Columbia Icefield Adventure: Skywalk, Crowfoot, Bow & Peyto Lake

Beautiful Scenery, but Choose a Different Tour Operator

I went on the Premium Columbia Icefields, Skywalk & Lakes Tour with this company. Although the sites visited are amazing and well worth the time and money, I would choose a different company with which to take this tour. Our guide did the best he could, but I think there are issues with the management of this company. It was apparent from early on in the day that the van we were in was not in a state of good repair. The door did not fully close, the woman behind me had a malfunctioning vent next to her leg that got dangerously hot, and a man in the back had something leaking from the ceiling over his head. Because the door did not close all the way, it was very loud in the van, and the guide was not actually able to provide any commentary during the entire tour. On our way back, during a remote section of the Icefields Parkway, we smelled something burning, and noticed smoke coming out of the front of the van. It is inevitable that things will go wrong on day trips sometimes, but in this case, it seemed there was no established protocol for dealing with a situation like this (the guide did not even have a reliable way to contact the company, other than trying for a satellite signal on his cell phone). We waited for a while, and eventually got back into the van, but several people felt uncomfortable with the situation. Maintenance checks on vehicles should be a higher priority, and there should be a plan of action the guide can take when something like this goes wrong. In addition, I paid a little bit extra for the premium tour, booking directly with the company on their website, rather than through Viator or Get Your Guide, because this tour included the tickets for the Columbia Icefield Experience (Glacier Walk + Skywalk). I had read reviews for other companies running this trip, where guests were asked to book their own time slots for this experience, and I read of many logistical issues where not everyone ended up with the same time slot, causing delays, etc. I thought if I took this tour, everyone would have the same time slot and there would be no issues. The day before the tour, the company sent me a ticket for the 3:15 time slot. When I got on the tour bus, it quickly became apparent that the bus was full of people who did not book the premium tour and were trying to navigate booking their own time slots. I advised people near me to buy the 3:15 time slot, because surely that would be fine, given that the company booked this time slot for me themselves. We arrive at the Columbia Icefield at 2:30, and the guide instructs me and others with the 3:15 time slot to go into the visitor centre and re-book for an earlier time. Given that this was meant to be a "premium" tour, I think the least that should have happened is that the guide should have accompanied me into the building and taken care of this stressful process on my behalf. We never would have made it back to the bus on time if we had stuck with the 3:15 pm tour - even with a revised 2:45 time slot, some of us were late. Finally, as mentioned previously, the bus was full of people who had booked variations of this tour across different third party websites like Viator. The couple in front of me booked with Get Your Guide, where the itinerary displayed was very different than the reality of the trip. Most critically, their itinerary stated that we would be going to Lake Louise along the way. Upon finding out that this was not the case, the couple was very upset, and called the head office of Banff Trip Planner. The person on the phone tried to state that this meant we would be stopping at Lake Louise Village, not Lake Louise itself; regardless, we didn't stop at the Village either. This error could have been caused by Banff Trip Planner providing inaccurate information to Get Your Guide, or Get Your Guide incorrectly displaying the information provided to them; either way, it is the job of Banff Trip Planner to ensure that information about their trips is displayed accurately on third-party websites.

Response from the operator: Thank you for your detailed feedback. We're truly sorry your experience didn't meet expectations. Guest safety is our top priority, and we've taken your comments about the vehicle seriously. We also apologize for the confusion regarding the Columbia Icefield tickets and itinerary. Your feedback helps us improve, and we appreciate your kind words about our guide, who did his best throughout the day. We hope to have the opportunity to provide you with a much better experience in the future.

via Tripadvisor