Cross-country Christmas trip--advice

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Darin Boville

Guest
Hello,

I'm taking my family home from California to Northern Ohio this Christmas and I'm thinking of doing it by train. I used to ride the DC to Boston Amtrak in the mid-1990's when I was an intern so I have a little Amtrak experience. But also many questions:

1) Fares. What are my odds that they will offer some sort of weekly special (depart, say, Dec 21; arrive back say on Dec 31?)? If no weekly special is there any other option other than full fare?

2) Am I crazy? Is there any real hope of getting there even close to schedule? How many hours late should I expect?

3) How is the scenery on the various routes? Will it convince my wife who wants to fly that the trip was worth it after all?

4) Sleepers. I am 6 feet tall, my wife about 5 1/2. Two kids, well-behaved girls, 7 and 9. What is the least I can get away with in terms of $$$leeping arrangements and still have my wife and kids speak to me afterwards? (Note the dollar signs!)

Thanks!

--Darin
 
1) Since you're trying to travel during the holiday season, weekly specials are unlikely. Amtrak offers many discounts for members of various associations/organizations, including: AAA (10% discount on all travelers), NARP/National Association of Railroad Passengers (10% discount for members), Student Advantage (may or may not be applicable in your case; 15% discount for members), and several others. The discounts apply only to rail fare, and not to the accommodation (sleeper) charge. Also, kids generally travel at half price.

2) Since you will be traveling to Cleveland, your train leaving Chicago will either be the Capitol Limited or the Lake Shore Limited. If your wesern train is late by a couple of hours, you could still get to Cleveland on time or close to it. If your western train is really late and you miss the Capitol Limited, you will be reaccommodated on the Lake Shore Limited. If you miss that, then...Amtrak will take care of you, somehow.

The Capitol and Lake Shore Limiteds could be on time, or they could be an hour or two late into Cleveland. It's hard to say at this point.

For the return, if you arrive by the California Zephyr, you, again, could be anywhere from on time to four or five hours late. There's no "rule of thumb" or crystal ball that can say when your train will arrive.

3) The California Zephyr has great scenery, especially through Colorado. Taking either the Southwest Chief (from LA) or the Empire Builder (from Portland/Seattle) will add an extra day to your trip, and each offer their own scenic highlights. The Zephyr probably has the best scenery of the three. I would suggest taking the Zephyr eastbound, and the Empire Builder (connecting to the Coast Starlight) wesbound, but the Builder travels through the most scenic areas at night during the winter, so you'd miss all the good stuff. You might want to consider the Zephyr eastbound, and the Southwest Chief/Coast Starlight westbound, as the Starlight travels right along the Pacific Coast and offers fantastic views (you can't make this connection eastbound, because the Starlight arrives in LA too late to connect to the Chief).

4) It sounds like the family room will be your best bet, but you will want to try different options. Mess around with the Amtrak.com reservations system (or call 1800-872-7245) and see. If you want a sleeper, it *might* be cheaper to get two roomettes instead of the family bedroom, it's really hit or miss. You might also want to check different days, because sometimes fares will be considerably different from one day to the next.

You could probably get away with coach for the Chicago-Cleveland segment, since you wouldn't get a full night's sleep in a sleeper anyway (I forget the exact arrival times of the trains in Cleveland, but it's around 3-5 am or so).

If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.
 
Darin,

I would do Sleeper from SF-CHI and back. You could do Coach I think from CHI-CLV and Back. I would advise the CZ might be a tad late. I wouldn't do the Coast Starlight to the Empire Buidler Eastbound you will be put on a bus to connect with the trains. Hope you do it.
 
I rode the CZ from Granby to Chicago last December 31. Granted this is the opposite direction than you will be travelling, however, two things struck me: 1) There were a number of sleepers available. Perhaps New Years Eve is not a popular day/night to travel. Hence, it may be possible to upgrade on the train for considerably cheaper. And, 2) The train was four hours late departing Granby, but made up almost all the time by the time we arrived at Chicago. I imagine a lack of freight traffic on January 1st helped in that regard.

By the way, it is very cool arriving into Cleveland in the middle of the night. The train goes by Cleveland Hopkins Airport and the station is right next to Cleveland Browns Stadium. Both are lit pretty impressively, even in the wee hours of the morning.
 
Hmmm. I'm locked into the Christmas time period (due to my wife's job) but I was looking at Thanksgiving, too.

Fares are very high for Christmas (or else there has recenetly been a price increase). With a bedroom the trip for us comes to $2900. (My wife wants to fly: $1400 or so). Ouch. I'm not sure anything I say can overcome that differential...

Bummer. Still working on it...

--Darin
 
sechs said:
Considered flying one-way and taking the train the other?
Click to expand...
Amtrak actually offers rail/fly packages, where you can fly one way and take the train the other way. :)

Not sure of the prices though.
 
All you need to say is "I choose to take the train. You can either come with me and try to enjoy the trip, or you can take the kids and fly and I will see you there. It's your option." <_<
 
AlanB said:
sechs said:
Considered flying one-way and taking the train the other?
Click to expand...
Amtrak actually offers rail/fly packages, where you can fly one way and take the train the other way. :)

Not sure of the prices though.
Click to expand...
Do they still offer that? I thought that was Amtrak Vacations, which went out of business over a year ago.
 
Guest Rider said:
All you need to say is "I choose to take the train. You can either come with me and try to enjoy the trip, or you can take the kids and fly and I will see you there. It's your option." <_<
Click to expand...
:lol:
 

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