Seattle hotel?

[OlympianHiawatha]

Westins are pretty nice hotels ( I haven't stayed in the Seattle one) but the view and location of the Edgewater can't be beat! What is it about the Edgewater that family members don't like? Both are high end places!!

jimhudson! I'm surprised at you! Supporting big greedy corporate hotel chains?!? I thought you were a hostel/B&B/Sole Proprietor sorta guy.

Now that I'm retired on a fixed income and have to pay for hotels myself, I find hostels and B&Bs very acceptable! Same reason that most of my Amtrak travel is in Coach versus Sleepers, I use points for Sleeper trips whenever possible!!
Back in the day when I traveled on my employer's dime, belonged to various frequent traveler clubs and had a much higher income, I stayed in higher end joints!

Nothing wrong with a little luxury when you can afford it! I'd much rather eat @ Ruth Chris than McDonalds, especially when it's not on my dime! LOL

I look at it this way-all Hotel/Motel rooms look the same when you are asleep. I always tease if the Roaches aren't too big and the Rats don't bite too hard the joint is alright

 

[Just Saying]

Could the moderators please link or merge the following threads on very similar topics to this one?

From 2005: http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/4256-seattle-hotels/

From 2010: http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/33927-going-to-seattle-on-cs/

From 2012 (extensive): http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/45299-seattle-hotel-thoughts/

From 2014: http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/61163-seattle-hotelmotels/

Guess not. Just an observation, but you seem to me more on top of what is going on here at this site than the afore mentioned. :giggle:

 

[VentureForth]

Nothing wrong with a little luxury when you can afford it! I'd much rather eat @ Ruth Chris than McDonalds, especially when it's not on my dime! LOL

Totally agree - if that dime isn't coming from my taxes.

 

[creedential]

I've stayed at the Silver Cloud many times for King Station, as recently as December between a Coast Starlight and Leavenworth Snow Train ride. It is a great hotel, very nice and clean and modern. It is an easy walk to the station. Their shuttle service starts at 7am so if you take an early Cascade you might send one member of the party to walk because of how they issue seats.

 

[seat38a]

I've stayed at the Silver Cloud many times for King Station, as recently as December between a Coast Starlight and Leavenworth Snow Train ride. It is a great hotel, very nice and clean and modern. It is an easy walk to the station. Their shuttle service starts at 7am so if you take an early Cascade you might send one member of the party to walk because of how they issue seats.

How do they issue seats on the Cascades? Isn't it first butt on the cushion gets the seat?

 

[rickycourtney]

I've stayed at the Silver Cloud many times for King Station, as recently as December between a Coast Starlight and Leavenworth Snow Train ride. It is a great hotel, very nice and clean and modern. It is an easy walk to the station. Their shuttle service starts at 7am so if you take an early Cascade you might send one member of the party to walk because of how they issue seats.

How do they issue seats on the Cascades? Isn't it first butt on the cushion gets the seat?

Unfortunately, no.
The conductors on the Cascades force all the passengers to line up in Seattle and Portland so they can assign you a car and a seat.

It's a HUGE peeve of mine.

My only consolation is that the Washington State DOT says on Twitter that they are "looking into speeding up the seat assignment process."

My hope is that they will eliminate it.

 

[SarahZ]

I've stayed at the Silver Cloud many times for King Station, as recently as December between a Coast Starlight and Leavenworth Snow Train ride. It is a great hotel, very nice and clean and modern. It is an easy walk to the station. Their shuttle service starts at 7am so if you take an early Cascade you might send one member of the party to walk because of how they issue seats.

How do they issue seats on the Cascades? Isn't it first butt on the cushion gets the seat?

Unfortunately, no.
The conductors on the Cascades force all the passengers to line up in Seattle and Portland so they can assign you a car and a seat.

It's a HUGE peeve of mine.

My only consolation is that the Washington State DOT says on Twitter that they are "looking into speeding up the seat assignment process."

My hope is that they will eliminate it.

That's ridiculous. I'm not sure where to find figures, but I'm sure Chicago <--> Detroit has similar ridership, and they let us pick our seats. Sure, it sometimes resembles a battle scene, but they still don't make us line up for an assignment. It already takes forever to board.

