Comfortable and scenic experience. Crew was friendly and accommodating. The ride was safe and efficient

Lots of good things about taking this transportation unless you get stuck in a railcar with screaming kids. Apparently you aren't allowed to talk on your cellphone, but if a kid wants to scream their head off the whole ride it's perfectly acceptable. F for parenting and F for Amtrak not having family cabins where this sort of behavior can be somewhat isolated. read more

What a great ride from Seattle to Portland. The train arrived timely from Vancouver BC and departed from Seattle punctually as scheduled. We should comfortably make our arrival in Portland. The only thing that could be better about this trip is an extra helper in the food car or a separate line for cocktails. read more

We where staying in Seattle and going to Portland and told by people to take the train. I was surprised that it was only $90 for 2 Business class tickets, now I know why. The check in at the Seattle station was a joke. There was no one there and we had to ask security where to check in. We saw a sign that said business check in it, know one was there and it was never opened. There were two lines one for coach and one sleeper cars we later found out that was also for business. We were suppose to have priority boarding and that was a joke as there was no organization to it. I was surprised at the lack of security, no one every check an ID or bags. We got on and the seats were roomy but dated. We were told there would be internet wifi codes which took 30 minutes to get and then it would not work. 80 minutes into the ride when I could connect to the internet it was too slow and I had to use my cellular data which was faster. We were told that someone would be by to make a reservation for the dining car. By the time they got to us the only time was 1:15 or 1:45 and we were arriving at 1:50 which was not enough time. We were told we could get "food" in the cafe car. The cafe car should be called the "worst than gas station food" car. You get to select from frozen, prepackaged, sodium filled options that even a gas station would not carry. Then they pop it out of the plastic and "heat it" in a microwave so that the outer edges are burned and the middle is ice cold and then throw it back into the plastic. The only saving grace was the 1/2 bottle of wine we purchased. The view was nice and it was inexpensive but I would not recommend it. read more

Took the Thruway Express today from Seattle to Vancouver, on a bus not the train. The bus was clean and well maintained. The ride was pleasant and took 4 hours as we made one stop near the border. The driver was Brad and he went out of his way to make sure we knew what to expect, how long the trip would take, what we could bring, and he was so friendly. We were very pleased with the whole experience and would do it again. read more

I guess I know why train travel is not popular in the US. I took a trip with my son from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, WA. So the positives...on the trip there we were given a 4 seat area with a table which was an added plus with a child. So the not so good. As many know Amtrak doesn't own the tracks the trains travel on, freight gets preference. Well a freight train had an issue on the track we were on so we got stopped. Now there is two tracks in the location we got stopped in, no trains came by during the TWO HOURS we sat on the tracks. Well after two hours the I guess got permission to move on to the other unused track to go around the freight train, not sure why it took two hours to make this decision. So a four hour train ride turned into a 6 hour train ride. Of course since the government finances Amtrak they don't care about on time performance. Now the way back from Seattle the train was on time! But, yes there is a but...I understand how the crew places the people on the trains, basically it depends on the location you are getting off the train. So if you are getting off in one small town stop they only have to open one door. So I noticed this on the way there too, most of the train cars are empty. The full cars of course are the ones going to Seattle/Portland depending what direction you are going. So the people going to those locations are herded into one car like cattle. The car on the way back was car number 9 and was at the end of the train, next to the engine that had just pulled the train in, so car number 9 was about 90 degrees and on top of that there was a bathroom odor in the car. So not comfortable for anyone and everyone was complaining. So walking up to the dining car all the other cars were much cooler and again less crowded. Since they open all the doors in Seattle/Portland why not spread these passengers out to make for a better experience. The crew on the way to Seattle was very attentive and walked through often, the crew on the way back were non existent. Until we spend money on the infrastructure of this country, including improvements to passenger rail service I would say avoid Amtrak. read more

I'm convinced this is the only way to travel from Seattle to Vancouver. Comfortable, scenic ride with plenty to look at. Trees, farms, ocean, AND eagles. (bonus!) When you get tired of looking outside you can browse your device using the free wifi on board. My only complaint would be that the seats were a bit dated and the train wasn't in terrific condition, otherwise everything was perfect. You can't beat the affordability and the convenience! read more

I get that it is summer, but when everyone is sweating and hiding in the dinning car, you may need to fix the air conditioning system. Also maybe fix the cracked and torn seats in business class so it looks like it is worth what you are charging. And be careful asking the conductor a question, they will make you feel quite stupid for asking a question about how the train works (ours was how do they control all the traffic to prevent train collisions). read more

