Vancouver by Amtrak Train to Seattle

[Hercules67]

I have read many advising to arrive at departure port city one day prior to cruise departure. I am planning to take Amtrak train at around 6 am and arriving seattle around 10 am for NCL cruise departure timing at 5 pm. Do you think I can take the 'risk' or it is really necessary for me to arrive one day earlier before cruise departure? Basically I am trying to save one night hotel cost.

 

 

[ColeThornton]

Whenever possible the sensible rule is to arrive a day early.   Delay's getting to the port city always happen to others....except when it finally happens to you.   🙂

 

 

[Essiesmom]

What is the on time record for this train?  Where does it start?  I think a very recent thread about this was moved to the West Coast Departures board.  EM

[Meander Ingwa]

probably a good choice.  I love a train ride and during summer this line should be fine.  It is prone to landslide during winter rrains

 

another choice is Quick Coach bus which will take you right to Pier 91 or 66

 

https://quickcoach.com/schedule/

[Hercules67]

51 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

What is the on time record for this train?  Where does it start?  I think a very recent thread about this was moved to the West Coast Departures board.  EM

 

Amtrak train departing Vancouver at 6.35 am and eta Seattle at 11.00 am.

NCL cruise embarkation at 5 pm at Pier 66 (I still not sure it is 5 pm starts embarkation of passengers or 5 pm cruise departing port though I think is 5 pm starts embarkation and I still don't know my embarkation time).

 

I have never taken Amtrak train and so not sure of its punctuality.

 

*my cruise is in October 2023.

 

[Hercules67]

44 minutes ago, Meander Ingwa said:

probably a good choice.  I love a train ride and during summer this line should be fine.  It is prone to landslide during winter rrains

 

another choice is Quick Coach bus which will take you right to Pier 91 or 66

 

https://quickcoach.com/schedule/

 

There is an Amtrak bus departing Vancouver at 5.30 am and arriving Seattle at 9.00 am. If the bus breaks down on the way, is it difficult for me to catch a Uber (if that's even possible) to go to Seattle or what other alternative contingency alternative that I can have?

 

*I am from Asia and will be going Vancouver (first time) for a conference and so taking the opportunity to go for Alaska cruise ex Seattle but am not familiar with the transport systems there.

 

 

 

[Meander Ingwa]

sooner or later one must trust in the system.  Ifs and Ands can keep you sitting on your sofa.  Ifs and Ands are why so many people plan a day ahead.

 

I would not expect a random bus to break down.  They are not jitneys they are long distance coaches

 

trains in the US , particularly on the west cost are very limited.  They are not like the massive systems in Europe or Asia which move a large number of people and have a large infrastructure going everywhere.  The train from Vancouver to Sea is very scenic ( sit on the right side) and likely to be a good choice.  Issues or train running poorly is more likely in winter and late Fall when rain on the coast and snow in the mountains become an issue.

 

the bus I posted is  a nice alternative to know about.  They clearly know their audience with stops at the seattle convention center, the two piers and Sea Tac.   These bus lines are very popular on the west coast particularly with younger folks who do not drive. They know they can easily get where they want to be with simple fares.  Many young folks dont drive or own a car when simple urban transportation is handy and the overhead of owning running and storing a car in the urban cities are just not money well spent

 

 

[kayehall]

2 hours ago, Hercules67 said:

 

There is an Amtrak bus departing Vancouver at 5.30 am and arriving Seattle at 9.00 am. If the bus breaks down on the way, is it difficult for me to catch a Uber (if that's even possible) to go to Seattle or what other alternative contingency alternative that I can have?

 

*I am from Asia and will be going Vancouver (first time) for a conference and so taking the opportunity to go for Alaska cruise ex Seattle but am not familiar with the transport systems there.

 

 

 

Why not sail from Vancouver?

[njhorseman]

2 hours ago, Hercules67 said:

NCL cruise embarkation at 5 pm at Pier 66 (I still not sure it is 5 pm starts embarkation of passengers or 5 pm cruise departing port though I think is 5 pm starts embarkation and I still don't know my embarkation time).

No, 5 pm is sail away time. You should be at the cruise port no later than 2 hours prior, at 3pm. 

[njhorseman]

5 minutes ago, kayehall said:

Why not sail from Vancouver?

