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Everydaymatters

Everydaymatters

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Just North of Normal, Illinois
I'll be taking Amtrak to LasVegas in the fall. Well, actually, the train goes to Kingman, AZ, and then a bus takes us from the station to Las Vegas.

Has anyone had any experience taking this route?

The bus gets to the LasVegas airport at 2:50 in the morning. What time will hotels let you check in? I'm a bit nervous about that. I don't want to pay for the night before I arrive, but don't know what time I can check in for the day of my arrival.

Is there a place to lock up a suitcase in the bus terminal? (Is there a bus terminal for the Amtrak bus?) For the return trip, the bus leaves at 10p.m., but checkout time at hotels is usually 10 or 11 a.m. So there's a whole day in LasVegas that I don't want to lug my suitcase around with me.

Any ideas or sharing your knowledge of this situation would be greatly appreciated.
 
First let me point you to this very recent thread we had talking about baggage on the train and Amtrak's Kingman-Las Vegas Thruway Motorcoach. It doesn't address your questions as I will try to here, but I wrote a little bit about the thruway service over there.

Most Las Vegas hotels have an official check in time of 3pm, but many will let you check in as early as noon if they have space available. As long as it is not a holiday weekend, this is a good rule of thumb to follow. Hotels are always willing and able to hold your baggage for you before you check in and after you depart for a reasonable amount of time (half a day or so). Some of the bigger establishments even have a bell desk specifically for this. Most will not charge for holding your bags.

No hotel will let you check in at 3-4am for a reservation scheduled for that night. You'll need to wait until at least noon to be able to check in. I would strongly suggest getting a room for the extra night even though you will only be using a small portion of it (3-4am to noon) just so you'll be able to relax when you arrive and not have to worry about where to go. You can wing it easier on the return trip by just leaving your bags at the bell desk and returning to the hotel that evening to pick up your bags and board their airport shuttle. Hotel rooms in Vegas are cheap; I recently stayed at a 3 1/2 star hotel right on the strip for $13/night during the week by booking it through hotwire.com

Amtrak doesn't have its own terminal, waiting room, or any of its own staff at Las Vegas-McCarran Airport. You will be able to wait inside the airport lobby, but the thruway bus will stop at the curb in front of the airport terminal to drop you off when you get there and pick you up for the return. The airport won't make any kind of announcement (unfortunately) that the thruway bus is boarding and the driver won't come into the airport lobby to announce it so you'll need to be waiting outside for the thruway coach when it arrives. Most hotels in Vegas have their own free shuttles that run to the airport, but not all offer 24 hour service (important for your 2:50am arrival).
 
Aloha

Both for fun and business I go to Vegas frequently. once or twice a year, The standard check in is 3pm and check out is 11am. The hotels there are very accommodating, Call and let them know your needs.

On one trip I arrived at 6am and what the Hotel did was store my luggage while I did some morning business, about noon that day my bags were placed in the room with no extra charge. This is the same hotel I complained about in another message after it was sold. So check that city is truly a 24 hour city. I will be there first week in September and again in October for business + some fun. :rolleyes:

Wish I could include rail in the travel pakage.
 
I just got back to England from an Amtrak trip which included a side trip to Las Vegas. I got my bus at Los Angeles Amtrak station at 10am and there is a return bus from Las Vegas departing 9am. I don't know your full route, but you might find the fare to los angeles not much more than to kingman, and a more civilized time to connect with the bus. You should book your bus through Amtrak if possible, as it is slightly cheaper than booking through greyhound...even though it was the same greyhound bus!

The Las Vegas bus station is at the Fremont end of town, and was not too bleak, I can't remember if they had lockers there. There was a luggage counter, but I thought that was for people sending stuff by bus who were not travelling themselves. Most hotels will allow you to stow your cases free in their luggage room after you check out, and just collect them later...if you get the early bus to LA, you wont need that anyway.

To get to our hotel, we walked from the greyhound depot to the local bus depot and got a Deuce double decker, which travels the whole strip, prices $2 each trip or $5 for 24 hour pass.

Funny enough my step daughter and boyfriend arrived into Las Vegas 10 June (today in your time, yesterday uk time!), but they flew.

Ed. B)
 
I would strongly advise against everydaymatters taking this route for a few reasons, though. First, the trip would take about thirteen hours longer than the most direct link via the thruway motorcoach connection at Kingman, Arizona. Yes, the timing is not very convenient, but it is a short 3 hour ride in a comfortable passenger van with all Amtrak passengers instead of a long 6 hour trip mixed with "seedy" Greyhound pax (sorry, but both times I have taken the Greyhound/Amtrak shared bus between Los Angeles and Vegas there were more drugs exchanged on the bus than passengers, the bus had every seat full and the stench was unbearable) through heavy freeway traffic. So while the time is not the more civilized option, the Kingman connection definitely is.

