Amtrak Cascades on the morning of an Alaskan Cruise

[Jmariab64]

Hi, all-

 

I'm brand new to this site, and hope you'll have some advice!

 

I booked an unchangeable flight from PHL to Seattle for the evening before a cruise to Alaska from Vancouver, and booked the Amtrak Cascades train from Seattle to Vancouver for the morning of the cruise. Others have told me that it's too risky travelling that day, as Amtrak frequently has delays, but I wasn't able to find any specific delay information for that route. If I don't take the outbound flight, the return is cancelled; I don't particularly want to throw that money away, and I really don't want to miss the ship.

 

Has anyone taken the train the day of the cruise? Has anyone had any delays causing them to have to make last minute arrangements to reach the ship in time? Has anyone done this successfully?

 

Thanks for any help you can give!

[Langley Cruisers]

I know exactly the trip you are describing; we are locals and made this trip last year. It was phenomenal. We did not encounter any delays and arrived into Vancouver on time, just before noon. You would have to make your way to the pier and, as you have already mentioned, it could be tight. Personally, I wouldn't do it but I guarantee you there will be many people on your train who are doing the same thing as you. Unless you are booked in Business Class, you will have to wait to disembark the train. You will collect your luggage and then go through Canadian Customs and Immigration at the train station. Business Class passengers are disembarked first.

 

As well, the line up at King Street station in Seattle is very long; we arrived at about 6:15 am (?) and the line was already long. If you do travel on embarkation day, you will certainly need to get an early start. :o

 

What about doing this, but just a day earlier? Vancouver is a wonderful city. :)

[Jmariab64]

Thanks for the response!

 

I would definitely change the flight if I could, but unless the airline changes it, we're stuck. We are actually booked in Business Class, just to help make things a bit faster.

 

Since you got the King St Station at 6:15 and the line was already long, what time would you recommend getting there?

[Bizmark'sMom]

After watching a party in front of me in the Canadian Customs line at Vancouver airport miss their cruise because the lines were so long... It isn't a chance I would take.

 

Can you catch a commuter flight from Seattle to Vancouver and get in the evening before your cruise? Then take the Amtrak from Vancouver to Seattle after you disembark. That way you aren't in danger of missing your boat.

[Jmariab64]

Thanks for the response-that's what I'm afraid of!

 

I can't find any flights that start enough time after we land (at about 11 pm). I've reserved a rental car from SeaTac just in case, so there's always that option.

[PEB]

We have done this many times but only once did we do it on the same day. The reason is that most of the time the train is late. The one time we took it on the same day the train was late, we made our connections but barely. The stress was not worth doing it again. We love to take the train and will do so again but we will always give ourselves an extra day for connections to anything. We have traveled by train many times to many places and only once have we been early or on time. Time being late has ranged from a half hour to 16 hours late. One time we were 8 hours late due to a train pedestian accident. You never know why you may be late.

[Jmariab64]

Thanks for the response!

 

It looks like I may be driving that rental car at midnight!

[Keroppi2011]

At that time of night, road traffic will be light, border crossing should be quick. Less stress than "same day" scenario. Have a great trip.

[mtwingcpa]

If I were in your shoes I would take the Quickcoach/Quickshuttle bus from Seattle to Vancouver. Much less risk of delay in my opinion, plus they can probably drop you right at your cruise terminal in Vancouver.

[reallyitsmema]

Thanks for the response!

 

I would definitely change the flight if I could, but unless the airline changes it, we're stuck. We are actually booked in Business Class, just to help make things a bit faster.

 

Since you got the King St Station at 6:15 and the line was already long, what time would you recommend getting there?

 

Business class has a different line from coach so you should not encounter a very long line. We are taking this train on September 15th and have business class seats so I can post our experience when we return. We are coming in three days before our cruise so that we can see Vancouver but I know some on our rollcall are taking the train the morning of our cruise. If I hear of any horror stories about that, I will post that when we get back too.

[EGG]

It was over 10 years ago, but when we took the Quickshuttle we had delays of over 3 hours in both directions. No one was as happy as me when we stepped foot on the ship. We were probably the last ones on the ship.

