Uncommon Journeys

If you want a fun trip and have everything planed for you this is the way to go! Everyone was so helpful and friendly. The trains were late a couple of times but since I have been on trains here and Canada before we were ready. I can’t wait to plan my next trip with them!

Just returned from a journey titled «In the Path of Lewis and Clark». Our trip included an Amtrak ride to Emeryville where we were to connect to a vintage train for the rest of the trip to Portland. That changed. We couldn’t do it until the following evening. So we had a day to ourselves. Then the train was late, and we waited and waited. It did not hook up the vintage train until 11:00 PM. The sleeping car on the vintage train was even smaller than Amtrak’s and the toilets did not work in several rooms. The 2 meals and service aboard were good. though. When we got o Portland the director met us to say the bus left because the train was late. So we waited again! Finally, the director sent us to the hotel by taxi. The following day we met up with the 2^nd part of the journey, the cruise. I will review that separately It was an Un-​Cruise out of Portland. All the blame for our waiting and waiting was given to Amtrak. I contend that if your company relies on another agency, you should have a contingency plan for your customers. Also, a disclaimer would be helpful.

Forget plane travel– trains are the way to go!!! Especially the trips from Uncommon Journeys I have traveled by plane, boat and train… and I love train travel. I just returned from the best short vacation I have had in a long time. First– I flew to San Francisco on a Wednesday spending an evening and a day dining and visiting with friends. Great meals at Prospect and Slanted Door. Thursday evening we went to meet friends at Trader Vic’s in Emeryville which is the perfect «vintage» experience before boarding the late night train. The Pullman cars are impressive, and we were greeted by a great staff with champagne and chocolate covered strawberries– our individual berths were compact but very comfortable. It is sleeping on a train– so its not like the luxury hotels on either end of the trip, its a train! But it is much better than you would expect. The breakfast makes you forget any bumps through the night– the best corned beef hash with farm fresh eggs. Again– the staff and service are top notch. The scenery when the sun comes up in the Cascade mountains is stunning. You dont want the trip to end. We arrived into Portland by 4 and were having cocktails by 5. Portland is a great food town and so much to see. One night in SF, one night on the fabulous train and two nights in Portland. Tapas at Ataula were a highlight. You will not go hungry a moment on this trip. This is a great romantic get-​away for a couple. Cant wait to do this again.

We just took an «Uncommon Journey» across Canada. The train was at least 5 – 6 hours late on both ends of this, causing waiting around in a train station for hours on end. Although the company was not to blame for Canada Rail issues, the fact that this is a common problem (we spoke with several train employees, both on the train and on the ground crews) makes one wonder why they would continue to offer this route.
When the start of the ‘journey’ was delayed due to the tour director not being allowed access to Canada as his passport was expiring within 6 months and they had to fly another tour guide in… it should have been a ‘sign’!!! Seriously… does anyone who travels NOT know this about passports, much less a ‘professional’?!
The substitute tour director was great, however, due to the train delays, many of the featured activities were either reduced to minutes rather than ½ days, or deleted altogether. This was highly disappointing.
The hotels were first class and wonderful. The cost of this trip however, led me to believe it was going to be a luxury trip. (Over $ 5K per person for 10 – 12 days) The meals on the train were fabulous and the meal included in Banff was wonderful. Everything else was pretty much so-​so, definitely not luxury or anything above expectations. We were told we should drink a lot of water… and at the cost of the trip, I’d have expected it to be provided. Really, how much could a couple cases of water cost?!
I wouldn’t take another tour by this company, mostly because the cost per person definitely didn’t equal the experience.
The friends we met were fabulous and we’ll keep them forever~ that would be the best ‘take away’.