There are no Alaska cruises departing Vancouver in October per cruisetimetables.com. It's the end of the cruise season and the only ships sailing from Vancouver are repositioning to other home ports.

[martincath]

3 hours ago, Hercules67 said:

 

Amtrak train departing Vancouver at 6.35 am and eta Seattle at 11.00 am.

NCL cruise embarkation at 5 pm at Pier 66 (I still not sure it is 5 pm starts embarkation of passengers or 5 pm cruise departing port though I think is 5 pm starts embarkation and I still don't know my embarkation time).

 

I have never taken Amtrak train and so not sure of its punctuality.

 

*my cruise is in October 2023.

Honestly, I wouldn't cruise Alaska in October at all - I can appreciate wanting to tie this in to a conference when your flights and some hotel nights are expense-able, we do the same at every opportunity, but I'd be inclined to just stick to land, especially since you've never been to Vancouver before... you could easily spend a week here and leave still not having seen everything!

 

But in terms of the train - that southbound morning one is as good as it gets! The train sits overnight, there are no connecting services, the crew overnight here as well, there is virtually no chance of it being delayed leaving. While freight trains and a couple of bridges are random elements, the odds of it being more than an hour late are very slim indeed. Track improvements have cut the landslide issue down a lot, it's really only in spring after months of rain that problems arise these days - and unless it happens literally hours before your train, Amtrak are experienced at using 'bus bridges' to move pax between stations either side of a landslide so the already-padded-at-least-thirty-minutes schedule would probably only bump by another thirty.

 

The only train-based problems that would prevent you getting there successfully are the kind of things that you just can't plan for sensibly - we once sat for several hours because a truck hit a bridge we were supposed to cross just before we got there, and it took a while for engineers to get there and assess whether it was structurally sound enough to take the train safely! That sort of thing you just have to accept as a risk - if you factored that level of concern into your travel, you would always be traveling three days or more ahead of when you need to be somewhere!!!!

 

From King St station to Pier 66 is a pretty short drive, less than two miles - even if the train was two hours late you could walk there in time to board! So if cruising out of Seattle is what you really want to do, I'd definitely book the train in preference to even the earlier buses - it's by far the least hassle with immigration at the border. Speaking of - do be sure that you have all your paperwork in place! Any needed visa for Canada doesn't help with getting into the USA!!!

[Hercules67]

57 minutes ago, martincath said:

Honestly, I wouldn't cruise Alaska in October at all - I can appreciate wanting to tie this in to a conference when your flights and some hotel nights are expense-able, we do the same at every opportunity, but I'd be inclined to just stick to land, especially since you've never been to Vancouver before... you could easily spend a week here and leave still not having seen everything!

 

But in terms of the train - that southbound morning one is as good as it gets! The train sits overnight, there are no connecting services, the crew overnight here as well, there is virtually no chance of it being delayed leaving. While freight trains and a couple of bridges are random elements, the odds of it being more than an hour late are very slim indeed. Track improvements have cut the landslide issue down a lot, it's really only in spring after months of rain that problems arise these days - and unless it happens literally hours before your train, Amtrak are experienced at using 'bus bridges' to move pax between stations either side of a landslide so the already-padded-at-least-thirty-minutes schedule would probably only bump by another thirty.

 

The only train-based problems that would prevent you getting there successfully are the kind of things that you just can't plan for sensibly - we once sat for several hours because a truck hit a bridge we were supposed to cross just before we got there, and it took a while for engineers to get there and assess whether it was structurally sound enough to take the train safely! That sort of thing you just have to accept as a risk - if you factored that level of concern into your travel, you would always be traveling three days or more ahead of when you need to be somewhere!!!!

 

From King St station to Pier 66 is a pretty short drive, less than two miles - even if the train was two hours late you could walk there in time to board! So if cruising out of Seattle is what you really want to do, I'd definitely book the train in preference to even the earlier buses - it's by far the least hassle with immigration at the border. Speaking of - do be sure that you have all your paperwork in place! Any needed visa for Canada doesn't help with getting into the USA!!!

 

Heartfelt appreciation for your kind reply.