(Oh god. I hope they don't get any ideas.)

Edit: Found the figures. The Wolverine had 37,951 riders in FY15 (the October monthly performance report), and the Cascades had 58,079.

 

[seat38a]

I've stayed at the Silver Cloud many times for King Station, as recently as December between a Coast Starlight and Leavenworth Snow Train ride. It is a great hotel, very nice and clean and modern. It is an easy walk to the station. Their shuttle service starts at 7am so if you take an early Cascade you might send one member of the party to walk because of how they issue seats.

How do they issue seats on the Cascades? Isn't it first butt on the cushion gets the seat?

Unfortunately, no.
The conductors on the Cascades force all the passengers to line up in Seattle and Portland so they can assign you a car and a seat.

It's a HUGE peeve of mine.

My only consolation is that the Washington State DOT says on Twitter that they are "looking into speeding up the seat assignment process."

My hope is that they will eliminate it.

***?? Lord talk about a CF when it comes to boarding. Not sure who came up with this idea or logic that people have to be assigned to a car and seat before boarding.

 

[rickycourtney]

Apologies for taking this thread off topic.

Moderators, feel free to spin it off.

That's ridiculous. I'm not sure where to find figures, but I'm sure Chicago <--> Detroit has similar ridership, and they let us pick our seats. Sure, it sometimes resembles a battle scene, but they still don't make us line up for an assignment. It already takes forever to board.

(Oh god. I hope they don't get any ideas.)

Edit: Found the figures. The Wolverine had 37,951 riders in FY15 (the October monthly performance report), and the Cascades had 58,079.

Over in California the Pacific Surfliner has 224,234 monthly riders, the Capitol Corridor has 131,730 and the San Joaquin has 94,319. All have much higher ridership than the Cascades and none have conductor assigned seating.

***?? Lord talk about a CF when it comes to boarding. Not sure who came up with this idea or logic that people have to be assigned to a car and seat before boarding.

Exhibit A as to why assigned seating is a bad idea: https://twitter.com/kilodelta/status/551030992232660992

That's a HUGE line of passengers in the waiting room of King Street Station. They aren't waiting to board the train... they are waiting to get a seat assignment, after which they will continue to wait for the boarding call, before lining up to board the train.

The argument from Amtrak's conductors is that if they can assign passengers to a certain car they can make station stops faster. If all the passengers disembarking at Tukwila are sitting in car 5, only the doors for car 5 have to be opened. Also since the card can seat a max of 37 passengers they want to be able to seat groups together. Frankly it's totally unnecessary. Conductors can use the PA to tell passengers to come to car 5 to disembark and passengers on other trains figure out how to sit together with their families (usually) without help from the conductors.

 

[seat38a]

Apologies for taking this thread off topic.

Moderators, feel free to spin it off.

That's ridiculous. I'm not sure where to find figures, but I'm sure Chicago <--> Detroit has similar ridership, and they let us pick our seats. Sure, it sometimes resembles a battle scene, but they still don't make us line up for an assignment. It already takes forever to board.

(Oh god. I hope they don't get any ideas.)

Edit: Found the figures. The Wolverine had 37,951 riders in FY15 (the October monthly performance report), and the Cascades had 58,079.

Over in California the Pacific Surfliner has 224,234 monthly riders, the Capitol Corridor has 131,730 and the San Joaquin has 94,319. All have much higher ridership than the Cascades and none have conductor assigned seating.

***?? Lord talk about a CF when it comes to boarding. Not sure who came up with this idea or logic that people have to be assigned to a car and seat before boarding.

Exhibit A as to why assigned seating is a bad idea: https://twitter.com/kilodelta/status/551030992232660992

That's a HUGE line of passengers in the waiting room of King Street Station. They aren't waiting to board the train... they are waiting to get a seat assignment, after which they will continue to wait for the boarding call, before lining up to board the train.

The argument from Amtrak's conductors is that if they can assign passengers to a certain car they can make station stops faster. If all the passengers disembarking at Tukwila are sitting in car 5, only the doors for car 5 have to be opened. Also since the card can seat a max of 37 passengers they want to be able to seat groups together. Frankly it's totally unnecessary. Conductors can use the PA to tell passengers to come to car 5 to disembark and passengers on other trains figure out how to sit together with their families (usually) without help from the conductors.