As caravanman noted, the Los Angeles-Las Vegas Greyhound/Amtrak connection uses the Greyhound Bus Station in downtown Las Vegas as its terminal. The Kingman-Las Vegas Amtrak connection uses the Las Vegas-McCarran Airport. Both are about an equal distance from the strip if you're staying there. If you're staying in downtown on/near the Fremont Street Experience, the local bus company offers express service between downtown and the airport and most the hotels offer the free shuttle service.
 
I have already reserved Amtrak to LasVegas via Kingman. Reading these posts, I think I'll stick with it to save the extra time on the bus.

I had planned to stay on the strip, but now, after reading about the bus service, maybe I should stay downtown.

Does that bus run 24/7?

Any recommencations about safe, reasonable hotels, either downtown or on the strip?

What about the problem of getting in at such an ungodly hour. I really don't want to pay for the night before I get there. The only other time I took this train, it was late. So although we're supposed to get to LV at 3 a.m., it could be 5, 6, 7?????
 
Hi again! The greyhound bus I took was my 1st greyhound experience, but I found it fine and drug free. As a traveller I enjoyed the desert scenery, although my 12 year old son felt a bit tired, comming as it did straight after leaving the (early!!!) NOL to LAX Amtrak train.

Hotel choice is quite personal, we stayed at "circus circus", mainly for my son to play in the Adventuredome. It was a good hotel for us, with nice views out across the desert from floor 25. We paid under $40 for our room on some nights, with it being more expensive at weekends. It is easy to move up and down the strip by bus, (if rather slow) and although there are some cheapo motels between freemont street and the stratosphere, that area is rather run down and bleak. If you choose an hotel between the stratosphere and the south end you should be fine, as thats where all the sights and bright lights are!

I would recommend you relax and "travel in hope", after all, you are in America, not some uncivilised country! ; )

Ed B)

ps there are other non tourist buses, but the Deuce runs from about 6am to about 1am seven days, as far as I remember.
 
The double-decker Deuce city bus runs up and down the full strip and through to downtown 24 hours a day/everyday. Service is provided every 7-15 minutes around the clock depending on the time of day. Click here to be taken to The Deuce's website.

The Southwest Chief is Amtrak's most reliable long distance train and operates on time as scheduled most of the time. Delays are quite rare on this route, and anything over an hour would be very unusual. I would expect the train to arrive into Kingman on time and the thruway connection to operate on time into Las Vegas as well.

I agree about avoiding a hotel in the two-three mile blighted area between the Stratosphere and downtown. All downtown hotels are fine and perfectly safe as are the strip hotels between the Stratosphere (north end) and Tropicana (south end). The Deuce is a nice, safe, frequent link between downtown and the strip and I wouldn't advise walking between the two, especially at night.

Any hotel you find on a site such as hotels.com or hotwire.com as I mentioned earlier will pretty much be safe. The ones you have to worry about are the walk up ones you see there that you can't find or book online. The online sites stick to the more reputable hotels and motels. Hotwire will save you quite a bit of money but will only show you the hotel's general location, star rating, reviews, and amenities before you agree to book/lock into a reservation. Only then will you see the hotel's name. I have had good luck booking Vegas hotels with them in the past, though, and it is a nice little gamble to set the mood for the trip (even though I don't gamble in the casinos).

The disadvantage of booking through a site like Hotwire is you don't get to talk to the hotel in advance and see if they might be willing to negotiate a half-day rate for your early arrival if you want it. It's a longshot, but you could always call the hotel directly after booking with a site like Hotwire to see if they will work with you on a negotiated rate for your early arrival like a half day rate. Then again, you might just find the rates to be reasonable enough to consider paying for one additional night. After your long trip and early arrival I'm sure you wouldn't regret it.
 
Thank you. The deuce website also provided a map, which will be useful in locating any hotel I end up booking.

The bus will come in handy, since I won't be renting a car.

I'd never thought about a half day rate. Maybe that will work. Otherwise, I guess I'll have to break down and pay the extra night. Sure beats wandering around town with a suitcase at 3 a.m. :)

Has anyone taken a grand canyon tour out of Las Vegas?
 
Everydaymatters said:
Has anyone taken a grand canyon tour out of Las Vegas?
Click to expand...
Yup, I've done that too. It is fun, but long and exhausting at the same time. Even the shortest of the tours leave out of Vegas early in the morning on a bus and last about 15 hours.