 

I have taken 21 days of leave to tour Vancouver! So this Alaska trip is just an 'add on' within the trip as if I miss it, I might not have a chance anymore (I have actually battled a lot in my mind whether to hop onto this cruise as many have advised me against it).

 

Base on the above as well as my 'gut' that the train should be alright to arrive Pier 66 in time, I will just book the 6+ am Amtrak to Seattle. If I am flying in, then yes, I would definitely arrive a day or two earlier as planes are more 'unpredictable'.

 

Thank you!

 

[Hercules67]

1 hour ago, njhorseman said:

There are no Alaska cruises departing Vancouver in October per cruisetimetables.com. It's the end of the cruise season and the only ships sailing from Vancouver are repositioning to other home ports.

 

Yes, I was so disappointed about no cruise departing from Vancouver in October that I have to commute to Seattle to catch the cruise.

 

As the last port before arriving back at Seattle is Victoria, I was hoping that I could disembark at Victoria instead of going back to Seattle and then have to make my way back to Vancouver. Unfortunately, I called up NCL and they said I don't have that choice (meaning can only disembark in Seattle).

 

[Meander Ingwa]

There was a long thread about this that was locked yesterday.  There are rules about citizenship, ports of call and lots of other maritime law that is confusing.

 

I would think the train will do fine.  You could walk to P66 easily.  Uber lyft taxi also easy.

[martincath]

4 hours ago, Hercules67 said:

Heartfelt appreciation for your kind reply.

 

I have taken 21 days of leave to tour Vancouver!... 

 

I was hoping that I could disembark at Victoria instead of going back to Seattle and then have to make my way back to Vancouver.

Dang! Now THAT'S the way to do justice to Vancouver - you'll see more stuff than most of us who live here do in a year!!!

 

On the early disembarkation front, there's no legal impediment to you getting off in Victoria (voyage starts in USA, ends in Canada, neither countries applicable Coastwise Trade laws are impacted) so if you just settle your bill and walk off the ship NCL can't really stop you... but unless you hold Canadian citizenship CBSA definitely can refuse you entry, and while they do expect to be on-site for port-stops they don't expect to see someone get off permanently unless advised in advance by the ship... so I could certainly see them being a bit annoyed!

 

Given that there are even more options to get back to Vancouver from Seattle (Train again for me!), it's only about an hour or so longer, and this way you also get an extra dinner/shows/midnight buffet I don't think it's worth trying to force the issue with NCL 😉

 

In fact Seattle's a very nice city, and having spent three weeks in Vancouver I think you could definitely justify spending a day or two there! You may even find that rearranging your flight home to go from SEA instead of YVR might save money - I know that we have leveraged work trips to squeeze in extra time in our Portland place before and/or after conventions, and provided the flight cost is less than a simple round trip from Vancouver it's never been questioned as the company saves money too!

[Hercules67]

I am grateful of the swift and friendly response I got from this forum to solve my 'doubt'.

 

Will begin to explore cruising as a form of travel for me and will learn to explore this useful forum 'correctly' to get information for my trips (first time using this forum and so still have to learn how to navigate it efficiently).

 

Thanks everyone!

[Hercules67]

3 hours ago, martincath said:

Dang! Now THAT'S the way to do justice to Vancouver - you'll see more stuff than most of us who live here do in a year!!!

 

On the early disembarkation front, there's no legal impediment to you getting off in Victoria (voyage starts in USA, ends in Canada, neither countries applicable Coastwise Trade laws are impacted) so if you just settle your bill and walk off the ship NCL can't really stop you... but unless you hold Canadian citizenship CBSA definitely can refuse you entry, and while they do expect to be on-site for port-stops they don't expect to see someone get off permanently unless advised in advance by the ship... so I could certainly see them being a bit annoyed!

 

Given that there are even more options to get back to Vancouver from Seattle (Train again for me!), it's only about an hour or so longer, and this way you also get an extra dinner/shows/midnight buffet I don't think it's worth trying to force the issue with NCL 😉

 

In fact Seattle's a very nice city, and having spent three weeks in Vancouver I think you could definitely justify spending a day or two there! You may even find that rearranging your flight home to go from SEA instead of YVR might save money - I know that we have leveraged work trips to squeeze in extra time in our Portland place before and/or after conventions, and provided the flight cost is less than a simple round trip from Vancouver it's never been questioned as the company saves money too!

