Discover Holidays

Our priority was wildlife viewing, and two out of three trips that were wildlife focused were cancelled by the tour operator at the last minute, not exactly the agency’s fault, but our trip was far from optimal. We were never notified until the day of the trip, and our schedule was so tight that we could not rebook. Unless you really like trains, I would not advise taking the train from Anchorage to Denali. Most of the trip offers little scenery and it takes eight hours. Fly into Fairbanks and use that as your base. The train trip to Denali is only three hours. I believe Gold Star service is about twice the price of standard train service, so check out flying options before booking the train. But, the employees of the Alaskan Railroad are excellent. Even Motor Coach is faster. I’m wondering if the agents specializing in Alaska have ever been to Alaska. I will give them kudos for our brief visit to within the Arctic Circle. The experience of meeting Jack and his wife, two people that are essentially living off the land, was fascinating and informative. No wildlife though.

UPDATE: The rest of the trip went well, and Discover Holidays had called ahead to request an earlier check-in at the next hotels on our trip though we had already called and done the earlier check in at Lake Louise. The Jasper stop needs to be coordinated better with the hotel check-in, but otherwise no additional issues ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pathetic experience so far, and I feel compelled to write even as we are still travelling on their planned itinerary.We had bought the expensive Winter Escapades package and are traveling with a toddler.The first part of the journey is on the train from Vancouver to Jasper. The train arrives at Jasper at 9:00 in the morning - BUT - we cannot check in the at their booked hotel till 4:00 which basically means that we were stranded in the hotel lobby with a kid till for 7 hours without a room.A 4:00 pm check in may very well be standard hotel policy but cannot be part of a planned itinerary without informing the customer, particularly one travelling with kids. You also cannot reach them at the given phone number.Very unprofessional.

Organised a great trip for us.