Business Class on the Cascades has gone considerably down hill. The last time (just over a year ago) the business class seats seemed more spacious with a foot rest. Not any more. Its more like a plane than a train now, with an apparent extra row of seats in the business class coaches. I feel crammed in with the passenger in front of me reclined into my lap. other than avoiding TSA, it is not nice. read more

Amtrak Cascades - no longer spacious on Amtrak Cascades - Public Transportation Near Me - Seattle, Washington

I booked a business class seat onboard a midday departure from PDX to Seattle and the ride was smooth and comfortable, allowing for some extra napping time as well as being able to have a drink and snack from the snack car. The lounge and snack care are situated in the middle of the train and easily accessible through the quiet car which was eerily quiet despite being full of passengers. The beverage an food selection onboard were ample and wide variety to choose from and there was a lengthy queue of passengers ordering alcohol or meals/ snacks. When it was my turn the happy cheerful lady took the beverage order and my meal of a teriyaki bowl from the menu and in about seven minutes of it being heated up I was back to my business class seat in the rather empty and outdated business class coach at the end of the train setup. The seats were obviously worn and well used and time for a refresh, the leg room was more than ample and the plugs at each seat was a bonus and free business class WiFi onboard for the entire journey north. There wasn't an attendant for the business class car like there is on other medium distance routes, like the Pacific Surfliner route which has at seat snack and beverage service during travel. I would say overall the additional $40 for business class from retailer coach class was worth it to me in the end, the exclusivity of the business class car compared to the layout and wear and tear of the coach class cars was apparent and I prefer to travel in style and have the exclusive access to the pre-departure lounge and being seated in a configured cabin that makes for fifteen less people able to be booked into the business class car. The voucher for $8 off food or beverage purchase was considerate but a bit tacky, like why have somebody hand you a meaningless piece of paper versus having a onboard attendant was a down side for me as the individual treatment you get with an onboard attendant is much more exclusive and proper versus the way they do things now! There's not even fresh coffee or water or juice available sitting out in the coach, they expected you to use the $8 voucher to buy a bottle of water or a juice or a coffee and not provide unlimited access to it like on other routes across the country. I recommend travelling midday and anytime of the year as it's less crowded going both northbound and southbound, the views are stunning and the stops are so infrequent that it's like you're always moving for the nearly three hour trip to Seattle or four and half hit trip up to Vancouver, BC. Business class is worth the extra dollars and that's saying something coming from me who travels in style and is picky about the smallest details. They need to do interior cabin refresh of not only their business class coach but also the coach cars and lounge / snack bar car. It's severely outdated and way past it's effective usage. read more

We took a family trip from Seattle to Vancouver, BC on the Amtrak Cascades. The ride was pleasant, the views were spectacular, and uneventful. I haven't ridden across the border by train, and unfortunately, the end of the trip seemed to take forever. Canadian customs requires the train to be unloaded... one car at a time. Also, the depot's staff doesn't typically work as efficiently as their counterparts at the airport. We ended up not leaving the depot until 40 minutes after our expected arrival time. read more

Don't ever use this service! It was 2 1/2 hour late in the morning portion of the trip, 1 hour late in the evening portion and then stopped at a station because a crew's shift ended. They didn't have a relief crew ready to take over. Total and absolute garbage!! Never again!! read more

Took a visit to Seattle and thought we would take Amtrak to Portland. Very disappointed. The seats were very worn, crowded, you could tell the train were very dated. You get what you pay for. Luckily they had a full service lounge with wine! If I were to do it again, I would go business. read more

If you don't mind being delayed 2+ hrs. on a 1h50min. trip, meaning 4+ hrs. total travel time for what took me 1 hr. to drive earlier today from the opposite direction, by all means, take Amtrak Cascades. Announcements re: delays? Not unless you ask. Hey, Elon Musk & Charles Bombardier, I implore you to fix this mess. I feel like I'm stuck in 1999. read more