Since you'll be traveling right by the Grand Canyon on the Southwest Chief, you could always choose to get off the train in Flagstaff, Arizona (about 9pm) and spend the night there. There are a variety of clean, relatively inexpensive hotels right in the downtown area within walking distance from the station including a hostel with rates under $20/night. The next morning a tour company called Open Road Tours has a modern shuttle van that will take you up to the Grand Canyon for a complete sightseeing tour and buffet lunch. The shuttle leaves right from the train station and even contracts with Amtrak. Tickets can be purchased through amtrak.com by typing in "Flagstaff" to "Grand Canyon". You will have plenty of time to really see the Canyon as opposed to a long trip from Vegas with relatively little time at the Canyon. The shuttle ride from Flagstaff only takes about 1 1/2 hour each way compared to roughly 5 1/2 hours each way from Las Vegas. The best part is the shuttle will get you back into Flagstaff at a reasonable time that evening to catch the Southwest Chief to continue on to Kingman/Las Vegas. It would be a 24 hour stopover that would only cost one night hotel and the tour up to the Canyon. It would probably come out to cost the same as the full roundtrip bus tour from Las Vegas.

Once you're in Las Vegas, a nice trip to take is out to Hoover Dam. Two of the most popular companies offering these tours are Greyline Tours and Showtime Tours. I took the Greyline Tour to Hoover Dam when I was there last fall (complete with the buffet lunch and Tour of Ethel M.'s Chocolate Factory) and was quite pleased and impressed with it... but was later told that Showtime Tours is about the same price and offers a much nicer tour bus with less pax on it and a better tour.
 
Aloha

Did not take the Tour from Vegas, but at the damn, I took the "Hard Hat" tour down inside, most interesting.

The only other Tour I have done was the "Buggsey" tour.

Being in theater I try to take in as many shows as I can. Most are expensive but well worth the money.
 
I hate to do this to y'all, but I'm re-thinking the entire trip. I need to end up in Las Vegas on a Saturday night, but I'm not at all happy about getting there at 3a.m Saturday morning.

I'm thinking that maybe I should continue my plan to LEAVE L.V. via Kingman - Amtrak, but find a different way to get there.

If I take Amtrak To L.V. via Kingman and get there at 3 a.m., it will mean another hotel night and that extra night will be on Friday, when hotel rates are highest. I really, really hate to fly. Greyhound from Chicago would be a nightmare.

I HAVE to be there on Saturday night, so I'm resigned to paying the higher hotel rate that night. But paying the higher Friday night rate, when I'm not getting there till 3 a.m. Saturday, is more than I can handle.

Caravanman's suggestion of going by way of LosAngeles would solve the problem of the extra night, but oh, what a long trip. Any other ideas?
 
Short of curling up in a nice, comfy airport baggage claim area chair until daylight and then leaving your bags with the bellman until check-in time, you could......

Spend Friday night in Kingman, where it would mean getting a full night's sleep in a hotel less expensive than one in LV, and then take the Greyhound to LV the next afternoon.
 
If yous is going from Chicago, why doncha hitch a ride with the Baritone Family? They have private jets going to Vegas all the time...you can contact them through The Sopranos.....!

Ed B)
 
MrFSS, I checked out the hotel you linked, but their web site isn't working 100%. It didn't give room rates, etc. So I called, but got a recording. I'll try again.

Now to really drive everyone nutz!!!........

Am I figureing this out wrong? I'm looking at a spring-summer 2005 system time table.

Am I reading this right?

California Zephyr to Las Vegas via Salt Lake city is 41 hours and 15 minutes. And gets to Las Vegas at 3:45 in the afternoon!

S.W. Chief via Kingman AZ is 49 hours 30 minutes. And gets there in the middle of the night.

Is this right? I feel I must be doing something wrong. Seems SWC should take less time.
 
I see what I did wrong.

It's 49-1/2 on the SWC to LasVegas via Los Angeles.

It's 37 hours 15 minutes On the SWC to LasVegas via Kingman.

It's 41 hours 15 minutes on the Zepher to LasVegas via Salt Lake City.

Right?
 
This probably doesn't help, everdaymatters, but oh for the days of the Desert Wind! I really miss that train.

Despite my whistful pining. you got some pretty good advice here.
 
Everydaymatters said:
Was the Desert Wind the one that went right into LasVegas? I took that one years ago and it was great.
Click to expand...
Yes. Chicago-Omaha-Denver-Salt Lake City-Las Vegas-Los Angeles with service 3x/week.
 
Am I figureing this out wrong? I'm looking at a spring-summer 2005 system time table.
Am I reading this right?

California Zephyr to Las Vegas via Salt Lake city is 41 hours and 15 minutes. And gets to Las Vegas at 3:45 in the afternoon!

S.W. Chief via Kingman AZ is 49 hours 30 minutes. And gets there in the middle of the night.

