I am writing this review because Amtrak Cascades, specifically the Seattle crew, turned what could have been a horribly stressful day into one of the best days of my trip. We arrived in Seattle from Stanwood via Amtrak Cascades 513 this past Wednesday to find that the train would no longer be taking us to our intended destination of Portland, due to the weather further south! After waiting patiently for a couple of hours, constantly being reassured by the Seattle station manager that we would be given some alternative route of travel and not to worry; we were given lunch, beverages and even some sweets! When news of alternative options arose we were given free luggage storage and complimentary tickets back to Stanwood so that we could try our luck again the next day. After a beautiful afternoon and evening at Pikes Place Market and Seattle's Pier(just a short walk away from the station), we boarded the train on time and made it to Portland, only one day behind schedule and with an extra, unexpected field trip under our belts! Thank you to all of the Amtrak staff for being so kind, caring and accommodating! read more

For two years I rode the amtrak from olympia to seattle and back. Here are my tips. 1) get business class to vancouver, you get 3dollars off the food, it only costs 15 more and you get off the train first..after travelling for 6 hours on the train, it is great to avoid the 20 to 30 minute line up in customs. 2) take your bike, it only costs an extra 5 dollars, but the train only fits 5 bikes so book early. 3) dont pay for business class from vanouver to seattle, biz class is barely different than the coach. 4) the farmers market salad is one of the only healthy things to eat...and the coffee is always terrible. read more

Fun trip up from Portland to Seattle. Business Class was a great choice. So much better than driving. Ride was quiet and smooth.

Where to begin? All of the horrible things that could have happened on this train ride did happen, and it was the absolute worst. Let's start at our first problem. We arrived at the Tukwila station early, considering the fact that we are unaccompanied minors (15 years old), with a parent who would stay with us until we boarded, at about an hour before the train would arrive, as instructed in the rules and guidelines of Amtrak. However, there was a landslide between Vancouver WA and Seattle, (we were traveling North from Tukwila to Bellingham). This means that the train that was supposed to pick us up in Tukwila was not going to be in service and could not pick us up. So we were them told that a charter bus would pick us up from the Tukwila station, and take us to the King Street Station in Seattle, where we would board a train to our destination. We waited for about an hour and a half because the bus had been late, and while we were waiting we had been keeping in touch with Amtrak, but only the automated system was available. After this long wait, a charter bus driver walked over to our platform telling us that he would pick up people going to Portland, however his bus was too tall to fit under an overpass that was the entry to the station. He then collected the people that were traveling South, and we asked him if the bus that would drop people off at King Street had already arrived, (keep in mind we were still attempting to keep contact with Amtrak). The charter bus driver told us that another bus had tried to pull in outside of the entrance, but did not get out of the bus to let people at the station know that he had arrived. At this point, our guardian was able to contact Amtrak and ask them to hold the northbound at King Street Station for us. We then made a romantic comedy esque dash to drive from Tukwila to King Street Station in Seattle where the train was being held. We were thankful for the train being held, but sympathetic for the people on that train being held, as their ride was delayed. Once we boarded in Seattle, we had no problems, however they did not check our ID, which we thought was odd. Yet, we soon arrived at the Fairhaven Station in Bellingham with no conflict. Now we are on to our next issue: The return trip. There just happened to be another landslide that night, but this time it was between Everett and Seattle. So that would mean we would take the train from Bellingham to Everett and then a Greyhound Bus from Everett to Tukwila. We got to the Fairhaven station thirty minutes before the original departure time, but there was a delay coming from Vancouver BC. We didn't have to check in, so we sat down and started waiting. While we were waiting, a female attendant, named Mary, comes out and starts telling people to move depending on their destination. While she was talking, she mentioned unaccompanied minors, so we responded and told her we were minors. She instantly started telling us we would not be able to board the train, or any train that day. No reason was mention and she was speaking in a very rude and condescending tone. We walked over to the window, where she and a coworker, Peter (who was very kind and calm), began to tell us that we were booked as adults and it was against the guidelines for us to travel. Our friends dad had booked us correctly, the only issue was that Tukwilla is an unstaffed platform. We should not have been able to book a ticket for an unaccompanied minor through Tukwilla, but we did not know this, and our friend had never had any trouble before. So after talking for awhile, we figured out with a change in tickets, we could go to Everett and then be picked up by an adult. Mary did not present with this option before, she made it sound like we would be stuck in Bellingham for at least another day. This was Easter weekend, so we already had plans we could not miss. After we get our friends dad on the phone, she spoke to with an attitude, as if this was his fault. Mary then freaks us our further by saying that if an adult is not at the station in Everett thirty minutes prior to our arrival, CPS would have to be called to detain us. I was freaking out because my father was in San Francisco at the time and would not be able to get me from CPS. Once we get everything sorted out, which took about forty five minutes, Mary had the audacity to say that it was our fault and if we had booked it right, none of this would have happened. There had recently also been a guideline change that we could not have known about dealing with landslides and other issues of that nature. We got on the train with no problem after that, but again only our tickets were checked, with no ID. We are writing this on the train to Everett, so we are hoping there will be no further issues to add to this review. Quite the "adventure". Overall, it is easier for an unacompanied minor to cross international boarders on a flight, than it is for them to take a two hour train ride. read more

