Belle213

I am planning cruise to Alaska for myself, husband and daughter, and my mother and father. My Dad's health has been failing. He has neurological problems and has some trouble walking. This will probably be his last major trip. We have decided to do HAL Nieuw Amsterdam round trip Inside Passage from Vancouver. My mother has had seasickness on one cruise, and sometimes gets bouts of vertigo on dry land. So, we are reserving this route there is little open Pacific water on this cruise, and will get a room mid-ship and lower level. Our stops will be Tracy Arm (we will do the small boat excursion to get up close), Glacier Bay, Skagway, Ketchican and Juneau.
After the cruise, we plan to tour Vancouver for at least a day. My question is would it be worthwhile to take Rocky Mountaineer for the final leg of the trip? Also, which train route affords the most stunning scenery?

janisj

Since that is a train tour through the Canadian Rockies - you might want to also post on the Canada Forum. Though this board is more active.

Belle213

I did. I figured that people from Vancouver and Seattle have been on more than one Alaska cruise and maybe have done the Rocky Mountaineer.

tomfuller

The ViaRail Canadian covers much of the same rails as the Rocky Mountaineer but goes to Jasper instead of Calgary.
The Canadian leaves Vancouver at 8:30PM PT (2030) on Sunday, Tuesday and Friday with arrival in Jasper about 4PM MT (1600) the next day. The bedrooms on the Canadian are not as luxurious as on the RM but are considerably cheaper.
The return from Jasper to Vancouver is Sunday, Tuesday and Friday at 2:30PM MT (1430) getting back into Vancouver about 9:32AM the next day.
Brewster runs bus tours from the train station in Jasper.
Consult with a doctor as to whether a Rx for Transderm Scop
(Scopolmine) is OK to prevent motion sickness.
The little patch you stick behind your ear works for 3 days for most people.

rncheryl

From personal experience, the Rocky Mountaineer is quite expensive. For one entire day of our trip, the air conditioning was out in the train. It was a miserable day. The hotel in Kamloops was very average, and there are not many dining opportunities. The company gave us as I recall $100pp for our discomfort

The scenery was, for the most part, spectacular.

Dukey1

The BIGGEST advantage of the Rocky Mountaineer vs the Canadian is that the former covers all the "spectacular" scenery DURING THE DAY.

When you take the Canadian out of Vancouver you leave at night and you miss all the canyon scenery.