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Train from Seattle to Vancouver & Other Logistics Quesitons


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We are taking the Amtrak from Seattle King St Station on a Sunday night at 7 pm to Vancouver. It arrives at 11 pm. Have you taken this train before and if so, how early can you check your luggage for the trip at King Street Station? We are staying at a Seattle airport hotel the night before so are hoping to store our luggage at the train station while we sight see during the day on Sunday. We'll be in Seattle a couple days. What are the best ways to get around (2 adults) for sight seeing for things like the Space Needle, Museum of Pop Culture, the Glass Museum and Pike Street Market? No mobility issues. We don't plan to rent a car but it's not out of the question.

 

I understand the Amtrak train arrives in Vancouver at the Pacific Central Station. We are staying at the Ramada Limited Vancouver Downtown. From my research, this seems to be about 8 min from Pacific Central Station. Is this walk-able and safe at 11 pm?

 

We won't have long to tour Vancouver before boarding a cruise the following day. What is your favorite thing to do in Vancouver? We have to board the ship by 2 pm.

 

Can we spend the US dollar in Vancouver? We have a VISA with no foreign transaction fees. Just wondering about the use of cash.

 

If you have input and feel like sharing, thanks!:)

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You can store your bags without a problem (6:15am to 8pm) - but you may have to return to retrieve from storage then check them in for your train (I've never traveled this route with anything but carry-on luggage thanks to Amtraks very generous policies). Hopefully some Seattle locals/other train users can confirm earliest check-in time for your train, but if not give them a call directly. Full info on SEA station is found here.

 

If you do have to return to claim and check your bags, you MUST check it in by 45mins before your train - but since seats are allocated first-come, first-served you'll want to be quite a but earlier than this is you care about sitting on the water side (left going north). I'd arrive at least a full hour beforehand, more if you are really keen on seeing the sunset as well as possible.

 

Walking to the Ramada - yes it's possible, and the worst parts of Vancouver at 11pm are still safer than many US suburbs in the middle of the day, but it's a bit uphill, several possible routes to take (so a chance of going astray) and the most direct paths have a very good chance of you being exposed to some rather gritty streets with extra-legal goings-on. Plus a cab at that time will only cost you about $8 to the hotel - so even if the train is on-time, you get through CBSA quick, and have plenty of energy I'd still say hop in a cab.

 

My favourite things to do in Vancouver are unlikely to be yours (unless you want to spend embarkation day eating and drinking) so for this I'll suggest that you check TripAdvisor and see what Joe Q Public in general prefer, then actually READ the bumph about each of the top few options to make sure that it's YOUR kind of thing to do. A few hours means you owe it to yourself to do the research and make sure that the very few things you do are the absolute best - for YOU, not for Billy Bob McAnotherCruiser!!!

 

Visa will work for pretty much anything except small purchases (<$5) almost anywhere, and USD cash is commonly taken (at a less-than-official exchange rate, but no big whoop for small purchases). Even food trucks use Square or similar to swipe credit cards. Just be sure it's got a Chip and you have the PIN to avoid any hassles - though an in-person transaction can override to Chip & Sign, automated machines cannot. Parking & transit would be the most common issues though, neither of which are likely to apply to you for such a short visit.

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We are taking the Amtrak from Seattle King St Station on a Sunday night at 7 pm to Vancouver. It arrives at 11 pm. Have you taken this train before and if so, how early can you check your luggage for the trip at King Street Station? We are staying at a Seattle airport hotel the night before so are hoping to store our luggage at the train station while we sight see during the day on Sunday. We'll be in Seattle a couple days. What are the best ways to get around (2 adults) for sight seeing for things like the Space Needle, Museum of Pop Culture, the Glass Museum and Pike Street Market? No mobility issues. We don't plan to rent a car but it's not out of the question.

 

I understand the Amtrak train arrives in Vancouver at the Pacific Central Station. We are staying at the Ramada Limited Vancouver Downtown. From my research, this seems to be about 8 min from Pacific Central Station. Is this walk-able and safe at 11 pm?

 

We won't have long to tour Vancouver before boarding a cruise the following day. What is your favorite thing to do in Vancouver? We have to board the ship by 2 pm.

 

Can we spend the US dollar in Vancouver? We have a VISA with no foreign transaction fees. Just wondering about the use of cash.

 

If you have input and feel like sharing, thanks!:)

 

We have done the Amtrak from Van.to Seattle and back for a cruise. We booked Business class. We were able to check our bags in at King Station after we got there by cab/Uber from the pier.

