Amtrak Vacations

Be wary of cross-country Amtrak if Amtrak uses tracks owned by freight lines because the freight lines will come first and your train could be delayed hours on end waiting for miles-long freight trains to pass. I only take Amtrak between Boston & DC (the Northeast Corridor) for that very reason because the tracks are not owned by freight lines.

We made the mistake of taking Amtrak from Boston’s North Station to Portland and regretted doing that as part or much of that route unfortunately is on a freight line. We were 4 hours LATE on an itinerary that only takes 2.5 hours because of freight trains taking priority.

Many Amtrak train stations have taxis waiting; some don’t. As for hotel shuttles, contact the hotels of which you are interested and verify. You might need to use Lyft or Uber instead. Also verify that the trains with which you are interested actually have a café car open for the duration of your itinerary inclusive of any & all delay time.

Also be aware that "Amtrak Vacations" is actually just a travel agency that has licensed the Amtrak name. They are a 3rd party so if something goes south, reports are even Amtrak will refer you back to them.

Do some searching on satisfaction with this travel agency before you buy anything.

Here is a thread from Trip Advisor: This one is from 2018 so well before Covid when service was actually better, lol.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g1-i12483-k12009957-Our_Amtrak_Vacation_National_Parks_Experience_from_Denver-Train_Travel.html

"I don’t think Amtrak even gets you to and from the station to your hotel. Maybe they provide guidance like take this shuttle or it’s a short walk or get a cab or take the subway to this stop?"

They do not. Be sure to look at arrival times at the "stations". The one at Williams AZ for the Grand Canyon railroad used to arrive at some ungodly hour like 4A. There is nothing open. At least there it might not be dangerous to hang around the station until things do get going.

If you are wanting to see the Grand Canyon it might be better to get off in Flagstaff and rent a car. OR rent a car and drive to Williams for the Grand Canyon scenic train which does not go along the Canyon Rim so you can't see anything from it. It does end at the hotel area of Grand Canyon Village.

"Find hotel deals near the stations for you"

You need to look at this carefully. IF you are in a city the Amtrak station may not be in a salubrious area. For instance in both Spokane and SLC the train arrives in the midnight/early AM time frame and the area around the station is not where I'd want to be dropped off at that time of night NOR would I want to walk to the closest hotel then. You will need to do some research on this to make sure you will be in a safe location.

Sorry to sound so negative but you need to do a LOT of research on this!

Allow me to mention an issue I ran into on a trip from Washington DC to Raleigh, NC. I think there's just one passenger train per day. It's slower than driving, but I decided not to rent a car on that occasion. The train limped along very slowly, and eventually I overhead an Amtrak staffer explaining the situation to another passenger. I was traveling in the summer, so it was hot. The tracks along that route do not deal well with heat, so the train's top speed is capped at 35 mph for safety reasons. I'm not sure what temperature triggers that safety rule; I have a vague recollection of 85 F (hardly rare in the south), but I could be mistaken. At least at the time of my trip (over 20 years ago), there was no warning on the Amtrak timetable that the schedule did not apply on hot days.

I don't know whether there are sections of track in other parts of the country where the same problem exists, but if you're planning a warm-weather trip, I'd do some serious checking unless you don't mind being very late.

I actually thought that Williams Junction station had closed in 2018. Flagstaff (having come off the Grand Canyon Railway) was where I had my worst Amtrak delay, of around 2 1/2 hours. The train was due, then, at 10pm westbound, but arrived at around half past midnight. But at least the station waiting room was kept open until train arrival.

On a journey of that length (1700 miles from Chicago) I personally think that is pretty good timing. I have over 20 years of statistics for my own UK travels, and here I expect on average to incur 1 minute of delay for every 9.83 miles travelled. It is actually amazing how that evens out over a year. I can have a run of good months then a really bad delay drops me back down to the mean again.
Factor that up to 1,700 miles and you will see why I am blase about a 150 minute delay at Flagstaff.
For overseas I don't keep a breakdown by country but for all overseas rail the figure is 1 minute delay for every 40.36 miles travelled (inclusive of Amtrak).

We have the same issue of hot and buckling rails in the summer heat in the UK.

I have limited experience with Amtrak beyond the NE corridor (where it's essential and works generally well). But most of my experience has been negative, which is why it's been limited. Delays are common and can be very long, largely because of the priority freight trains get. (I hadn't heard about the melting-track problem but that would be another reason.) Service is at best indifferent -- unintelligible announcements, cafe cars that don't open till long after the train leaves the first station, no announcement of which doors to use for exit at brief stops, and it goes on. At the Seattle station there's no food service except a few vending machines, though there are usually a few taxis when trains arrive. And let's not even mention the fatal derailment a few miles from here, five years ago, when a poorly trained engineer took a newly laid curve at twice the speed limit. Unless you're a serious train buff with lots of time and flexibility, I wouldn't recommend Amtrak beyond the NE and maybe a few other urban corridors. It's not a reliable source of transportation.

And, as other posters have made clear, this "package" really has nothing in it that you can't find yourself, probably for less money. You're better off making your own arrangements, with or without using Amtrak.

@ isn31c - I did not know that! So sorry for giving the wrong information. Just depended on memory as a friend had tried to do a B&B in Williams and we'd talked about it but that was way before Covid. Thanks for the correction!

