Amtrak's Empire Builder Train: The Good and the Not So Good 4K
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- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
- It’s holiday time, December 2024, and we've scored another bedroom upgrade on Amtrak's Empire Builder, this time taking the full route from Chicago to Seattle. See what we saw inside the train and beyond. The good. The not-so-good. We explore it all.
Lots of helpful Empire Builder travel tips. I would find upper bunk very challenging to manage! Interesting to see the changing weather conditions along the way. Love the magnificent Chicago & Seattle train stations.
Thanks for watching. The upper bunks are definitely challenging. Very tight spaces and a low headroom all conspire to make a safe descent difficult. As you can tell, Gail is particularly smitten with the Seattle station!
Thank you for another excellent post! You were in room A where the large seat faces direction which is good. Half the bedrooms have configurations in the opposite direction. Your cushioning was recently renovated and somewhat updated. Occupants hear the end door of the car at the diaphragm opening and closing with a 'thud and space is somewhat reduced.' The bathroom 'tube' is extremely tight as reflected by other bloggers as well. Most significantly your room is on the south side of the train... meaning you get lots of glare, and miss the better views afforded on the north side; missing best views of Milwaukee, the Mississippi, best mountain views in the Rockies, and Puget Sound views arriving into Seattle. The new 'reimagined menu' can be repetitious and as it is changed over time little things are removed... such as the baked potatoes with the chili and coleslaw with the lunch sandwiches. The individual chefs can make a big difference in meal presentations. You did get a good deal with your bid. Amtrak is struggling with funding. After all that I do ride the LD trains frequently because in the end, there is nothing quite like a train!
Thanks for watching and for the detailed review and helpful tips!
Yep always heard Bedroom A is smallest and Bedroom E is 2nd smallest i prefer B C or D when doing bedroom
Another great watch, reminded me of how I found your channel when you crossed Canada and USA thank you again
Awesome, thank you! We'll be doing more train excursion videos in the coming months.
U on a train that has shampoo that's amazing
Great fun! Thanks. You wouldn't want to use the loo too much in the middle of the night if in that upper bunk.
Agreed. Even though the bathroom was in our "suite" getting down that ladder was tricky.
Train nerd fact: the "newer" sleepers are the older sleepers, just refurbished. They're all supposed to be redone by end of '26 or so.
Thanks for that info. We did not know. Keep those nerd facts coming!
Yep but the Viewliner 2’s look nicer but the accessible room layout not as good as older one and the toilets removed from roomettes on newer ones
Thanks for another shared train experience! Could you compare the Amtrak service with that of the Canadian (ViaRail)?
Great suggestion! We have just uploaded a video of our recent trip from Vancouver to Winnipeg on the Canadian but we plan to do a more direct comparison video, hopefully soon.
My husband and I tried a bedroom on the Texas Eagle in October, and just could not manage the ladder to the upper berth, so we had to share the lower berth (with my husband's head in the seat across from the foot of the lower berth, putting him perpendicular to where I was curled up) -- not very comfortable! It looks like you two are of at least our vintage (we're both in our 60s); are you able to handle getting into the upper berth of a Superliner roomette alright? It seems that the steps up to a roomette's upper berth might feel more stable than the ladder in a bedroom on a moving train.
I'm 72 and can still manage both but I feel more secure using the Roomette steps. Getting down from the upper bunk on the bedroom ladder is a scarier proposition. The experience is not helped by the very low headroom.
Yep viewliners have more space upper berth unlike superliners(West coast trains)
3:00 that stinks i rather observation car but i am sure if u call Amtrak they give you an E voucher for next trip use