Question about cross-country train trip

[Kevinx244974]

Thank you all guys ! We will not driving a car so probably Glenwood Springs is a better and finest choice !

I will also think about starting from Washington, it seem a better choice taking account that museums are free there it's very interesting to get american museums about the US before starting the trip.

 

[tgstubbs1]

Here's a possibility for a side trip for some of the best scenery on the Empire Builder.

Stop at Portland, OR and take the EB to Spokane. Then take the westbound EB to Seattle.

Portland > Spokane
Spokane > Seattle

There's a lot of great scenery in the Columbia River gorge. Especially if you travel during daylight

This trip would be dark in the winter.

 

[Kevinx244974]

Oh I didn't think about it thank you ! It will be in Spring or Summer and the Portland and Seattle sections seem to be very scenic !!

Here's a possibility for a side trip for some of the best scenery on the Empire Builder.

Stop at Portland, OR and take the EB to Spokane. Then take the westbound EB to Seattle.

Portland > Spokane
Spokane > Seattle

There's a lot of great scenery in the Columbia River gorge. Especially if you travel during daylight

This trip would be dark in the winter.

 

[GAT]

Just for fun. I'd like to offer you another option to consider, based on my experience and also a little bit of logic. If you want to see as much diversity in this great, huge country's geography as possible, I suggest the following:

• Cardinal and Zephyr to Emeryville/San Francisco, by far the most scenic route across the interior of the country.
• Coast Starlight to Los Angeles, in my opinion more scenic and diverse countryside -vineyards, vegetable farmlands, tortuous mountain pass, ocean coastline, space rocket launching site, and all during the daylight hours in summer. Added attraction, if you have sleeper accommodation, of the Pacific Parlor Car.
• Sunset Limited to New Orleans, a totally different feel of the American west because of the strong Mexican/Hispanic history and influences. (To my way of thinking, the Empire Builder and the SW Chief are too similar to the California Zephyr in scenery.) The desert landscape along the Mexican border can be spectacular, especially in dry climate where lightning storms can be seen flashing across the horizon at night. Besides, if you have, like many Frenchmen, a love for American jazz and great cuisine, you'll love New Orleans.
• City of New Orleans to Chicago, what I call the Woody and Arlo Guthrie train, up the Mississippi and through America's heartland south to north, a fine complement to your earlier east-west crossing.
• Lake Shore Limited back to New York.

You will have missed the southeast Atlantic region and the northwest Pacific region, but you will have gotten a taste of all the rest - especially if you have the time and money to enjoy stopping along the way.
I hope I haven't totally discombobulated your trip planning! I agree with other commenters that, whatever route you take, you'll enjoy it.

 

[Kevinx244974]

Just for fun. I'd like to offer you another option to consider, based on my experience and also a little bit of logic. If you want to see as much diversity in this great, huge country's geography as possible, I suggest the following:

• Cardinal and Zephyr to Emeryville/San Francisco, by far the most scenic route across the interior of the country.
• Coast Starlight to Los Angeles, in my opinion more scenic and diverse countryside -vineyards, vegetable farmlands, tortuous mountain pass, ocean coastline, space rocket launching site, and all during the daylight hours in summer. Added attraction, if you have sleeper accommodation, of the Pacific Parlor Car.
• Sunset Limited to New Orleans, a totally different feel of the American west because of the strong Mexican/Hispanic history and influences. (To my way of thinking, the Empire Builder and the SW Chief are too similar to the California Zephyr in scenery.) The desert landscape along the Mexican border can be spectacular, especially in dry climate where lightning storms can be seen flashing across the horizon at night. Besides, if you have, like many Frenchmen, a love for American jazz and great cuisine, you'll love New Orleans.
• City of New Orleans to Chicago, what I call the Woody and Arlo Guthrie train, up the Mississippi and through America's heartland south to north, a fine complement to your earlier east-west crossing.
• Lake Shore Limited back to New York.

You will have missed the southeast Atlantic region and the northwest Pacific region, but you will have gotten a taste of all the rest - especially if you have the time and money to enjoy stopping along the way.
I hope I haven't totally discombobulated your trip planning! I agree with other commenters that, whatever route you take, you'll enjoy it.

