seattle to vancouver via amtrak advice

[andio2of5]

For our July 28 Alaska cruise out of Vancouver, we are traveling from San Jose via Amtrak. We arrive in Seattle the evening of July 27 (the Coast Starlight train is notoriously late). Anyway, we have 2 options:

1) immediately board an Amtrak bus and get to Vancouver in the wee hours of the morning, get a hotel in Vancouver and relax until it's time to ship out that afternoon. The problem with the bus (other than "it's a bus") is that it is a real hassle crossing the border...you have to get out of the bus, drag ALL of your things thru customs, get back on the bus, then wait while they decide if they are going to let the one or two "problem" people stay on the bus and cross the border with you :) .

2) stay the night in Seattle and catch the Cascades train the next morning from Seattle to Vancouver. This is a much more pleasant ride but does not get into Vancouver til 11:35 AM.

 

Does anyone know how reliable the Cascades train is as far as being on time? Is this cutting it too close? Anybody done this?

 

Thanks for any info

 

Andi

[LeftcoastBC]

we did that trip from Oakland. You're very correct on the train into Seattle in regards to time. In Oakland I asked the ticket guy for one piece of advice as I hadn't been on a train for years. His answer.. Throw away your watch.

 

We of course were returning home and not catching a cruise but had left our vehicle at the cruise park in Vancouver so did your trip exactly.

 

I may not take the trip below Seattle again but certainly will use the service between Seattle and Vancouver. It routinely gets into Vancouver on time (noonish so there is some wiggle room) and the border stuff is a snap compared to other methods.

 

Business class puts you at the head of the line at both ends of the trip with better seating so I recommend that too. We have friends that use the service routinely.

 

The trip up from Ca is an experience. Between Seattle and Vancouver a much better one :)

[ekeberg]

We went from San Diego to Seattle last July and would never do it again.

We were to get into Seattle at 9:00pm, but arrived at 2:00am. We then went to the hotel we had already paid for and slept for 3 hours because we had to be back at the train station for the trip from Seatlle to Vancouver which they only do on the train once a day in the morning.

If I knew this would happen we would of gone into Seattle a day before so we could have a day to catch up on sleep. We were very tired the first day on the cruise.

 

The trip from Seattle to Vancouver is nice and was on time.

 

Lynn

[andio2of5]

Thanks for your replies......I do not fly so we are well acquainted with Amtrak and it's faults. Hence, I was concerned about relying on the Cascades on the morning of our embarkation day.

Andi