Bewertungen zu Glacier National Park & Chicago

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My wife and I took the Great Rails Journey to Glacier National Park. It was a great trip across the northern state. We had a bedroom for the overnight portion, it was comfortable. We stayed a night in East Glacier Lodge, then onto St. Mary’s Lodge. The boat cruise on St. Mary’s Lake was excellent. The fog cleared and it was a beautiful sunny day. Next day started foggy on the Going to the Sun Road. It also cleared up in the afternoon. The Red Bus ride had amazing views. Went back to East Glacier Lodge to catch the eastbound Empire Builder to Chicago.

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Easy trip with all transfers on time. Hotels included very good.....scenery spectacular of course.

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I broke our trip experience into 3. - sections: 1. Awesome! The people at East Glacier Park Lodge, St. Mary Lodge, the St. Mary Boat Ride and the Red Jammer Bus were great! The views & scenery were spectacular. We’ll never forget that part. 2. Lacking : The transfer times/info between EGPK and St. Mary provided to us by Great Rail Journeys on our travel schedules was in correct. Had we not called the transfer company to confirm our rides, we may have been forced to wait hours until the next ride. This would have been a waste of time since we were all ready to go on the morning shuttles. 3. Amtrak: Kind of a disaster! Chicago to EGPK arrived an hour late. The staff was very cranky and lacked communicating the details in the sleep car, how to set up your bunks in the Roomettes, lack of notices for fresh-air stops, etc. In fact, the only thing our sleeper attendant did was watch videos in his own Roomette. EGPK to Chicago = Ran 8- hrs late getting into Chicago The staff was much better and communicated very well. The meals were better than expected. The train arrival at EGPK was already 3-hours late due some type of train/track signaling issue? And with freight trans taking priority, we had to pull over and wait numerous times. This only compounded the tardiness. Plus two separate weather slowdowns because of high winds caused by thunderstorms. Plus a stop for a swing bridge on the Mississippi River to allow a barge to pass caused more delays. Almost 38 total hours on the train was just too much! Unfortunately, we will never take the train again. Or as we call it “one and done”. If we had to do again, I would recommend taking the train from Chicago to EGPK. The return trip, I’d either take the train the rest of the way to Seattle and fly home. Or take the train To Whitefish MT and then catch a plane back to Chicago out of Kalispell, MT. Some pics added.

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Loved every minute. Only slight problem was that there was some down time while waiting to get into the rooms.

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The train needs to have so maintenance work.

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The park is fantastic. Amtrak is awful - cramped, dirty, and rude employees. Trip was crazy expensive. You can fly first class, rent a car, and plan your own itinerary for less than half!

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Difficult to sleep in coach class. The cafe food is not good. They need fresh fruits and vegetables.

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Dissappointment after disappointment

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The disappointing part of the trip was that the Empire builder was delayed at departure by 3.5 hours and I was not notified of the delay which meant a very long stay at the train station. The notification phone number given to Amtrak by you was the Great Rail phone number. Why was I not informed of the delay? Not a great way to start a trip.

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Train ride to East Glacier was fine. Return trip arrangements by air were not well thought out. Tours were allvery good.

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We were not prepared for the experience of riding coach on the train. Coach seats are upstairs and bathrooms are all downstairs. Did not know this in advance. Being elderly and arthritic, this was very difficult for me. My husband had to help me on my many trips up and down the stairs. It also made it difficult for me to walk back and forth to the lounge car and dining car with all the motions of the train. I only tried it once. We upgraded to a sleep car with a bathroom for our return trip, at a substantial increase. You might want to warn about certain weight limits for accessing these bathrooms. Some people might find it very difficult. Sleep was not possible for us either due to all the swaying and jolting. The porter was very helpful, although due to "technical difficulties", they had to provide sandwiches from an outside source. Younger, healthier people faired much better than us. Employees were very helpful and considerate in getting us to and from the train. Really loved seeing Glacier National Park.