Is this right? I feel I must be doing something wrong. Seems SWC should take less time.
Click to expand...
I'm looking at the current Amtrak table and it shows:

Southwest Chief arrives Kingman at 11:36 PM (just before midnight)

Bus leaves at 11:45 PM

Arrives Las Vegas Airport at 3:30 AM (next morning)

California Zephyr Arrives Salt Lake city at 11:33 PM (again, just before midnight)

The bus leaves Salt Lake City at 8:30 AM (the next morning from the arrival) and arrives at Las Vegas Bus Station at 3:30 PM

This means you wait at either the Amtrak station or the bus station in SLC for about 8-9 hours before catching the bus.

Also, the bus from Kingman comes to the Amtrak Station. The bus in SLC leaves from the bus station and you may have to get yourself from the Amtrak Station to the Bus Station.

Hotels.com shows the rate for the Brunswick Hotel starting at $69 + tax a night for a single.
 
Darn! I didn't make the connection that there's a delay in Salt Lake City ;) .

Listen, folks, you may not realize this, but I very sincerely appreciate your help in planning out this trip.

If I do the Zephyr and have to be in Salt Lake City from 11:30 pm till 8:30 am the next morning, can you recommend a hotel in SLC?

If I do the Chief, did someone say there's a shuttle from Kingman to the Grand Canyon??? Also, how far is it from Kingman to the Grand Canyon?

I think I could overnight in Kingston and Greyhound from there to Las Vegas.

Maybe I'd stay an extra day in Kingston to see the Grand Canyon if there's a shuttle to and from Kingston and if the Grand Canyon isn't too far.

Can you believe what a can of worms this has become? The whole reason for this trip is to go to a birthday party in LasVegas!!! :rolleyes:
 
Aloha

Reread this thread and Have a new idea to through in the pot. Why not combine your desire to see the grand canyon with a connection at Williams and ride the Grand Cayon train. Secondly the farther out you are the better Vegas rates are, unless there is some big event. The empty times, the rates are lower the more full the higher the rate.

Secondly check with Amtrak Vacations some times there is a combo rate that helps.

One of the two events I am attending is a SAT/SUN the official Hotel Rate is 160 each night, but my travel agent has a contract that can give me 80 a night, if I stay 4 nights Just think 2 days for myself. :p

When in the Fall are you going?
 
Everydaymatters said:
If I do the Zephyr and have to be in Salt Lake City from 11:30 pm till 8:30 am the next morning, can you recommend a hotel in SLC?
Click to expand...
That train can and often does run extremely late, courtesy of the Union Pacific (YouPee) Railroad tracks it operates over and the incompetent dispatchers with their company that dispatch all trains on their tracks. If you decide to take it, do not be surprised if you don't arrive into SLC until 3-5am or even later. Amtrak even posts the following message on its official reservations website to warn passengers before they reserve a trip on this train:

Service Alert: California Zephyr - Possible Train Delays
Delays may occur on this train due to freight railroad congestion, track work or other operating conditions affecting its schedule. Passengers are encouraged to plan for the possibility of a delay and contact Amtrak at www.amtrak.com or 1-800-USA-RAIL on the day of departure to check the train's status. We apologize for any inconvenience passengers may experience due to these operating conditions.
Click to expand...
 
Everydaymatters said:
If I do the Chief, did someone say there's a shuttle from Kingman to the Grand Canyon???
Click to expand...
Since you'll be traveling right by the Grand Canyon on the Southwest Chief, you could always choose to get off the train in Flagstaff, Arizona (about 9pm) and spend the night there. There are a variety of clean, relatively inexpensive hotels right in the downtown area within walking distance from the station including a hostel with rates under $20/night. The next morning a tour company called Open Road Tours has a modern shuttle van that will take you up to the Grand Canyon for a complete sightseeing tour and buffet lunch. The shuttle leaves right from the train station and even contracts with Amtrak. Tickets can be purchased through amtrak.com by typing in "Flagstaff" to "Grand Canyon". You will have plenty of time to really see the Canyon as opposed to a long trip from Vegas with relatively little time at the Canyon. The shuttle ride from Flagstaff only takes about 1 1/2 hour each way compared to roughly 5 1/2 hours each way from Las Vegas. The best part is the shuttle will get you back into Flagstaff at a reasonable time that evening to catch the Southwest Chief to continue on to Kingman/Las Vegas. It would be a 24 hour stopover that would only cost one night hotel and the tour up to the Canyon. It would probably come out to cost the same as the full roundtrip bus tour from Las Vegas.
Click to expand...
Kingman, AZ does not have its own tour or shuttle service to or from the Grand Canyon. The city is too small to host such a service and is not really a tourist destination in itself (besides the route 66 stuff which you also have in the Flagstaff/Williams/Grand Canyon area).
 
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