Rocky Mountaineer Canada Trip 2019 - Day 3, Part 1

This was the first of two days aboard the Rocky Mountaineer train.

I forgot to mention it in my previous post, but when we first arrived at the hotel we had been told that there was an opportunity for early check-in for the Rocky Mountaineer (RM).  We just had to go down to the lobby at 5:30pm the day before departure and look for the table with RM staff.  So that day after we got back from our late lunch/early dinner we went to the lobby to look for them and saw this area set up in front of the restaurant entrance:

I thought wow, they're really doing this up right

But no, that wasn't for us.  It was for a private function at the restaurant.  The Rocky Mountaineer staff (who were great, by the way), had a couple of folding tables and chairs set up along a narrow walkway across the lobby.  Oh well.  We sat down and were given an envelope with our train tickets, luggage tags, itinerary, and commemorative pin.

I thought it would look good to showcase it against a patch of bare skin apparently from the "gluttony" victim from the movie Se7en...
...also known as a section of the kitchen counter that I will now never see the same way again.

The Rocky Mountaineer staff told us what to expect the next day and answered a few questions we had.  They also gave us our bus voucher for the trip to the train station the following morning.

Our luggage had to be ready and inside our hotel room by the door by 5:55am, so that next day we got up at 5:00.  Since we had packed our bags the night before we just had to get ourselves ready and stow our Dopp kits in the luggage.  Sure enough, at 5:55am on the dot the bellboy came to collect our things.

There were some restaurants and shops across the street that were connected to the hotel via an underground tunnel.  We headed down there and went to Tim Hortons, a Dunkin' Donuts-esque Canadian staple, for breakfast.  I had a maple pecan danish and a coffee - both were good.

At 6:30 we gathered inside the street-level entrance to the hotel.  We showed our bus voucher to the RM staff, confirmed that we could see our luggage was on one of the luggage carts waiting by the door, and got on the bus.  We wouldn't have access to our luggage again until that evening when it would be waiting for us in our hotel room, so Todd and I both had very small backpacks to take on the train.  Rocky Mountaineer clearly states that there is no overhead or under-seat storage on the train - anything you take onboard goes at your feet (although there was a little bit of space - less than on an airplane - underneath most seats).

Let's go bus

The bus pulled out at 6:45 and we were at the train station at 7am.  Many people were already there and more continued to arrive after us.  Coffee and juice were waiting for us while a piano player knocked out a series of tunes geared for the mostly older crowd.  A selection of merchandise was on display and could be purchased then or on the train.

This building was originally a locomotive repair shed for the Canadian National Railway.  The RM co. bought it and renovated it.

Waiting to board through the far doors

At 7:15 our attention was called to the front of the station for a welcome speech and a bagpipe player.  All aboard was called at 7:30 and we made our way outside to the train.

Rocky Mountaineer offers two service levels:  SilverLeaf and GoldLeaf.  In addition, GoldLeaf can be upgraded (of course it can) to a more premium room.  From the RM website, the main differences between the two are below.  We selected the GoldLeaf service level without the room upgrade.

	Silver Leaf	Gold Leaf
COACH STYLE	Custom-designed single-level dome	Bi-level dome with seating above and dining below
WINDOW STYLE	Oversized glass-dome windows for taking in the spectacular views	Full glass-dome windows with panoramic views
DINING	Breakfast and lunch served in the comfort of your seat	Gourmet à la carte meals in the lower-level dining room
SEATING	Reclining, comfortable pre-assigned seating with ample leg room	Reclining, comfortable pre-assigned seating with ample leg room
NUMBER OF HOSTS	Attended by two Hosts, plus one culinary team member	Attended by three to four Hosts plus a full culinary team
BEVERAGES	Gourmet sweet and savoury snacks included	Gourmet sweet and savoury snacks included
SNACKS	Complimentary alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages	Complimentary alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages
VIEWING AREA	Small outdoor viewing platform	Large exclusive outdoor viewing platform
STORYTELLING	Engaging hosts with stories about historic sites, flora, fauna and wildlife	Engaging hosts with stories about historic sites, flora, fauna and wildlife
BAGGAGE DELIVERY	Complimentary baggage delivery to your overnight hotel accommodation in Whistler, Quesnel, and Kamloops	Complimentary baggage delivery to your overnight hotel accommodation in Whistler, Quesnel, and Kamloops
HOTELS Look through your package itinerary to see where you will be staying each night	Confortable accomodations (sic) with restaurants on the property or within walking distance.	Luxurious hotel accomodations with premium room categories. GOLDLEAF + HOTEL UPGRADE Upgraded rooms throughout your journey. Guaranteed a larger room or superior view

Thar she blows.

