Amtrak Vacations - The Booking Experience First, it's useful to recognize how best to organize travel on Amtrak. To this point, I've probably booked more than 100 rail trips over the past 40 years. My wife and our three children made repeated trips from Kansas City to Chicago, Chicago to Denver, Chicago to New Orleans, Fairbanks to Mt. Denali, and from D.C. to my family home in southern Connecticut. For the longer trips, we'd book sleeper cars and treat ourselves to first class dining and accommodation services, most notably on Amtrak's storied City of New Orleans. Now that I'm retired and travel alone, I wanted to push the Amtrak limits in a coast-to-coast trip from Washington, D.C.'s Union Station to the Canadian northwest, ending in Jasper, then Banff, and then Calgary. So, I started sniffing around the internet for opportunities on Amtrak, favoring segments in a private sleeping car. Up to now I have booked all my Amtrak trips the way I booked all of my polar expeditions (including four Arctic expeditions and two Antarctic expeditions, all on Quark Expeditions): I would deal exclusively and directly with the operator Quark and its travel consultants. For the cross-country trip on Amtrak, however, I looked at all of the moving parts and decided to respond to the invitation I received after I submitted an inquiry into cross-country Amtrak trips. Those moving parts included figuring out which trains would travel to my intended destinations, identifying hotels that could accommodate me on my way, and booking excursions available to rail passengers along my route. Within an hour of sending my inquiry I got a response from Amtrak Vacations and its representative, Kevin Guadagnoli. Amtrak Vacations is not the same as Amtrak: working with Railbookers, a travel agency that specializes in creating customizable train vacation packages, Amtrak Vacations makes its mark by offering experienced advisors who have direct booking access to rail travel throughout North America (so it includes both U.S. and Canadian rail services). Kevin was a great listener: he was low-key, patient, empathetic, and exceptionally well-versed in what can be a confusing Venn-diagram of services and lodgings that work in conjunction with the steel rails. I figured I was asking a lot; and I recognize now that I seriously underestimated the complexity of options available to rail travelers. Kevin made the itinerary-building part of this trip seamless, probably because he was working tirelessly behind the scenes to assemble the trip I had in mind. Once we established the goal of my trip (my being in Canada for the first week of July), we spent about an hour on the phone connecting a series of dots: I asked for a sleeper accommodation throughout the trip; done. Kevin knew schedules and partners - this became important because the trip included nights off the train - so we needed hotel options - and local excursions that the trip would allow for. It's clear from the results that Kevin knew what he was doing. He had some particular challenges that I was clueless about, most notably the fact that Seattle and Vancouver both were host cities for the 2026 World Cup. This likely drove up the cost of accommodations - indeed, in one instance a perfect hotel would work but only if I was able to stay for two nights. Kevin got the okay from me to make this change, and within a day he built an itinerary unlike any other, calling it The Canadian Rockies by Rail - June 2026. The itinerary was custom-built around my goals. I would depart Washington D.C.'s Union Station at 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 28, 2026, in a roomette bound for Chicago's Union Station. The train would arrive in Seattle on July 1, and head to Vancouver, B.C. (on a coach seat) departing at 1800 and arriving at 2200. There Kevin booked me a room at the Fairmont Waterfront and scored a 48-hour hop-on hop-off tour bus that I could use for the two days I will be staying in Vancouver. From Vancouver the sleeper car will take me to Jasper, where I will spend July 4 and 5 at the Crimson Jasper. I'll be taking the Icefields Parkway Discovery Tour from Jasper to Banff and spend the next two nights at the Hotel Canoe & Suites, where I'll take a Mountains, Lakes & Waterfalls tour in and around Banff. On the last day of my itinerary, I'll board a one-way shuttle from Banff, ending at the Marriott on site at the Calgary Airport. I studied travel insurance options (typically I'll insure my trips with Crum & Forster's Travel Insured International) and elected to take Kevin's recommendation for trip coverage through TripMate, underwritten by General Global Assistance ($1,089). Including this coverage, the total invoice for all travel, including rail, insurance, lodging, and excursions, was $12,234.85. My thanks to Amtrak Vacations, Kevin Guadagnoli, Railbooker's transfer-point person, and Amtrak! read more

Amtrak Vacation through Railbookers was an absolute joke!! Derailment on track outside of Reno, Nevada and they threw 400 people off the train in Salt Lake City and basically said figure it out, this train is being terminated, no hotel provided, no car service, nothing!! Would not recommend to anyone!! They leave you stranded and no one reaches out to you for guidance or anything, it was a joke!! Still have not heard anything from anyone about what happened to us because they obviously don't care, they just want your money read more

