Amtrak Vacations Avis 79

Hotel reservations were incomplete and inaccurate. Took way too much time to sort them out. The Business class section was awful, a small space tacked onto the back of the cafe car with inoperable foot rests and saggy old seats, not at all worth the extra money. And onboard service was rude. The whole thing was such a disappointment, not what was promised. I’ll never trust Amtrak again.

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!! They also do business as RAILBOOKERS They are impossible to get on the phone. They take forever to respond to emails. They lie. They reserve the biggest and most expensive rooms and don’t tell you. They booked a room that sleeps 8 for my husband and I. Yes I got stuck paying for it. They use third parties. When I asked for a breakdown of charges and credits I was told that it’s against their policy to give a cost breakdown!! We enjoyed our trip but hated every interaction with Amtrak Vacations. What a nightmare!!! And there truly is no reason for such behavior!! Wish I would have been warned. Met others on our trip who experienced exact same issues!!!

The Chicago-Glacier-Seattle trip was full of disappointments. The tour literature implies the tour is escorted, but we had to pay for all our ground transportation, cabs, Uber, etc., which was an extra expense.
Included vouchers to the Space Needle and Chihuly Gardens in Seattle were NOT honored because AV voided their contract several weeks prior, but did NOT notify us, or replace those attractions with similar attractions, or reimburse us.
Itinerary listed "included" dinner in Chicago but none was provided. Another unexpected expense
The Chicago-Seattle train equipment was built in the 1970's. It is gloomy, grimy, and like riding in a swaying, bumpy fun car at the circus, but not so much fun. And for heavens sake, wash the windows! You can't see the beautiful scenery for all the grime.
For the price, this was not a good deal. Stay away from Amtrak Vacations.

I felt scammed by this company using Amtrak's name to lure you in. When I booked my reservation, I was not told that travel insurance was going to be added on. When I reviewed my invoice, I saw the $549 charge AND on the last page of the invoice that travel insurance was optional. I was not told this when I made my reservation. When I asked for it to be removed, I was told travel insurance could not be refunded. This feels like a scam to me because I did not know this insurance was added in and I did not authorize it.

Chicago to Glacier National to Seattle. First the good, some wonderful country views along the way, and nice people. Best advice to enjoy is to set your expectations as to what it is .... strongly suggest if you do this, just to Seattle to Glacier and back (views+++, shorter leg) .... Everything else failed to meet much of our expectations, particularly given the cost. The train (we had the full room) is just old and gross. Think 80's with a few update, but poorly if ever properly cleaned in depth (stains and grime on everything save bedding) Beds, pretty hard and uncomfortable. A/C hit or miss - good one leg bad the other. Food was OK+ but think dinner. People good for the most part. If they book you the Glacier Park Lodge, read the reviews - they will give you the story. But know what to expect.

I should have looked at reviews. I thought this was a reputable company...it is not. The reps are not well trained at all . They don't listen to what you are asking/saying. the package deals are rip-offs. Solo seniors beware. The reps are only out to make a sale, they don't try to accomodate your needs, i.e., use of a cane, need to be near to activities if you don't rent a car. Never explained the city pass & need for a ticket for each activity. You have to reserve each activity separately.. Here it 2 days before my arrival & I need to scurry around to plan---I thought it was already planned out. I'm very discouraged....waste of money. Don't try to save money by going here. I haven't even gone yet & I'm wondering if I have so many issues now, how will things be when I arrive?

We booked individually as a group of 12-15 with our American Legion group. We were all under the same reservation number. After a 17 hour ride we got to our hotel. Everyone in our group was registered at the hotel but my husband and myself. We were told we hadn’t paid for hotel even though we were under the same reservation number/package as the rest of our group. We had never traveled by Amtrak and trusted the agent’s initial itinerary. We were not aware that the agent had altered our reservation and thought we were paid in full. We received zero empathy from Amtrak. They simply told us that we didn’t pay for hotel. We had to pay an unexpected $600 for a room. This, of course, left our vacation fund depleted and we ended up not participating in many of our groups planned activities. Don’t trust the itinerary! Check before you travel.

