Amtrak Sale: Book a Roomette and Bring A Companion for Free

Ms SOZ and I have a OW relocation deal on a new 5 person RV Chicago to Seattle.
Two additional adult drivers (CV-19 vaccinated) would make the 12 day adventure do-able.
PMs welcome.

God, their website sucks. It has always sucked. It doesn't even give you recommendations or show a flexible fare calendar. If there is no train on that day, it doesn't say a damn thing. Waste of what could have been revenue. Amtrak...It's for the birds.

This isn't a method of travel you choose if you're looking for the cheapest or fastest way between two points. Rather, if you're a fan of trains or looking for the trip to be part of the experience itself, this can be a fun option. A couple of years ago, I took my son, who loves trains, from nyc to Atlanta on an overnight train in a roomette and we enjoyed the trip. Left penn station around 2:30pm, and arrived in Atlanta in the morning, enjoying meals (included in the fare) on the train and sleeping while riding the rails.

The Coast Starlight route from LA to Seattle (or Portland) is amazing! HIGHLY Recommend! Also, when you book ask for the Coast side! Bring cards or games as it can be a little boring sometimes but it is super fun to do in a roomette! Also, you will get great photos! Try to time your dining with coastal stretches if you do not get a coast side roomette!

Also FWIW, when I went you had a private bar car that hosted wine tastings of the various regions you passed through. And by tastings, it was basically all the wine you could drink from SLO, Napa, Sonoma, Oregon and Washington in a private window car going through some amazing scenery! COVID has probably killed that perk, but maybe not...

If you are vaccinated and want to do this route for a vacation and then fly back you should...

I'd love to jump in as I did this a couple years ago! I traveled by myself from IL to CA which took 2.5 days. While, yes, I could've taken a plane, it was about the experience. Before I boarded I was able to be at the exclusive lounge that had various sodas/coffees and snacks for free. Then when I boarded we were given the front of the train with their train security making sure that people that were from the other carts didn't cross our area. The beds were cozy and I'm 6'5" so length wasn't an issue, we also had ac/heating available which was nice during the winter days. We had full access to private toilets/showers/juices/coffees on our trip.

They had our assistant that would come in our room and do our beds everyday and ask what we wanted for breakfast/lunch/dinner. When we sat down, we were grouped with up to 3 other people and some of them were fun travelers like myself, others were Amish, where we all talked about our trips/life stories as we dined over surf/turf every night (at least that's what I ate). The cost of food ranges from $30-40 and our dinner would include a salad, entree + dessert + unlimited soft drinks. But of course it's all included but I'm giving an estimate if you didn't have a roommette. I'll admit I like to keep to myself but this 'forced' me to be talkative and learn to interact in a world where we ignore others when we put our headphones on, so it was refreshing and made some contacts in the end.

Every morning I woke up around 6:30/7am to watch the sun rise as our train sped past areas cars couldn't go to. We had the main cabin where they had windows to the ceiling so you could gaze at the sky at night. It was great to sit down, draw, listen to music as you traveled. Now I will say if you don't have a tablet or book it can be a bit boring as there's not much else to do. We made our typical stops where people got on and some left, but we were able to get some fresh air and get some souvenirs along the way.

I wouldn't say it's a trip I would take all the time, but a little splurge on yourself to see the country, why not?

If anyone has questions, feel free to ask!

Quote from minifigg : The Coast Starlight route from LA to Seattle (or Portland) is amazing! HIGHLY Recommend! Also, when you book ask for the Coast side! Bring cards or games as it can be a little boring sometimes but it is super fun to do in a roomette! Also, you will get great photos! Try to time your dining with coastal stretches if you do not get a coast side roomette! Also FWIW, when I went you had a private bar car that hosted wine tastings of the various regions you passed through. And by tastings, it was basically all the wine you could drink from SLO, Napa, Sonoma, Oregon and Washington in a private window car going through some amazing scenery! COVID has probably killed that perk, but maybe not... If you are vaccinated and want to do this route for a vacation and then fly back you should...

Looks like I'm going to Portland!

Quote from cantbelievethisdeal : Looks like I'm going to Portland!

DO IT!!!
One of my fave photos from that trip is the "Go By Train" sign at the Portland Depot!

I really hope COVID didn't kill the wine service. That was amazing!
Cheap flights Portland to LAX to get back.

Traveling by train cost more than Traveling by rental Car or Plane while taking longer. Lol America train system is a joke.

Straight up embarrassing let me know when we finally have high speed railroads

Quote from deal2deal : This isn't a method of travel you choose if you're looking for the cheapest or fastest way between two points. Rather, if you're a fan of trains or looking for the trip to be part of the experience itself, this can be a fun option. A couple of years ago, I took my son, who loves trains, from nyc to Atlanta on an overnight train in a roomette and we enjoyed the trip. Left penn station around 2:30pm, and arrived in Atlanta in the morning, enjoying meals (included in the fare) on the train and sleeping while riding the rails.

My son loves trains too. I wanted to do a family trip on a train where we could sleep but it sounds like the roomettes are only for 2 people. I'll have to look into larger room options if they offer it.

Quote from 1n0nlyJoe : If anyone has questions, feel free to ask!

Where do you enter code?

Quote from Vascodegama : God, their website sucks. It has always sucked. It doesn't even give you recommendations or show a flexible fare calendar. If there is no train on that day, it doesn't say a damn thing. Waste of what could have been revenue. Amtrak...It's for the birds.

https://www.amtrak.com/timetables.html

Its not ideal, and I agree the website sucks, but the trains go on a schedule, like every Mon Thur Fri, so you can at least kinda narrow it down with that if you find the specific route

Do such discounts only lower cash prices or can I also pay with discounted points?