We are considering a trans-Canadian tour with Grand Circle in July. We have made one trip with Amtrak, Phoenix-St. Louis, roundtrip. I would never travel with Amtrak again after our groups' experiences, however, have heard the Canadian trains are so much better. To anyone who has done both, what is the difference? We are considering the Gold Leaf plan and would be on Rocky Mountaineer, The Canadian and would be in hotels most nights, which I think would greatly satisfy us, as the sleeping arrangements were a bit tough on us.

Your message is a bit confusing and I don't know if it's just a problem of syntax or if you are actually confused.

The Rocky Mountaineer and the Canadian are two entirely different companies and experiences. The Rocky Mountaineer is operated by a private excursion company and operates between Vancouver and Banff/Calgary or Vancouver and Jasper. It's a two day trip that travels only during the day. In each direction, you stop overnight in a hotel or B&B in Kamloops and resume your journey the next morning. I rode it several years ago when they had only one class of service so someone else will have to comment on the differences in class and fare.

The Canadian is Canada's cross-country train and is operated by ViaRail, the tax supported government passenger train service. It does not make overnight stops and you need either to book a sleeping room or prepare yourself for sleeping in your seat. It operates between Vancouver and Toronto through Jasper several times a week but not daily.

I have not had the same bad experiences on AMTRAK that you have. Having said that, the service and amenities on ViaRail have always been superior to AMTRAK, IMO. The Canadian uses restored stainless-steel rail cars that bring back the image of the glory days of passenger trains. For me, as a rail buff, that is a primary attraction.

The food in the dining cars is also superior to AMTRAK, IMO. It seems to me, on average, that ViaRail train personnel are friendlier than their counterparts.

I think if you had problems with AMTRAK's sleeping arrangments, you will have the same problems with ViaRail. It beats sleeping in a seat but train sleeping compartments have never been large or super confortable except on private rail cars.

Finally, ViaRail has a better on-time record than AMTRAK for their long distance trains. There can still be delays, however. Much of the VIARail trackage is single line across the upper plains and if there is a problem with either tracks or earlier trains, it can cause an unavoidable delay on The Canadian. I was on a trip a number of years ago when I was supposed to catch the Canadian in Edmonton and travel to Jasper. It was supposed to depart Edmonton at around 8:00 am. Because of a derailment of another train several hundred miles east, it did not arrive in Edmonton until about 4:00 pm. At that time, the Edmonton train station was not located near anything and, to their credit, ViaRail set up a grill outside the train station and fed us lunch. I cannot imagine AMTRAK ever doing such a thing.

I hope you have a wonderful trip.

Thank you for all the info., I do appreciate it..

I've travelled with Rocky Mountaineer - it's a wonderful trip - we travelled Gold standard - I think the seats were a tad roomier and we went downstairs to a dining car for meals - which were very good, by the way - Red service had meals at their seats. We all stayed at the same hotel. Since the spectacular scenery is the reason for the trip, I don't think anyone would be missing anything by travelling at the red level. However, it sounds like Gold is part of your tour.

dwooddon,
Great analysis thanks

I just took The Canadian Toronto-Vancouver.

There is absolutely NO comparison with any AMTRAK log-haul service I have ever taken. The VIARail services, ESPECIALLY the food, are far, FAR superior.

And the Rocky Mountaineer would be as well I am sure.