 

We walked about town from there, to the Market area up hill. Didn't find a lot of eating places near the station, saw none in it either, to have an early dinner.

We had a steamed? burger on the train but by then we were too hungry to care. We are doing the same thing in Sept. 2018 and will plan for something to eat a bit better this time.:p It was a great way to travel, sure beats the hassle of flying.

 

It is quite a walk from the Vancouver Central Station and I would say not too comfortable in the area at that time of night. I would call a cab from there.

You could walk a block with luggage to the Science World Station for Expo Line and from there to Waterfront Station. The train ends around 11:30-12 midnight though so it may not work by the time you get there. A taxi to call up is better or one waiting outside. [No Uber etc. here... yet.........] Then it is a short ride to your hotel.

https://www.translink.ca/Schedules-and-Maps/SkyTrain/SkyTrain-Schedules/Expo-Line.aspx

 

Westbound: King George to Waterfront

 

Day/sFirst TrainLast TrainExtra Late Trips

King George to

New WestminsterMon to Fri5:08 a.m.12:38 a.m.1:28 a.m.Sat6:08 a.m.12:38 a.m.1:28 a.m.Sun/ Holidays7:08 a.m.11:38 p.m.12:28 a.m.

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We are planning the same trip on Tuesday next week. We fly into Seattle at 12:30 and are planning to drop our bags at King St. station and grab an Uber to Pike Place market and then to Chihuly Gardens. We'll then catch the train to Vancouver and are planning to take a call to our hotel downtown. That late at night we didn't want to take any chances.

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I've just taken that same train two days ago after arriving back in Seattle from an Oceania Alaskan cruise.

 

Firstly we were able to check in our four suitcases at 9.45 am, which avoids having to pay storage fees.

 

Secondly the journey was horrendous, train was over one hour late arriving in Seattle and was delayed multiple times en route. We eventually pulled into Vancouver at 1.15am and then had to negotiate immigration. Thankfully the train was not busy so we were through in about 10 minutes.

 

This was my first and last time on an Amtrak train, if I ever arrive in Seattle around 9.00am again I will get an early bus to Vancouver.

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Good to know they'll take checked baggage so early. Unfortunately the evening train runs up from Eugene, using two different sets of tracks, and while the owners of both are just as bad for unlawfully giving priority to freight the Eugene-Seattle part has greater freight traffic than the Seattle-Vancouver part so causes more delays. We've been as late as 2am on the evening train, and most of the delay is due to sitting waiting for freight trains to pass - as soon as Amtrak slips out of their official slot, and would be too close to the freight train behind, they stop to let it pass (which usually means they are not further out of their slot, so get bumped for another train, and another...) Cascades is actually a pretty decent service in terms of being on-time, but 'late' generally means either < 30 minutes or > 2 hours, with not much chance of anything in-between!

 

Next time see if you can use the MORNING train - in both directions this starts in the relevant station, and the rolling stock has been sitting all night so delays are minimal. We've never been more than a few minutes late except in truly unusual circumstances (like when a truck hit a bridge, so an engineer had to drive out to assess it before the train was allowed to drive over it!)

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We were 1 hr late arriving on Amtrak into Seattle Sept 2017 from AM departure but we still made our ship with good time.

 

It is way easier and more comfortable then flying for us and we will go with their time schedule. The ability to walk around and get a coffee etc. when we want is worth it we feel. We have the time to spare, as long as we make the ship going down, coming home isn't a worry.

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Oh my, we chose the train from Seattle thinking it would be a fun experience and had read the delays were generally minimal. Chose the evening train to avoid traveling to Vancouver the day of our cruise. Good to know that we can check our luggage early and head off to sight see. I guess what will be will be. If we get in late, I guess we'll sleep in! Thanks to all for the advice. Very much appreciated!

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Oh my, we chose the train from Seattle thinking it would be a fun experience and had read the delays were generally minimal. Chose the evening train to avoid traveling to Vancouver the day of our cruise. Good to know that we can check our luggage early and head off to sight see. I guess what will be will be. If we get in late, I guess we'll sleep in! Thanks to all for the advice. Very much appreciated!

It was Great! We are booked again this Sept return.

As long as we make the ship we are happy. We never go the same day as a cruise but being West Coast it doesn't matter as much to us.

Planes can have the very same issues and they may not even go! Planes have delays and cancellations all the time. The train will bus you if a big problem or it will run to get you there.

