No more Pullman to nola?

[CoachSlumber]

I am not finding the page for the New Orleans service on the Pullman Rail Journeys site. Plug pulled?

 

[MrFSS]

I am not finding the page for the New Orleans service on the Pullman Rail Journeys site. Plug pulled?

LINK

 

[Ryan]

If you want to just book the rail passage and not a package, you can do it here:

https://reservations.travelpullman.com/book-now.aspx

Looks like it's just once a week service now departing CHI on Thursday and NOL on Sunday.

 

[CoachSlumber]

Thanks. They sure hide it well. I finally found it. I was wondering because you used to immediately get a page featuring the Nola service. I am still curious that a number of the dates are "call for availability." You would think they'd either have space or not. They've been down to once a week for a while. I was going to do a repeat trip to nola on Pullman, but the price has rather creeped up. I think the Amtrak bedroom will do me fine; is basically the same room, though not vintage. I'll bring my own "free booze." I wonder about all those Denver trips. Not exactly the scenic route.

 

[cirdan]

Thanks. They sure hide it well. I finally found it. I was wondering because you used to immediately get a page featuring the Nola service. I am still curious that a number of the dates are "call for availability." You would think they'd either have space or not.

Maybe they put you on a list of maybes and will only run the service if more than a minimum of people register.

But that's not exactly an attractive proposition for the passenger who needs to know whether or not they can travel.

 

[cirdan]

And unless I'm missing a trick, it seems you can no longer book the train as a standalone trip but have to book it as part of a package with transfer and hotels. I guess a lot of people don't want that. Speaking for myself, I hate package trips. I like to do my own thing.

 

[Ryan]

If you want to just book the rail passage and not a package, you can do it here:

https://reservations.travelpullman.com/book-now.aspx

 

[Palmetto]

I don't think anyone has mentioned it, but PRJ has added Albuquerque as a destination.

 

[C855B]

And unless I'm missing a trick, it seems you can no longer book the train as a standalone trip but have to book it as part of a package with transfer and hotels. I guess a lot of people don't want that. Speaking for myself, I hate package trips. I like to do my own thing.

I don't know if you've tried booking accommodations in NOL recently, but it's a hassle, it's expensive, and you frequently don't know what you're going to get. I guess it's the price of the city being a playground destination rather than having some "thing" that just happens to be in their city.

I have a hunch they're pushing the "package" angle because more of their clientele were requesting all-in-one deals to be assured of a guaranteed hotel.

 

[cirdan]

And unless I'm missing a trick, it seems you can no longer book the train as a standalone trip but have to book it as part of a package with transfer and hotels. I guess a lot of people don't want that. Speaking for myself, I hate package trips. I like to do my own thing.

I don't know if you've tried booking accommodations in NOL recently, but it's a hassle, it's expensive, and you frequently don't know what you're going to get. I guess it's the price of the city being a playground destination rather than having some "thing" that just happens to be in their city.

I have a hunch they're pushing the "package" angle because more of their clientele were requesting all-in-one deals to be assured of a guaranteed hotel.

This makes sense. I've always booked my own hotels in New Orleans and although I can't say I was awed, they were all good enough. But maybe I was lucky and things could have been worse.

One thing that is part of the arrival experience in NOLA for me is riding the streetcar to the hotel, and I have always picked my hotels so I could do that. Now that the streetcar comes all the way to meet Amtrak, it muts make doing this even easier (although I haven't been there since this opened). The luxury transfer shuttle sort of invalidates this aspect of the arrival experience in my eyes. They can come to pick up my luggage if they like, but it takes the romance out of it if I have to ride in their van.