Thank you a lot George!

I'm now questioning myself ahaha, should I more from LA taking northbound with the Coast Starlight and stop in Seattle or otherwise taking the Sunset Limited and visiting New Orleans

 

[BlackDiamond]

Added attraction, if you have sleeper accommodation, of the Pacific Parlor Car.

I thought Amtrak got rid of the Pacific Parlor car?

 

[jis]

I thought Amtrak got rid of the Pacific Parlor car?

Right. The Pacific Parlour Cars have been gone for a few years now.

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/18-pacific-parlour-cars-done-for-amtrak-service/

 

[tgstubbs1]

Thank you a lot George!

I'm now questioning myself ahaha, should I more from LA taking northbound with the Coast Starlight and stop in Seattle or otherwise taking the Sunset Limited and visiting New Orleans

It looks like part of your plans need to be concerned with available tickets for your target date ranges.

Have you read ( on this forum) about 'bucket fares" and best time ( months until travel date) to purchase reservations?

Many people seem to make reservations as much as 6 months from travel dates. Or they look at web reservations to study available seats.

Even if you can use the Rail Pass you have to make reservations, although the price won't change even if you make reservations only 24 hours. (a great advantage of the Rail Pass!)

 

[GAT]

Right. The Pacific Parlour Cars have been gone for a few years now.

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/18-pacific-parlour-cars-done-for-amtrak-service/

Sorry to hear that. I last rode it in 2010.

 

[GAT]

Thank you a lot George!

I'm now questioning myself ahaha, should I more from LA taking northbound with the Coast Starlight and stop in Seattle or otherwise taking the Sunset Limited and visiting New Orleans

Well, Kevin, working through confusion is part of the fun of trip planning.

My recommendation was based on my own experience on what to me was my best Amtrak trip: 2008 - Roomette accommodations (I was 70 at the time and wanted my comfort) - Seattle-Chicago; Chicago-New Orleans; New Orleans-Los Angeles; Los Angeles-Seattle. I liked the idea of going down the Mississippi rather than up it for historical nostalgic reasons (Mark Twain and all that) and the idea of entering New Orleans (my only stopover - the cuisine, the cuisine!) by crossing Lake Pontchartrain.

What a variety of scenery! True, I missed the California Zephyr, but I took it westbound a couple of years later and will be taking it eastbound this coming April. Since you're starting in New York, you can also sample both the Lakeshore Limited and the Cardinal in either direction. I've ridden the former and will ride the latter in April.

All this assuming you have the time and the money. But even if not, it;' fun to dream, and I'm willing to bet that once you've seen part of America by train, you'll want to come back to see the rest.

 

[GAT]

One other thought, Kevin. I hope you're not expecting SNCF or Trenitalia speed, efficiency, and on-time performance from Amtrak. But don' t let that dissuade you

 

[tgstubbs1]

I wonder if they will have the Rail Pass in sale.

I believe that Amtrak allows people to "adjust" their reservations when there is a lower price. So if you purchase now and the price is lower next summer you can keep the reservation but get the lower price.

https://www.amtraktrains.com/threads/usa-rail-pass-is-back.79081/
https://www.amtraktrains.com/threads/usa-rail-pass-confusion.79514/
https://www.amtraktrains.com/threads/rail-pass-bus-bridge-question.79369/

 

[Kevinx244974]

Thank you all of you ! I’ll now look for solutions to get lower prices possible !

If it's for a coach seat, should I also book long time in advance?

Do you know if there will be any other discounts on the pass?

My itinerary has changed again thanks to all of your recommandations , the interest of this new one is to cross the United States from south east to north west in one journey to see the most different and scenic landscapes and cities of the USA :
New Orleans (2 days) -> Chicago (2 days) -> break in Glenwood Springs (1 day) -> San Francisco (3 days) -> LA (2 days) -> Seattle (1 day).

What do you think of it ?

