National Parks of the Southwest Escorted (feat. Grand Canyon)

I found out too late that we had fallen for this company pretending to be part of Amtrak - how they have been operating without a cease and desist is beyond my comprehension.
They did nothing we couldn't have done ourselves on Amtrak's and hotel websites. Our train was delayed TEN hours, which made us miss our rental car pickup time. They did nothing to inform us of the cause for the delay (because they are not Amtrak, now it makes sense), nor did they take action to rebook the rental car. The train back was cancelled due to weather conditions. Again, not Amtrak, so naturally we found out through actual Amtrak's automated voice system which by the way, only said that (ellipsis for robot voice pauses) "your train to ... Chicago ... has been ... cancelled.". We had to separately rent a car to Phoenix (2hr drive) and a flight back home. While it's not their fault the train was cancelled, the complete inaction was a terrible experience. We paid many thousands of dollars for this trip, which honestly would be worth it if it ran smoothly, but putting us through this experience makes me regret the decision to go with such a poorly performing service. Had I known that "AMTRAK VACATIONS" are not affiliated with Amtrak, I would have certainly checked twice for reviews - hopefully this deters someone from making the same mistake we did.

We took the National Parks tour to Arches, Zion, and Grand Canyon. They did not inform us we had to find our own way to get the rental car at Grand Junction. We had to get a cab and it was $30. They also did not inform us we had to pay the one way drop fee for the car. The tour guide at Moah for Arches and Canyonlands was wonderful! The trip was as they advertised and was great. Good hotels and Grand Canyon train was the best. You need to make sure you get dinning reservations in GC (on line) as they are all booked up. Except for lack of transportation to get car and charging us one way fee it was great.

Date of experience: March 15, 2023

Luckily, my trip was terminated by the strike threatened cancellation of trains out of Chicago.

But in 3 days:

1. They say that our a) 1- day stay at Little America, bus trip SLC to West Yellowstone, Yellowstone Loop Tour and return trip to Idaho Falls was $3200? Pretty steep. And they refuse to itemize.

2. FORMAL COMPLAINT: please forward to the appropriate department and respond in 10 days.

Your instructions for meeting SLC Xpress. Cabby had no detail where the SLC Xpress stop was on Temple Square. Temple Square is pretty big and pretty crowded on a Sunday morning. It was difficult and exhausting to relocate our luggage and disabled spouse a little over 1/2 mi. from where we were dropped off. Wrong directions? I got plenty of them.

The only way I made it was that I allowed 90 minutes for the transfer. Couldn't you have just provided an address or intersection?

With everything else that was going on I forgot this irritation with the lack of competency in your travel documents. They were worthless.

3. FORMAL COMPLAINT: please forward to the appropriate department and respond in 10 days.

DURING BOOKING I POINTED OUT THAT OUR AMTRACK PROFILE HAS MY WIFE AS DISABLED. I'M A COMPANION.

I'M SURE THAT IF YOU CHECK OUR TRAIN RESERVATION YOUR AGENT TOOK CARE TO BOOK ACCESSIBLE ROOMS, EXCEPT IN ONE CASE WHERE AN ACCESSIBLE ROOM WAS NOT AVAILABLE. LITTLE AMERICA DID NOT HAVE US IN AN ACCESSIBLE ROOM UNTIL I COMPLAINED. A LOT.
I GIVE SALT LAKE EXPRESS GOOD GRADES FOR ACCOMODATING US. BUT THERE WAS NO HEADS UP FROM YOU ACCOMMODATE MY WIFE's MS.

MY WIFE HAD TO BOARD AND DE-BOARD ON HER OWN. IT WAS SLOW, DIFFICULT AND HUMILIATING FOR ALL SLC XPRESS VEHICLES.