Enjoy the train! We went Business class and first on and first off and a quick Customs in Vancouver as there was no line yet.

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Oh my, we chose the train from Seattle thinking it would be a fun experience and had read the delays were generally minimal. Chose the evening train to avoid traveling to Vancouver the day of our cruise. Good to know that we can check our luggage early and head off to sight see. I guess what will be will be. If we get in late, I guess we'll sleep in! Thanks to all for the advice. Very much appreciated!

It's definitely the least-annoying way to cross the border unless you have NEXUS, and with the ability to get up and walk around, get some food & (even boozey) drinks, it's the most civilized way of all even if you didn't have the nice views (and on the evening train, the potential of sunset over wee islands in the ocean is a really nice experience).

 

Even with the freight issues, it's still on-time more often than not. We're almost always on this train from Portland - in our experience it's about 2/3rds pretty much bang on time, 1/3rd arrival well after midnight because we've hit issues on the part before Seattle.

 

There's padding at Seattle, it's just not always enough - the train sits up to an hour before leaving, depending when it arrives - so if you see at King Street that it's still departing there on time you'll almost certainly arrive in Vancouver on time too - or have a delay like CVU mentions, about an hour late. If it's already leaving Seattle X minutes late, assume that you'll end up somewhere in the (X+30) to (X+75) range late in Vancouver.

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It's definitely the least-annoying way to cross the border unless you have NEXUS, and with the ability to get up and walk around, get some food & (even boozey) drinks, it's the most civilized way of all even if you didn't have the nice views (and on the evening train, the potential of sunset over wee islands in the ocean is a really nice experience).

 

Even with the freight issues, it's still on-time more often than not. We're almost always on this train from Portland - in our experience it's about 2/3rds pretty much bang on time, 1/3rd arrival well after midnight because we've hit issues on the part before Seattle.

 

There's padding at Seattle, it's just not always enough - the train sits up to an hour before leaving, depending when it arrives - so if you see at King Street that it's still departing there on time you'll almost certainly arrive in Vancouver on time too - or have a delay like CVU mentions, about an hour late. If it's already leaving Seattle X minutes late, assume that you'll end up somewhere in the (X+30) to (X+75) range late in Vancouver.

Our 1 hr delay was going to Seattle in early AM, so that was surprising. The train was there already..... They had many excuses. Loading the extra food onto the food car, a large amount of passengers got on in Bellingham and so that took time. Then a seat mix up they had to sort out. Then right of way to another train twice. But we made the ship, 1 PM on board to our cabin. So, all was well.

Coming from Seattle was OK, it was on time. Still worth it for the less hassle and comfort of movement etc.

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Our 1 hr delay was going to Seattle in early AM, so that was surprising. The train was there already..... They had many excuses. Loading the extra food onto the food car, a large amount of passengers got on in Bellingham and so that took time. Then a seat mix up they had to sort out. Then right of way to another train twice. But we made the ship, 1 PM on board to our cabin. So, all was well.

Coming from Seattle was OK, it was on time. Still worth it for the less hassle and comfort of movement etc.

Ah, sorry, missed that yours was a southbound train. Yes indeed, odd to be late for 'controllable' reasons on that service in particular due to having ample time to prep the train, no dependency on connecting routes etc. Our Southbound trips are always the morning train, and aside from really unexpected issues we've left and arrived virtually to the minute of the timetable (1 bridge delay due to ship traffic, 1 due to a truck hitting the underside of the bridge, and one mudslide back before the track improvements that pretty much stopped all those from happening ever again).

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Ah, sorry, missed that yours was a southbound train. Yes indeed, odd to be late for 'controllable' reasons on that service in particular due to having ample time to prep the train, no dependency on connecting routes etc. Our Southbound trips are always the morning train, and aside from really unexpected issues we've left and arrived virtually to the minute of the timetable (1 bridge delay due to ship traffic, 1 due to a truck hitting the underside of the bridge, and one mudslide back before the track improvements that pretty much stopped all those from happening ever again).

It was odd to be late leaving in the AM but it was our first time using it. It was still dark out! Then right of way for 2 trains etc. etc. seemed to take a long time going to Seattle. Hope this year it is quicker.

Coming back was the 7 PM? departure, same day off the ship, so we arrived around 11 PM into Van. Bit of a drag waiting around after we did the wander to the Market etc. But sat and read and people watched. Sleeper car trains going East were very busy!

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