 

Luckily we were staying in Seattle after the cruise because everyone else on the bus missed their flights on the way back. One of our problems with the Quickshuttle is the border crossing. If you have one person on the bus with a problem with their passport it can hold the bus up for hours. The bus also failed inspection at the weigh station and we had to go get a tire change. Need I say more.

 

If things have not changed, I would not toss my train tickets for the Quickshuttle.

 

So you have business class seats on the train. It sounds like that will save you some of that line at customs. It also sounds like you have prebooked your train tickets so I am wondering since I have never done this, why you have to worry about getting a seat on the train. What is the scheduled arrival time of the train in Vancouver?

[reallyitsmema]

It was over 10 years ago, but when we took the Quickshuttle we had delays of over 3 hours in both directions. No one was as happy as me when we stepped foot on the ship. We were probably the last ones on the ship.

 

Luckily we were staying in Seattle after the cruise because everyone else on the bus missed their flights on the way back. One of our problems with the Quickshuttle is the border crossing. If you have one person on the bus with a problem with their passport it can hold the bus up for hours. The bus also failed inspection at the weigh station and we had to go get a tire change. Need I say more.

 

If things have not changed, I would not toss my train tickets for the Quickshuttle.

 

So you have business class seats on the train. It sounds like that will save you some of that line at customs. It also sounds like you have prebooked your train tickets so I am wondering since I have never done this, why you have to worry about getting a seat on the train. What is the scheduled arrival time of the train in Vancouver?

 

The issue is getting a seat on the side of the train that you want and getting seats together. Coach cars have seats two by two, business class is two on the left side of the car and one on the right side. Northbound, everyone wants seats on the left side of the car for the view. We would prefer two seats together in business class so we will arrive at the station early to hopefully be able to sit together.

[Jmariab64]

Thank you to everyone for your responses!

 

It looks like shuttles aren't running after we land, and don't start early enough the next morning for peace of mind.

 

Please keep the information coming!

[ShipsandDipper]

We just did this two weeks ago. Flew to Seattle on Saturday night and took the train Sunday morning for a cruise departing Vancouver Sunday night. I was kind of nervous but actually didn't see any reports of the train being terribly late. Obviously a delay could happen for many reasons on any given day, but we were lucky and everything worked like clockwork.

 

We arrived at King St. station at 5:50 a.m. (shorter drive than we expected). The station doesn't even open until 6, so there is little to no point to being there earlier. When the door was unlocked, there were three sets of people there. We were the first in the check-in line. By about 6:15, the line was getting long.

 

My husband checked our luggage while I held our place in the check-in line. They began check-in around 6:45. They assign seats on the spot.

 

The train left right on time and arrived in Vancouver a bit earlier than we expected. We waited for our car to be called to disembark, picked up our bags from the platform, and went through customs/immigration. We were the first car called after business class, and the whole thing (waiting and then in line for customs/immigration) took maybe 20 minutes. We caught a cab directly to Canada Place, and were on board our ship shortly after 1:00 p.m.

 

I'm glad we did it once, but we probably won't do it again. For all the waiting around we did, we could have just driven to Vancouver and been there much earlier.

[Jmariab64]

Thanks for the response!

 

I'm very glad to hear it went smoothly for you!

 

I'm completely torn, now!

[ShipsandDipper]

I understand. I was really nervous about it, because if we missed the ship in Vancouver there was no getting on at another port until Victoria a week later. But my husband really wanted to take the train so I decided to cross my fingers and hope for the best (and we had travel insurance). We weren't the only ones heading for a cruise ship that left that afternoon.

[Jmariab64]

Oh dear-not sure what to do....

[Langley Cruisers]

Since you got the King St Station at 6:15 and the line was already long, what time would you recommend getting there?

 

Oh dear-not sure what to do....

 

Aww. Yes, it can be confusing and frustrating trying to sort it all out. :(

 

mema is right; there is a separate line for Business Class passengers, but you will still choose your seats when you check in. Glad you are travelling BC because as I said, you are first to disembark.

 

A rental car is another option, and so is the Quick Shuttle bus, but having said that, both of these options require you to stop at the border. The train goes straight through and you clear C&I once you arrive. It's actually very slick.

 

I have been on these boards for a long time and I can't say I've read too many stories of the train being late - I mean, really late. If you can't change your flight, then the train might be your best bet.

 

.

