Vacations By Rail - Chicago, Illinois

Michelle C.

Short story: Refused to give us a refund when train was canceled an hour before departure. Gave a partial refund but still charged us for services that were never provided.
Long story: We attempted a trip for spring break with our son on the Amtrak Zephyr from Chicago to SanFrancisco. We booked through vacations by rail- made a reservation- then waited for confirmation that we were supposed to receive right away. Finally a week later we inquired again-we were then told they had sold out for the first class sleeping car we wanted. They had us delay by a day so we could get on in the accommodations we wanted. Totally fine.We flew to Chicago and stayed the night, then went to board the train. An hour prior to departure the train was canceled due to weather.Again, we could understand they have no control- disappointed but that’s how it goes. They could push us back to the following day- but at that point we’d miss out on the extra day booked in San Francisco and would just be flying straight home. They also couldn’t get us sleeping accommodations (54 hour trip). So we requested a refund. We canceled our extra hotel night (at the same hotel VbR used) and flights home from San Francisco. Hotel in SanFran immediately refunded. Called VbR and they said we couldn’t get a refund until they got one. My husband went to the Amtrak desk and watched them process the refund - even got a receipt for it. He called them back and asked for the refund again- we were told it would take time until they got their refunds. He shared with them the receipt. They begrudgingly gave us back $5k 2 weeks later. We paid over $7500 to VbR so we’re still out $2500. We had receipts from the Chicago hotel for $500. What we are being charged the additional $2k we can’t find out. We’ve called back and finally were told we got what we were going to get and we’d have to hear back from a manager.

gary M.

My wife and I just finished the 13 day America’s National Park Tour. Edgar our tour Guide and Ken was our bus driver were excellent. I highly recommend this tour and hopefully you will have Edgar and Ken. We had 38 of us on this tour and we all got along.

John N.

We took the "Alaska the Greatland" tour, it was mazining. We got view of Denali from 3 different sides. The views where out of this world. The tour then head south to Seward where we had two wonderful boat ride around the Kenai Peninsula and Kenai Fjords. The fjords are a whale, porpoise and puffin habitat. The second day was 26 glacier.

Deborah C.

We enjoyed a wonderful 11 day Vacations by rail trip around Switzerland. Rail is a great way to see Switzerland.

Lisa

Traveled with this company from US to Canada. Failed to get many details correct. Put us with a group from UK (wonderful group of people) but failed to understand we lived in the US. Sent an email asking if we would meet the group in London!?!?! Gave the tour guide wrong info on how to contact us, told us to find/pay our own way to get from Calgary to Banff but put the UK group on a tour bus that arrived to hotel at the same time we did. We missed a tour because it had to be paid immediately upon arriving at hotel and I didn’t want to pay for something I had no information about. Didn’t have our boarding passes for the cruise portion of the trip after assuring us the tour leader would have everything.Too many other issues with communication to list. Was too expensive a trip for the stress we were under due to failures on their part.

Kay H.

I am about to book a Canadian Snow Train by VBR. I looked thru the reviews. Those reviews are mostly about how wonderful their reps are, not about the trip. Not helpful for would be customer. I am interested in the reviews about the trip itself. I never saw reviews like these shown at this site.

Carol D.

Not impressed. We booked the Glacier Express, Rhine and Moselle Cruise, September 2024.

The company was not forthright in how much we would be expected to haul our luggage. The first day from St. Pancras station to Switzerland is brutal. Starting at 5 a.m., we walked more than two miles on an off trains and through several city blocks in Paris, to catch a chartered shuttle bus to another station -- a chartered bus for which we waited for for 45 minutes outside. Thank goodness it was not raining. Furthermore, as originally stated in their brochure, we did not stay in Chur to catch the Glacier Express. Instead we stayed in Davos -- where again the shuttle to the hotel was not ready and we ended up taking a public bus. That added I am guessing more than two hour's travel time to an already exhausting day -- only to have to travel BACK to Chur to catch the Glacier express the following day. Also that night not one liquid was served gratis at the included dinner which was sometime around 8:30 at night.

If you do book this trip, be aware that you need to be able to lift your luggage at least three feet off the ground to get it through the security conveyor at St. Pancras. Also, be ready to walk your luggage up the stairs on trains to the upper level where sometimes your seats are reserved, and realize that some stations might only have escalators for going up, but that you will be expected to get your luggage down MULTIPLE flights of stairs in the the train stations. Our guide was fantastic, but the logistics of the travel were ridiculous. The River Cruise portion was more relaxing -- but the included excursions were absolutely lame. Basically just walking tours. They never once got us to see some of the lovely gardens, estates, castles, or fortresses which are everywhere. Fortunately, members of our group caught on quickly and just struck out on our own when the boat docked. The cruise also really catered to the British passengers, which I get -- but c'mon no cream for our coffee? Meanwhile, at every meal there is a pitcher of milk for the Brits to have with their tea?!?! And ya'll can just forget about getting coffee WITH dessert. Best to just skip back to your room and make it in your Nespresso machine and bring it into the dining room. I might add that the British passengers have the option to use a service called Baggage Man, which is not available to the US travelers.

We picked this trip because it got us to London, a chance to take the Eurostar to Paris, and then to Switzerland (esp. the Matterhorn and Glacier Express) as well as several stops in Germany. It was why we took a chance, on an unknown company. But lesson learned for everyone in our group. Never again -- if we personally don't know someone who has used a tour group and my travel advisor doesn't know much about a company -- I won't use them for a trip longer than 2-3 days.

Anne N.

This is my first experience to book with Vacation by rail. It came highly recommended by my client.
It was a great pleasure to have Bridget as my booking agent. She is professional, knowledgeable, efficient and took her time to answer all my queries. Also, she was prompt in responding to my emails enquires. As promised, I received my confirmation of my booking in a hour. This looks like a great start & promising that this very company will provide me the lifetime of adventure to Switzerland. Thanks to Bridget for a great customer service. Greatly appreciated.