GrandLuxe Rail Journeys for 'Rail-Time' Luxury

Luxury Vacations: America's first luxury railway, the American Orient Express, has changed its name to GrandLuxe Rail Journeys to reintroduce itself to luxury travelers seeking an adventure that offers optimal sumptuousness mixed with a dose of 1940's nostalgia. The best of the past and present is combined for refined trekkers to experience "rail" good times.

Most trips are at least seven days long and offer various vistas for sightseeing along the way. The GrandLuxe Mexico tour is a nine-day excursion with eight days by rail. For all trips, the fine-dining menus are based on the cuisine of the locales being visited. The Mexico venture begins in El Paso and makes stops at Chihuahua, the site of the Mexican Revolution, the golden beaches of Mazatlán, Guadalajera, Copper Canyon, and the oldest known city of North America, Mexico City.

The decorum of the rail cars is an opulent retrofit of the Hollywood heydays of the 1940s. A domed observation car offers passengers a panoramic view. The ambience of the piano lounge and the dining cars leave guests expecting to see Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Clark Gable and Mae West discussing an upcoming film project with John Ford and Orson Welles.

Becoming a member of the GrandLuxe's Golden Rail Club is a great way to get on track for substantial savings on future rail cruises. Members can save up to $1,000 per person booked on the same trip. Additionally, there is a 10 percent discount applied on all on-board purchases, complimentary wine served at dinners, and a newsletter filled with upcoming events.

GrandLuxe Rail Journeys' website currently has info on seven tours that run through 2007.

For LxM James Rothaar