"Amtrak Vacations" (AV) should be investigated by the District Attorney's office for elder abuse, false advertising, breach of contract and fraud. That's my experience, and one that is shared by many others on this site. I wanted a rail trip to and from Glacier NP arranged by a third party with little or no effort on my part. AV offered exactly that with a hotel, rental car and sightseeing trip all included. $3,900 for one person seemed high but I was buying peace of mind, or so they had me believe. The incompetence of this company was beyond astonishing. I felt I was dealing with eight year old's. To be brief, my train in to Portland ran five hours late meaning my connection to Whitefish had left without me. I left a message on AV's 800 number asking for instructions and directing them to put my itinerary back 24 hours. In the meantime Amtrak employees had already taken care of a hotel, meals and rescheduling me on the next day's train. Good Job Amtrak! The next day I made three calls to AV and finally spoke to an agent asking that my itinerary be put back 24 hours. She explained that if the sightseeing tour could not be rescheduled I would be charged a late cancellation penalty. When I expressed my shock at that concept she hung up. Finally, after three attempts another AV agent agreed to reschedule my trip, and had her "associate" handle the return trip by train. All looked good. Once checked in at the hotel I did the researching that I should have done originally, and paid AV royally for me not to have to do. Before I left, and once they had my money, they told me that the sightseeing tour they had sold me was no longer available and they has therefor set me up with a more expensive one, which turned out to be $150. It was "only an hour away from the hotel" and I would have the rental car. No mention of the fact that entrance by car to the park required a permit obtained by lottery on a daily basis. The odds on obtaining one were 1:400. The new location for the tour was 94 miles away (not a one hour drive on mountain roads) and started at 8:00 am. Breakfast at the hotel was not served until 6:30. So a probable two hour drive without breakfast for a 76 year old that AV thought was just fine, even if I was allowed to enter the park? Finally, I received new trip vouchers for the rescheduled trip by email, and gave up. The dates on the sightseeing trip and return on the train were wrong. Nothing had changed. Enough was enough. I took back control, and drive the Glacier myself, and had a great day of it. That night I boarded the train, with my new ticket, only to learn that the ticket had been cancelled for a refund and was invalid. AV had abandoned me completely and I think stole from me as well. Thankfully Amtrak staff rescued me and issued a new sleeper ticket through to San Jose at no extra change. Usually travel companies will ask you for feedback at the end of a trip. Not "Amtrak Vacations". I checked out the cost of the trip if I had booked it myself and it came to $2,063. read more

Amtrak Vacations - Business Class lounge in Portland - Tours Near Me

I booked a trip from LA to Seattle on the Coast Starlight. Amtrak vacations must have booked me into the only hotel in Los Angeles that doesn't have a pool. I'm not looking forward to the rest of this trip if it starts out this way. read more

no "travel agent service" for trip. first leg of trip the train was 12 hours behind. we would not make our connecting train in Chicago. Online train schedule was checked 5 hrs. Was noted on time. Constant one way calls from us gave us no options to make connection. were informed on one call they were closed for day. They offered us no trip replacement or ref und. We are out the money because of poor practices and slick legal mumble jumble that said we would have received full refund is notified two days in advance. A third party representative of Amtrak with poor practices costing customers! Will not make that mistake again read more

I was coming from Mississippi back to Chicago as the lady announced over the speaker that the train was full as there were multiple people behind me with open seats sleeping, she came over to me seats where I had my legs up and was sleeping comfortably and demanded I get up. No wake up and asking politely, just came over and knocked my feet off the seat. Out of all the other open seats behind me why come over and bring they me yet at that knock my feet off the seat without asking me or anything . I just don't know the amtrak team member from anywhere and would have appreciated they asked me to get up instead of physically touching me. read more

We loved our vacation. The itinerary was good with good rest days. We went from SF to Yellowstone via Salt Lake City. We had one bad experience on our return journey. We were made to believe by Amtrak vacations helpline that there will be staff in the SLC Amtrak station to handle our baggage storage and that is not true; the station only opens at 10pm. Thankfully from internet we found out that all major hotels will store your baggage for free and we ended up getting help from HolidayInn express. Thanks guys! Otherwise the journey was epic!! read more

This was the most awful experience of a vacation. We paid so much money for a trip that was a disaster. The awful experiences were: 1. Delayed in Galesburg for over 6 hours. No service recovery or offering of food. 2. Arrived in Salt Lake at 3am, small station, no vending machines and unsafe area with no security 3. No security on trains or checks of bags or individuals 4. Not all passengers were aware of how to get to the hotel in Salt Lake. My husband and I helped several passengers 5. Rudeness at Gray Wolf Inn by receptionist 6. Delayed in Grand Junction and had to ride on a bus from Grand Junction to Colorado. Crowded bus, hot, and unsafe because all passengers could not buckle up. 7. Van crowded from Galesburg to Springfield -passengers laying on me. Hot, stuffy , and passengers unable to buckle up Amtrak is not transparent and honest to customers. Amtrak is not safe, not clean and rude employees. Amtrak does not stand by their mission, and for the exhaustion and safety concerns, they gave us $600 for service recovery. I need a detailed investigation with mitigation of how Amtrak will prevent this in the future. There were children and adults in these unsafe environments. I am reaching out to the Department of Transportation because this is unsafe. Thank you Do not book with Amtrak vacations!!!! read more

Continually tried to upsell; we wanted to use gift cards but they couldn't tell us if they were good until after booking saying if they were not good we could cancel and be refunded; 24 hrs. later they decided the gift cards could not be redeemed but would not refund our payment; would only provide credit for a future trip; will be disputing the credit card transaction for payment. read more