[Jmariab64]

Thanks for the help, everyone! I'm sure I'll change my mind about what to do many times before the trip!

[Nic6318]

Just wanted to ask, since I have no personal knowledge...are you sure the car rental companies will allow you to drive the vehicle across the border? Thought there were some rules preventing this.

[Jmariab64]

Thanks for checking-yes, I reserved and confirmed through Alamo, and would drop the car off at the Sandman Hotel.

[Langley Cruisers]

Just wanted to ask, since I have no personal knowledge...are you sure the car rental companies will allow you to drive the vehicle across the border? Thought there were some rules preventing this.

 

You must tell the company if you intend to cross the border, and in fact there are usually hefty drop charges to leave the car in another city, let alone another country. :) It certainly can be done, and is convenient for the customer. It's usually done quite often in summer when there is travel between the two points (Seattle area and Vancouver area).

 

I worked in a rental car agency for five years; that's where I met my now-husband. :D

[Jmariab64]

Yes, thanks-Alamo is aware of the drop off in Vancouver.

[Langley Cruisers]

Maybe you can do the train another time. It really is a gorgeous trip. :)

[martincath]

I'm a bit late to the party, but perhaps can set your mind at rest a little by correcting some of the more egregious info posted further up the thread about the train's on-time performance.

 

The 510 (morning departure from Seattle) shares little in common with the issues faced by many other Amtrak services. While it's performance over the last 12 months is on-par with most Amtrak services, that includes the extensive track works conducted all last summer which built in at least a 30 minute delay on all trips. Amtraks service standard for on-time is within 10minutes of scheduled arrival on this route - so basically 100% of trains were late last year over the summer. This year, 3 in 4 July trains arrived on time; the ones that are late are usually ~20 minutes late because they had to pull over for a freight train that was behind schedule and give it a safe distance before starting up again.

 

You would need to have a delay of at least two hours - on a four hour trip - to actually risk not making your ship. Every time we've gone coach we've ended up in the last car to unload, and still been inside the station talking to CBSA within 20-30 minutes. There will be cabs lined up outside, many other cruisers to split them with for efficiency and cost savings, and it's only 15 minutes drive even in heavy traffic. In other words you will be starting your check-in process within an hour of the train arriving - half that if you are traveling business class as you get off first. So even if you arrive at 2pm, you'll be at Canada Place by 3pm or earlier.

 

The odds of you having a delay much greater than half an hour are slim for the following reasons:

 

First, the train departs direct from Seattle King St for Vancouver - the train begins here, there are no connections on this train before or after Seattle nor have there ever been, so the references to missed connections are irrelevant and obviously based on other routes and rolling stock.

 

Secondly, significant improvements to the track between the two cities are now complete - while there have been issues in the past with mudslides blocking the line early in the season (heavy rains in the PNW in spring!) many of the improvements have addressed this issue - so even if you are departing early next cruise season rather than now it's much less likely to cause an issue.

 

Thirdly, when something catastrophic goes wrong on the Cascades route buses are brought in. Amtrak have been easily able to source enough to take every passenger in the past when mudslides or bridgeworks have blocked access to the tracks, and those buses are the most direct vehicles available - people are split by destination, so the Vancouver bus will generally make only one stop in Bellingham for a 'comfort break' before the border. Departures are at the same time as the train, and are statistically *quicker* end to end as the train is forced to drive very slowly in residential areas, which makes the last chunk of the trip very slow.

 

So basically the only issue that you will need to worry about is something that happens to your actual train or the tracks on the day during travel. Odds of something terrible occurring are slim - trains are much safer than road vehicles mile for mile, and given the godawful driving I see all the time in BC & Washington I'd be more concerned about something horrible happening on I5!

 

Bluntly I think you're in more danger by getting right off a flight and driving unfamiliar roads in an unfamiliar vehicle late at night. If you do decide to hire a car and drive stop in a motel just north of Seattle to get some sleep - you'll miss the rushhour commuters next morning so you can still have a smooth drive, in daylight, better rested.

 

I'd always recommend coming in a day early for any cruise, but if forced to get from Seattle to Vancouver on the morning of departure I would 100% take the train - for all the many, many posts about Amtrak on these boards going back years there's not a single one about missing a cruise because the train was late...