Great Western Explorer
October 11, 2014-​Oct. 24.
I am a positive person, but I do not like feeling being taken advantage of with a bait and switch. I paid $ 12,000 including insurance for this trip that was to be a «trip of a lifetime» for us.
First, we were told we would receive our schedule 2 – 3 weeks before leaving. I called when we hadn’t received it with less than 2 weeks to go before the start of the trip.
The final documentation, as they called it said we would have Barbara as our tour guide. We even were given her cell phone if we needed to contact her at the train station in Chicago. Luckily, we didn’t as it was Patrick meeting us.
The original tour lists, the Biltmore Hotel, and an earlier check in at Reno at 8:30 AM, which we pre-​paid for. That did not happen. At 7:30 pm on the train the night before, we were told we would not be going to the hotel but Virginia City. The train was on time. We arrived at 8:30 am after two nights on the train, having packed for 2 nights per the instructions. We all were anxious for a shower, change of clothes, and lunch. On returning to Reno, we stayed on the bus and toured Reno till check in time in the afternoon.
Originally we were to stay at Yosemite Lodge in the park. Instead, we ended up in a dumb of a hotel just outside of the park. Would make Motel 8 look good. Read the reviews of the Yosemite View Lodge. It was old, in need of rehab, and one couple had a huge invasion of ants in their room. The restaurant was quite a hike away up hill. My husband has COPD and on oxygen. We paid an employee to take him on an ATV so he could have dinner then again for breakfast.
The switch to the Queen Mary was a mistake. There is retro and there is just plain old and outdated. The handle on the sink faucet came off in my hand. Walls were so thin, we could hear people talking in the early morning hours. There was a «critter» scratching between our walls at 3:30 AM. There was also a huge Halloween outdoor dance party going on at night till 1:00 AM. Some of the group were on the street side and had trouble sleeping.
How do you sell a tour then downgrade the hotels? To quote the website, «Superb hotels throughout including the opulent Biltmore Hotel».
Uncommon Journeys… yes, uncommon. Loved the sights we saw, but would not recommend this tour. And, I’ve already been asked by several friends about this trip.
Several times we had to haul our check in bags a long way to catch the train. Luckily, some of the passengers stopped to help us as, again husband’s breathing was a problem. And yes, we had made Larry aware of this when we signed up for the tour. Was assured, no problem.

I took a trip with Uncommon Journeys last year to Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. It was the biggest rip off and poorly run trip I have ever taken. No one to greet me at the Train, as promised. When we arrived at Yellowstone Park we were meet by the bus driver who walked us across the street and left. It turned out the rooms were not ready, there was no sitting room to wait, we were not given any help by the company and it was raining. Fortunately we found a coffee shop near by where we could wait, etc. It only got worse from there. I would NEVER NEVER take another trip with them and I would never recommend to anyone especially if they were a friend. When I wrote and complained to the President of the company he wrote me a rude, arrogate letter to tell me I was wrong. Don’t go with them!
Marj W.

Just completed a trip through Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park. Our train left out of Chicago stopped at West Glacier. Our train was an hour late but that wasn’t unexpected and certainly not Uncommon Journey’s issue. When we arrived at West Glacier our Tour Guide was there, greeted us at the train, had our hotel ready, and told us what the time & plan for the next day were. From that moment on we were on track, pardon the pun, running on schedule to the itinerary. Until we tried to leave Utah to head back on the train to Chicago. Some yahoo put a crane boom across the tracks in Nebraska and derailed an Amtrak train. Obviously wasn’t ours but certainly changed, for the worse, our return plans. The tour guide happen to be going back on our train as opposed to the optional San Francisco/​Oakland train. Amtrak announced that our train would only be going to Denver and then stopping. Amtrak had buses waiting to take us to Chicago. I did not want to go that route as did many others so our tour guide called ahead to arrange for enough taxis to be waiting (at 4AM) at the train station to take us to the airport, or to a hotel if that is what we wanted. When stepped off the train there were the Taxis. Luckily she called ahead as there were far more people wanting taxis than taxis. Anyway we flew out of Denver back home.
Can’t really blame Uncommon Journeys for the last train segment. and really can’t blame Amtrak. Just like people on the East Coast couldn’t really blame American, Delta, etc for canceled flights due to the hurricane. But what was good was our tour guide didn’t leave us to our own. She made sure she knew if we wanted to take the Amtrak bus back to Chicago, and if not what she could do to help.
As a special note the bus driver we had from Master’s Touch was excellent.
I did notice one thing on our trip. Several people never read the itinerary as they were disappointed as to our activities. But what we did was all listed.

Was on a trip with this company 3 years ago and it was a complete disaster. It was a train trip through Canada to meet up with a Cruise Ship with stops in 3 different cities. Everyone had prepaid hotels, train etc; however, Uncommon Journeys had not paid for hotels, tour buses, meals etc. They should be put out of business TJH