So...for the Grand Canyon the closest stations are Flagstaff and Kingman. I think a car rental is going to be necessary if the Grand Canyon is on your list of things to do.

I do know Amtrak works better out West or between Washington and NYC and NYC and Boston, but I can't imagine spending that kind of money and be stuck on Amtrak.

Consider Gate 1 tours, they have some great National Parks tours for very affordable prices.

Many of the above comments sound a bit negative as a way to help you think through the process. I personally plan to do a cross country Amtrak trip in the next few year - but I will be making all my own plans and buying my own tickets. Not, as Pam points out, hiring a travel agency to do that for me. However the potential delays don’t bother me since I would be considering it a trip for the experience - not a trip focused on getting from Point A to Point B on time. You do need, however, to be aware of the potential for delay and not schedule connections, etc., with no flex.

It specifically as to what Amtrak Vacations provides, a call with your specific questions might be the way to proceed.

There are a large number of channels on You Tube where they "ride the rails" around the USA. I would encourage you to take some time, see what is on offer, and decide if it matches with your trip goals.

This is one channel with some pretty good videos that show different aspects of train travel, but there are others.
https://www.youtube.com/@GroundedLifeTravel

The fatal accident at Point Defiance could not have happened in Europe, where all trains are installed with equipment which automatically applies the brakes in the event of over speed.
The deviation line was opened before that had been commissioned (not Amtrak's fault), but it was installed subsequently before the deviation was re-opened. The NTSB found several other faults with the design of the line.
To use that as a reason not to travel on AMTRAK is being creative indeed.

If an incident had happened on the highway below where that train crash occurred, where a driver was speeding and not paying attention, and had caused multiple fatalities in a pile up, would that be used as a reason not to use that road?
Of course not.
There is no shortage of those happening in WA, or indeed the 6 DOT workers killed in Maryland 3 days ago on the Baltimore Beltway.
Or the 4 person Fatac on the I90 a few days ago, west of Snoqualmie summit if I remember correctly

In the past I have taken several long, cross country trips on Amtrak and have enjoyed every one of them. Did everything go smoothly? Heck no. One thing I found when traveling cross country on Amtrak is that you need to have patience to the max, and be very flexible to reduce the stress when things go sideways, which they often do on Amtrak. First, Amtrak is not famous for their on time performance. As mentioned above, because Amtrak is using 'borrowed' track on most of their routes there are often delays due to other trains using the tracks having priority. Freight has priority over people on the rails. Second, stuff happens. On one of my trips the train had a collision with a car involving a fatality - not Amtraks fault but it took many hours for things to be taken care of before the train was allowed to continue.

When I was first planning my one and two week trips on Amtrak I did look at Amtrak Vacations and found them overpriced for what you get. I had much better success planning my own routes and stops. I often rode the train from point A to point B, then spent some time at point B, usually finding my own hotels and either renting cars or utilizing the local public transportation. Twice my trips were using an Amtrak rail pass which allowed me to choose my own routes consisting of a certain number of 'segments' for a flat rate, which really brought the cost down.

As examples: one trip was Minneapolis to Boston (train change in Chicago), Boston to Montreal, Montreal to Toronto, Toronto to Buffalo, Buffalo to Chicago and Chicago back to Minneapolis. Another trip was from Minneapolis to New Orleans, NO to Jacksonville (that route no longer exists unfortunately), Jacksonville to Washington DC, and then Back to Minneapolis by way of Chicago. A third trip was from Minneapolis to Chicago, Chicago to Albuquerque, Albuquerque to San Bernadino, San Bernadino to Salt Lake City, Salt Lake CIty to Seattle (that route not longer exists either) and Seattle back to Minneapolis. Some segments were overnights on the train, a couple of them were 2 nights on the train.

I am currently thinking about doing another one next summer (2024) so I checked and the rail pass still exists with up to 8 segments for a flat rate so the transportation part of the trip is reasonable. It's a lot of fun to look at the map and choose a route, researching what to see at various destinations, finding hotels, rental cars, etc. But it takes planning and research (and time) so for some people who don't like doing that part of it, a travel agency like Amtrak Vacations, or others, can take a lot of the work out of it. But once you're on the train you're at the mercy of Amtrak and the experience can be good, great, or not so hot.

Thanks everyone. You've confirmed what I suspected about Amtrak Vacations.

I'm not so concerned about delays. My interest in taking the train is enjoying the journey, not getting from point A to point B in the most efficient manner. It would be like taking a road trip without having to drive.

My big concern is the safety and convenience factors when you arrive. Is walking or taking public transport no matter the time of day safe? Are there rental car counters/shuttles? Taxi stands? Hotel shuttles? Sounds like it depends on the destination. Big city, probably yes. Smaller city, probably not.

The first year of Covid I considered taking the train to Houston at X-mas in a roomette. BUT the train stops overnight in New Orleans and the scheduled arrival time is 9PM. Sure there's a big-name hotel a block or 2 away, but NO WAY am I walking with my luggage in New Orleans after dark.

I need to do like Nancy and schedule train tickets, hotels, rental car/taxi/Uber/Lyft services, and sightseeing activities myself and make sure I'm exiting the train in a place with good access to transportation to rental cars, hotels, etc.

Thank you again for all your responses.