We booked.the business class a few weeks prior to travel on May 27, 2018 from Vancouver to Seattle. Arrived at the station over an hour early in an attempt to get the seats on the right side facin g front. My wife gets dizzy when she sits facing backwards when train moves. We explained to the conductor, who said " the train is fully booked and you are lucky to have a seat." I could take an explanation, but being lucky when we paid for business class??. The conductor's name is David and if he is in charge, you are in bad luck. No offer of help can be expected from him. On the next station, an older couple with disabilities boarded. They were assigned seats in the front and back when they asked if they can sit together!! No offer of help again. When we visited cafeteria, he was serving there!! He said no gluten free options there!! What a disgrace to have staff who are unhelpful attitude to serve an otherwise beautiful trip!!! Cancel if David checks you in!!! read more

If you have any other way of getting to or from Portland, Oregon or Seattle Washington, do it, even of you have to walk. Seriously, you have a better chance of getting there faster. If I could give this shuttle zero stars I would. Train always "delayed" for any ridiculous they can think of. Staff will disappear at departure time and some clown will come over the intercom "we need to turn the train around,we will be delayed indefinitely" . One hour passes. Obese, lazy, useless, rude employees snapping at frustrated customers. Another hour passes. Clueless employees running around with walkie-talkies solving nothing. A different clown gets on the intercom "train will be delayed indefinitely , train congestion on the track". Another 45 minutes passes. Lines are out the door of the station and people are getting cranky and impatient. Finally they will start to board the train they announce over the intercom. 20 more minutes pass and finally someone shows up to start the boarding pass process. One person trying to handle all the boarding passes was almost comical. At this point the incompetence of this operation has become entertainment for a group of us in line. Finally we do board the train after about another 15 minutes. The seats beside us were double booked so 4 people were lead away by the conductor to god knows where after a lengthy discussion and argument. Wifi was a joke and no one could connect, travel screens on arrival time and location were completely off , train pulls into Seattle over 3 hours late. The fact that the government is subsidizing Amtrak and our taxpayers dollars are helping fund this business is a shame. Avoid Amtrak, especially the Cascades , unless your only other option is walking. read more

The wife and I decided to take train to seattle after spending some time in Vancouver. So here's the good, comfortable,staff was friendly and the border crossing was quick and easy although our train was only half full. Heres the bad, seemed to take forever. I walked off with a full beard. We didn't have any set plans so we're more relaxed but this wouldn't be the chosen mode of transit if I had a meeting. Now the ugly. The internet which seemed to be slower than the train. Dropped connections, slow speeds hung browser you name it. The internet WiFi states that streaming is prohibited and bandwidth capped at 10mbps. Well, we reached nowhere near those speeds and I had a hard enough time sending an email. Streaming?? Dial up speeds at best. I love the rail and have taken it cross country, before the internet though and other regional trips mostly back east and have had good experience, however this line could be sped up both from a travel time and on the broadband. read more

While the view is good. Amtrack needs to do better. Most of the staff at this station are awful. No organization what so ever. No signage to show arrivals or departures. Really Amtack how much could a sign cost? Ticket counter person couldn't get out of her seat to help anyone. So uninformative. The whole place is run poorly. There is a conductor an older women who punches holes in the tickets who needs to retire. She was on the train and took up two seats for her "work". On the train the bistro server was complaining he was shaking because he had been at work since 3am and our train was leaving at 6:50pm. He clearly shouldn't have been working. But he was very nice. This was a one time trip as Amtrack needs to improve. Really hard to get a taxi from here when our train returned. read more

about 30 min late and we hit two "layovers" waiting for trains to pass. already 30 min longer scheduled trip than Boltbus or Greyhoud and the 1 hr 50 min car trip easily passes the 3.5 hour mark on amtrak, which costs nearly twice as much. no wifi, their system seems screwy--redirects both my laptop and phone to the same page looped over and over. I will still give them 3 stars since it really is more comfortable than even boltbus by a large margin (and is leagues above nasty greyhound) and the views/lack of freeway traffic are pretty awesome. you would think with the billions in government subsidies amtrak gets that it would he a bit more affordable and smoother running but c'est la vie. read more

We got tickets at the business class thinking it would be a more comfortable train ride. It was not! First class is an open car accommodating about 20 people. We were happy at the beginning to see we only had another couple and a woman with her elderly parents in the same car with us. We couldn't have been more wrong as they were the most inconsiderate, annoying people to travel with. They wouldn't cease yapping and laughing and snorting and yawning out loud, and burping and sharing private stories with no shame or consideration. Pretty much in the first hour we learned a great bunch of details of these peoples lives, and we eventually had to shove headphones into our years and listen to loud music for the rest of the trip to cover their loud voices. We traveled first class on a train in Europe and we had a private booth and people around were polite and having discrete conversations. Of course it is not Amtrak's fault that people are rude and uncivilized, but maybe they should consider offering a more private type of accommodation for first class travelers, because that is the whole idea of paying extra money. The view of the water was nice for a while until it got dark, and the train was clean and fast enough, we got to Vancouver on time. read more

