So, after one full day and two nights in San Francisco--staying at the Hyatt House (formerly Woodfin Suites), we headed out after breakfast through the hotel parking lot and then took the elevator over to the Emeryville Amtrak station. We were a bit early and watched several trains pass through. Right on time, the Coast Starlight heading south arrived. We walked down to our sleeping car and boarded. We had Roomette 2. We got settled in. No fresh coffee in our car, however. The coffee pot was unplugged, which surprised me. We were right next to the Parlour Car--perhaps we could have gotten coffee there, but really didn't want it then, so didn't check on that. We skipped breakfast on the train because we just had a delicious breakfast at the Hyatt House. The SCA briefly introduced himself--and offered us cider/champagne if we wanted it, I think, which we declined--and we didn't see much of him after that. My hubby was not feeling the best and wanted to nap, so glad we had the roomette. He hopped up to the upper berth and napped most of the morning while I enjoyed the scenery below. There was one point when I thought things didn't smell so well--being in roomette 2 near the bathroom, but the smell passed in about 10 minutes. Thankful for that, as most of the roomettes were occupied and I don't know if we could have moved.
We had reservations to eat in the Parlour Car so we headed there for lunch. Hubby got a wrapped chicken sandwich which he said was "ok". I ordered the vegetarian macaroni with a salad and thought it tasted great. There were two choices of dessert--one was ice cream; can't remember the other. When you eat in the Parlour Car you are not seated with anyone else like you are in the diner, by the way. We spent some time in the Parlour Car and also time in our roomette. Unfortunately we couldn't get the Wifi to work at all, as we wanted to check on a few things on the internet. Another passenger was unhappy about the Wifi not working as well. Hubby napped some more. Late afternoon we returned to the Parlour car for the wine and cheese tasting. Our attendant (William, I think) provided us with 4 different wines and three different kinds of cheeses and some crackers. He talked about each wine. It was quite interesting. After that, we remained in the Parlour Car and watched the scenery become the Pacific Ocean. It was beautiful with the sun setting. Wished I had thought to bring sunglasses! I picked up a Coast Starlight Amtrak mug in the Parlour Car as a souvenir.
Dinner time came--we weren't too hungry, but didn't pass it up! We both got the beef dish--it actually tasted like a wonderful pot roast. It was delicious. We were stuffed! As it was getting dark, my hubby asked William to turn the old fashioned lights on in the Parlour Car--he did, and it made the car looked classy. After dinner it was dark and so we made our roomette into upper and lower berths and both took a nice nap until we arrived in LAX at around 9 pm--right on time. What a beautiful Amtrak station in LA!
Overall, 1. Loved the scenery--unbeatable and often breathtaking on both the CZ and CS. 2. So, so glad we changed our plans and took these two trains, I was impressed with the on-time performances of our trains. We left perfectly on schedule (to the minute) on all our 3 trains. We arrived a little late on 2 of the 3 trains. I think we arrived a few minutes early on our last train. 3. Our bedroom and roomette were both very clean and in working order. 4. The food was delicious, I thought--warm and cold as appropriate. The only think I wasn't crazy about was my first steak--which I thought was a little tough. Also, a person we sat with mentioned he thought the chicken was dry the first night. 5. All of our attendents in the sleepers and the dining car were pleasant and friendly. 6. All 3 of our trains were running well below capacity, unfortunately. Maybe that happens in the winter, but it made me think that Amtrak will have to cut back on some of these cross country winter runs to avoid losing tons of money. They could not have made money or even broke even on the runs we were on. But then, there was so little snow that people weren't traveling to the winter resorts and ski slopes like they typically do, perhaps. 7. I absolutely LOVE traveling in the sleeping car--either a roomette or a bedroom. 8. Can't wait to plan our next trip. I think we will do the Texas Eagle to LAX (I have family in LA) and return on the Southwest Chief. Thanks for reading; I certainly enjoyed reminiscing!
Oh, by the way--we flew home from LAX to GRR. Not a fun trip. Next time we'll do Amtrak both ways.
We had reservations to eat in the Parlour Car so we headed there for lunch. Hubby got a wrapped chicken sandwich which he said was "ok". I ordered the vegetarian macaroni with a salad and thought it tasted great. There were two choices of dessert--one was ice cream; can't remember the other. When you eat in the Parlour Car you are not seated with anyone else like you are in the diner, by the way. We spent some time in the Parlour Car and also time in our roomette. Unfortunately we couldn't get the Wifi to work at all, as we wanted to check on a few things on the internet. Another passenger was unhappy about the Wifi not working as well. Hubby napped some more. Late afternoon we returned to the Parlour car for the wine and cheese tasting. Our attendant (William, I think) provided us with 4 different wines and three different kinds of cheeses and some crackers. He talked about each wine. It was quite interesting. After that, we remained in the Parlour Car and watched the scenery become the Pacific Ocean. It was beautiful with the sun setting. Wished I had thought to bring sunglasses! I picked up a Coast Starlight Amtrak mug in the Parlour Car as a souvenir.
Dinner time came--we weren't too hungry, but didn't pass it up! We both got the beef dish--it actually tasted like a wonderful pot roast. It was delicious. We were stuffed! As it was getting dark, my hubby asked William to turn the old fashioned lights on in the Parlour Car--he did, and it made the car looked classy. After dinner it was dark and so we made our roomette into upper and lower berths and both took a nice nap until we arrived in LAX at around 9 pm--right on time. What a beautiful Amtrak station in LA!
Overall, 1. Loved the scenery--unbeatable and often breathtaking on both the CZ and CS. 2. So, so glad we changed our plans and took these two trains, I was impressed with the on-time performances of our trains. We left perfectly on schedule (to the minute) on all our 3 trains. We arrived a little late on 2 of the 3 trains. I think we arrived a few minutes early on our last train. 3. Our bedroom and roomette were both very clean and in working order. 4. The food was delicious, I thought--warm and cold as appropriate. The only think I wasn't crazy about was my first steak--which I thought was a little tough. Also, a person we sat with mentioned he thought the chicken was dry the first night. 5. All of our attendents in the sleepers and the dining car were pleasant and friendly. 6. All 3 of our trains were running well below capacity, unfortunately. Maybe that happens in the winter, but it made me think that Amtrak will have to cut back on some of these cross country winter runs to avoid losing tons of money. They could not have made money or even broke even on the runs we were on. But then, there was so little snow that people weren't traveling to the winter resorts and ski slopes like they typically do, perhaps. 7. I absolutely LOVE traveling in the sleeping car--either a roomette or a bedroom. 8. Can't wait to plan our next trip. I think we will do the Texas Eagle to LAX (I have family in LA) and return on the Southwest Chief. Thanks for reading; I certainly enjoyed reminiscing!
Oh, by the way--we flew home from LAX to GRR. Not a fun trip. Next time we'll do Amtrak both ways.
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