I have been a rider of Amtrak for 30 years and have had both some good and not so good experiences while riding the train but never an experience like this one. I had a ticket to leave from Kansas City Mo to California at 10:42 p.m yesterday and upon arriving at the station the baggage attendant was not there to check my bags so I waited and waited finally the baggage attendant appeared and said " I will be right back" but never returned to take my bags. After waiting for over 15, 20 mins I found out that my train was boarding and had last call so I tried to make it to the train platform with my bags ( which is about a quarter mile away ) as I was on the escalator going down to the platform my train was pulling out of the station. I was really sadden and upset by this because if the Amtrak employee would have done her job by checking my bags then I would have been on the train on time without any issue. After myself and other passengers were left at the station I went back to the ticket counter and it said Closed with no one available and the baggage counter was still closed. I had no choice but to call Amtrak customer service and I spoke to someone named Rasheeda who was Not helpful at all I was on the phone with her for one Hour at least with her not having the ability to assist me or any solutions. I continued to ask Rasheeda at least three times to please transfer me to a supervisor for further resolution of this issue and every time she would put me on hold for 2-3 minutes and then come back and say she can not find a supervisor that is available but that I should contact Customer relations in the morning to speak to them about the resolution to my ticket. I have emailed customer relations and am awaiting a response from them. As a result of being left by the train and it being about 11:00 p.m., having no money , family or a place to stay in Kansas I had to sleep in a friend of a friend's car last night. I feel that Amtrak has taken no accountability or liability regarding something that their employee did to make me miss my train which lead to a chain of events for me and I feel that they should be held accountable. I am hoping for a positive outcome and that I get a voucher for the price I paid for my ticket, compensation for me being inconvenienced then and still now as I do not have a way to get back to California and I had important meetings, and personal business to handle. read more

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Not worth the money. Train got delayed and no phone service. Hotel gave away our room. even though it was paid for. My daughter spent the night homeless. read more

This company is NOT affiliated with Amtrak, and when they do get a cheaper ticket they WON'T pass that savings on to you. They bought our sleeper car ticket for $2,700 and then charged us $4,200 for that ticket plus two hotel rooms. We didn't find this out until it was too late. Also, AAA uses this company for bookings, which really lowered my opinion of that company as well. read more

If it were possible to give less than a one for the Amtrak vacation I would do so. The vacation is a scam. The advertising is false. The accommodations are horrible. The food is TV dinners. The accommodations are very uncomfortable including the shower facilities. I would not recommend an Amtrak vacation if you want to travel Amtrak ride coach. It's more convenient and comfortable than the Amtrak sleeping accommodations. It's a horrible way to spend a vacation. You better off spending your money, taking a cruise or flying to your destination. the wonderful pictures you see advertising Amtrak vacations are all false advertising and edited to the public. read more

Just came back from train trip to Flagstaff. The agent we talked to make arrangements said our hotel was a 12 minute walk from Amtrak station. Our train was to arrive at 8:20 pm. We didn't think about the time and we would have luggage. Train arrived at 11:20 pm. I had made arrangements with a private car to take us to the hotel. Agent said I should be able to walk from Hotel to car rental. Not ever close. If you want to travel by train, book only the train and make your won arrangements for anything else. Also, be aware Amtrak can downgrade your room accommodation on the train. We were not notified until we were boarding the train in Chicago to go to Flagstaff on a Sunday. Amtrak Vacations is not open on Sunday, so I had to contact them Monday while on the train. We are getting a credit for the downgrade. read more

Do NOT use Amtrak Vacations. It is NOT a part of Amtrak rail service. They are not connected to Amtrak. Once they get your money, forget about any help. I tried to changed a train route on a weekend. You cannot contact them on weekends and if you are on the west coast good luck contacting then during the day. They close early. Amtrak could not change my reservation because it was made with Amtrak Vacations. Also, they over charge you. I had a cancellation with my train service and was going to get strained in Los Angeles overnight. They convinced me to book a room. Amtrak vacations charged me $380 for a room I could have booked for under $250. I cancelled it 2 days in advance and got nothing back from Amtrak Vacations but a voucher. What a rip off. I never want to use them again. but to get something back from the $380 voucher, I will book rail travel only through them. They will most likely overcharge me for that too. Book your travel on Amtrak yourself and save yourself money and headachesl read more

