Info On Canadian Rail Prior To Alaska Cruise

[SPacificbound]

We have a Northbound Alaska cruise booked for August 2014 and are interested in Canadian rail just prior to the cruise. This would be Halifax to Vancouver. Has anyone done this? If so what can you tell me? Thank you. :)

[Earl Rosebery]

We have a Northbound Alaska cruise booked for August 2014 and are interested in Canadian rail just prior to the cruise. This would be Halifax to Vancouver. Has anyone done this? If so what can you tell me? Thank you. :)

 

It's a long long way. Where are you starting from?

[LHT28]

It is expensive ;)

 

Are you planning on doing just the train trip or getting off in cities along the way??

 

Some trains do not run on certain days so you will have to check the schedule & see if it will tie in with your other plans

 

http://www.viarail.ca/

 

Sounds like a great adventure though

[Kamloops50]

It takes about 5 days to go from Halifax to Vancouver . It is about twice or three times the price of flying . If you want take a train look into the Rocky Mountaineer Train from Calgary to Vancouver. It is a two day daylight trip. You'll overnight in Kamloops. See the link below:

 

http://www.rockymountaineer.com/en_CA_BC/

 

You'll see the country during daylight not at night.

[Urban trekker]

As one who doesn't fly I travel by train - I have looked at going to Toronto or Montreal from Vancouver and then connect there via Amtrak to get to either Boston or NYC.

 

I haven't done it for the following reasons:

 

1. Price - about twice what Amtrak charges - yes the service levels are suppose to be higher but it is still a huge outlay.

 

2. Frequency of service - the major Trans-Canadian route is only three times weekly and takes the longer northern route through Edmonton rather than the shorter route through Calgary. We just don't have the population in the western portion of the country to support daily inter city train service.

 

3. From Toronto west - if you wanted to stop in say either Winnipeg or Edmonton you could be looking at a two day lay over before the next train.

 

As for Amtrak - it has daily service - either the Lakeshore Limited or Capital Limited from the east coast to Chicago and then the Empire builder from Chicago to Seattle - in most cases you may have a few hours layovers but no overnight stays are required.

 

From Seattle to Vancouver take the Amtrak Cascades rather than the connecting bus and follow the coastline much of the way to Vancouver.

 

Hope this helps and if you need more advice on train travel - ie Amtrak.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[SPacificbound]

Thank you for the replies! :)

 

Yes it does seem to be really expensive. This is something DH brought up that he would like to do, and I loved rail in Europe, but point well taken on expense, night travel, and population. All the same reasons that we ended up not doing any rail in Australia.

 

Kamloops50 thanks for the link for Rockymountaineer, I will share this info with DH. :)