Maybe I was just unlucky, but both of my trips with Amtrak Cascades were god awful, and I will NEVER go with them again. I went from Vancouver to Seattle on Sunday morning, and Seattle to Vancouver on Friday evening. Sunday: They announce some initial delays due to having trouble restarting the engine, which was fine by me. Then, 1 hr 45 minutes after we should have departed, they announce we'll all have to get off the train because it's just not going to happen. Waited in line for buses for about 40 minutes before they announced that business class passengers could board a special bus. And of course, we had to go through customs again. Arrived in Seattle over 2 hours late. Friday: Departure from Seattle was delayed by 1 hour initially. Shortly after we got going, we had to stop and wait 15 min for the southbound train to pass. Once we finally got into Canada and neared the station, we had to wait for a train on the tracks ahead of us to do some turning around maneuver. This took 30 minutes!! Finally got off the train 2 hours late at about 1 am, and had to take a taxi home because most public transportation was no longer running. Business class got off first so I didn't have to wait too long for a taxi, but believe me that the line started getting ridiculous fast... I don't know how long it took some people to get home that night. Business class clearly gets it a bit better, but that's like saying a burnt cake had good icing. read more

The scenery and the general comfort of the train both were a wonderful way to tour between two of our points this summer without driving or missing all of it by flying. The only star drop comes from the dining car. These trains tend to leave early or late, so a meal is likely. Certainly if Amtrak can spend that kind of money on a quality train for seating, they can bid out their dining service to a catering company that can do more with it than those horrible frozen bagels that were still frozen in the middle in their plastic shrink-wrap. 9/10ths of the way to a great tourist experience. read more

Sit in the cafe car and be amazed. Loved this ride to and from Vancouver BC. 4 hours of little towns going by and right off the water and over bridges. Lovely. The engineers are a riot. Had a great time chatting with them. Make sure to catch a pic of the cute town of White Rock. read more

Seattle to Portland in about the same amount of time it takes you to drive, but you can doze or have a drink on the way. It's also great to be traveling alongside I-5 and to see the busy Sunday afternoon traffic that you are avoiding. The train stations in Seattle and in Portland are located close to the city's public transportation grids which is hand if you don't want to take a car with you. Enjoy the trip now before the re-route the line south out of Tacoma and away from the water. It'll be faster, but not as pretty through that stretch as it is now. Hopefully in a few years they'll be making the run in 2.5 hours with the track upgrades and new alignments. read more

Awesome, awesome, awesome! It's a Talgo train! TV screens with GPS approximation on a line map. Better-than-usual café car for an Amtrak regional train. Curtains in the windows. Automatic doors at the end of the cars. Makes me sad that I've taken Amtrak mostly in the Northeast and Midwest :-(. Whomever got the Talgo trains there needs to take over the rest of the network :-). read more

I love this train. Hopefully you get to ride it when legendary Larry is working. He'll narrate the incredible scenery while giving you the funnest history class you've taken. I've had to take it from Seattle to Portland 3x in 3 weeks and I would like to take it every day. I'm able to plug in and work with the free Wi-Fi, yes it has issues from time to time but it's working well today! Sometimes the train is late but not any fault of Amtrak. The freighters block up the tracks on occasion and when there's only one track there isn't anything the can really do about it. I don't ever want to drive again after taking this the last 3 weeks. read more

Great service and views. Just wish they would serve us in our seats. Other than that, it was late leaving and arriving due to heat wave. Everything they could control was very good. read more

Delayed start in Seattle. Scheduled at 6:50, train arrived about 7:25. Since our original arrival was to be 10:50pm, I never imagined that we would now be arriving at 12:45am! A 4 hour train ride turned into 5+. The seats are comfy and relatively clean, but the dining tray at my seat was horribly dirty and just nasty and unusable. And why can't you reserve seats ahead of time? Because they use 1980 technology? The wifi didn't work for the first 2+ hours of the trip. The ice machine in the bistro car broke. The food is TV trays heated up, and overpriced. I still can't get over a 5+ hour train ride for what could have been a 3 hour car ride. No wonder train travel in the US is not popular. read more

The wort part is they assign seats. I got a crappy aisle seat (wanted the window!) and it's really close and seats are small and cramped with the person (in my case a stranger) next to you. Train is having electrical problems and it is running and hour late. Very cold and uncomfortable. I usually love trains. Not this one. read more

If you appreciate dirty, late and NO service the Amtrak Cascades between Portland and Seattle is for you!

