frugalist
Lead Service Attendant
My wife and I have picked the cruise we want to take next summer. We’ve pretty much settled on the routing we’d like to take on our train trips to and from our cruise terminal, but I need a little advice on timing my AGR bookings and a couple of other issues.
The background details are:
1) We will be sailing into and out of Vancouver, BC in July 2011.
2) We will be booking 4 separate AGR reward trips in bedrooms to get to/from VAC from home.
Trip 1 is a 2-zone award from SBG to DEN on the SM to NYP, the LSL to CHI and the CZ to DEN. 30,000 AGR points.
Trip 2 is a 1-zone award from DEN to either SEA or VAC on the same CZ train as we’re on in Trip 1 from DEN to EMY, then the CS from EMY to SEA. If we wanted to continue to VAC on this reward trip we would have to take a bus getting into VAC after midnight. 20,000 AGR points.
We’d like to book two separate award trips this way to force the routing we prefer.
Question 1: Would AGR let us lay over in SEA overnight on our dime and continue to VAC on the Cascades train the following morning as a continuation of Trip 2. My guess is the answer is NO. If that’s the case, we’d still prefer to stay overnight in SEA, then continue on to VAC on the Cascades early the next morning (1,000 AGR points each).
Trip 3 starts with an overnight in Vancouver on our dime, then a 1-zone award from VAC to WPT. We would definitely prefer to take the early morning Cascade train from VAC to either SEA or PDX, then connect to the EB from either SEA or PDX to WPT. 20,000 AGR points.
Question 2: Unfortunately, Arrow seems to insist we take a bus from VAC to SEA, then connect there to the EB. If we took the early morning Cascades, the layover in SEA is about 5 hours and the layover in PDX is almost 2 hours. What are the chances AGR would let us book the Cascades instead of the bus for that part of the trip?
Question 3: Which part of the EB is better for scenery in July? The part leaving from SEA, or the part leaving from PDX?
Trip 4 is a 2-zone award from WPT to SBG on the same EB train as we’re on in Trip 3, connecting in CHI to the CL to WAS then connecting to the SM for the final leg back to SBG.
Question 4: Which of these 4 trips is least likely to sell out at least one of the trains bedrooms the fastest? I ask this because right now we have enough points to book any 3 of these trips. We won’t have enough for the other one until either late August or September 2010.
I’ve heard that the EB sells out of sleepers very quickly for summer runs. So, we’ll probably book Trip 3 as soon as it opens up. Probably the same thought process applies with Trips 1 and 2, right? That leaves our final leg, Trip 4, as the piece we'll leave hanging unbooked until our last couple thousand points post. Does that make sense?
All thoughts and comments on this routing are appreciated.
The background details are:
1) We will be sailing into and out of Vancouver, BC in July 2011.
2) We will be booking 4 separate AGR reward trips in bedrooms to get to/from VAC from home.
Trip 1 is a 2-zone award from SBG to DEN on the SM to NYP, the LSL to CHI and the CZ to DEN. 30,000 AGR points.
Trip 2 is a 1-zone award from DEN to either SEA or VAC on the same CZ train as we’re on in Trip 1 from DEN to EMY, then the CS from EMY to SEA. If we wanted to continue to VAC on this reward trip we would have to take a bus getting into VAC after midnight. 20,000 AGR points.
We’d like to book two separate award trips this way to force the routing we prefer.
Question 1: Would AGR let us lay over in SEA overnight on our dime and continue to VAC on the Cascades train the following morning as a continuation of Trip 2. My guess is the answer is NO. If that’s the case, we’d still prefer to stay overnight in SEA, then continue on to VAC on the Cascades early the next morning (1,000 AGR points each).
Trip 3 starts with an overnight in Vancouver on our dime, then a 1-zone award from VAC to WPT. We would definitely prefer to take the early morning Cascade train from VAC to either SEA or PDX, then connect to the EB from either SEA or PDX to WPT. 20,000 AGR points.
Question 2: Unfortunately, Arrow seems to insist we take a bus from VAC to SEA, then connect there to the EB. If we took the early morning Cascades, the layover in SEA is about 5 hours and the layover in PDX is almost 2 hours. What are the chances AGR would let us book the Cascades instead of the bus for that part of the trip?
Question 3: Which part of the EB is better for scenery in July? The part leaving from SEA, or the part leaving from PDX?
Trip 4 is a 2-zone award from WPT to SBG on the same EB train as we’re on in Trip 3, connecting in CHI to the CL to WAS then connecting to the SM for the final leg back to SBG.
Question 4: Which of these 4 trips is least likely to sell out at least one of the trains bedrooms the fastest? I ask this because right now we have enough points to book any 3 of these trips. We won’t have enough for the other one until either late August or September 2010.
I’ve heard that the EB sells out of sleepers very quickly for summer runs. So, we’ll probably book Trip 3 as soon as it opens up. Probably the same thought process applies with Trips 1 and 2, right? That leaves our final leg, Trip 4, as the piece we'll leave hanging unbooked until our last couple thousand points post. Does that make sense?
All thoughts and comments on this routing are appreciated.