AMTRAK VACATION DOES NOT EXIST!!!!!!!!!! So for any of you who know me know that me and my twin love to travel. We usually take a vacation trip for our birthday. Well, this year we decided to pay homage to our father and ride the rails. We had seen ads for AMTRAK Vacation and thought "WOW that sounds fun, relaxing and we get to see the countryside. We had seen these amazing pictures and videos of people enjoying these luxury trains with amazing views from big picture windows, fantastic meals and great rooms. So we booked this very expensive trip to Niagara Falls, that included a roomette, priority boarding, meals, upgraded hotel room, Stage coach from Buffalo New York to our hotel in Niagara Falls New York close to the Falls and passage on Maiden of the Mist, our most expensive trip to date. Yeah, were we in for a rude awakening!!!! Our first red flag was when a couple of weeks before our trip, my twin received an email cancelling our Stage coach from Buffalo to Niagara Falls but per their policy(should have read that fine print) we were unable to cancel on our side. It went downhill from there. We got to Union Station and were going to check our bags but we weren't able to because we wouldn't get them back until we reached Buffalo. Of course, we would need our clothes and toiletries for the "luxury train" that we would board in Chicago after our coach ride from Kansas, where we had an 8 hour layover, second red flag. We thought it was worth the layover because we would be boarding our "luxury train" with our roomette. Well, as you can tell from the pictures below it was a toilet closet. Yep, that brown in the corner is a toilet and above that a sink that pulls out the wall. They are also the steps up to the bunk that comes down from the ceiling. For clarification on the pictures, I was standing outside the room, you can't stand when the bed is down, the blue curtains are part of the door, yep the ones touching the front of the bunk. Oh and the straps, are to secure yourself up there so you don't fall off during the bumpy ride...no sleep for the weary travelers. So I slept and sit beside a toilet the whole ride. As you can also see in the pictures the train is old(probably in style when my Dad was a conductor and he died when we were fours months old)and it smelled like urine from previous passengers. It was laughable!!! but certainly not funny. Of course, we didn't use it...we trekked 2 to 5 cars over to use the restrooms in coach. There was 1 folks yep I said 1 tiny shower stall for all the passengers(at least 12 rooms-double occupancy equals 24 folks)on the sleeping train to use and it was unaccessible. We were unable to have a meal because the food was contaminated due to all the rain that was pouring into the train. Our luggage also had to fit in the toilet closet with us. There were no great vistas, you use the same rails as the freight trains and they have priority. So you will find yourself stopped on the rails for hours. Now after hauling luggage on and off of trains we finally get to our hotel(that we couldn't check in for more than 2 hours) we go to our upgraded double room and there's one double bed(after no sleep on the train)for two grown women to share and a view of the lumber yard across the street where we had to pay additional funds for incidentals. Fortunately, we had ants(lots of ants) in our room so the hotel upgraded our room where we had a view of Canada, the nightly fireworks display and two double beds. We were so tired we lost our first day in Niagara Falls. We upgraded our tickets for Maiden of the Mist to a tour of Niagara Falls well worth the extra money than stumbling around Niagara Falls with no idea of where to go, what to do, and how to get there. Finally our last day I go downstairs to get coffee and realize that we have to check out of our room by 11 am and our train doesn't leave until shortly after midnight. So we either pay for another night or we schelp our luggage around for 13 hours or sit in a train station that long with our luggage. While dealing with the front desk at our hotel we are made aware that our accomodations and activities were booked through Price Line, while Amtrak paid Price Line 1/4th to 1/2 of what they charged us. All this to say AMTRAK VACATION is a hoax, scam or whatever you want to call it along those lines. If you're thinking AMTRAK then just DON'T!!!!! Just fly and book through Price Line yourself. Niagara Falls is Amazing and an almost spiritual experience. read more

We wanted to take a rail trip and went to the Amtrak website. Since we had never traveled by train, we clicked on the Amtrak Vacations link. We booked our trip to travel around the US with stops and stays in several cities. The total with trains, hotels and excursions was over $12,900. Now as I said before we had never taken a train trip and we booked bedrooms on the train. It was until after we booked our trip and I called Amtrak with a question did I learn that Amtrak Vacations was not part of Amtrak. From the beginning of the trip when the first train was completely cancelled and Amtrak Vacations response was underwhelming. We had to book flights to get to the first city without any assistance from them. It just got worse with cancellations. It got to the point where we just decided to cancel the rest of the trip and fly home. Again no help. When I called to get the credit on the unused train travel it was significantly less than what we paid (I spoke directly with Amtrak also). We only were able to take one train throughout the trip. The others were cancelled due to one reason or another. I called Amtrak Vacations and asked for an itemized invoice due the low amount of the refund (only approximately $6,000), I was told they would not give an itemized invoice ever. I than asked about any fees they charged and they refused to answer. So I would say that Amtrak Vacations has deceptive advertising practices as they portray themselves as part of Amtrak and they do not mention any fees. There is no way hotels or the excursions they booked equaled to $6,000. read more

QESTIONABLE ETHICS and INSURANCE SCAM Amtrak and Yankee Holidays are all connected with Railbookers. RAILBOOKERS demonstrates unbelievable ethics. DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE! Sequence of events: September 21,2021 - reservation make for expensive trans-Canadian rail trip, including trip Insurance Husband's health deteriorates in November and December. January 6, 2022- email send to cancel trip due to deteriorating health of Grant - Follow up call by staff member -no refund of deposit would be forthcoming - only travel credit. We should try to find a way to use the deposit on a future trip. - EVEIDENTLY - trip was not canceled, however. CREDIT CARD CHARGED on May 16,2022 for full payment for proposed trip. - Husband's condition deteriorates-End Stage Kidney Disease - dialysis 3 Xs/week, broken Hip/ mobility issues. - Letter from nephologist documenting conditions submitted. - Email from Railbookers saying sorry- you are OUT OF LUCK. No refund (insurance is for cancelation fees- not travel expenses-my bad-should have been a red flag as to the conditions of such a reservation.) INSURANCE DOES NOT COVER TRAVEL EXPENSES. WE NEED THE RESOUCES - our heirs do not need or want such a "travel credit." That will never be used. Funds paid, but no services received. read more

