Vancouver to Seattle using AMTRAK

[lydnsyd]

We are looking to book a cruise that departs from San Diego & ends at Vancouver. We want to go from Vancouver  to Seattle & fly home to London from there. DH doesn't want to drive so we are thinking of going with AMTRAK.

My questions are

Is the Vancouver cruise terminal a long taxi ride away to the train station? 

What happens to the luggage once we are on the train - we will have 2 large suitcases & 2 carry ons- do we keep it with us?

We have UK passports so what happens re Immigration from Vancouver to Seattle when using the train - does the train stop at border control?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Gardyloo]

1.  The train station is not terribly far from the Canada Place cruise terminal - maybe a C$15 cab ride.

 

2.  You can check bags, just as you would if flying.  Or you can keep them with you, but with a lot of bags it can be a hassle.

 

3.  US immigration and customs take place at the Vancouver station prior to departure.  There's a brief stop at the border but nobody has to disembark.  The Seattle train station is around a US$40 cab ride from the airport.

 

A couple of important considerations, however.

 

There are two daily trains in both directions, departing in the early morning and late afternoon/early evening.  You won't be able to make the morning departure the day your cruise arrives, and the evening departure will put you in Seattle long after the last transatlantic flight has left.  During the main cruise season (don't know when your cruise will be) hotel prices in Seattle are very high.

 

On the Amtrak schedule - https://www.amtrakcascades.com/ - you will also see departures at other times.  Be aware these are bus/coach trips, not trains, and they will follow the much less scenic Interstate 5 corridor between the two cities.  

 

So it comes down to budget and time management.  You might find that flying from Vancouver to Seattle ends up being more efficient on both fronts, or you might reconsider the driving option, which - if you choose - could also include taking a much more scenic route than either the train or coaches.  Google the places on this map - https://goo.gl/maps/3GkRX3ra7zTkQ9QV7

Edited October 21, 2019 by Gardyloo

[NapTown Jim]

We're riding Amtrak from Chicago to Seattle for our Alaskan cruise next year!

 

There is a customs & immigration stop at the border.  That process will be no different than the airport.  

[Glaciers]

If you do end up taking the train, get to the station early. You will be assigned seats when you check in. Request the right side as the best scenery is on the water side heading south.  If you reserved business class your line for boarding will be shorter and you will board first, at least that was our experience.  We checked our two larger bags and carried on the 3 smaller ones. There’s a small area at the end of each car as well as overhead for storage.  Your checked bags will be on the carousel inside the terminal in Seattle.

 

You’ll stop for the CBP inspection shortly after crossing the border into the US for 15-20 minutes.

[martincath]

The info above, especially GL's post #2, gives you all the info re: getting to the train and then to Seattle. But before you book it I do feel obliged to ask - do you intend to actually spend time touring Seattle? If it's purely to access a cheaper flight home, reconsider - even if you value your own time at zero, double-check exactly what the price difference is from YVR for your dates to be sure that whatever saving you're looking at is worth the ~4 hours extra travel, cost of transportation, and potentially more expensive overnight hotel.

 

While we've done several flights to the East Coast out of SEA and PDX instead of YVR, due to hefty savings on US Domestic flights vs. from Canada, we've never found a flight to the UK that was even close to enough cheaper to be worth the extra hassle of crossing another border and wasting half-a-day; there are non-stop flights to London airports on major carriers from YVR, and it's a more pleasant airport than SEA with far nicer security minions so it's really only worth the extra time & hassle if you save an awful, awful lot of cash.

[lydnsyd]

4 hours ago, martincath said:

The info above, especially GL's post #2, gives you all the info re: getting to the train and then to Seattle. But before you book it I do feel obliged to ask - do you intend to actually spend time touring Seattle? If it's purely to access a cheaper flight home, reconsider - even if you value your own time at zero, double-check exactly what the price difference is from YVR for your dates to be sure that whatever saving you're looking at is worth the ~4 hours extra travel, cost of transportation, and potentially more expensive overnight hotel.

 

While we've done several flights to the East Coast out of SEA and PDX instead of YVR, due to hefty savings on US Domestic flights vs. from Canada, we've never found a flight to the UK that was even close to enough cheaper to be worth the extra hassle of crossing another border and wasting half-a-day; there are non-stop flights to London airports on major carriers from YVR, and it's a more pleasant airport than SEA with far nicer security minions so it's really only worth the extra time & hassle if you save an awful, awful lot of cash.

The only reason we are thinking of going to Seattle from Vancouver is based on flight loads. We are airline staff and only get on flights if there are seats available. There are 2 flights a day from Seattle & only 1 from Vancouver. Ideally we would prefer to fly from Vancouver but it the loads look too full we will have to resort to going to Seattle.

Having just looked at the AMTRAK timings and as Gardyloo mentioned the timings aren't great so we may have to think about flying to Seattle from Vancouver. 

We are still in the early stages of planning but it is good to have all the options in place and appreciate all the advice that has been given.

[martincath]

26 minutes ago, lydnsyd said:

...We are airline staff and only get on flights if there are seats available. There are 2 flights a day from Seattle & only 1 from Vancouver. ...

Ah, gotcha; having twice the available flights on your airline makes a big difference for you on paper then - but do remember to factor in the extra time required to get to SEA. Depending what time those 2 Blighty-bound flights out of SEA are you may effectively be only able to reach one of them safely which brings you back to 1 possible flight from each airport (but with lower risk from YVR due to no additional transportation beyond a cab or transit being needed, and no extra border crossing)... If your 2 flights out of SEA are morning (or even early afternoon) and evening, you've got zero chance of making the former same day.