For a distance like Seattle to Portland, the train has it all over cars or planes. (There is a bus service called "Bolt" that has some good features - that's another review). WiFi appears to have been improved as of 2014 - be prepared to work from the hard-drive at least in the wilderness segments. Phones seem to work well throughout. I take Cascades weekly (for months now) and it was only really late once during bad weather. Another time they cancelled and put us on a bus. That's twice in 6 months. It's usually early. The main reason I don't give it 5 stars is the funny way they make everyone line up and then randomly assign seats. Particularly since they have a pretty good on-line reservation service with e-tickets, rewards, etc. If that sounds terrible, remember, you can actually get up and sit somewhere else (most of the time.) Also, unlike other transportation, the seats are ample and comfortable with electrical plugs. read more

Yesterday was my first time ever riding on #Amtrak. After being stranded for five hours between Lacey and Tacoma, and being told a rescue train was going to come and get us, engineers walked through private properties to fix our break line that had broken, as we had stopped where there were no roads. Once the line was fixed, the conductor walked the engineers back to their vehicles before we proceeded towards Tacoma. About 20 minutes later, we were once again stopped due to something hanging down on the tracks from the train. Once they fixed that, they arranged for buses to take us further north due to a mudslide earlier in the morning. We were told prior to leaving Vancouver that they had arranged alternate transportation to get us from Seattle to Everett. By the time we neared Seattle they had arranged for our "rescue train" to take us to Everett. We finally arrived at Seattle where another train was supposed to take us further north. But there was another mud slide just outside of Everett that once again detained us and we had to wait for buses to return to take us to our final destination. Since my daughters were already waiting for me in Everett, I chose for them to meet me in Seattle and get off the ride from hell. The buses finally left the station minutes before my daughters arrived to pick me up. My 4.5 hour ride became 9.3 hours of hell. I will never ride Amtrak again nor will I ever recommend it. I didn' read more

Absolutely awful. Runs late all the time . I am sitting on a train from Portland to Bellingham right now that is two hours late after numerous problems and delays. At the station in Portland we were given coach seats even though we clearly had paid for business class tickets. I don't always love driving, but considering that this will be an almost 9 hour ride that I could have driven in five hours, I am disappointed. Many other passengers are telling horror stories about the service as I write. I guess in a country where nobody wants to pay taxes, this is what you get! read more

Yes we are huge fans....but yesterday on Train 509....we never saw any employees once leaving Seattle south bound to Salem...as we pulled out of Portland the conductor said "where are you getting off? " and we said Salem...he said "why are you sitting way back here in car 9...." and we said because the employees in Seattle assigned those seats to us. we were the only people in car 9 at this point...so he had us move clear up to car 5....anyway...I think the employees should stroll thru the cars occasionally and see how everyone is doing and if there are any issues and at least greet...TRAIN FRIENDLY..:) read more

I have ridden Amtrak train from Olympia to Seattle for the last 3 years to see my granddaughter. I normally ride in coach, however I was only able to book Business on this trip. It was 20 dollars more for Business than Coach. I wondered what it would be like for that much more, nicer seats? Treated differently? would there be tables? Would it be similar to riding first class in a plane? As the conductor called Coach passengers I knew from experience Business Class went to the left. I asked a man standing on the landing is this Business? He told me "yes" I walked inside and thought this can't be it, it looks the same, the only difference was dirty cup holders. I found a place to sit. Then saw a burly man coming towards me. He was dressed in Amtrak uniform attire, he told me I had sat in the wrong seat. I didn't know I was assigned a seat. And when I entered he was no where to be seen, The cost for Business Class is not worth it. It was twice as much to sit in these seats. Really Disappointing. read more

Amtrak Cascades - Dirty cup holders in Business Class - Public Transportation Near Me - Seattle, Washington

The train started off running late and got further behind as we went along due to doing some manual switching of the tracks. The views between Portland and Olympia were not particularly interesting, but were OK. The views between Olympia and Vancouver BC on the other hand were spectacular and make the train ride worth it. For that part of the ride along the water for many miles there are spectacular views. The food on the train was really bad - I had a turkey sandwich which was dry turkey slices a bit of lettuce and some cheese on bread - no condiments, not much flavor and at a price of $8 was really poor in my opinion. My wife had the rice bowl, which was OK for flavor but very small for $7. We shared a breakfast burrito which was $5 and was actually not too bad, but again overpriced for what you get. My overall feeling is that this is something you should try at least once if you have the time (travel time was supposed to be 8 hours, but turned out to be a little over 8 and a half hours versus driving which is about 6 hours). You will enjoy the views and suggest you try to sit on the left side of the train going up. Bring your own food by all means however. read more

thought this trip would be a viable option to driving - i was wrong. way late, annoying lack of info on how the ticketing works, dumpy station in seattle, annoying seats, several more but you get the point. i won't be taking a train again. read more