It is hard to explain how upset and angry I am with Amtrak Vacations right now. Keep in mind Amtrak uses Amtrak Vacations as a travel agency. I decided to try using Amtrak vacations to set up a weeklong vacation with my family. The amount of time and effort I've spent on the phone and doing the work myself is outrageous. I ordered a vacation through Amtrak Vacations and PAID for it (Friday). I was told the following Monday, or Tuesday I should expect an email with confirmation and tickets, ect. I ordered round trip Amtrak Southwest Chief tickets, connection to the Grand Canyon Railway, a motorcoach tour up there at the Grand Canyon, hotel at the Grand Canyon, return motorcoach. I paid in full and five days later I find out the hotels are overbooked. OK, I tell myself, I'll continue on with the vacation and then I procured the rooms myself despite Amtrak Vacations selling me the package, taking payment & then replying 5 days later stating there is no room available. The problem is, I was able to get the rooms from the hotel website! Within a half hour from receiving the email from Amtrak Vacations I booked a room. About 5 or 6 days later, I was able to get my second room. Then, I received a phone call 13 days! after my initial order telling me the Grand Canyon Railway is overbooked & I won't have the motorcoach bus tour as well. The only thing left in this original vacation package confirmed is the Amtrak train! Why bother with Amtrak Vacations if I get this kind of incompetent service? So Amtrak Vacations, which is a subsidiary of Yankee Leisure Group, replies with the excuse of "very busy and it's spring break", which is automatic fallback from their guest services reps but how is it I bought all the pieces of my original vacation and they can't. These are lame excuses. Amtrak needs to stop using this organization, Amtrak Vacations. How embarrassing to be associated with this company. I complained and was refunded $3,200 but I still feel that wasn't enough. After I bought all the items they couldn't provide, I saved money. Seems like Amtrak Vacations took their cut and didn't give it back (suspicious). Amtrak as an organization has a hard enough time as it is. Getting money from congress, scheduling conflicts with he freight railroads & then you have this company, Amtrak Vacations, selling packages to the public. I could just as well get on priceline.com, kayak or the Grand Canyon Railway website and just order it myself. The expectation is, when I buy a package deal it is taken care of, right? After I found out Amtrak Vacations couldn't get the hotel rooms I needed up at the Grand Canyon, I immediately went to the hotel (Maswik Lodge) and got the same room in about a half hour! Why bother with Amtrak Vacations if I find my hotel rooms, bus tour, park tickets, baggage transfer, Breakfast, lunch & train ride up to the Grand Canyon on my own which Amtrak Vacations couldn't do? Questions are: why did it take 13 days to find out the rail trip from Williams to the Grand Canyon was sold out? How is it I can get online and find the hotel room at the Grand Canyon while I found one in a half hour? Does Amtrak Vacations book the itinerary immediately after taking payment? Doesn't seem like it. The salesman who sold me the package looked at it all and it was available then but now it seems like it takes a week or two for people to actually get the tickets. Wow! What a disappointing, shady business this is. I'll never try something like this again and am questioning whether to contact the BBB or attorney general's office (both my state & Massachusetts) on these poor business practices. read more

Like most travelers, an over-night train trip had been on our bucket list for a very long time. So, we attended the on-line information seminar and book out trip. Flying into Seattle, WA we began our exciting trip. First stop settling in to our hotel right beside Amtrak station. First mishap they book both couples ( we were traveling with friends who booked the same trip) in the same room. Really? Of course calling Amtrak was of no use even after waiting on hold for hours!!! Luckily the hotel extra rooms so we just paid for the room on our credit card, to be sorted out tomorrow (which eventually was taken care of but only after we were home and several phone calls between Amtrak and the hotel). Seattle was a nice stop but ready for the train ride we headed to the train station. Very little information was posted anywhere, never traveling by train before we had no idea what to do. So, we waited. Eventually a gentleman came by and he told us where to sit and what to listen for. As we headed for the train car a woman stood waiting, no smile, no "welcome aboard. Once again no information. After showing her our ticket she pointed to the door. Now what? We managed to find our "roomettes" but had no idea what to do with our luggage or where anything was, etc. Sharing information is not Amtrak's strong suit. Now mind you, we paid a lot extra to have a roomette, it was filthy! Thank goodness due to Covid, we travel with sanitizing wipes. After wiping what we could, the wipes were black! We found out later, the entire train was filthy. The bathrooms were not clean when we got on, nor were they cleaned during the duration of the trip! We settled in and soon found out that you can't dine when you like, there are set times (and no adjusting those times). The menu is limited and it does not change, they offer the same average food per meal time; breakfast, lunch, dinner! After dinner we settled in to the very small and uncomfortable roomette, only to learn the air conditioning was not working. They were to pick up repairman along the way, but it did not work - miserable night! Arriving in Glacier Nation Train Station, information was about the same - none! We made our way off the train and found out we had to WALK to the GN Lodge across gravel parking lot, along a two-lane road and trough a parking lot. The lodge was fine, it's old and well everything is old there! No elevators, something to be mindful of! After checking in we found out although Amtrak included the RedBus tour of Going to Sun Road on our itinerary, they did NOT book us on the tour. We had to rent a car and do the best we could on our own. As our time at GN Lodge came to an end, we packed to board the Amtrak train bound for Chicago and yes we had to walk back to the station. At least this time we had some idea of how to pack and what to expect upon boarding the train. Again, the car attendant paid little attention to us and yes the train car and bathrooms were dirty, surprise, surprise! We quickly learned that yes indeed the air condition on this car (different than the one we too at the beginning of the trip) also had an air conditioner that was NOT WORKING! Ahhhhhhh! The conductor visited with us and said he'd do his best to get it working but it never worked. No air conditioning is the worst! We were encouraged to use the observation car (but only during the day as it is locked at night) because it was airconditioned. So instead of using the roomette we paid for during the day we sat in the observation car but not until we cleaned the table and seats (black wipes again). And yes, the menu never changed in restaurant! In order to try and get some cooler air into our train car at night they opened the doors between cars. It was ridiculously loud, no sleeping in those roomettes that we paid and extra $400 a piece for. The car attendant was rarely available, found out he was hanging out in the airconditioned car behind us! When we arrived in Chicago he came around and ask us to empty our trash cans and take pillow cases off for him. Excuse me? That's your job-needless to say there were no tips given out on this trip. Our time in Chicago was lovely and at least we ended on a nice note. When we returned home we contacted Amtrak explained the numerous unsatisfactory issues we encounter on our Amtrak Trip. We made numerous phone calls, waited on hold for hours, transferred from person to person and then we were asked to send an email. Send an email? we sent 6 emails! Finally Amtrack offered us $300 voucher for all 4 of us! Unacceptable, a few more emails and they finally offered $50 a person refund and $400 total voucher. So sad, so disappointed. This was a once in a lifetime trip (not to mention the expense) and it was the biggest disappointment of my life. PLEASE READ THE REVIEWS, I wish I had! It's sad but when family and friends ask about our trip on Amtrak, I have to say DON'T DO IT! read more

