CZ from Denver to San Francisco or reverse

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fanjet

Joined
Oct 16, 2017
Messages
3
I recently moved to the Denver, CO area (Windsor, CO) from the Northeast (NJ) and am playing with the idea of sometime in the future riding on the CZ to the west coast and flying back to Denver. I am also open the idea of flying out to California and riding the CZ back to Denver.

I took a trip on the northbound Auto Train last October (9+ hours late) where I had a Roomette. For a trip of this length, I think that I would like to have larger sleeping accommodations than a Roomette, such as a bedroom.

As I am retired, I am pretty much open as to timeframe, but I think that I would like to travel through the mountains when snow is on the ground.

Is there any reason to choose riding the CZ West out of Denver as opposed to riding the CZ east back to Denver? I think that I read on the forum that the long distance trains can be hours late. Could that swing the balance towards flying out to San Francisco and boarding the CZ out there (Oakland?) where the CZ starts its eastbound journey as opposed to getting on the CZ in Denver, which is an intermediate stop?

When is the best time to travel and reserve sleeping accommodations on the CZ? I still have not grasped the concept of the "Pricing Buckets" for sleeping accommodations.

Thanks for any info.

Mark
 
Riding in the Winter means shorter days, hence less sunlight to see the fantastic scenery in the Rockies and Sierras.

Since the #5 Westbound Zephyr leaves Denver in the Daylight and Climbs up the Front Range in Daylight, and runs from Reno to Emeryville in Daylight, heading Westbound is the preferred choice of most of us since it can get dark in the Rockies quickly before arrival into Denver.

Of course there is No Guarantee, on LD,Trains "Stuff" can happen that causes Delays, and often does.

Remember,Bedrooms can be Very Pricey on this Route, but if you can afford it go for it!

Since you're retired, why not take the Zephyr to the Bay Area spend some time in this Lovely place before heading down the Coast on the Starlight to LA and Fly home from there?
 
I agree about taking the westbound Zephyr.

I think it is good to buy tickets as soon as possible. If the fare goes down before your trip, you can get a price adjustment. But the fare can also go up or the rooms can sell out.
 
fanjet said:
I recently moved to the Denver, CO area (Windsor, CO) from the Northeast (NJ) and am playing with the idea of sometime in the future riding on the CZ to the west coast and flying back to Denver. I am also open the idea of flying out to California and riding the CZ back to Denver.

I took a trip on the northbound Auto Train last October (9+ hours late) where I had a Roomette. For a trip of this length, I think that I would like to have larger sleeping accommodations than a Roomette, such as a bedroom.

As I am retired, I am pretty much open as to timeframe, but I think that I would like to travel through the mountains when snow is on the ground.

Is there any reason to choose riding the CZ West out of Denver as opposed to riding the CZ east back to Denver? I think that I read on the forum that the long distance trains can be hours late. Could that swing the balance towards flying out to San Francisco and boarding the CZ out there (Oakland?) where the CZ starts its eastbound journey as opposed to getting on the CZ in Denver, which is an intermediate stop?

When is the best time to travel and reserve sleeping accommodations on the CZ? I still have not grasped the concept of the "Pricing Buckets" for sleeping accommodations.

Thanks for any info.

Mark
Click to expand...
I would go east, since it's less likely that the train will be late, and it's nice to start a trip at it's terminus, though I might be the only one who feels this way.

As to the concept of pricing buckets, I'll try to explain. Basically, every Amtrak itinerary (meaning a certain accommodation for a certain number of passengers on a certain train for a certain distance) will have a few different possible prices. Though the buckets will occasionally change, at a given time they are constant for every date of travel. So as a simple example, let's say that one person traveling from Point A to Point B on train X in a roomette costs either $200, $250, $300, or $350. That will be the case for every date of travel. Depending on the remaining availability, the season of travel, and how close to departure you are, the price will change, but it will always be one of those. So if you're booking six months in advance and/or there are a bunch of roomettes left, the price might be $200 or $250. If you're booking very close in and/or there aren't many rooms left, it might be $300 or $350.

That's a very simplified but pretty accurate explanation of Amtrak pricing and buckets.
 
Wish the spread between the buckets were that small
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The reason most people suggest going east to west vs west to east is not because you are starting from the endpoint. It is for seeing the views, such as the climb/decent of the Front Range. As said the train could be late at an intermediate point. Denver is one both eastbound and westbound.