This is us

Up the spiral staircase

We were in car J01, seats 65 and 66.  There were 2 seats behind us that were empty for the trip, and behind that the bar/service area.

Looking forward

The rain held off until after we had boarded

There were 4 attendants for our car.  Jade and Julia stayed upstairs throughout the day while Adam and Tina mostly worked the dining room downstairs.

At 8:15 we were on our way...backwards.  The train has to back its way off of the station track before proceeding forward on the main track.  There was a pathway along this stretch and dozens of RM employees were there to wave us off from under their umbrellas.  Onboard we were served an orange/pear juice drink and as we said goodbye to Vancouver we learned that on this train there were 2 locomotives, 25 rail cars, and 890 passengers.

As soon as we were on our way it was time for breakfast.  While the upper passenger section runs the full length of the rail car, the lower section where the dining room was located also has to encompass the kitchen, 2 bathrooms and storage/service areas.  As a result the dining room is only big enough to accommodate half of the passengers at a time.  The solution is to do meal service in shifts, with half the car going down to eat a meal while the other half gets a snack upstairs.  The dining car is reset after the first shift is over and the 2nd group then goes down to eat.  To be fair, the next day the group order is reversed.  We were in the 1st group on the first day and the 2nd group on the second day.

The bathrooms, followed by the dining room, then the kitchen

For each meal there's a menu with selections from which to choose.  For breakfast I had coffee, orange juice, and a Sunrise Skillet of baked egg, sausage, bacon, potatoes, mushrooms, and tomatoes.  It was really good and came with fruit (cantaloupe, apple, pineapple, gooseberry).

Scott and Pat were our breakfast partners

Our first bridge of the trip

Fair warning - get ready to see a bunch of photos of rivers.  Our transportation follows the course of rivers almost the entire journey (Fraser, Thompson, North Thompson, Bow, Athabasca) and they're beautiful to me.  At home we have the Trinity River which is nothing to look at, or other riverbeds with trickles of water, sometimes more if it's rained heavily or the flood control district or corps of engineers is releasing water downstream.

The wide, full, flowing waters of Canada were fascinating.  Combined with the wet, fall weather...ils étaient magiques...they were magical.

The viewing platforms

Lots of space out here

Passing by a suspension bridge

The Fraser River.  Love it.

Let's get arty:

Logs stored and transported on the river

Bar service started at 10am and all drinks were included in our ticket price.  When in Rome...

I ordered a Baileys on the rocks and enjoyed it immensely as we journeyed on.  The landscape out the window consisted mainly of river, agricultural farmland and occasionally small towns.  We rolled past farms, fields, vineyards, berries, corn, hay, cows, and what looked like a lot of kudzu.  At 10:55 we passed Harrison Lake.  At 11:10, Agassiz.  Yale at 12:01.

I like this picture of Todd

The car in front of ours is empty...and looks newer

Most people we saw waved as we passed

At 12:10 it was time for lunch

I had split pea soup and the Alberta Striploin Steak with a glass of Jackson Triggs Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.
The split pea soup was a surprising choice, considering, but it was really good.  Given the same choice I would have ordered it again.

The steak I would not order again.  It was overcooked and just ok.

During lunch we passed Hell's Gate at 12:45.  Dessert and coffee followed.

The Chefs Dessert Creation was good - chocolate orange cake.  The vanilla ice cream was better than the cake.

Back in our seats after lunch, we fought the urge to doze as our meals settled.  The steady, gentle rocking and constant *chug* *chug* *chug* of the train made it very difficult to stay awake.  I succumbed and dozed for 5-10 minutes before coming around and enjoying the scenery again.

To be continued.