 

Flying to SEA isn't actually much quicker than taking the 9am QuickShuttle from the pier (which arrives at SEA c. 1:30pm) and is probably slower than a rental car which could easily have you on the road by 8am and arriving at SEA before noon. So by the time you add in the 2 hours preflight arrival at YVR for US prescreening on top of the regular check-in/security (and most folks recommend flights after noon to the US, though personally I think 11am is virtually risk-free if you self-disembark though) plus of course enough time on the other end too to be able to connect you're realistically looking at not being able to safely board a flight out of SEA before 2pm.

 

How do your particular airline's staff pleasure flight policies work with codeshare flights? Would you go even further to the bottom of the pile, i.e. they would give seats to paying standby pax and operationally-needed staff, then their own staff flying for pleasure, then you last of all? And would you definitely get a seat all the way through or would you have to fly to SEA and then also wait there again to see if there are seats on the long-haul flight? Plus a lot of flights YVR-SEA are on small turboprops and commuter jets, so a very small number of seats - it might actually be harder to get 2 seats on one of the viably-timed connecting flights than on a wide-body direct from YVR...

[lydnsyd]

Thanks for all of the advice. I will have a look at Quick Shuttle. Looks like we have a few options so that is good to know. Obviously our 1st choice is to depart from Vancouver and if needs be we can always night stop & try to get on the London bound flight the next day. The cruise we want to book isn't till March so we still have plenty of time to check on the flight loads & at least now we have all the connections information to work with.

Thanks everyone

[lydnsyd]

Sorry for all the questions & slightly off track.

Question - if we are lucky enough to get on a flight from Vancouver to London the day we dock - we will dock early am and the flight doesn't depart until 2055. Is there a luggage storage section at YVR airport or is there an airport hotel where we could reserve a day room?

[Heidi13]

The Pan Pacific (above the cruise terminal) will often store bags, even for non-hotel guests. Believe they charge $5 per case.

 

The 2055 departure is BA, which uses the A-380 during the summer months - should be lots of seats. Airport check in normally starts about 17:00-17:30 and if business/first, they have a small, basic, but reasonably comfortable lounge overlooking the runway.

 

Also agree with Martin's post # 5. We also fly out of Seatac going to Maui for both price and schedule, but have never found it worth while for the UK flight. Seatac also gets the older B-747's.

[Btimmer]

If it's the Maasdam, we're booked on that cruise and also have airline flight benefits. We live in Seattle but we cannot disembark there; so we'll figure out our options as the trip gets closer.  We're very flexible travelers.

 

I would add that there is excellent inexpensive light rail service from near the Seattle train station to the SeaTac airport.  If you travel light, it's a good option.

Edited October 23, 2019 by Btimmer

[martincath]

20 hours ago, lydnsyd said:

... Is there a luggage storage section at YVR airport or is there an airport hotel where we could reserve a day room?

While I'd suggest doing as Heidi says (stash bags at the PP, hang around downtown for the day where's there's way more to do) you can store bags at YVR for the day (with CDS) or get a day room in the Fairmont at the airport (but it would be cheaper to room at the YWCA hotel downtown overnight and just leave early, as the Fairmont is not remotely cheap!)

[lydnsyd]

8 hours ago, Btimmer said:

If it's the Maasdam, we're booked on that cruise and also have airline flight benefits. We live in Seattle but we cannot disembark there; so we'll figure out our options as the trip gets closer.  We're very flexible travelers.

 

I would add that there is excellent inexpensive light rail service from near the Seattle train station to the SeaTac airport.  If you travel light, it's a good option.

Thank you for the info on the light rail service. No it's not the Maasdam. The one we are looking at is with Celebrity. We will have to wait till nearer to the time before we book as hopefully by then we will be able to get a clearer idea of seat availability on the flights.

[lydnsyd]

3 hours ago, martincath said:

While I'd suggest doing as Heidi says (stash bags at the PP, hang around downtown for the day where's there's way more to do) you can store bags at YVR for the day (with CDS) or get a day room in the Fairmont at the airport (but it would be cheaper to room at the YWCA hotel downtown overnight and just leave early, as the Fairmont is not remotely cheap!)

Thanks for the CDS baggage storage information it looks ideal.

I had just been looking at the Fairmont Hotel website - it is pricey for a day room but would be very convenient being situated right at the airport. I feel so much better having all this information so will be prepared for all eventualities.

 

 

[lydnsyd]

I would like to thank everyone for all the information you have given me it is appreciated- this forum is amazing.

I guess now I will just have to be patient and wait till nearer to the time to work out whether we would have more chance of getting on a flight from Vancouver or Seattle. Obviously a departure from Vancouver will be our preferred option so we will keep everything crossed.

[beach spring]

Several years ago, we made the train trip from Vancouver to Seattle in order to save a little on our flight.  We debarked the ship early in the morning, then had a long day to kill in Vancouver, where we had been before and already had seen quite a bit of the city.  But we did another tour, after storing our bags in an area, near the cruise terminal (not sure if still exists) but it was convenient then.  However, it seemed like a very long day before we retrieved our bags and went by taxi to train station.  The train's departure was delayed, which made us very late in our arrival in Seattle.  Nearing midnight, we then had to get a taxi to a hotel. Up early the next morning for our flight home.  All this being related to advise you that you have to take delays into consideration.  That said, we thoroughly enjoyed our train ride!