Just for argument, say it is 4-5 hours late. Headed west, instead of an 8 am departure it may be noon. Chances are it will still be daylight on your climb of the Front Range. If it were that late on the eastbound run, it will probably be dark around midnight on the decent.
 
cpotisch said:
zephyr17 said:
Wish the spread between the buckets were that small
default_tongue.png
Click to expand...
This was a very simplified explanation of the buckets. I fully recognize that they are actually farther apart but that's irrelevant if you're just trying to explain the concept.
Click to expand...
While it's true that most bucket increments are greater than $50, not all are. Roomettes on the Silver Star and the City Of New Orleans are (on the average) only $20 and $48 apart, respectively, as shown in the chart below:

4 Nov 17 Fare Bucketsa.jpg

And as can be seen there are actually 5 different buckets for each sleeping accommodation - not the 4 implied in the example. Sleeper buckets rise in a roughly arithmetic progression while those for Coach fares rise in a roughly geometric progression.
 
cpotisch said:
zephyr17 said:
cpotisch said:
zephyr17 said:
Wish the spread between the buckets were that small
default_tongue.png
Click to expand...
This was a very simplified explanation of the buckets. I fully recognize that they are actually farther apart but that's irrelevant if you're just trying to explain the concept.
Click to expand...
I know. I was kidding.
Click to expand...
Oh, sorry.
Click to expand...
I honestly do wish the spread were $50 though, which is why implusively posted it. Niemi24's analysis of the Star(vation) and CONO not withstanding (great job on that whole chart Niemi24, BTW). I live on the West Coast and generally travel on the Starlight and the western LDs. I do wonder why the EB is around $50-$100 cheaper than the other Chicago-West Coast trains, especially when the SWC running times are similar and the SWC is roughly $100 more. Since I mostly take the EB when I do get a chance to take the SWC, which I prefer, I am always surprised, and usually spend a lot of time looking for a lower bucket on Amsnag before becoming convinced I actually am looking at the low bucket.
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As it stands, I generally won't go unless I get the bottom two buckets in roomettes.
 
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I just took the eastbound CZ about a month or so ago. Even though we were late going into Denver, there was still plenty of daylight. So for a good part of the summer, I would say direction really does not matter.

Seeing the switchbacks going down into Denver was pretty impressive. I don't know if you would get that same impression from below or after they were all ready behind you going westbound.
 
In the winter, when the days are short and you go down the Front Range after dark, it is still a good ride. The lights of Denver are spread out below you for what seems like forever. It is like you are on approach in the world's slowest airplane.
 
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zephyr17 said:
I honestly do wish the spread were $50 though, which is why implusively posted it. Niemi24's analysis of the Star(vation) and CONO not withstanding (great job on that whole chart Niemi24, BTW). I live on the West Coast and generally travel on the Starlight and the western LDs. I do wonder why the EB is around $50-$100 cheaper than the other Chicago-West Coast trains, especially when the SWC running times are similar and the SWC is roughly $100 more. Since I mostly take the EB when I do get a chance to take the SWC, which I prefer, I am always surprised, and usually spend a lot of time looking for a lower bucket on Amsnag before becoming convinced I actually am looking at the low bucket.
default_unsure.png
Click to expand...

At least the low bucket fare actually shows up regularly on the Southwest Chief. It seems pretty rare to find that low bucket fare on the California Zephyr, and rarer yet on the Sunset Limited.

The Texas Eagle from CHI-LAX may be the best deal, depending on whether one considers an extra day to get to the same destination as a positive.
 
bms said:
zephyr17 said:
I honestly do wish the spread were $50 though, which is why implusively posted it. Niemi24's analysis of the Star(vation) and CONO not withstanding (great job on that whole chart Niemi24, BTW). I live on the West Coast and generally travel on the Starlight and the western LDs. I do wonder why the EB is around $50-$100 cheaper than the other Chicago-West Coast trains, especially when the SWC running times are similar and the SWC is roughly $100 more. Since I mostly take the EB when I do get a chance to take the SWC, which I prefer, I am always surprised, and usually spend a lot of time looking for a lower bucket on Amsnag before becoming convinced I actually am looking at the low bucket.
default_unsure.png
Click to expand...

At least the low bucket fare actually shows up regularly on the Southwest Chief. It seems pretty rare to find that low bucket fare on the California Zephyr, and rarer yet on the Sunset Limited.

The Texas Eagle from CHI-LAX may be the best deal, depending on whether one considers an extra day to get to the same destination as a positive.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the TE/SL is pretty dirt cheap (by Amtrak standards). Two people traveling from Pomona (the second stop after LAX) to Chicago in a roomette is a low bucket of about $580. That's 61-68 hours and three nights for marginally more than it costs to go end to end on the Meteor. And I disagree that finding a low bucket fare on the SL is super difficult. I probably see those on the Sunset more often than any other western LD, though that could just have been dumb luck. In my experience, the CZ low buckets are by far the hardest to score.
 
I personally like the eastbound CZ out of EMY because if it’s only a bit late at Provo, you’ll get to see the crossing of Soldier Summit in the daylight. That’s truly a fantastically scenic part of the route.
 

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