#6512 · Sep 05 2024, 10:40 · 5296 Views

Package: Rocky Mountains 4 days and 3 nights

Price 5/5
You practically go to a bunch of places without worrying about parking, driving, and even bathroom breaks in between. (Imagine driving 1000km)
Hotels were great for its price too. Gosh, the hotels or even motels are usually $100-$200 per night, paying $600+ for all these are def a catch.

You’d have to pay $60 for tips for the driver and the guide for the whole trip.
Honestly, which is not a lot.

Service 5/5
For package tours, having a great tour guide is the highlight.
Owen was our tour guide and Captain Lee was our driver.
They’re friendly, respectful and I could see they tried to take care of everybody during the trip.

Tour Guide 5/5
Owen goes beyond. Our family used to work in the tourist industry, so we do have experiences with various Tour guides. He was respectful and also shared a lot of history and insights of various places. I really enjoyed the insights about glaciers, mountains and etc.

At one point, he got shouted at and even pointed at by one of the customers who went on the trip together, (Korean Karen) he kept his chill and tried to help her out without making her feel bad. He also went up and beyond to look for muscle pain sore patches for an elderly in Banff. It was the long weekend so Pharmacies were practically closed. He also got me a motion sickness medication, the guy didn’t even want to be paid. Thanks Owen.

He shared his contact details on the first day of the tour, just in case anybody had any emergencies, questions or generally any help.
In case you’re interested I’ll attach the picture of his contacts for your reference.

A lot of the tour guides usually become tour guides for various reasons, but Owen took tourism for his bachelors and was also a tour guide in Italy. He has basic ethics and def professionalism was great.

He was nice and respectful which made everybody comfortable and enjoy the whole trip.

I hope everyone understands that the tour guide will be the sunshine of the trip, so better think twice. If I’d be going back, I’ll def ask for his service. He was great with kids, and elderly people as well. I hope this review helps him in some ways.

Hotel 5/5
I mean $600 package for 3 nights and the whole trip, entrance fee, parking etc is a catch. So, I thought the hotel would be pretty shabby, but it was better than what I expected and convenient as well.

What they had:
Microwave, hair dryer, fridge, shampoo, conditioner, soap, plenty of towels, (They don’t have toothbrush and toothpaste so bring your own).
They had free water, ice, coffee and tea.

2nd hotel had everything except the microwave inside the room.

Route 5/5
It wasn’t perfect perfect, but what do you expect? You go to like around 7-8 different places in 4 days.
You won’t be able to Kayak or paddle boat, which is the downside and usually they only spend time around 20-30mins per site, so if it’s for taking photos and generally exploring and get to know Calgary, Alberta, or Banff, I think this is pretty awesome.

Cons:
Package tour language spoken is generally in Korean because majority of the clients are Koreans. If you’re okay with just going around places without understanding a lot of the history and insights, I think you’ll be pretty satisfied.

Owen spoke English, so if you have needs and questions, he’ll be able to answer.

Bus 5/5
-A/C was working well (Perfect temp)
-They had USB ports and charging ports too. (They actually worked! Which made my trip whole lotta easier with GoPro and phone, I didn’t have to bring portable chargers around)
-bus was spacious, we had 31 people on the bus. People who came alone on the trip were able to have 2 seats for themselves.
-Bus driver was nice and he made sure to unload and load the baggage, didn’t complain about a thing. He cleaned the windows well so people wouldn’t miss the scenery.
-No issues with the drive, overall it was smooth. (No signs of reckless driving)