Touring Canada

[Curly]

Hi everyone we are thinking of doing the above next May-July and wondered if any of you world travelers have done it and could you recommend an RV hire company you may have used.

 

Have done the USA twice in the past via El Monte and very pleased we were with them, no complaints whatsoever but they do not have depot in Canada so hopefully advice out there from you guys.

 

Any advice ideas will be great fully received any thing at all.

[colin]

When you say tour canada, how much of it do you mean? We spent 3 (or was it 4) weeks touring BC in 2001.

We used West Coast Campers in Vancouver. I can't help but think they tried to stitch us up on damage to the van, but we're wise to that one and had every little blemish recorded at start.

We went to Vancouver island, up the inside passage to Prince Rupert (stop smirking), across to Jasper, down to Banff, across to Whistler, and back to Vancouver.

We brought a National(or was it State?) Parks pass, in the long term this works out cheaper to go throu parks and give gives discounts for things like spa's which are well worth a visit.

[Robinhood]

...it's a few years now since we explored The Rockies from Vancouver, but the company we used were fine, and are still in business.

 

http://www.fraserway.com/

 

We used largely national and provincial park sites, and developed the habit of booking in early in the day, reserving a pitch, and then driving off for the rest of the day to explore.

 

If you do do the West side, make sure you get an axe (either with the vehicle or as an extra). Nearly all of the sites had wood piles and fire pits - nothing like sitting out under the stars in the middle of nowhere next to the fire.

 

 

[Curly]

We hope to be out there for 12 weeks so will try and do and see what we can in that time at the moment nothing has been set in concrete.

The info. we are after is the RV hire companies that people here may have used as the route will be decided upon between now and Jan/Feb

[alan k]

WE toured for just 2 weeks earlier this year in June

 

We flew into Vancouver, one night in a hotel then picked up a Cruise Canada 4 berth, mighty wide, a mighty big petrol engine and an auto box.

 

We drove west almost along the USA border and via Princeton towards the Okanagan Valley for the wine and fruit, then north to Vernon and Revelstoke, Then across to Golden and down to radium Springs before heading west and north through the Kootenay Nat Park before heading to Banff.

 

Then lake Louise and the Icefields Parkway to Jasper. The west past Mt Robson and south along the valley to Kamloops then Whistler, Squamish and back to Vancouver. Something like 2600kms in total. A super trip.

 

Trailfinders sorted the flights, the van hire and various other bits of our holiday. ( we also visited family in Washington DC and at Nanaimo on Vancouver Island). Their brochure is a good starting point and comparison.

 

Against European (or British ) the hired van was rather old fashioned and in our case a bit tired but everything worked, although the furnace (hot air heater) was very noisy. Don't ask about the fuel consumption but the petrol is cheap. Calor was a refillable underfloor tank.

 

We stayed on basic forest campgrounds, dry loos (just a big hole) no showers or water, to the usual forest campgrounds (good facilities but sometimes a bit of a walk in the forest), keep an eye out for the deer and the observe good bear precautions. We had one night on all singing all dancing site with plug in everything. Its amazing how many of the sites were next to the river and the railway and sometimes the highway as well. The trains are noisy, and if you're next to a passing place where the track is generally single there's alot of deep rumbling whilst the four or five engines tick over waiting for the other train.

 

All in all a fantastic 2 weeks.

 

Note the campsite picnic table and the firepit (an old lorry wheel), yes you'll need an axe for the free wood and you'll need to buy a fire permit for most sites

 

cheers alan

 

 

 

[Will86]

Whoever you hire from its important to check and make notes of all damage at the start or soon after and if possible send to the owners.

 

We used 'Cruise America' several times and reported everything (always gave us a discount).

 

Not sure if they cover Canada.

 

PS from the above post the 'Cruise Canada' could well be a sister company.

[sooty10]

Just back from a 4 weeks trip to Canada and the USA. This time we hired a car and used hotels. While we were in Canada seeing the Rockies there were hundreds of motorhomes and most of them from a company called CanaDream, a few also from Cruise Canada. The problem I could see that the starting price only included 100 klms a day and after that it was so much a klm. One of the reasons we hired a car with unlimited klms.

 

Keith (sooty)

[alan k]

Cruise Canada and Cruise America are basically the same company. Yes the staff were very helpful and friendly

alan

[duetto owner]

cant say anything for the vancover side of canada, but I refuse to drive in canada after somenightmare trips in Ontario.

 

sign posts are not directed to towns like in GB but just street names even on major roads found this confusing till i grasped it with a map.

 

the motorways are 8 lanes each direction but looks like two 4 lane motorways running side by side with overhead signs only over 4 lanes at a time not the full 8 lanes so we kept changing thinking we were in the wrong motorway.

 

then because we were not going at max speed limit the massive juggernaughts come up to your rear bumper and sound there massive horns.