 

[GAT]

Looks like fun. Assuming you're starting in New York, will you be taking the Crescent to New Orleans, or will you fly? Also, if you go from San Francisco to Los Angeles and then to Seattle on the Coast Starlight, you'll be doubling back on the same route. You could avoid this by taking the San Joaquin/freeway bus southbound, then the CS northbound for its entire route. In my opinion, the San Joaquin is not all that impressive, but you will travel a lot of the route that the high speed train will take if it ever gets completed. And you will see a different type of California's massive agriculture inventory than what you'll see on the Coast Starlight.

I'm personally delighted that you want to spend three days in my home town of San Francisco. You won't regret it. When will you odyssey begin?

 

[tgstubbs1]

Thank you all of you ! I’ll now look for solutions to get lower prices possible !

If it's for a coach seat, should I also book long time in advance?

Do you know if there will be any other discounts on the pass?

I don't know if there is anyone on the forum that knows the future discount or has extensive experience with discounts on fares but you could always post a question about this.

There is a thread about fare prices for sleepers and Long Distance trains.

It seems to me train travel has become more popular in the US so you might "play" with the reservation app on the Amtrak web site to see the % of seats available for that date.

Especially after school term ends in early May.

 

[niemi24s]

There is a thread about fare prices for sleepers and Long Distance trains.

Post #84 in this thread... Long Distance Train Coach & Sleeper Fares (Buckets) ...has a chart showing all the various fares for traveling the entire route on each of the long distance trains.

• The very lowest Coach Saver fares are usually available for travel two weeks in the future
• There's really no way to know when the lowest sleeper fares might be available.

 

[Pal2Pluto]

I'm glad to see you are going to New Orleans as you have expressed a real interest in seeing it. I've only traveled to Europe a couple of times. Each time, I treated it as a "trip of a lifetime" because I believe life is fleeting, and "I may never get here again, so what is important to me to see because I may never get here again". I'm sure you will make fantastic memories of being able to finally see it.

We are doing a cross-country train trip in July 2022. Another "trip of a lifetime". ☺ In looking for fares, trying to keep costs down, and hearing from the great people on this site, after finally deciding the route, I just booked the tickets. From what I hear, you cannot depend on fares dropping, or sales at a particular time. And when I started to see a particular leg of our journey becoming less available, I was determined to get tickets. So I booked it. I'll keep an eye out to see if fares drop significantly and then call and see if I can get some reimbursement, who knows. But from now until July........ I can DREAM!!

 

[JP1822]

My opinion, for what it is worth:

California Zephyr works either way, but if doing a "circle trip" - I'd go WEST on CA Zephyr or Southwest Chief, then NORTH on Coast Starlight, and then EAST on Portland section of the Builder!

Coast Starlight - prefer northbound as you get the Ocean running in southern CA in daylight and over the Cascades in daylight.

Empire Builder has best scenery if going EAST. You get to see more of Glacier National Park and scenery over the mountains in daylight. In summer eastbound out of Portland (Baby Builder #28) still gives good light in the Columbia River Gorge till nearly 7-8pm!

 

[KatCora]

Hello! I've read and read but I just cannot seem to get to the bottom of this. I snagged an Empire Builder roundtrip Family Bedroom from PDX to CHI in Aug 2022. I have time to cancel, so I reserved it with the intention of checking prices and flexing dates a tad, if I can find a better deal. The total price is approx $2200 round trip. $1100 each way for two people. I've seen so many posts that suggest **two Roomettes** across from each other are almost always less expensive. I've been on the Amtack site off- and on- for weeks, refreshing, changing travel days, etc. to see if prices change and they don't much. I have also never seen two Roomettes in a lower bucket/price versus a FB. Is that still true, you think? Two Roomettes could be less expensive or similar to a Family bedroom? I'd prefer two Roomettes due to the views and location on the train, however, two Roomettes round-trip are approx. $4000+. Perhaps this is a myth or just not occurring over the past several months. Also, does anyone know if $2200 for a FB round trip in Aug 2022 is even a good deal? I tried to find the bucket and price info. and I am not sure.

 

[Maglev]

Hi Kat!

