BOSdubair

Is there wifi on this service?

When booking, there is no wifi icon next to the train listing. However, if you click to read more information about biz class seats, it lists free wifi as a feature.

MADPhil

There was when I took it a year ago (at least in the cafe car) but it is as patchy as the cellular service.

BelmontRef

And a lot of the trip is in the middle of nowhere. From recent experience, there will be no coverage through the Cascades (most of Chemult to Eugene) and I doubt there is any coverage out by Pt. Concepcion (between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo). But at least it was a smart router that shut off its wifi when it lost the outside connection so you didn't have the frustrating connected to a dead connection experience.

BOSdubair

Nice! Hope I'm good for my trip, in that case (OKJ - SLO). Don't expect scenery to be anything extraordinary for this - my first west coast amtrak trip.

Will have to ride again on one of the legs where wifi is patchy/less required.

BelmontRef

It's too bad the lack of cell coverage forces people to put their devices down and look at some of the best scenery on the system.

jackal

Cell service dies not too far south of Guadalupe and doesn't really come back until not too far before the tracks rejoin highway 101 near Gaviota. There's some intermittent coverage near Surf (as the Air Force base is of course populated), but it dies out once you get closer to Point Conception.

I travel the Starlight and Surfliner relatively frequently (a few times a year, at least, and most recently a couple of months ago) so am quite familiar with that segment. The Starlight's wifi just consists of a Verizon Mifi velcroed up to the wall in the Parlour Car and another one on the wall of the Business Class car, while the Surfliner has the more industrial-grade Amtrak Connect multi-carrier solution managed by Nomad Digital. Even the Surfliner's signal completely dies out in these areas, meaning there is literally no coverage from either Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, or Sprint in these areas.

For the OKJ-SLO segment, coverage down the Salinas Valley should be pretty good; you'll have trouble (of course) in the Cuesta Grade tunnels and then whle the train winds its way through the back hills before descending into SLO itself, but that's not much of the trip.

The Salinas Valley is indeed largely agricultural and relatively uninteresting. Just be sure to put the laptop and phone down once you go through the Cuesta Grade tunnels about 20 minutes after passing Paso Robles, as the view off the left (east) side of the train is pretty spectacular.

BobH

Because of a problem with a bridge in Dunsmuir, Ca this train is currently not running north of Sacramento through Mid May and no alternative transportation is being provided by Amtrak.

see

https://www.amtrak.com/servlet/Conte...=1251651263317

Bob H

MelloChatt

My wife and I are taking Amtrak from San Diego to Portland in Mid-July, and we'll have a roomette on the Coast Starlight from Los Angeles to Portland. I've traveled in sleepers before, and I'm looking forward to it.
Any advice for how best to enjoy this particular route? From reading this thread it sounds like out of Los Angeles I want to immediately head for the Pacific Parlor Car and sit on the coast side until San Luis Obispo (so maybe have lunch in the parlor car too)? Any other advice? Any recent news on whether the PPC is in use on the 14?

MADPhil

Lunch in the dining car works well too, if you can get the ocean side. Both sides are interesting when you get into Vandenberg!

jackal

I've spent quite a bit of time in SLO this year, and the PPC has been present on every train I've seen passing. Still a chance they can sub it out if there is a mechanical issue, but I think they have most of the kinks worked out.

The first hour or so through the San Fernando Valley is nothing special (unless you like watching warehouses and backyards go by at 60mph), but it starts to get more interesting once you pass Chatsworth and head through the Santa Susana tunnel and into Simi Valley. Shortly after Simi, you are out of the city and in the farmlands that make California the most productive growing region in the country.

You won't actually hit the ocean until after you pass through Ventura, just after the Oxnard stop and a bit less than two hours after leaving Los Angeles. From there all the way up through Vandenberg Air Force Base is along the water and one of the most spectacular stretches of scenery on any railroad in the country. Lunch in the Parlour Car would be a highlight.

As you leave Vandenberg about four hours into the trip, you'll turn inland and then pass through valleys and flatlands before catching a glimpse of the great Oceano sand dunes and making the final turns into San Luis Obispo about an hour later.

If the train is on time, you'll have a few minutes to detrain and stretch your legs, but don't give up your good seat, especially if you're on the right side. Departing SLO, you'll climb the back side of Cuesta Grade, pass through Horseshoe Curve, and end up with several grand vistas before entering two long tunnels and exiting into the rolling hills and agricultural (and wine-growing) center of the Salinas River valley. You may want to claim a good seat in the PPC upon departure from SLO, since they usually hold a wine tasting around that time, and the PPC will be full.

The rest of the trip is quite pleasant as you roll along through endless fields, though the bulk of the impressive scenery is over at this point.

boxo

Well, I gave it another shot (Jun 29 CS11 SNS SBA, noon to 6pm) a couple weeks ago and thought the extra $25 was worth it. The attendant checked on me every couple hours. Much much less crowded, probably 25% full. But the Business Class car being directly behind the dining car, there's a lot of foot traffic during lunch and dinner hours. And there was a Parlour Car.

Now I'm hooked and looking at Southwest Chiefing LAX ABQ, there's no Business Class. For $66 (vs $253 roomette), I can deal with a cheap seat 16 hours, or so I'm telling/forcing myself.

MelloChatt

Thanks for your advice! My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our trip. We had lunch in the parlor car, and then remained there through SLO. The scenery was amazing. We had our own wine, so we spent some of the afternoon in our roomette and skipped the wine tasting. Dinner in the dining car was the best that I've had on Amtrak, and the breakfast was great too. There was a constant squeal right next to our roomette, so I didn't sleep well, but that's just part of train travel. All in all the trip was great.

Colin

The cost difference for roomette on Coast Starlight vs. business on Pacific Surfliner is only $38 more total for 2 between Los Angeles & Santa Barbara.

Does the roomette come with meals for this 2.5 hour trip north at 10am and south at 6pm?

jackal

Any meals that take place during your time on board are fair game.

You might be able to grab lunch if you can get the first seating and eat quickly. It might be tough to ensure you can get that first seating (usually 11:30), so you may want to talk to your sleeping car attendant or, if the LSA in the dining car seems nice (ha), put a word in with him/her to save a spot for you. You can also see if your car attendant will bring lunch to your room--they're supposed to do that upon request, but I've never tried it myself.

For the southbound trip, that's right in the middle of dinner (I don't know what time they stop dinner given the arrival and their need to clean up before arriving), but boarding in SBA, you may find that all of the dinner slots have filled up. Still worth a try, and again, you may be able to put an order in with your sleeping car attendant.

Potentially useful: https://assistive.amtrak.com/h5/assi...ining-car.html

GrayAnderson

If you're on time with dinner, they're supposed to serve you, even if it involves in-room service. Your SCA is supposed to save a reservation for you.

Case-in-point: I've probably taken the Meteor from WAS-RVR 30-40 times over the last decade, as well as a few BAL-RVR runs and 2-3 ALX-RVR runs, and I almost always get a roomette because I got sick and tired of having to beg for a "last call" seat...my SCA reserves a slot for me, either to be seated right as we pull out of WAS (7:30 or if the train is late) or 8:00 (usually once we pull out of ALX). If I'm in coach I'd have to take pot luck while if I'm in a sleeper I will get dinner.