We couldn’t find many winter Amtrak Pacific Cascade reviews and needed to choose the best travel method for our short voyage from Vancouver to Seattle.
Why would anyone even want to ride Amtrak’s Pacific Cascade train?
There are so many questions one must ask when planning a trip.
What to pack? Where to go? How many days? With whom? For this moment in our lives, the looming question was how.
Would it be best to drive, fly or take a train?
Driving would take approximately 2.5 hours, flying approximately one hour and the train takes 4.5 hours.
Driving offers the most independence and is the cheapest. Stops are unlimited and you can be as antisocial as you please. An unfortunate con of driving is being the driver.
Flying offers the quickest travel time but is the costliest choice. Trains are reminiscent, cost-effective and allow everyone to behave as a passenger without the consequence of crashing into another vehicle. The downfalls of traveling via train are travel time due to stops.
For a new experience, we bucked the usual suspects and chose the iron horse. Amtrak’s Pacific Cascade! My kids were exuberant and curious about being on a train for four and a half hours. I, however, remained pensive and could not imagine what the experience would bring. My husband looked forward to sleeping, therefore he concerned himself with the seat comfort or lack thereof.
Train options
Booking is simple as there aren’t many options. Two to be exact, an early morning train departing at 6:30 am and arriving at 11 am or a late-night train leaving at 5:30 pm arriving at 10 pm. For seating, there are two section choices: coach or business class.
Each selection offers differing benefits. We selected the early morning departure. Leaving early allowed us to see the train’s scenery and have daylight time in Seattle. The seating class differences didn’t seem that substantial, so we went with the cheaper coach option.
While preparing for the excursion, differing emotions flooded my mind. What type of adventure would this be? Would it be boring and cumbersome, nostalgic, fun or dark and dreary? Would the train be cold? Vancouver winters can offer beauty or moist misery. My previous train rides were limited to one-hour underground; i.e. via subway.
Arrival
The morning overcast and taxi driver’s poor attitude only dampened my expectations. In hindsight, he was most likely upset because he thought we were traveling 30 minutes to the airport but our Pacific Central Station destination was a ten-minute trip. This was his mistake. Vancouver does not have Uber, as a result, travelers must utilize taxis if not driving or taking public transport. For early morning travel, pre-book services. We pre-booked a 4:30 am pickup and he assumed it was to the airport, but never asked for the destination.
The station
Pacific Central Station is plain and efficient. It is a quick walk from the entryway to the registration line. We filled out our customs forms, got in the short line and checked our bags. Security was a breeze.
On the train, you will be seated seaside or landside. We sat on the land side, next time we will arrive earlier to guarantee a seaside view. Our seats included a nifty wooden table. The table allowed us to play games and eat our prepacked lunch. Business-class is at the front of the train for a quicker departure, and fewer people were in the section with greater space between the chairs. I am happy we went with coach as business class didn’t offer much more for the higher cost.
Pack food, it’s essential
If traveling at the crack of dawn I recommend bringing some cards as well as food. Don’t forget the snacks, especially the mint Oreos! Early in the morning, there isn’t anywhere to purchase food in the station and the café menu if available is limited. Unlike the airport, we weren’t liquid restricted, allowing us to bring water and juice.
A quick sandwich packing tip is to use the bread bag as storage for your sandwiches. Easy packing, green and convenient.
After the shockingly simple check-in, we walked into our basic almost dank but very homely coach cabin. The first hour and a half was dark due to Vancouver’s 8 am sunrise time, affording us some extra shut-eye. Although I preferred the seaside view the land-side was also beautiful and just as massive. Some seats on the train face forward while others are rear-facing.
Amtrak Pacific Cascade review?
My preconceived notions were all wrong. My review of Amtrak’s Pacific Cascade is two thumbs up. I calculated the dreariness as a deduction from our day, but it only added to the vibe. Train riding provided an incomparable feeling, akin to a bird. Gliding past trees, floating over water masses, and darting through tunnels.
Every tunnel made me giddy.
Guess what guys we’re in a tunnel!!!!! Smile, smile, laugh, cheer. I thought my kids would give me the mom you are not cool look but instead, they also let out gasps of awe. The train was not cold. It was warm and comfortable. Getting off the train was simple. Not much waiting time and we received our bags at the train station.
Did the weather affect the trip?
The overcast created a breathtaking grey sky mountain touched scenery. I felt relaxed and at one with the surrounding nature. Amtrak’s Pacific Cascade took us past differing landscapes, industrial areas, mountainous terrain, residential spaces, farms, cow pastures, hotels and much more. It is like viewing a silent movie in fast forward and leaving everything open to interpretation.
Train ambiance
My guess is it takes a certain spirit to ride on a four-and-a-half-hour train because each rider appeared worry-free. This old-fashioned experience created mystical moments. Pacific Cascade’s train horn added to the mystique.
The beauty is probably greater during clearer days, but it was still a great experience.
I will never figure it out, and I have given up figuring out why my husband has a thing for cows. Cows make him smile. He made sure to point out each one we saw with the same amount of glee as the first. You can take the boy out of the country but not the country out of the boy.
What was the biggest surprise? Ironically, the bathroom surprised me. It was much bigger and nicer than imagined.
Customs was easy and from the comfort of our seats. We made multiple stops, but no one got off. We appeared to all shared the same Seattle destination. Pacific Cascades allowed all of us to ride shotgun on a tour of diverse America.
America is everything that this train ride exhibited. Spacious, tight, populated, sparse, flourishing and desolate. Like its inhabitants, the land is full of many tricks, turns, and surprises.