1) Having to walk with luggage three blocks at 3AM in the morning is ridiculous, especially with no prior warning or subsequent help.  It becomes more inconvenient and insane as we proceed. 2) The train was over two hours late after getting up that early. 3) The leg from Lamy, N.M. was cancelled, compounding our reservations and vacation as a ripple effect! 4) That it was a "freight line" problem is not our responsibility.  It is YOURS!   5) There was NO empathetic help from Amtrak to help us out--ZERO.  Being on the phone for hours on the train to try and get help failed.  More excuses and NO solutions or help.  Unbelievable!!! 6) Train workers were useless and insensitive. 7) The stress for my wife and I was not good.  Luckily, I am a problem-solver. 8) We had to book a shuttle to Albuquerque and an air flight to get to Denver to try and salvage the rest of the trip. What a mess!  Still, no calls to offer help--we are on our own!!! 9) We had to get rides to the hotel in Denver. 10) We had to walk to Avis rental with luggage. 11) Again, no shuttle reservations OR INFORMATION to help us--NOTHING.  We are on our own . . . after spending a bunch of money on an "Amtrak 'Vacation' ". 12) That Amtrak Vacations and Amtrak train service are unconnected in customer service is unconscionable and unacceptable!  Back and forth, back and forth, trying to get help--zero!  Insensitive, uncaring, unresponsive!  Amtrak should have jumped in there and offered professional, sincere help! 13) Paying that much for a sleeper car in a military barracks is inexcusable.  We're senior citizens! 14) Help with luggage on and off of the train was basically non-existent!  You have got to be kidding!!! 15) Had to walk over a MILE with luggage from the Union station in Denver to the Warwick Hotel.  My wife hauled too!!!  No taxi service at that night hour in Denver!  Bus drivers closed their doors on trying to get a ride.  Of course you people are clueless and have NO knowledge of these situations.  Amtrak "Vacations"--you have got to be kidding! 16) Multiple stops with the busses and trains.  No one told us about this!!! 17) That the travel agent, Clark Dumont had no knowledge of these possible issues is unforgivable! 18) I want to talk to the CEO--the very top--of Amtrak! 19) Only parts of your vacation that worked out well were the Mt. Rushmore, etc. tour, the Yellowstone tour, and our car usage, which you had no involvement in.  We agreed to that. 20) We can say more and have more! 21) Again, I want to talk to the CEO, head "person" of Amtrak! 22. Being forced to sit next to other people whom we never met seems like a great way to get acquainted, BUT, what if we don't see eye to eye or don't get along, OR, what if the husband a wife want an alone table for dinner?!  We couldn't have that--it would mean cleaning more tables, for God sake, oh no!  There were plenty of tables on the dinning car and we were not asked about seating.  It was clear and cut--TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT.  You have got to be kidding!  Would this happen in a restaurant?!  We did meet some great people. We don't like being forced to accommodate seating. 23. On "Responsibilities and Limitations of Liabilities of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak)" it specifically states that, " . . . Amtrak will provide Alternate transportation on Amtrak, another carrier, or overnight hotel accommodations at the discretion of Amtrak . . . ."    Where was the help offering there?!  .' 24.  The restrictions on liabilities says that Amtrak is not responsible for luggage.  Several of us on the train saw this and decided to take a break and have to get up at each stop and make certain that our luggage was not taken.  The luggage is right at the door for boarding and de-boarding.  No one is there insuring that passengers take only their baggage!   Really!  We caught onto that well into the trip! 25. I'd like a breakdown of the individual parts of the trip contract and what Amtrak Vacations receives as a fee.  Conveniently not shown on the original--why? 26. Seating sick people next to healthy people is unforgivable. Our car had two sick individuals. No clue, right? 27. That Amtrak, etc. has very carefully restricted any responsibility for just about any complaint has created an employee atmosphere of uncaring and careless, as well as rude, insensitive, passive behavior. They are basically immune from most or all responsibilities to help a passenger. No response yet either.  What happened to that promise team and Clark? read more