 

One of my plans is to visit Victoria to spend two nights there. If NCL allows disembarkation at Victoria, it will save my troubles of Seattle - Vancouver - Victoria travelling time (and cost). Well, too bad I can't cut time and cost based on cruise regulations.

 

The 'horror stories' I read/watched from the internet about Seattle downtown were quite frightening (esp as a solo traveller) and these sort of let me choose the additional night to stay in Vancouver instead of arriving one day earlier in Seattle. Though I am still thinking that I should not be overly bothered by those horror stories as long as I go back to the hotel before dark in Seattle, I should be able to spend two nights in Seattle to explore Pike Market etc safely. Still thinking about this.

 

 

[DaveOKC]

For what its worth, I was told by my Holland America agent that they no longer allow you to disembark a day early at Victoria.  Be sure to check closely with your cruiseline.

 

[martincath]

11 hours ago, Hercules67 said:

The 'horror stories' I read/watched from the internet about Seattle downtown were quite frightening (esp as a solo traveller) ...

We have had similar concerns spread about Vancouver since the Pandemic began to be honest - and our 'bad parts' of town have always overlapped with the big tourist area of Gastown, and to a lesser extent Chinatown. Statistically Seattle is a little more dangerous than Vancouver but both of our cities relative to their country-wide baseline have similar crime patterns: it's casual thefts, breaking into cars, Taking Stuff From Places that are the real issue - mugging, assaults, robberies and the like, Hurting Or Taking Stuff From People is much lower. Nobody likes their stuff being stolen, but it's much less bad than being attacked!

 

While I'm less familiar with Seattle as we tend to just blow right through on most trips, in general I find that the entire West Coast gets tarred unfairly with the 'danger' brush because of homelessness and drug use - unpleasantness isn't the same as danger, my wife walks around by herself almost every day downtown both here and Portland, we both walk at night to and from the vast majority of the many restaurants we visit and many of our favourites are right in the worst parts of both cities!

 

Be sensible, don't wander through any 'tent cities' you do come across, and if you really want to go e.g. somewhere on our Michelin list that's on any street beginning with East downtown take a cab there and have the resto call you one when you're ready to leave - St Lawrence, Barbara, and Kissa Tanto among the star-winners, Chupito, Fiorino, and Phnom Penh among the Bibs (and pretty much any Gastown or Chinatown resto in general!) are in places that I know some folks do become uncomfortable in... but even at night, the 'dodgy' streets with restos on can often be very busy, lots of people coming and going, so may feel very safe to you.

[Meander Ingwa]

13 hours ago, Hercules67 said:

The 'horror stories' I read/watched from the internet about Seattle downtown were quite frightening

I would take the info you saw on line with a huge bucket of salt.  There have been many highly conflated "documentary reports" from media outlets which are agenda driven rather than based on balanced facts. 

 

Seattle , like many international large cities, IS impacted by poverty homelessness and a drug crisis.

 

  I would apply the reasonable choices you would make while traveling in ANY city, to Seattle

 

Yes I live here, Yes I am a single senior and travel independently

[GTJ]

21 hours ago, Hercules67 said:

One of my plans is to visit Victoria to spend two nights there. If NCL allows disembarkation at Victoria, it will save my troubles of Seattle - Vancouver - Victoria travelling time (and cost). Well, too bad I can't cut time and cost based on cruise regulations.

Assuming that you reside in Vancouver because you have Canadian citizenship (or other right to residency in Canada), then the law would not pose an impediment to your disembarkation at Victoria, either with respect to immigration or cabotage. Nor is there any provision in the NCL ticket contract prohibiting a passenger from doing so. (Some others have suggested that a cruise line would "not permit" a person to disembark, but does anyone really believe that--prior to the vessel leaving Victoria--NCL personnel would search Victoria to find you, compel you through a threat of physical force to reboard the vessel, so that NCL might transport away from your home country to a foreign country, against your will?)

[Meander Ingwa]

@GTJ the OP on this thread is from Asia, visiting Vancouver for a meeting then taking and extended vacation after.

[GTJ]

11 minutes ago, Meander Ingwa said:

[T]he OP on this thread is from Asia, visiting Vancouver for a meeting then taking and extended vacation after.