Where to start?? Made this a gift for my 89 year old mother so I was looking for an all inclusive vacation with minimal walking. They guaranteed me they would make it seamless. Ha! Amtrak Vacations isn’t even part of Amtrak! They are just a travel agency that leases their name! The hotels were fine but that was about it. We were in charge of getting to each place to catch the bus or train. Thank goodness for Uber! At one point the bus left us off blocks from the Amtrak station. We struggled with our luggage and my mom walking with a cane only to find out they were closed for another 5 hours!! We had no where to go so we took an Uber to the airport to sit until it opened.
I paid an amount that would have paid for a week at an all inclusive resort in the Caribbean. The hotels were 3 stars and the transportation a mush mash of ok and rickety. At one point we felt like we were on a school bus for a 5 hour transfer!
I would never recommend this company to anyone and will never use them again!

DISAPPOINTED AND FEEL CHEATED!!!
We booked the Glacier Park round trip Amtrak getaway for July 7the returning on July 12, 2024. This trip goes to East Glacier with lodging at The Glacier Park Lodge. Two tours are included since the stay at the hotel is for 2 days and 3 nights. There is the boat tour of Medicine Lake (east side of Glacier and the 2nd tour was the Big Sky Circle Tour. This tour was supposed to take you to West Glacier and drives through the entire park with several sightseeing stops. TODAY they canceled this tour and put us on the Sun Tours trip from East Glacier straight to Logan Pass and back to Medicine Lake. Called and got some ridiculous excuse and. now there's no remedy.

Date of experience : April 23, 2024

Horrible experience! We are so scarred from the train trip that we shudder every time we hear or see a train. A man sitting in the seat behind us threatened to kill his parents. A Hispanic woman called us white trash and threatened us. They would not let us in the dining car to eat and had to pay for frozen burgers that they warmed in a microwave. When we filed a complaint, they gave us a credit for another trip which we would never use!! Do not give these people your money!!

This review is for Amtrak Vacations not Amtrak.
1. Amtrak Vacations is NOT Amtrak despite using the Amtrak logo.
2. Bookings on AV do not show up on the Amtrak phone app
3. Amtrak is prohibited from changing an AV booking because AV is a travel agent.
4. If you have trouble AV closes at 5 pm Eastern time and despite pressing "3" for travelers who have missed a connection or train, you get a recording the office is closed. You are on your own...
5. With limited phone service on a train and the hold times for AV your call gets dropped before you can get help.
6. They have to call Amtrak to get answers to specific questions, so you are better off just booking directly with Amtrak.
7. Any issues with Amtrak and compensation or reimbursement from Amtrak have to go back thru AV, not directly to you.
8. I am running out of room to give more horid details. DO NOT USE AMTRAK VACATIONS or their sister company Yankee Travel

The company is not affiliated with Amtrak. It's a rip off scam company using the good name of Amtrak. They take your money offer
crap vacations that they mess up so bad. You can't get a refund . Don't use Amtrak Vacations

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.

Our family of 4 visited Canada for the first time. We enjoyed the entire itinerary. We only had one problem with one tour that was scheduled for wrong time but once I called customer service they had no problem reimbursing us for that tour. We never stayed overnight on train before so that was one of the highlights. Even though we were disappointed that our sleeper was one of the older ones and was in back of train so far from dining car. All of the hotels were in great locations and beautiful accommodations. I would definitely use Amtrak Vacations again!

I set out on my my first employee FAM with Amtrak Vacations back in August with lots of excitement and ready for the adventure that awaited me. And an adventure it was. I loved the fact that everything was planned out for me. The trip was awesome from the deep dish pizza in Chicago to watching the sunrise at the Grand Canyon to eating the food on the train, which was vegetarian friendly which was my fear before taking the train.

I am planning my next trip and it will be by using Amtrak vacation.

Mercifully, the threatened RR strike cancelled my vacation, But in 4 days:

1. FORMAL COMPLAINT: Instructions for meeting SLC Xpress.

Cabby had no detail where the SLC Xpress stop was on SLC Temple Square. Temple Square is pretty big and pretty crowded on a Sunday morning. It is difficult and exhausting to relocate our luggage and disabled spouse in wheelchair a little over 1/2 mi. from where I was dropped off. Bad 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.

2. 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 TO SALT LAKE EXPRESS.

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

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

I just got back from an amazing first trip with Amtrak Vacations traveling to Chicago, Grand Canyon National Park, and Los Angeles. I got to see the U.S. from a completely different perspective and I met some great people along the way.

I am an Amtrak Vacations employee and we get to go on trips like these every year to get firsthand knowledge on the services we provide and the places customers can go.