THE 9/12 YELLOWSTONE LOOP TOUR VEHICLE HAD A LIFT BUT DRIVER SAID IT DIDNT WORK (OR WAS TOO LAZY TO TRY TO USE IT) UNTIL HALF WAY THROUGH THE TOUR WHEN HE REALIZED HOW THOROUGHLY EXHAUSTED MY WIFE WAS GETTING. EITHER DUE TO EXHAUSTION OR TO KEEP FROM SLOWING THE ENTIRE TOUR DOWN, MY WIFE DEFERRED ON GETTING OFF FOR HALF THE STOPS.

GRRRRR

First, let me say the customer service at Amtrak Vacations was incredible. Very responsive and quick to help. The train from Chicago to Salt Lake City was great. Very clean. Met a lot of nice people. From Salt Lake City to West Yellowstone, we were on a bus with no AC… and it was our first introduction to our “travel buddies.” I wasn’t fully aware that other people could book the same exact trip as us. We thought it was more customized to what we wanted. In hindsight, we wouldn’t made more adjustments to our travel. We soon found out that all of our travel buddies were folks our grandparents age and older, ready to complain about any and everything. We quickly decided to ditch the guided tour to Yellowstone and rent our own car. Thank God we did!! We enjoyed our time together so much more than we would have on a shared bus.
The Yellowstone bus was okay. We got 3 hours of time to ourselves in the park and stayed away from the group. Be prepared for more bus issues (like no AC, loud people, etc).
We were supposed to take a train to and from SF, but we instead flew to SF so we could have a whole day exploring the city, and then rented a car to be able to drive down highway 1 from SF to LA. Absolutely beautiful experience. So glad we drove down highway 1 instead of connecting trains and buses to get down there.
Amtrak Vacations was able to refund a small amount, but not nearly enough to cover the things we cancelled in order to “do our own thing.” If I would’ve known how this trip was set up ahead of time, I would have altered our intercity to include the rental car to Yellowstone and LA instead of the buses/trains.

Amtrak is great for the long-journey routes, as long as you have time for any possible 1-2hour delays. If you have buses and shorter train rides in your route, I highly recommend switching them out for a car.
But! If you are older, don’t want to think about planning, and need constant assistance, the full trip is probably best for you.
Amtrak sleepers are VERY small. We knew this ahead of time and came prepared, but many people in our group obviously were not. By the amount they complained about everything, it was obvious they didn’t do much research before hand.
In the end, we probably could’ve done this whole trip for 5k, but instead spent close to 8k through Amtrak vacations.
If I was doing it again, I would have used Amtrak Vacations package as a “guide” and then book all hotels, tickets, and cars on my own.

I rec'd a call the train has been cancelled and they can put me on a bus. that is not acceptable since I wanted the train experience. They refuse to refund me my money. Said only the train is cancelled. I can drive or take a bus. the bus is 2 days of traveling I will miss my tours. this is supposed to be my dream train trip. I've never been on a train before. Amtrak will refund $396 for the train. Amtrak Vacation will only is half $557 in a voucher and I lose out on $557 of my hard earn money due to no fault of mine. this is so unfair and should be illegal.

I found out too late that we had fallen for this company pretending to be part of Amtrak - how they have been operating without a cease and desist is beyond my comprehension.
They did nothing we couldn't have done ourselves on Amtrak's and hotel websites. Our train was delayed TEN hours, which made us miss our rental car pickup time. They did nothing to inform us of the cause for the delay (because they are not Amtrak, now it makes sense), nor did they take action to rebook the rental car. The train back was cancelled due to weather conditions. Again, not Amtrak, so naturally we found out through actual Amtrak's automated voice system which by the way, only said that (ellipsis for robot voice pauses) "your train to ... Chicago ... has been ... cancelled.". We had to separately rent a car to Phoenix (2hr drive) and a flight back home. While it's not their fault the train was cancelled, the complete inaction was a terrible experience. We paid many thousands of dollars for this trip, which honestly would be worth it if it ran smoothly, but putting us through this experience makes me regret the decision to go with such a poorly performing service. Had I known that "AMTRAK VACATIONS" are not affiliated with Amtrak, I would have certainly checked twice for reviews - hopefully this deters someone from making the same mistake we did.