I missed that part! So since my assumption is not correct, then there would be no inherent right to enter Canada. In this situation I would expect the Canadian immigration officials at the port would have the ability to perform ordinary immigration functions, including the admission of persons with visas . . . doing so is one of the fundamental functions of immigration officials stationed at international port (though given that the Canadian government has lost many normal sensibilities in recent years, perhaps not!).

[Hercules67]

12 hours ago, Meander Ingwa said:

I would take the info you saw on line with a huge bucket of salt.  There have been many highly conflated "documentary reports" from media outlets which are agenda driven rather than based on balanced facts. 

 

Seattle , like many international large cities, IS impacted by poverty homelessness and a drug crisis.

 

  I would apply the reasonable choices you would make while traveling in ANY city, to Seattle

 

Yes I live here, Yes I am a single senior and travel independently

 

That's the part about getting info over the internet for one to discern whether info provided are facts or not ("with a huge bucket of salt").

 

My overall assessment it should be safe to spend two nights in Seattle with the general 'street smartness' that all should exercise whether in own country or overseas. Thanks for your validation to firm up my decision to go explore Seattle for 2 days!

 

[Hercules67]

13 hours ago, martincath said:

We have had similar concerns spread about Vancouver since the Pandemic began to be honest - and our 'bad parts' of town have always overlapped with the big tourist area of Gastown, and to a lesser extent Chinatown. Statistically Seattle is a little more dangerous than Vancouver but both of our cities relative to their country-wide baseline have similar crime patterns: it's casual thefts, breaking into cars, Taking Stuff From Places that are the real issue - mugging, assaults, robberies and the like, Hurting Or Taking Stuff From People is much lower. Nobody likes their stuff being stolen, but it's much less bad than being attacked!

 

While I'm less familiar with Seattle as we tend to just blow right through on most trips, in general I find that the entire West Coast gets tarred unfairly with the 'danger' brush because of homelessness and drug use - unpleasantness isn't the same as danger, my wife walks around by herself almost every day downtown both here and Portland, we both walk at night to and from the vast majority of the many restaurants we visit and many of our favourites are right in the worst parts of both cities!

 

Be sensible, don't wander through any 'tent cities' you do come across, and if you really want to go e.g. somewhere on our Michelin list that's on any street beginning with East downtown take a cab there and have the resto call you one when you're ready to leave - St Lawrence, Barbara, and Kissa Tanto among the star-winners, Chupito, Fiorino, and Phnom Penh among the Bibs (and pretty much any Gastown or Chinatown resto in general!) are in places that I know some folks do become uncomfortable in... but even at night, the 'dodgy' streets with restos on can often be very busy, lots of people coming and going, so may feel very safe to you.

 

Seattle seems to have its name more badly tainted as compared to Vancouver for Asians (sharing my perspective from another part of the globe).

 

The first time I came across 'tent cities'-like places was in downtown Hawaii. That was 30+ years ago when I went there for my studies. I remember during daytime, the downtown was 'safe' but after dark, it would not be really a place that a single female would like to be wondering around. So I presume if Seattle and Vancouver are similar (that the under-privileged appearing mainly after dark), then it should be fine.

 

I have a 20+ yo niece that just returned from Chicago for a meeting. She told me she didn't like it there as she felt very 'unsafe' and so kept herself in the hotel most of the time. That was her first experience visiting the US that sort of 'frightened' her enough to warn me 'to stay out of Seattle' as US cities are 'unsafe'. Maybe we are Asians and so can take certain 'more chaotic' situations in countries like China, Vietnam, etc better but more adverse to similar situations in the West (probably because Asians have much smaller built with avg female at 1.6 m tall around 50 kg and male at 1.7 m tall around 65 kg and generally more timid than those in the West and so we feel 'intimidated' more easily in the West than in Asia). 

 

Thanks for your generous sharing again and I have decided to spend 2 days briefly exploring Seattle (and probably could try to 'calm' my niece down that Seattle is not as bad as in 'perceptions' that can drive unnecessary fears).

 

*the first time I know about Seattle was from the movie "Sleepless in Seattle'. If Tom Hanks could resettle himself and son in Seattle, then it should be 'safe enough'! 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by Hercules67