booked the trip of a lifetime to the US and Canada including two ocean cruises and the Rocky Mountaineer experience, we paid Rocky Mountaineer $26k In full and then COVID hit. The cruise lines and accommodation providers were very understanding and provided prompt refunds, however Rocky Mountaineer would only… Read more

provide a future credit, despite under the terms and conditions of the original booking a provision for a 80% refund for cancellations 61+ days prior to departure. We re-booked for June 2022, however due to health and other personal reasons we can no longer commit to the 2022 booking. I have emailed them several times since June conveying this information, without response, I finally was able to contact them by phone, the response was that future credit to 2023 was the only option, I asked about my emails and was told they must of been lost, I find it very hard to believe multiple emails can all get lost! It is unbelievable that a so called reputable company can take your money, not provide refunds and deliberately ignore correspondence.

Take it off the bucket list! – We had planned a beautiful 6 week holiday across America and Canada finishing with Rocky mountaineer and a Holland Cruise. 2 weeks prior to our departure Covid hit. Within the initial weeks it was clear it would not be safe or possible due to border closures to travel so we started to request refunds gif travel. All providers, hotels, Airlines and… Read more

Holland cruises came to the party with the exception of $14k that we paid in full to this company for our dream holiday. We are not rich, we saved hard and this would have been a one off bucket list adventure. 1 year down the track we have again questioned our refund and have been advised no. I can’t explain the feeling of hopelessness and disappointment that a company this rich could be so terrible to it’s customers. If they had’ve given the money back, I would have lept at the opportunity to travel with them in the future and live out our dream.. but now I live in dread of the day my $14k goes into their executives pockets with nothing we can do to recoup it! It’s horrible. Please don’t book with this company or any of their agencies particularly while there is uncertainty with Covid! Nasty nasty values at a time when we could all do with some kindness. I pity their staff who have to deal with all the customers who are desperately trying yo get their money back like us.

Stakeholders or Holidaymakers – Us 4 adults booked in Sept 2019 and paid in full over $10k pp in January 2020 to travel in June 2020 and how gracious of RM - haha in giving us a credit till 2023, whoppy do. I have asked their Australian rep and been in touch with the Canadian RM and have been told that they are not refunding monies. In June 2020 when I got in touch with the… Read more

Australian rep and pleaded for a refunded as living in Victoria, hard lockdown, financial stress and the reply was something like-"by offering credits, we give all STAKEHOLDERS the best opportunity for the future and best preserve our ability to operate our trains when conditions permit in the future". Really they are more concerned about their stakeholders!!!!!

Disappointed and angry – Like many others, I along with a friend booked to travel on the Rocky Mountaineer. We paid in full in November 2019 for travel in late April 2020. Due to COVID the trip was cancelled ( by Rocky Mountaineer), and quite rightly so. We were to have done this trip at the end of a cruise. The shipping line - Holland America - and the airlines all… Read more

refunded IN FULL. Rocky Mountaineer are refusing to offer anything other than a credit. They are withholding thousands of my dollars and getting interest on it. With international travel suspended in and out of Australia for the foreseeable future, and the fact that I am in my late 70's, there is little chance I will be able to travel any time soon. This company has lost any credibility in my mind and I certainly would NOT recommend travelling with them!

Train robbers – Unavoidably, due to Covid-19 we couldn't travel to Canada for the Rocky Mountaineer trip costing over $8k. Having booked in Sept 2019 (pre-Covid) for an April 2020 departure Rocky M would not entertain any refund, only a future credit. We now have no annual leave left, and still can't depart Australia. Plus we don't feel safe travelling now into… Read more

covid affected areas. Reading reviews, so many people like us have been caught out by Rock M's heartless policy and lost their money. A very bad advertisment for Canadian tourism.

Avoid Rocky Mountineer – I am one of many Australians who paid a great deal of money to travel on the Rocky Mountaineer on a trip booked well before the pandemic for September 2020. When I booked a full refund was stated in their policy. When the pandemic hit this company changed their policy to no refunds - only a credit. This at a time when international travel is… Read more

almost impossible. Canada are not welcoming foreign visitors for the foreseeable future so how are we supposed to use a credit?

