Rocky Mountaineer Vacations' Guest Lounge Blog

Less than 2 Years till 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler

Invest 5 minutes and watch this incredible video - a beautiful representation of the sights and sounds of British Columbia - and proof it does not always rain here!

No Smoking Please, we're Canadian!

About 7 or 8 years ago, our founder and owner determined that the Rocky Mountaineer experience would be smoke free for our guests and employees.  I was reminded of this upon hearing that Sheraton Hotels have made the decision to create smoke free rooms in North America.  Many other hotels preceded them.

The decision for RMV back then was somewhat ground breaking - North American and specifically Canadian, attitudes have changed a great deal since then - but we certainly received some strong feedback against our decision at the time.  The reality is that our decision then, and now, makes sense on a number of levels, not the least of which is that the trains travel through three provincial parks and 7 national parks and several mountain ranges, and we cherish these fragile environments.  Forest fires can be started easily with discarded cigarettes.

Eight or nine hours without a cigarette can be difficult for many smokers.  We ensure that all train personnel have Nicorette (tobacco substitute) on hand to help ease the transition.  But we also receive incredibly supportive comments on how comfortable a smoke free environment is for our guests.

For more information on this topic and specific regulations in each area or province of Canada, click here.

S'long to an old friend - Winter Trains

"We don't say goodbye, we say s'long."

Irish proverb - or is it American?

I have started this post a few times, forgotten to save it and lost the draft.  Maybe an omen.

Ten years ago, we introduced a cool (no pun intended) concept - run the Rocky Mountaineer train in the winter time and create a travel experience that could not be duplicated. When you combine "the land of million Christmas trees" with the magic of the Canadian Rockies and a train called the Rocky Mountaineer, we had the core elements to launch our new product.

A week or so we made the difficult decision to not run the 2008 Winter Rail program for the Rocky Mountaineer.  We were caught in a difficult dilemma - expand the program considerably to gain efficiencies and distribution support or collapse it.  With only four departures available in the month of December, the program was not able to gain broad distribution outside of the peak season of Christmas when airfares and room nights were high. And it became apparent that we would be unable to expand the season, not because the demand was not there, but rather because we do not own the tracks we operate on.  The opportunity to expand the winter rail program simply was not available.

Unlike a retail store which can move to a different location when expansion is warranted, we did not have that luxury.  It doesn't mean that we are abandoning the concept of running trains in Canadian winters, rather we are back to the drawing board to introduce another creative tourism product.  If you were one of our guests over the last ten seasons, we hope your memories of the Canadian Rockies in all their winter glory are still with you.