:angry2: Does BC have a separate line?

 

[Bus Nut]

For a bit of a different hotel option there the Inn at Virginia Mason and the Baroness. Old hotel, very nice and clean but the refurbed bathroom is still a little weird and small, the a/c and heat also have their issues because of the age of the building and its fittings. Nice amenities. I really enjoyed staying there. Prices sometimes better than the chain hotels (and it was much cleaner). It's in First Hill. When the First Hill streetcar starts operation some time in 2015 (probably summer), you will be able to take the streetcar from King St Station to Marion and then you'll be on the top of the hill a short walk from Virginia Mason complex (on Spring). See on this map:

http://www.seattlestreetcar.org/images/project_area_map_lg.gif

There are buses now that get you halfway there but not really, which is why the streetcar is needed. It's not far, short cab ride, but it's straight up a hill from King St St to First Hill so walking with luggage would not be fun. I absolutely did walk from Chinatown all the way up First Hill for fun when I was last in Seattle. The town is pretty tourist friendly if you like to walk.

re: seat assignments

Amtrak needs to figure how to do this on the **** computer and just do adjustments in the station if people cancel tickets 24 hrs ahead and they resell the seat. Put the seat assignment on the e-ticket. Consists rarely change on this route so what is the big deal? Or assign the car and let passengers pick the seat in the car, that would work too.

 

[The Wondering Wanderer]

:angry2: Does BC have a separate line?

YES!

The coach seat assignment line at SEA is a good reason to upgrade. BC has priority boarding and a MUCH shorter line in the station.

 

[The Wandering Wonderer]

That's ridiculous. I'm not sure where to find figures, but I'm sure Chicago <--> Detroit has similar ridership, and they let us pick our seats.

In SEA they let you 'pick your seat' while waiting to get assigned one, and again while waiting to board... :giggle:

 

[rickycourtney]

:angry2: Does BC have a separate line?

Not sure exactly what you're asking, so I'll say this...

Trains north to Vancouver, BC have a separate check-in desk from trains south to Portland. Each desk also has business class and coach lines.

The coach seat assignment line at SEA is a good reason to upgrade. BC has priority boarding and a MUCH shorter line in the station.

Look, I'm all for giving Business Class passengers perks... this shouldn't have to be one of them.

Forcing coach passengers to start their trip standing in a long and unnecessary line gets things off on a bad note. Remember that ridership on the Cascades has been falling for months now and passengers have other options including the BoltBus across the street which is faster, cheaper and doesn't have lines for seating assignment. Amtrak should be doing everything in its power to make the entire experience (including the boarding process) on the Cascades better than the alternatives. They're falling short of that goal.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Yep, whatever suits are in charge of the Cascades and Amtrak LD trains operations out of King St. Station needs to get their behinds out of their swivel chairs and get this fiasco fixed pronto! It' s easily done! ( " But we've always done it this way and it works fine!"

 

[The WW]

The coach seat assignment line at SEA is a good reason to upgrade. BC has priority boarding and a MUCH shorter line in the station.

Look, I'm all for giving Business Class passengers perks... this shouldn't have to be one of them.

Of course.

I'm not happy with the foolishness at SEA either, and upgrading is rewarding Amtrak's bad behavior, but until (if ever) Amtrak stops pre-assigning seats in SEA, the reality is that this is another reason to take BC.

For me, it comes down to either upgrade or take a bus. Personally I'd prefer to swallow the one bitter pill over the other.

 

[seat38a]

The coach seat assignment line at SEA is a good reason to upgrade. BC has priority boarding and a MUCH shorter line in the station.

Look, I'm all for giving Business Class passengers perks... this shouldn't have to be one of them.

Of course.

I'm not happy with the foolishness at SEA either, and upgrading is rewarding Amtrak's bad behavior, but until (if ever) Amtrak stops pre-assigning seats in SEA, the reality is that this is another reason to take BC.

For me, it comes down to either upgrade or take a bus. Personally I'd prefer to swallow the one bitter pill over the other.

Who exactly comes up with all these boarding process? Is it up to the conductors? The state?