Meals on the Coast Starlight?

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JoanieBlon

Service Attendant
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Apr 10, 2009
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117
Location
Lafayette Louisiana
I'm planning a trip for next fall from New Orleans to Los Angeles on the Sunset Limited and then on to Portland and eventually Seattle on the Coast Starlight.

I see that the Coast Starlight leaves Union Station Los Angeles at 10:15am and arrives in Portland the following day at 3:40pm. I feel pretty safe in assuming that if we book a Bedroom, we will have lunch and dinner served to us the first day and then breakfast and lunch on the second day.

We are thinking about getting off the train for just one night in Portland and then continuing on the following day on the Coast Starlight to Seattle. I see the train leaves Portland at 4:20pm and arrives in Seattle at 8:45pm. If we book a Roomette, will dinner be included? :unsure:
 
Yes, dinner between Portland and Seattle is served on the CS and thus is included.
Thanks for the quick answer! :D I figured it was easier to ask here than to try to get an answer out of the Amtrak people when making my reservations. :eek:hboy:
 
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:hi: Nice trip! A suggestion: After you spend the night in Portland, consider riding the Cascades Talgo from Portland to Seattle, it is a day trip (506 is 1215PM-3:45PM/516 is 2:50PM-6:20PM). Business class and the cafe are pretty nice, you get to see this Route in daylight and arrive in Seattle in the daylight instead of at night! We did this last year, also consider taking the train to Vancouver,BC if you havent been there, it's a fantastic trip and City! ;)
 
I concur with Jim. We did the Talgo from PDX to SEA and it was a very nice ride - only place in the country that you can ride Talgo equipment too, it's a very different train.
 
:hi: Nice trip! A suggestion: After you spend the night in Portland, consider riding the Cascades Talgo from Portland to Seattle, it is a day trip (506 is 1215PM-3:45PM/516 is 2:50PM-6:20PM). Business class and the cafe are pretty nice, you get to see this Route in daylight and arrive in Seattle in the daylight instead of at night! We did this last year, also consider taking the train to Vancouver,BC if you havent been there, it's a fantastic trip and City! ;)
Thanks for the suggestion regarding the Cascades Talgo. I'll certainly bear that in mind when booking our trip ~ which I'll probably be doing over this weekend. I'm just waiting for the complete trip to be available for booking due to the 11 month reservation limitations. We'll be traveling out of New Orleans on October 3, 2011, continuing on to Portland on October 5th, and then on to Seattle on October 6th.
We're taking the Canada Via Rail ~ 1st Class with a bedroom ~ from Montreal to Jasper and then from Jasper to Vancouver in May 2011, so probably wouldn't want to do the Seattle to Vancouver trip. We're planning on taking the high speed ferry from Seattle to Victoria BC and spending a couple of days there. :cool:

I have another question about the Coast Starlight ~ when do they typically do the wine and cheese tasting during the trip? Los Angeles to Portland or Portland to Seattle?
 
I'll third that suggestion. We've frequently detrained the CS in Portland for 1-2 nights (nice city!), then continued our journey to Seattle on a Cascades train. It's a fun, unique train that travels by daylight and gets you into Seattle at a more reasonable hour (especially if the CS happens to be running late).

If you go the Talgo way, be sure to sit on the left (water) side of the train heading north.
 
Since you're in Sleeper on the Starlight, you also have the option of taking meals from a very good although limited menu in the PPC, but seating is usually limited. That gives a nice break from the regular Dining Car menu plus, according to Amtrak accounting, puts revenue into keeping the PPCs alive.
 
Excellent choice! The suggestion to take your meals in the PPC on the CS is also a good one - Amy and I never even saw the dining car on that train, the PPC was a very nice change from the norm.
 
:hi: Nice trip! A suggestion: After you spend the night in Portland, consider riding the Cascades Talgo from Portland to Seattle, it is a day trip (506 is 1215PM-3:45PM/516 is 2:50PM-6:20PM). Business class and the cafe are pretty nice, you get to see this Route in daylight and arrive in Seattle in the daylight instead of at night! We did this last year, also consider taking the train to Vancouver,BC if you havent been there, it's a fantastic trip and City! ;)
A follow-up on our proposed trip! Due to all the favorable comments about continuing onboard the Cascades Talgo to Seattle from an overnight stay in Portland, that's the trip I've booked.
I made our reservations online and then went to the Tampa Amtrak station to get the tickets last Saturday, as I had a rail certificate to redeem from our last trip ~ on the Maple Leaf. That trip was "less than stellar" (putting it MILDLY :angry: ) I wrote a letter of complaint to Amtrak Customer Service and they sent me a $35 certificate as a form of apology.

We were originally going to do our trip ~ New Orleans to Los Angeles on the Sunset Limited ~ Los Angeles to Portland on the Coast Starlight ~ and then Portland to Seattle on the Cascades Talgo (the train that leaves Portland at 12:15pm and arrives in Seattle at the "decent" hour of 3:45pm ~ again thanks for the suggestion!) in October 2011, but changed the dates to August. Bedroom accomodations on the Sunset Limited ran $1,091.00 in October, but were only $522.00 in August! Go figure! :wacko: I thought that fares on that route would be higher during the summer with families traveling....you just never know! :lol:

Actually, the August departure date is REALLY nice as we can consider it a celebratory trip in honor of my husband's 60th birthday! :cool: We're REALLY looking forward to this trip!
 
I agree with your surprise about August Pricing. Especially when you compare to renting a beach house or cabin - August is prime. But you mentioned surprise at the lower rates in August - even though you have families traveling on vacations. I don't think many American families ever plan to take a trip via rail. It's the family car that won that battle.

But I agree - and in fact, six of us in our family of seven enjoyed the Auto Train this past August. We returned about ten days before the first day of school - thus the reason for the August departure. And to my surprise - the Auto train was full, although I think it is actually always full now, it seems to have heavy volume every day. Most accommodations were sold out around our departure date.
 
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