$2200 roundtrip is a good deal for the Family Bedroom. If you keep watching, you might see two Roomettes for a lower fare, but August is peak travel season. I have found bargains in off-peak times, while what tends to happen in peak periods is that trains sell out completely.

One note on the Family Bedroom: it only has one outlet, in a very inconvenient location. A power strip with a straight plug and a ten-foot cord is very useful. Here's a link to the product I used:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08N4BGV2F/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Hello! I've read and read but I just cannot seem to get to the bottom of this. I snagged an Empire Builder roundtrip Family Bedroom from PDX to CHI in Aug 2022. I have time to cancel, so I reserved it with the intention of checking prices and flexing dates a tad, if I can find a better deal. The total price is approx $2200 round trip. $1100 each way for two people. I've seen so many posts that suggest **two Roomettes** across from each other are almost always less expensive. I've been on the Amtack site off- and on- for weeks, refreshing, changing travel days, etc. to see if price change and they don't much. I have also never seen two Roomettes in a lower bucket/price versus a FB. Is that still true, you think? Two Roomettes could be less expensive or similar to a Family bedroom? I'd prefer two Roomettes due to the views and location on the train, however, two Roomettes round-trip are approx. $4000+. Perhaps this is a myth or just not occurring over the past several months. Also, does anyone know if $2200 for a FB round trip in Aug 2022 is even a good deal? I tried to find the bucket and price info. and I am not sure.

Just curious. Are you looking for two roomettes because neither of you can sleep in the upper bunk (maybe can't climb the steps to it)?

 

[KatCora]

Hi Kat!

$2200 roundtrip is a good deal for the Family Bedroom. If you keep watching, you might see two Roomettes for a lower fare, but August is peak travel season. I have found bargains in off-peak times, while what tends to happen in peak periods is that trains sell out completely.

One note on the Family Bedroom: it only has one outlet, in a very inconvenient location. A power strip with a straight plug and a ten-foot cord is very useful. Here's a link to the product I used:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08N4BGV2F/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Ohh! Thanks for the tip. I'll pack a power cord for sure. I also read that the windows are not as large but I love that there are two! One on each side so decided to go with the FB. We can enjoy views elsewhere in the trains, too. Thanks also for confirming that $2200 roundtrip is a decent price. I felt like it was since as you mentioned, it is peak travel time. But I wasn't sure. Looks like the "2-Roomette-hack" may not be applicable during peak travel. ;-)

 

[KatCora]

Just curious. Are you looking for two roomettes because neither of you can sleep in the upper bunk (maybe can't climb the steps to it)?

Thanks for asking. We can climb! But I liked the idea of (private) access to windows on each side of the train so decided on the FB. Also, I've read that Roomettes are very cramped for two people. I get tho' there are disadvantages to the Family bedroom too (smaller windows, downstairs views). I'll take any tips! I am traveling w a 16-year-old. It was a tough choice btw, between the FB versus one roomette. If two roomettes were close to the price of a FB, I would have booked that. FB is less expensive too than one roomette, which I found odd but I guess it makes sense now that I've read a zillion posts. ha!

 

[Maglev]

I love the Family Bedroom! It has plenty of floor space even when the lower berth is down. I don't think there's much difference in the quality of the views from downstairs, and it's nice to be close to the luggage rack, exterior door, three toilets, and the shower.

If I am looking for a lower fare or an upgrade, I check every day. It only take a couple minutes, and it can be worth thousands of dollars in savings!

 

[KatCora]

Oh, great. Thanks for the confirmation about the FB re views and location relative to the door, bathrooms, etc. I did consider some of that when I selected it but more confirmation/opinion is helpful. Oh, one more thing--do fares change _throughout the day_, presumably? I often check several times a day and I'm not sure if that is just obsessive or worth it. Thanks so much.

I love the Family Bedroom! It has plenty of floor space even when the lower berth is down. I don't think there's much difference in the quality of the views from downstairs, and it's nice to be close to the luggage rack, exterior door, three toilets, and the shower.

If I am looking for a lower fare or an upgrade, I check every day. It only take a couple minutes, and it can be worth thousands of dollars in savings!