People who run it are the lowest of the low. Trips are overpriced and are of no quality. Spend your money on a trip you will enjoy and on people who care about the product they are selling. read more

I booked an Amtrak vacation for 8 people to take the Coast Starlight trip in March, paid the deposit on 10-31-19. Ben was the last agent I received a price from (along with Joe, Drew and Presley) I received an email yesterday from Presley 11-6-19 saying the trip will now cost us $500 more. How in the heck do you not honor the price given when we paid the deposit and one person even paid the total. Told to call guest services and told someone would get back to me. Unacceptable and nothing but excuses from everyone. Today they said we can take $100 off as a courtesy. Courtesy is honoring the price you gave me at the time of deposit. I never got a phone call or email to inform me of this craziness or offer cancellation, got an invoice saying this is your new price. Who agreed to a new price! Never heard of such and how do you change an invoice without my permission. read more

I do not recommend this company. I spent over $20k for an Amtrak train trip to Glacier National Park. After i booked and paid, i could never get them to answer a phone call, and was put on wait for hours on end. Late in the trip, they posted a new $478.56 charge for no apparent reason. Their service is attrocious. read more

If there was something below a one star rating, Amtrak Vacations earned it. DO NOT CONFUSE AMTRAK VACATIONS with AMTRAK, which is wonderful. AMTRAK VACATIONS is the misleading d/b/a name of Yankee Leisure Group, Inc. AMTRAK VACATIONS ruined a 10 day trip I scheduled across the country and back on AMTRAK. I wrote a 3 page, single space letter about how awful AMTRAK VACATIONS is. Once they collect your money you won't get any service from them, and they will not do anything to correct their mistakes. Don't use them! read more

This company is beyond ridiculous. Should be renamed "Scamtrak Vacations." I booked a Grand Canyon vacation and additional train transport for myself and a companion in September 2019, to take place in March 2020. We were only willing to commit to the trip because we were offered - and ultimately purchased, in addition to the regular travel insurance - a Trip Protection Option, which we were told was offered by Amtrak, not the regular travel insurance company. Under this policy, we could cancel the trip for any reason, and if that happened 45 days or more before the start of the trip, we would be refunded our deposit in travel vouchers (which we understood to be usable for travel via Amtrak) and the balance would be credited back to my credit card. I got this information directly from Yankee Leisure Group (YSL) (who is, according to YSL, Amtrak's "national tour operator"), not just from the third-party travel agent they assigned me to, and I have documentation. The pandemic forced us to postpone the trip, and when I asked about the insurance, I was told it would continue the same as when we originally purchased it. After a couple more postponements, my traveling companion developed medical issues which made such a trip out of the question. When I cancelled the trip, I was told our entire refund would be in the form of future travel vouchers. I have tried repeatedly to communicate with the Customer Care Department at Yankee Leisure Group, the department that Guest Relations told me was dealing with the issue. There is no phone number for them; one only can email and wait weeks or more for a reply. At Guest Relations' suggestion, I provided a doctor's note for my friend (even though we shouldn't need any documentation, under the policy). They have refused to address the fact that I purchased insurance to prevent this situation and repeatedly simply say my request was denied and I can only have the vouchers. And that is all they say. When I reached out to Amtrak on the matter, I was informed that Amtrak Vacations is completely separate from Amtrak and just "partners" with Amtrak, and worse, the vouchers were not good for train travel for Amtrak, but only for vacation packages with Amtrak Vacations! I have recently learned, as well, that Amtrak Vacations "changed their policy" on the Trip Protection Option, sometime in March 2020, after we purchased the earlier policy and without giving notice of any changes - including when I asked at the time of the first postponement. This company is totally misleading and preys most particularly on seniors, the main group with time to travel by train. They refuse to permit phone contact with the customer service staff who rule on complaints. They promise price-matching but their invoices don't break out any costs, so you can't compare to any other prices they advertise. Itineraries are the antithesis of user-friendly. They sold me insurance they refuse to honor. And they are NOT part of Amtrak. I will be proceeding to report this to any government agency that seems appropriate, as well as taking it to court. On fixed incomes, we cannot afford to throw away $5,000 -- and shouldn't have to, since we paid extra to protect our investment. read more

I received a gift card for Amtrak Vacations as my cousin knows I go to Manhattan often to visit friends. You have to book over the phone, you can't do anything online which is extremely inconvenient. The last time I booked a trip the person made several mistakes so I actually didn't even have a ticket and I had to call back and re-book -- annoying because there were obscene wait times. This time I wanted to use the remainder of the balance on my gift card. The guy asked me how much was on the card and I said I thought about $33 or $34. He said okay, and ended up applying $33 towards the purchase of my ticket. Great right? The next day I get a call saying there was only $24 on my card so they were going to have to charge my credit card an additional $9. So, this seems shady first of all. Secondly that means he just tried to run my card for $33 when I said I thought there was$33 OR $34 (who keeps track of gift card balances?) What if there was actually $34 on my card, or if I was wrong and there was $44? I would have only received $33 credit and threw away a card with $10 on it. Overall, not a user friendly company and I wouldn't suggest using them for normal ticket purchase and I 100% wouldn't suggest purchasing a gift card from here. read more