I have made numerous requests for a refund only to receive the standard email.

This company owes me $9900.

Why does the Canadian government allow this company to amend consumer laws to suit them? This stance is very bad PR for your country.

This company has no right to withhold my money on the promise of a service I may never be able to use. I have asked for a refund. I want my refund.

Heartbroken – A trip of a lifetime on an amazing journey through the clouds is what I signed up for. Instead I am living a nightmare and a heartbreak. What should of been a time of joy has been dampened by the unprofessional dealings with RM. When COVID hit RM cancelled the trip. (The right thing to do when no one was safe to go anywhere) What followed from… Read more

then is that RM changed all their T&Cs so they don't have to refund any money even though they cancelled the trip. All correspondence by RM has been a standard email that does not answer questions asked and are not helpful at all. Plenty of other business out there that have done the right thing but not RM, which one questions is this company now going to go bankrupt since it can not fitful its contractual obligations. The sad part is that they keep advertising for new trips with guarantee refund if they cancel a trip. Untrustworthy and will avoid at all cost

Disgrace! – Rocky Mountaineer have $11000 of our hard earned money for a trip we were suppose to take just before COVID hit. What a disgrace when there is no sign at this stage of being able to travel from Australia and why would we ever choose to travel to a country where COVID is everywhere! We will never travel with them again and will tell as many people… Read more

as possible never to book with the Rocky Mountaineer because they will take enormous amounts of money off you, not provide the service and then refuse to refund! Anyone we have told is shocked that such a prestige company would do this to their customers!

Despicable – Can you imagine Rocky Mountaineer not refunding money paid for a trip in Feb, and this is a reputable company. Absolute disgrace, will not even think of using them again.  Show details

Terrible Customer Service – This company should be ashamed. $14000.00 in trip cost for 2020 trip paid in full well in advance as required by the company, then covid comes and the company has the audacity to change there T&Cs so that they don't have to refund any money even thou THEY cancelled the trip. Offer a credit with new T&Cs which must be used by..., only certain… Read more

people can use it, no transfers allowed. We can't even travel to the country to use the credit and god only knows when we will but they don't care they have our money, or if they will change the T&Cs again to suit themselves. I have contacted them on numerous occasions and always the same reply take the credit or miss out altogether, shameful attitude and certainly not the way I was treated before I paid my money, back then they were all light and bubbles and promised the world. Be very careful who you book with as this company has no regard for it's customers or their situation only your cash.

Extremely Disappointed – We were booked to go on the Rocky mountaineer in May of 2020 when THEY cancelled. They then decided that we can only have a future credit which now has been pushed back to 2022. They have steadfastly refused to return our money which is $12'000 dollar's. Holland America returned our cruise money and we will rebook with them when and if the time is… Read more

right and this is how it should be. We live in Australia and we're really looking forward to visiting Canada but we now feel as if we are being blackmailed into going to Canada by RM. Be very careful dealing with this company as you are not there number one concern it's your money they care about and that is all. Very Disappointed....

Please sir I want my money – We had paid in full by the end of Dec. 19 and were due to travel on the RM in June, they, of course, cancelled. We were told prices would be frozen and were given 110% future credit for ‘21. In our naivety we thought we would be able to use it and were happy enough to defer for a year. Haha, C19 had other plans and now it will be at least ‘22… Read more

before we can leave Australia. They have extended the credit but ‘22 is too far away and we would like a refund. RM are refusing point blank to return our money and have played fast and loose with their T&C’s. Their actions are shameful and deplorable.

Refusing Refunds – Rocky Mountaineer is refusing to give refunds to people they cancelled trips on in 2020. They also changed their Australia T&C's 2019, which gave refunds, in 2020, to suit themselves and no longer give refunds. They are an appalling company to deal with. We in Australia have no idea when we can travel internationally, nor should we be held to… Read more

ransom and made to take credits. They are holding and making money on hundreds of thousands of dollars of our money. Several FB pages with many stories similar to ours.

