Everything well planned, went smoothly and the experience was great. Terrific accommodations, food and sights.

Beyond expectations! Drawn there by the stars, but also fascinated and impressed with the people, history, geology, and excursions. Top notch gourmet food in addition. And thanks to Anjali and Sam for a super job!!

Everything about this trip was fantastic. Everything went very smoothly. The train and trolley rides were great fun. The ladies running the tour were very competent and fun to be around. The bus driver was the best I have ever known. I have worked with quite a few and this gentleman was by far the best. The ladies were really helpful with restaurant reservations and any other problems that arose. The restaurants and other meals included with the tour were great. I cannot begin to say just how much I enjoyed the tour and all the people involved. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone who loves trains as much as I do.

This was my first group tour and my first rail vacation. Normally I do road trips, having slept in 39 states and been in the bounds of 41 since the summer of 2019. I am not, as many of our group did not seem to be, dedicated rail fans. For myself, this was a way to see a number of highlights in Alaska where there is limited infrastructure. I feel the tour had value in all transportation, lodging, and transfers being taken care of and all I had to do was show up on time when and where my guides told me to. The group was good. We got along well. No one was tardy in the mornings. Rachel and Molly kept us organized and on time. If there were any problems, I didn’t see them, except for a room key snafu in Talkeetna. They and our bus driver Ben took good care of us. September is the rainy season in Alaska. It rained every day, including the days I arrived early. Don’t bet on seeing the Northern Lights on this tour. This was a rail centric tour to travel the length of the ARR from Fairbanks (MP470) in the north to Seward (MP0) in the south with the Whittier branch to go through the longest combined road/rail tunnel in North America. By that measure it was a success. The train itself was great. We rode 1st class on all but one leg and the Hurricane Turn, which only had coach service. The coach had dining downstairs with good food. The seating upstairs was full length dome with excellent visibility. The coaches also had an open air platform on the second level. I spent much time on the platform. However, there were a number of issues. Communication was abysmal from the start. I was trying to arrange an off tour day for myself. Special Interest Tours (SIT) did not answer the phone or respond to my email. Our Trains magazine rep reached out on my behalf. I shouldn’t have needed a third party to intervene on my behalf. Getting the clarification on the itinerary was difficult. It was sent out shortly before the trip. By the time I got everything cleared up, the train was sold out and I could not spend an extra day in Seward while the rest of the group toured the ARR shops and Anchorage Museum. I arrived in Fairbanks 4 days before the tour started. According to an email from SIT, I was supposed to have been contacted as an early arrival when I filled out contact and arrival information for SIT. I never heard from them, but it did not affect my getting to the hotel for the start of the tour. We met in Fairbanks where our guides told us that our Trains Magazine representative was unable to make it due to family issues. Here again was lack of communication beforehand. A train expert was to be part of the tour. I understand that SIT could not foresee his canceling, but could’ve told us as soon as they knew. The Marriott in Fairbanks was ok, but the neighborhood was terrible. There was a loud argument between obviously drunk people outside the hotel at night making sleep difficult. There were also a number of homeless people. The Grand Denali Lodge had great views. It was on top of a hill that had a mile long switchback driveway, making it difficult to leave the hotel. There was a shuttle to a shopping area and Denali NP. Denali itself was not one of my favorite national parks. There are no hiking trails except near the visitor center. The only way into the park are park buses. Don’t expect herds of moose or elk or Dall sheep. We did see some wildlife, but not much. We did see Denali though. We were told that only 5% of people get to see it from our vantage point. It was beautiful, but not particularly interactive sitting on the bus. We did stop a few times for bathroom breaks to look around. First of so so box lunches that day. Otherwise the food at the hotel was good. On to Talkeetna. Here again there could have been more communication about how much down time there would be in Talkeetna. We had to wait until 4:00 p.m. the day our train left. That was plenty of time to book a flight seeing tour to land on a