Well fellow Yelpers, would start by saying Amtrak is great.. It's Amtrak Vacations. So they won't refund even though they canceled. Again deal with Amtrak or another travel agency. I'm 67 always wanted to eat , scenery, sleep eat some more. Tim Hill told me I have 5 years to figure it out. Folks he's throughly trained. Told me that himself. My review for Amtrak Vacations is Yuck. - Was happy to hear Tim thinks I'll make it another 5 years. On the other hand why does Amtrak Vacations keep the money ? Actually look at the interest they get from us. --- Been trying to get refunded since they voice-mailed me that half my trip was canceled. -- Here's another thought this Vacations group has a good thing going. Amtrak is famous. I didn't know I was talking to these people. Didn't know they existed. I do now.. Two different things, kinda. Okay that's my thoughts and I'm going after my money.. lol read more

We booked a trip with Amtrak Vacations for this June on the Northern Rail Experience. We had booked this trip with bedroom accommodations in a Sleeper Car. Three weeks before our trip was to leave, Amtrak, the rail provider eliminated the Sleeper Car for the first leg of the trip. Amtrak Vacations notified us of this change and offered two solutions. One was to travel in the coach car and the second was to fly us to Seattle which was a two night stop as a part of the trip. Neither of those options worked for us. We were looking forward to travel by rail across our nation. We decided to cancel our trip. Amtrak Vacations did not give us a full refund of our trip. Only the rail portion was refunded about $6,000. The rest of the fare was held in reserve for future travel with Amtrak Vacations. That amount, retained by Amtrak Vacations amounts to about $3,400. We protested, but was told that was company policy. We never had the intention of cancelling this trip prior to the change that was made to the accommodations! Trying to contact anyone in charge of this company is nearly impossible. We believe they stole our money. I don't trust them! I will continue to try to get a full refund of our trip! read more

We paid almost $13000 for a 9 day trip from Chicago to Glacier Park to Seattle then back to Chicago. It is called Amtrak vacation but the train from Glacier Park to Seattle was a broken down, filthy, broken doors and the blanket was tattered. Disgusting. So disgusting and broken that we ended up flying home from Seattle instead of going back to Chicago on the train. They credited us a measly $500. We will never take a trip like this again on Amtrak. read more

I was planning a bucket list vacation & to see the Grand Canyon & there was a trip that included both Yosemite & Yellowstone. Since I've never seen any of them, I said yes. I spoke to Drew on the phone & placed a $500.00 deposit on this trip so it would hold my place - he asked me if I wanted travel insurance but the cost was close to $500 so we chose not to purchase it. I received our itinerary via email & since it was November 20th 2019 & our trip was scheduled in May 2020, I waited for after the holidays to really look over the entire trip. I found at our first stop from Chicago we arrive at Salt Lake City at 11:05pm & our hotel is 1.5 miles away with no shuttle from the hotel & basically we are on our own. After calling numerous times to confirm that Amtrak would do nothing to facilitate us reaching our hotel safely, we decided (my husband & myself) that this was not the vacation for us. When I called to cancel I was told to look at page 8 that I received when the itinerary was emailed that since I didn't purchase Trip Protection that my deposit-$500.00 was forfeited by me! I explained that I never received this disclosure & that the only thing I received was my itinerary. Please BEWARE - I put this deposit on my credit card & the CC company at this moment are not even backing me up?! CC company is saying they can't dispute the charge since I accepted the penalty - which I did not. This company YLG (not Amtrak) doesn't care about their clients - just selling tickets & getting money from them with no real responsibility for their actions. read more

1. Very nice & accommodating at first (before final payment). Since we booked early, some hotel bookings weren't available on a calendar. Nick promised to change two hotels that we requested, but when we called to do so, he stated he never would have said that as it was impossible for him to change. Said he would be happy to pull up the recorded conversation. How could that outcome be fair or accurate when they have the records? 2. After our final payment, their attitude was no longer helpful. Stated they never promised to change hotels and said they couldn't unless we paid additional fees. 3. Benjamin was always rude 4. Booked a married couple in double rooms 5. We contacted each hotel ourselves to request king beds. Little success in that request. 6. First Voucher package was incomplete; missing tickets. We had no transportation to Banff, but had tickets to return from Banff. Second voucher package also incorrect, and even though we checked before leaving, we didn't catch a mistake. Had to fret while on our vacation. Not fun! 7. All tours had incorrect times listed on vouchers as discovered when contacting all tour companies as instructed before departing. Had Amtrak Vacations, d.b.a. as Yankee Leisure Group, simply placed a statement that departures varied, it would more accurately define the process. 8. Put us on back to back 10 hour bus tours 9. A voucher valid for one adult only, instead of two 10. Amtrak Vacations (YLG) is simply a processing to their own advantage company. Didn't bother to find out about their customers and so essentially the booking didn't "fit." We feel as though we did the majority of work on this trip and the travel agency, while experts, failed in good customer service and trip planning. read more

I received an Amtrak gift card for my birthday and and used it to go to Washington DC. It was very easy to use and I was very impressed with the on-board service and cleanliness of the train and stations since I usually fly. The food was excellent, the Amtrak people were very nice and courteous and the train was on time to the minute. I would recommend it read more