No Refunds for Cancelled Tours – The Rocky Mountaineer are not refunding any money to us back in Australia for cancelled tours, however they are refunding UK citizens. The Rocky Mountaineer have $13,000 AUD of our hard earned money, and have already had it for 12 months, and goodness knows when we will be able to travel overseas again from here in Australia. We are doing it tough… Read more

here in Melbourne at the moment, like many in the world, and the way The Rocky Mountaineer are treating their customers is causing undue stress and financial strain in what already is a tragic and mentally challenging time for us all.

Extremely disappointing! A Scam, do not book – Sadly I was looking forward to traveling the Rocky Mountains, but health has prevented me from doing so. Myself along with many other travelers had booked a trip of a lifetime with this company, and they are not refunding any monies. Other countries are being somewhat accommodated, but Australians and southern countries are being denied their… Read more

hard earned money. the RM has stated they are not holding on to the funds, as they don't deemed the money used until we travel. I would definitely never travel with them in the future. I feel sorry for the places that will suffer because of RM's disgraceful actions in retaining funds that are not theirs. All businesses and airlines associated with the trip refunded monies, except RM.

Dishonest – A dishonest company that refuses to refund money to paying customers in these difficult times. We lost $8214 for 3/5/2020 -4/5/2020 Shame on you Rocky fraudulent Mountaineer! Your business is shameful Show details

Don’t waste your money – Rocky Mountaineer cancelled our September trip but has refused to refund our deposit, instead offering a credit for 2021 or 2022. We have no plans to travel to Canada in the next few years, so a credit is of no use to us. Rocky Mountaineer unilterally changed its terms and conditions after we booked. We have politely requested a refund of our… Read more

deposit, but have been declined. While the trip looks amazing, we cannot recommend this company due to its high price and poor customer service attitude. Save your money and hire a car instead.

Warning - do NOT book while COVID-19 exists - NO REFUND even if they cancel – You should NOT support this operator and do NOT book a trip with this company while COVID-19 exists, as they are likely to cancel the trip and they will NOT refund your money. We had booked a 7 week trip including Rocky Mountaineer train trip. Every operator (except Rocky Mountaineer) have offered a full refund when parts of our trip were… Read more

cancelled. Even a small family business that would be significant worse hit than Rocky Mountaineer company provided a full refund. I would have thought that giving a refund to those customers that would be unable to take advantage of their 110% offer of deferring to 2021 or 2022 was minimal but this operator see itself above any ethical and moral responsibilities.

Currently, I will end up loosing my deposit as I will be unable to travel in 2021 or 2020 and my travel insurance is not covering COVID-19 cancellations. All I can hope for, is that the Rocky Mountaineer operator comes to its senses and start giving full refunds to those people, but given the comments about this operator, its owner and the management, I don't hold much hope.

You should NOT support this operator and do NOT book a trip with this company while COVID-19 exists, as they are likely to cancel the trip and they will NOT refund your money.

Illegally refusing refunds – Rocky Mountaineer are refusing refunds after unilaterally changing their Terms and Conditions after the Coronavirus outbreak from 80% to A Zero refund. They are blocking anyone who speaks out. They have been forced to give refunds in the UK but not in other countries. Some of their victims include Terminally ill, disabled and the elderly who can’t fight back. Please do not deal with these unscrupulous operators. Show details

Rocky Mountaineer Scandal – We were booked on a Rocky Mountaineer trip in July 2020. Of course this has been cancelled by the company. We have been offered a full credit for two years or if we take a refund there is a 20% cancellation fee. How does that work? I didn't cancel the service, the company did. I may not want or be able to travel to Canada in two years time. We… Read more

have only lost 20%, i feel sorry for those people that paid for the whole trip in advance. We all have had a rough time bought on by the China Virus but its made worse by behaviour such as this by big companies who use their lawyers to avoid doing what they morally should.