glacier on Denali or visit a sled dog kennel. More advanced notice would have allowed for planning instead of wandering around the 3 blocks of downtown Talkeetna. The Hurricane Turn was the reason we stopped in Talkeetna. Again this was a train centric tour, so this was supposed to be a highlight as the last flag stop train in the United States. Meh. We stopped at a local author’s store. She illustrated and wrote children’s books. The other major stop was the Hurricane Bridge. We stopped on the bridge and the opened the baggage car doors so we could look down 300? feet at the river below. Again, not much action. We did stop for some abandoned ARR equipment on an old siding which included a rotary snow plow you could walk through. Lots of waiting during this segment of the tour. The hotel had a beautiful lobby where the group gathered around a large stone fireplace in the evening. The view outside was again spectacular at times. It was late when we finally got to Anchorage. We stayed at the Hilton. This sounds first class, but this hotel was run down. The carpet was frayed in multiple locations in my room. We went on to Wittier the next morning. The tunnel was interesting to go through as a rail fan. The place we had lunch was a joke. I understand this is not Tahiti with 5 star restaurants, but SIT could have done better in choosing our restaurant. I believe we all got the same sandwich here and then chose a drink. Even a limited choice of sandwich would have been nice. We left shortly after eating because of the rain by bus to the hotel in Girdwood. The mountains in Whittier were beautiful with many waterfalls. Another take it or leave it day. We stayed at the Alyeska Resort. This is a ski resort with an enclosed gondola up the hill. A ride was included with the tour. More time here might have been nice. They have pedestrian suspension bridges 2400 feet above the ground that I would have liked to walk across, but there was not time due to the tour itinerary. Dinner service here was beyond terrible. During the tour we were often asked to choose from 3 meal options so the restaurant could get prepared for our group. We did so at the Alyeska Resort. It still took over 2 hours to get our food when we had submitted our choices earlier in the day. More on that later. Next on our list was Seward and Kenai Fjords NP. This was by far the best scenery. I spent the entire leg of the trip on the rear platform of our coach. There was a little time to grab a souvenir before boarding the boat for our 4 hour cruise. Another ho hum box lunch. I enjoyed the first ½ of the cruise. This company offers 4 different cruise lengths from 4 to 8 hours. The 4 hour cruise never makes it into Kenai Fjords NP proper, but does cruise by glaciers. We saw some Stellar sea lions and otters among other wildlife. A couple of small icebergs were visible. I can’t speak to the whole cruise as I began to feel slightly seasick the second half. Another night was spent at the Alyeska Resort. The following day we went to the ARR shops for a tour. Here again we sorely missed our Trains Magazine guide. We were divided into 2 groups and given an ARR shop employee as a guide. My ARR shop employee wasn’t able to answer a number of my questions stating the questions were out of his area of knowledge, but the other ARR employee should know. Too bad that group was never close enough to ask. We finished the day at the Anchorage Museum. Here again we all got identical box lunches from the museum cafe. Identical. No choice. Unacceptable. I wish we had more time at the museum. We ended the tour back at the same tired and run down Hilton. Another bad experience I had there was the breakfast buffet. The made to order omelet cook just disappeared for 5 minutes with no explanation while I was waiting to order my omelet. This hotel didn’t offer shuttle service to the airport. I would not have cared if it was not free, but to offer no service at all in an upscale hotel I thought was absurd. Our final dinner together was another slog waiting for the food to arrive. Outside of the box lunches and the shack in Whittier, I felt the food was good and plentiful. Oftentimes it was all you could eat. Service was spotty all through the trip. This was likely because we were at the end of the season and much of the staff had left. Overall this was an ok trip. End of season service and poor seasonal weather (rain expected) really brought it down. Congratulations if you made it this far, but I hope this detailed review is helpful. Brian

It was a good group with a great bus driver. Tour guides were below par and the mixup with our rooms at the Hyatt was unexcusable as I had communicated with "Sam" way back in February about this. It was no fun to arrive and find out we had no rooms. Could be less expensive if the two waterfront meals in Portland were handled better. I would not recommend this tour company to my friends.