 

the city driving is ok but the turnpikes as they call them are confusing.

[hallii]

I am going in June 2015, hiring a M/H etc so all information is most welcome.

 

I worked fuel out at 65p a litre, sounds a bit cheap, I wonder if I have got it right?

 

I wonder how many MPG a V8 gasoline engined M/H will do? Not many I bet.

 

H

[colin]

hallii - 2014-10-31 11:43 AM

 

I am going in June 2015, hiring a M/H etc so all information is most welcome.

 

I worked fuel out at 65p a litre, sounds a bit cheap, I wonder if I have got it right?

 

I wonder how many MPG a V8 gasoline engined M/H will do? Not many I bet.

 

H

 

The fuel in north American needs to be cheap as rental rv's burn it at an alarming rate. The last 6.5t 6 berth we hired from cruise America was appaling, in Arizona we had to crawl along to eke out the fuel between gas stations.

[Robinhood]

hallii - 2014-10-31 11:43 AM

 

I am going in June 2015, hiring a M/H etc so all information is most welcome.

 

I worked fuel out at 65p a litre, sounds a bit cheap, I wonder if I have got it right?

 

I wonder how many MPG a V8 gasoline engined M/H will do? Not many I bet.

 

H

 

...my actual experience is now 10 years or so out of date. On our tour in a medium-sized motorhome (v10 engine with 4 of us) I calculated that the fuel cost per mile was roughly the same as running a mid-range motorhome in this country.

 

A quick calculation based on estimates indicates that it might be just slightly worse than that now - maybe the cost equivalent of 21-22 mpg in the UK.

 

 

 

[gonewalkabout]

We toured The Rockies from Vancouver to Calgary during May 2012, after a week cruise to Alaska via the Inside Passage. We rented an RV from Canadream and had no problems. We booked through Canadian Affair, but I think the price would have been similar if we booked direct. It would probably have been better to book direct as it would have been easier to confirm one or two pre-trip details. Also I think you can log on to their website if you book direct.

 

They are located at Delta on River Road which was very convenient for the ferry from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay and Victoria. We were able to get the Metro from the Cruise Terminal back towards the airport and Canadream collected us from a station two or three stops before the airpoirt.

 

The Canadream depot is very large and busy. They obviously concentrate on drop offfs in the morning and pick ups in the afternoon. For a premium you can ask for a morning pick up. Like other operators they cash your bond and repay on drop off. This means you probably loose on the exchange rate.

 

On returning the van in Calgary they were keen to make sure the toilet was empty and no chips on the windscreen. I had taken external and internal photos on pick up but didn't need them.

 

We opted for the smaller SVC van. It was bigger than our van at home and quite adequate altho we always had the smallest van on the campground. It was easier to keep warm with minimum use of the furnace. If you are going for an extended time, I suggest its better to consider buying your own chairs etc rather than renting them. We've done this in Oz and NZ where we had longer trips

 

We chatted to several RV renters including several Cruise Canada and other Canadream. I don't recollect any one having major problems - just they all seem to be large scale operators and you are just one of very many customers.

 

 

 

 

 

[Injebreck99]

We had a horrendous time with Canada Dream a few years ago, rented from the depot in Delta, upon arrival we were shown on a multiple handover of about 4 couples how an RV functions, very basic quick handover, when we got to our RV, we did not get the slide out model we had booked, they stated that they did not have them at this depot, despite earlier conformation that this is what we would get, not happy, the RV was 4-5 years old with about 140K kilometres and very tired indeed with saggy dirty upholstery etc, we asked for another better RV and were informed that there were no others available.

WE went to my cousins in Port Coquitlam and loaded up and did the usual tour up as far as Wells Gray Park in north BC, (recommended the way), we could not get the shower to work at all, the leisure battery was duff from the start, we had to phone CD and go to a dealers to get a new one fitted, the overdrive gear did not work from day1, and worst of all, the mains hookup adaptor we needed was missing, we had to buy on from a camping outlet, also the vehicle had severe brake disc distortion, causing dreadful brake judder going downhill, the hotter the brakes got, the worse they were.

After returning the vehicle to the depot, we were asked to complete a standard questionnaire in which we stated all the faults with the RV, when we looked out of the window, the cleaners were swarming all over it to rent it out again that afternoon with none of the faults being rectified.

When we complained, we were fobbed off, so I asked to see the depot manager, eventually he came and offered us a $200 refund MINUS TAXES!!!.

All I can say, that based on our experience, avoid this company like the plague, totally ruined what should have been a dream holiday.

[Curly]

Thanks a lot guys a good response and some interesting reports, will follow up on your suggestions and report back when we return.

Don't end the replays here if there are others out there with some advice then please let the blog have it.

The grey matter is slowing down as we used Trailfinders when we did New Zealand a couple of years back so now will give them a try again but still do our own thing when we get enough details together, so thanks again.