I am currently planning my first cross-country Amtrak trip. It will go something like Empire Builder, SEA-CHI. A weekend in Chicago. The Lakeshore CHI-SYR. A few days in Syracuse and then a corridor train SYR-NYP. I will be in coach all the way (can't spend $600 for a bedroom).
My biggest question is what the new coach class is like on the Empire Builder. Does it have the aminites like in the Amfleets like electrical outlets at every seat. What bedding is provided? (pillow/blanket, pillow only). I plan to eat quite a few meals in the dining car, and am wondering what the prices to expect.
I know what those Amfleet-II are like and that all seats have those electrical outlets.
Also, Layovers seem so expensive. (It's $184 dirct, but $268, with all my two stopovers, I just don't see how my stopovers raise the price so much.)
Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :
I can't speak to the outlet situation but I would plan to bring your own blanket and pillow. Amtrak provides very small, flat, pillows. Your own would be far more comfortable.
Blankets........sometimes Amtrak has them available for sale in the lounge car. They might have a nifty Amtrak logo but are not real big and not real effective. Again, your own would be more comfortable.
Diner prices are going to range probably $15.00 to $25.00 for supper, $8.00 to $15.00 for lunch, and $7.00 to $12.00 for breakfast.....not including gratuity. They are very filling and you may find yourself saving a few bucks at lunch by just having a sandwich from the lounge car.
Finally, I would suggest that for your own sanity that you try to do one night in the sleeper. Here's what I suggest.......book coach from Seattle to say, Williston, ND; roomette from Williston, ND to Wisconsin Dells, WI, and then back to coach the rest of the way to Chicago and beyond.
This will ramp up your coach fare a little (the stopover thing again) but you may find a surprisingly affordable roomette for just the segment I suggested. Remember, you're going to get a free dinner and a free breakfast with the roomette (two meals if travelling with someone) and that rationalizes about $35 - $40 per person off that roomette price.
For research, go to the Amtrak website and start by pricing just the Williston - Wisconsin Dells segment with roomette. If you can be flexible, try two or three different dates in either direction. You may accidentally find one that is significantly cheaper. If you do, book that one ASAP because odds are you could go back online an hour later to find the one room available at the bargain price is gone. You can build the rest of the trip around your budget sleeping accomodation because the coach fares don't vary much by days of the week. My precedent in suggesting this is a trip I did last month on the California Zephyr. I had any of four dates I could depart on and one of them just happened to have a roomette priced $140.00 (for CHI-OAK) below the rate on each of the other three days.
At any rate, have a great trip and let us know how it went when you get home.
Posted by -Jamie- (Member # 4404) on :
Not sure about the Viewliners on the Lake Shore Limited, but the Empire Builder uses Superliners which, from what I've heard, only have 1 outlet per car and you have to search for it.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Even though it would not be mine, I sincerely respect, Mr. Nut, your conscious decision to forego Sleeping Car on your journey - if the "scratch aint there" and you still wish to travel, then so be it - make the best of it!!!
Naturally I concur with Mr. Presley's thoughts, any segment in Sleeper is better than none.
While there in all likelihood are savings in short hauling a sleeper journey for one night of the two, I must question what savings would result if someone chose to travel Sleeper on the Builder #8, say, Seattle to Whitefish then Williston to MSP.
I once did a short haul in this life; that was on a June 1960 joyride Hoboken-Dansville NY and return. Route was ERIE Hoboken to Binghamton, DL&W Binghamton-Dansville & return, continuing DL&W Binghamton to Hoboken. Travel was Coach on the ERIE, then Coach on DL&W Dansville, Pullman Sleeper on DL&W Binghamton to Hoboken. Because the DL&W offered some "absurd' midweek Coach RT rates that could not be upgraded to Sleeper, I only intended to use Sleeper on the portion of the trip where those absurd rates were not available - namely Binghamton to Hoboken on the DL&W.
I boarded the return train (#6 New York Mail) at Dansville and took my seat in Coach. The Conductor comes to lift my ticket and says "you the fellow with Sleeper out of Binghamton (obviously the grapevine was talking - especially that on a small road like the DL&W where everybody knows everybody - that someone was out taking a railfan joyride)? "Yes sir", "Well you may as well go up there now; I need all the seats I can get back here'. 'Hey Dusty (Pullman Porter), here's the fellow'.
To this day, I still think of how I deprived that marvelous little Lackawanna Railroad (anyone who was near it in any capacity will surely agree) of justly earned revenue. Sure, the Conductor is 'the Captain' and his word on board the train is law....but still....!
I've never done that since then; suffice to say there have been many opportunities over the years.
Posted by City of Miami (Member # 2922) on :
Try booking your ticket with the multi-city option instead of individual segments. This has saved me $$$ in the past. I don't know if the computer has a limit on how long a layover can be.
Posted by espeefoamer (Member # 2815) on :
I have read in Amtrak litturature about coach passengers on the EB eating at thier seats.Amtrak says this like it is a good thing.Is this mandatory or can a coach passenger eat in the diner if he wants to?
Posted by Geoff M (Member # 153) on :
It may not necessarily be the cost of the layover that is the problem. It may be that the particular date is more expensive than the date without the layover.
espee, coach passengers can either: - eat diner-bought food in the diner - eat snack-car-bought food in the snack car - eat snack-car-bought food in their seat - eat their own food in their seat What they can't do is eat their own food in the diner or snack car - supposedly for health reasons.
Geoff M.
Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :
I haven't been on the Empire Builder since 1998 BUT back then they offered a cold roast chicken plate lunch from the lounge car. The meal was catered aboard in Havre and sold for about $9.00 at that time. It was aimed at coach passengers wanting something more substantial than microwaved sandwiches but less costly than going to the dining car. (and we were into saving a few dolars by riding coach Whitefish to Williston, ND where we were moving into the sleeper.) It also helped serve a lot of folks in a short period of time. The Empire Builder is one crowded train during the summer months.
Perhaps it's something like this when they talk about 'meals at your seat' for the coach passengers.
Posted by Vicki (Member # 3410) on :
David- We were on the EB last June/July and I don't remember hearing anything about that type of meal. I suppose I could have missed it, though.
Posted by RRRICH (Member # 1418) on :
I always thought you WERE NOT ALLOWED to bring ANY of your own food into the coach, and that the only place you can eat your own food was in your private 1st class sleeper room.
The more I read these posts about the new 'diner lite' service, it doesn't seem quite as bad as it did at first........ (but I will miss being able to have the New York strip steak for dinner on our upcoming trip this summer.....)
Posted by Printman2000 (Member # 4338) on :
quote:Originally posted by RRRICH: I always thought you WERE NOT ALLOWED to bring ANY of your own food into the coach, and that the only place you can eat your own food was in your private 1st class sleeper room.
No, that is alcohol. Your food can be eaten in the coach, but you can only consume your own alcohol in your own sleeper room.