jackal

My business class review:

1) Free wifi! It's funny, it's just a mounted Verizon Mifi Jetpack 6620L, the same model I have from my work. Upside: this model has the latest in 4G LTE technology and is theoretically (network depending) capable of well north of 50mbps, so speeds should be fine--though the CS's route spends a lot of time in areas with mediocre cell signal. My attendant was finagling with the settings and I told him to change it to "LTE Only," as this device has a tendancy to fall back to 3G CDMA, which is absolutely useless on Verizon, and then will not fall forward to 4G LTE unless the network is idle for a couple of minutes, which obviously won't happen with 10 people connected to it. Verizon pretty much has LTE wherever they have service, and since 3G is useless (~1mbps tops, split between everyone, of course), it's better to just have no service in the rare event there is no LTE.

2) The seats are standard coach seats, though I think they've fixed the drooping-traytable issue that plagues most coach seats. This is fine; long-distance coach seats are about as comfortable as it gets, short of installing leather massaging recliners or something.

3) The Amtrak press release says "Access to the Pacific Parlour Car" and "Access to the Parlor Car had
previously been limited to only Sleeping Car passengers, implying that business-class passengers would be able to visit the Parlour Car. (As well, the $6 coupon specifically says on it that it is valid in the Parlour Car.) Unfortunately, I tried and was told that I was only welcome for the wine tasting and that they did not have room to allow non-sleeper passengers in the car. This is understandable as it does get quite full, but a big part of the reason I doubled the cost of my coach ticket was because I was led to believe that I would have access to the Parlour Car, so this was quite disappointing.

Without access to the Parlour Car, I am not sure that it is worth the cost to upgrade, as you basically have nothing more than a slightly more private cabin area, a free bottle of water, and a $6 credit for the cafe/diner. The guy behind me was yakking on his phone for most of the trip (funny, he was selling his fellow California surfer-dude on the phone on taking the train--"dude, the train is hella sick"--so I couldn't really be all that mad at him), so it's not even necessarily a quieter experience than regular coach upstairs. The free wifi is nice, but it's not a huge value to me as I have my own Mifi, but that may be a big benefit to some.

RogerD408

Yes, everything I've read leads you to believe you have access to the Parlour Car. I can understand if the car was full when you tried to get in, but it sounds like a rule was invented on the fly to deny access. I hope you do report this to Amtrak so they can either clarify the promotional material or re-educate the train staff.

Thanks for the trip report.

travellingcari

Ditto, especially as a friend who is going northbound (Santa Barbara - Sacramento ) just upgraded and his text was "holy ...., I love the Parlor car. I feel like I'm royal. LOL"
$6 credit amount is just bizarre as that's neither a meal nor a combo of say, soda and chips.

Curious for anyone who has done Coast Starlight and one of the cross country trains, how do you feel they compare? I know no WiFi on the cross country. Personally am thinking the Zephyr as it's daylight in some of the more interesting and new-to-me areas.

Thanks!

jackal

She claimed that when her boss first informed her of the new business class, she asked him a lot of questions about things, including Parlour Car access and was told by him that it was for wine tastings only. I believe her and don't think she invented the rule on the fly, and indeed, the on-board materials do specify "access to the Parlour Car for wine tastings," but that conflicts with the information on Amtrak.com.

Well, $6 is twice the $3 credit that business class travelers on the Cascades get.

Amenity-wise, the only difference is the presence of the Parlour Car, the wine tasting (though there is/was a complimentary tasting on the Empire Builder, IIRC), the new business class, and wifi in the Parlour Car and business class. Otherwise, amenities are identical.

As for scenery, the Starlight sees tree-covered mountains in Oregon and coastline in California, whereas the Zephyr goes through flat lands east of Denver and then fairly incredible mountains in Colorado (and only slightly less incredible mountains in NV/CA). They're both good rides, so just choose which you want to see and which trip works better for you.

seat38a

Was on the Coast Starlight and Empire Builder last month. In both cases, we went from start to the end of the line.

Pictures here:
Coast Starlight: https://www.flickr.com/photos/115569...57652980656950

Empire Builder:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/115569...57652993960609

Wine tasting is on the Coast Starlight ONLY for a fee. No longer free

Having the PPC for Sleeping Car passengers only does give the CS a big edge vs other trains. The SSL can and does become a sleeping car for coach passengers. Also, after 2-3 days of no shower facilities in coach, the smell in the SSL can me too much.

RogerD408

Lack of proper training exists higher up in the chain too. It may be her boss didn't know and made up an answer to the question. I do suggest contacting Amtrak and let them know your experience. If they are doing it right, then no harm. If they aren't, then they should know. Won't change your trip, but will help the next.

jackal

I don't think it was ever free on the CS.

It was, as I recall, free on the EB for a time, but it went away during some round of cuts awhile back, and I wasn't sure if I'd heard that they'd reintroduced it, but I'm not surprised they didn't.

I've done it on the CS three times, including several years ago when it was $5. Objectively, it's not even worth $5--I've paid $5 for much better wine tastings than the wines they pour--but the social atmosphere and fun of tasting in an historic car while scenery passes you by is worth $6.50, so you're only really paying $1 for the tasting itself.

travellingcari

As an east coaster, the idea of mountains amaze me. Even though we didn't get to see Hood/Rainier/St. Helens I had my nose nearly pressed to the glass through the Cascades. I've heard about the amaziing mountains and canyons and that-absent delays which, stuff happens, you get the good parts in daylight whereas Empire Builder hits the best in the dark and Sunset? has "too much Texas".

Ooh can't wait to go through those. THanks for the links!

seat38a

It must have been at one point. You should have read all the moaning and groaning and the end of the world at Amtrak Unlimited when it was announced last year that all wine and cheese were being axed, and on the CS being kept for a fee. I only took the CS and EB last month so it was no biggie. First LD trip last year was on the Sunset Limited, so was already primed for the cutbacks to the non enhanced service levels.

Eris

Wine & cheese was free in August, 2013, when I went ahead and participated. Still didn't like wine, but it was nice to find that out without cost.

MADPhil

We took the Empire Builder, Coast Starlight, and CA Zephyr in 2008 and the crew on the EB made a great point of their wine tasting being free whereas the CS charged for theirs, which seemed to be true.

jackal

So on the CS it was $5, then went to free, and then went to $7.50?

GoAmtrak

Yup. In fact, originally it was free, then $5, then free again, and now $7.50.

ColdRain&Snow

I think the gyration had another stage:

Free >> $5 >> Free >> Taken Away >> Added Back at $7.50

Amtrak must award bonuses to Middle Management for taking things away and then adding them back again later. [Sigh]

3Cforme

That is a disappointment to me. I was expecting the 1 x 2 business seating arrangement as is found on several regional trains.

Thanks for the detailed report.