Anyone au fait with Amtrak?

[Disney_time]

Just wondering if any dibbers know much about Amtrak. We've booked flights to Seattle return next August/September and the plan is to get the Coast Starlight (38 hour trip ) from Seattle to LA and drive back up over 16 or 17 days.

Obviously there are several grades of train seating and cabins, DH only wants the top one - an ensuite sleeper cabin. At the moment this is about $1100 for both of us, and the website says "last one remaining at this price". We are a wee bit flexible on dates, but it says that on dates either side of our preferred date too.

I've signed up for Amtrak's emails and googled around for promotional discounts but am not finding any.

Anyone know if I should sit it out for a few more weeks? Do they do sales, for example? Am I likely to get a discount code in an email. Are there any discounts if you are a member of AA or AARP?

Thanks in advance

[zoemoo]

I’ll be watching this thread too as we like the idea if taking this trip. I’ve priced it up before for a similar time of year and never seem it at that price so sounds like a good deal to me

[Fudge123]

I've been looking at doing the Empire Builder, Seattle to Chicago, so following this with interest 😊

[dietcokebreak]

We did this journey back in 2012. We had a roomette. I was quite apprehensive about the length of the journey, but really enjoyed it!
Sorry I can’t answer any of your specific questions, but I’d happily do the journey again. 🙂

[Disney_time]

Originally Posted by dietcokebreak

We did this journey back in 2012. We had a roomette. I was quite apprehensive about the length of the journey, but really enjoyed it!
Sorry I can’t answer any of your specific questions, but I’d happily do the journey again. 🙂

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Thanks - Can I asked who you booked it through and how far in advance?

[dietcokebreak]

Originally Posted by Disney_time

Thanks - Can I asked who you booked it through and how far in advance?

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We booked it as part of a package (Hawaii, Alaska cruise from Seattle, Amtrak from Seattle to LA) sorry, not being much use am i?

One tip though, see if you can get a cabin on the right side. We had one on the left as we had no clue, but the right side you will get a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alkatraz 🙂.

Meals were good too! Better than we had expected. Our cabin crew asked us our preferred dining times and it was sorted from then.

[Caz_&_Ryster]

Hi. We have travelled with Amtrak a number of times both coast to coast (Southwest Chief x2 and California Zephyr x1) and from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Each time we either had the bedroom or the roomette. We really enjoyed the food, meeting people and the peace and quiet. The scenery is fabulous and a great way to see parts of the country you wouldn’t see if you were driving.
We always booked early and checked a variety of dates and stopovers before booking. When we went the whole way on the California Zephyr we were flexible with days and managed to get a bedroom for $542 when it was nearly a thousand more the day before and the day after. It was in 2012 though but just shows there can sometimes be bargains to be had.
Amtrak do have sales but we’ve never travelled at times when the cheaper seats etc are available.
Sorry can’t be of any more help.