Lovely wife and I just got back from riding "The Canadian", Via Rail's luxury cross-country train trip.
It was a real awesome trip.
The train itself was awesome. Very vintage 50s, some refits but not poorly done. We had a sleeper with 2 bunks, private sink, private toilet, community shower - 1 per car.
Food was really good, all cook-to-order plated meals, none of that steam table microwave BS. Full service, no buffet style stuff. Served 3 meals a day.
Menu was new every day, never disappointed in the options. Everything was super solid.
Plenty of water, coffee, tea, and snacks available throughout the day for free, free continential breakfast in the mornings as well if you didn't want the full breakfast.
Full bar with mixed drink, beer and wine options. Beers were $8 US for a 16oz local craft beer, so certainly not terrible price wise. You can also BYOB but you have to consume it in your car and there are not a ton of stops where you can get more.
We had access to two observation cars all the time, plus our own car had two moveable chairs and a large window.
My wife and I played a lot of games, read, watched some TV, got some internet when we had connectivity, and really took in the scenery.
All the other people on the train were very friendly, I got to play some euchre yesterday, apparently the Canadians (or maybe the Wisconsinites) play differently.
This was a solid 10/10 for vacations, I would recommend it to anyone. We would definitely do it again.
Cool. Good info, something I have considered.
Warning, Nick is now stalking you. 
If anyone is considering this trip, I would suggest the following:
Very cool. Thanks for the writeup!
That looks amazing!
If you want the US version, I did the Empire Builder route from Chicago to Seattle (Portland also an option) with my wife and my parents a few years ago and it was excellent.
That looks like a great trip. Thanks for the info!
A cool train ride is something that my wife and I have considered a lot, Empire Builder is the closest to us
You went right past my farm.
I see the VIA passenger train for that route from my porch. I'd have gone and waved if I knew you were on it.
You would have gone through Watrous, Saskatchewan, that's the closest station to me.
I took The Canadian when I was a kid. Also crossed the Nullarbor Plain when I was in my teens, and my parents crossed the USSR on the Trans Siberian Express in the late 60's. My dad liked trains :)
More recently, we've taken the Zephyr from our home to Denver. It's a good trip, far more relaxing than flying or driving and the train goes through a route with no roads. We spent the entire time in the almost-empty observation car. Great trip, we'll have to do it again.
Thanks for the trip report. A lot of the iconic classic Canadian hotels were built by the railway in order to give you somewhere to go.
To anyone thinking of going, my recommendation would be to go soon. The old Budd stainless steel cars are on borrowed time, with VIA looking to replace them soon. And typically with passenger equipment, railroads replace old stuff that works well with sterile charmless new stuff that doesn't work at all out of the box and after 3 years of fiddling eventually works but not as good as what you replaced with it.
Also, they finally dumped the stupid buffer car requirement. Someone got it in their head that the old Budd stuff wasn't safe in a collision and required an empty passenger car tacked onto the tail end. Which kind of ruins the point of a round-end observation car, when all you can see is the vestibule of an empty baggage car. Then this year, they did some testing, which sadly destroyed four Budd cars, and realized the crash safety concerns were unfounded and dumped the buffer car requirement.
Also, it sounds like the Canadians have backed off on the rather draconian COVID precautions that were in effect until last year. You couldn't leave your compartment except to go to meals, all showers and meals had to be prescheduled, the dome cars were closed, there were no onboard events/activities/performances. It seems like that would have resulted in a considerably less enjoyable trip.
Oh yeah no way would we have wanted to go with Covid policies in place. This was a full open experience, and the train was pretty dead, maybe 50 total people in all the sleeper cabins and no one in Prestige, so we all got top shelf treatment.
Can confirm all trains did not have a buffer car on the back of them, just the pointed observation car as it should be.
Talking to passengers and what we read before hand - there is no comparison to the Zephyr or the Empire Builder and the Canadian. The Canadian is world class, the other ones are commuter lines.
Regarding the cars, the Prestige class cars were old Budd cars that had been refitted, talking with the crew it sort of sounded like their plan was to gradually refit all the cars to modern internals while keeping the old skins. It was definitely nice to be able to ride around in the vintage cars with the vintage look and feel.
In reply to ShawnG :
Watrous? My aunt lives there !
In reply to 93gsxturbo :
I was looking up prices. What all amenities are included in the package, and what are extra?
I gather than alcohol is extra, and it sounds like other beverages are not.
Food?
Hotel accommodations at stops?
My wife and I took the "sleeper plus" option with the double occupancy cabin.
Included:
Not included:
I have a bunch of travel points for work squirrelled up and we got The Douglas on a super sweet deal through my AMEX. Total cost to us less incidentals and sightseeing costs in Vancouver was around $3500 USD (2 people, 8 nights). The night in Seattle, the night in Toronto, and the airfare was all paid for with points.
I agree that the Canadian is a step above the Zephyr, but I wouldn't call the latter a commuter line. It's got observation cars, for example. It's still a step above a normal Amtrak trip. No real luxury other than being able to travel without being jammed into a pressurized tube, though.
In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :
I might have met her. We're at the local Farmers market.
Edit: Go Winterhawks!
My only criticism is that you still missed several days worth of Canada . I'm 14 hours east of Toronto by car. Probably 2 days on a train. I keep meaning to take the train to Halifax someday just for kicks. I've been told it's a nice way to travel.
You'll need to log in to post.