Utter crap, it's no surprise Amtrak is free falling towards bankruptcy. Take a ride back to the 1980s where seats are assigned on check in, every member of Amtrak staff is an asshole and the station is exceptionally understaffed! What a joy! Enjoy the single bistro car in the entire train where you will wait longer then you ride for a chance at securing a beverage with no ice! Make sure to stay in business class where you receive a marginally improved seat with just as little legroom as coach for extra money!! Make sure you book the "double decker" Cascade train where you will enjoy a standard single decker train, revolutionary. All in a measley 4 hours from Portland to Seattle, guaranteed to operate even slower. read more

I began riding the Amtrak Cascades roundtrip between Eugene and Portland for my weekly business trip to Portland in November 2013. At first, I was so relaxed with the quiet and open space available in business class. I was even able to sleep on the 5:30 am train from Eugene and grab a decent breakfast before getting into the office in Portland. Unfortunately, the first few weeks were an exception! During these last two months I've learned that the train is usually late by an hour or longer going south on the 507 night train to Eugene. They have even swapped out the 5:30 am train (500) to Portland with a cheap train that have seats as hard as a log that don't recline. How can the bathrooms stink so much at 5:30 AM when the Eugene station is its starting point!?! This is my last ride, I figured out that if I work a couple more hours instead of sitting on the rails waiting for freight trains to pass, I can catch the evening Alaska Air flight to Eugene and the extra work hours will more than pay the difference in fair. The thing I will miss least of all is the unfriendly Bistro staff. If you want to ride these rails, expect to rail. read more

5 stars for the views and the staff. 1 star for the rest... if you have traveled by train anywhere in the world, Amtrak Cascades doesn't come close to anything you might have seen in any civilized country. The train cars are old and outdated, the train controllers walk around marking what seats are taken by placing a ticket above the seats, there are weird rules once you arrive in Vancouver (luggage goes first, then business class, then one car at a time) if you have 4-5 hours to kill and tons of patience, take the Amtrak. Otherwise flying is the way to go! read more

Absolutely adored this trip big huge windows comfortable table at our seats and a dining lounge dining car it was really lovely I wish I could take this trip every month. The check in was super easy on the Seattle side as well as Vancouver, Canada side. The train was clean and did not have an order the bathrooms were clean with no older and it was nice and relaxing ride. read more

Staff in Portland was rude and not helpful, I'll fly next time. Their pet travel sucks... leave Fido at home!

If you don't care that it takes 5-6 hours to get from Vancouver to Seattle(1.5 hr delay)and want something economical, this is a good way to go. Some nice scenery but also just as much non-scenery, nothing special. Comfortable seats in bus class, food is 2-3 Stars, so don't expect a lot. All in all, just nothing exciting and coming at the end of a vacation, didn't live up to expectations read more

Love the train. Good food and scenery. Little outdated for the amount people pay.. But I enjoy it overall

Took the thruway bus from Seattle to Vancouver... departure delayed by 45 min because someone bought a duplicate ticket and they couldn't leave with an extra ticket unaccounted for, and the driver had to go through some kind of extended sign out process at the station. Otherwise the driver was very courteous, and the trip was uneventful. read more

I love Amtrak Cascades. Travel 1-2 times per month for business. SEA to PDX and back. I can choose between trains, planes, and automobiles. I choose trains. I'ts a puzzlement that this doesn't have more support--one way or another. That doesn't mean that there aren't a few frustrations, however. The need for more capacity on the route is pretty clear on those rare days when you are sidelined for freight traffic for 3 hours. Rare, but significant. And then there are the mudslides. Dang inconvenient. Hate getting a call on Monday night at 6 pm that the 7:30 am train isn't gonna run on Tuesday. In that case, the best I can hope for is decent "on hold" music, and a quick transfer of funds to the evoucher. For that, they get 4 stars. Could have gotten 5 stars. David Bowie's c-c-changes was worth a laugh, but following that up with the Zombies "For Your Love" instead of "She's Not There" was ..... Well you missed a hook on that one. Hate the mudslides, love the communication. read more

Awful. Booked the wrong destination and then when I tried to change the destination on phone, they had terrible customer service.

Gross. Outdated and dirty. 518 to Vancouver at 7pm. The smell alone is overwhelming!

All I can say is DO Not take train again.... too many train ahead of us so we have to wait which is ok . But my point is these trains ahead of us Amtrak should knowing ahead of time and why they are not counting the time....518 from Portland to Bellingham should just schedule to arrival time to least 9:30PM or even 10 NOT 9PM! Such wasting time!! read more

I purchased tickets for the train, but the train was out of service due to a previous incident, so it is understandable that Amtrak needs to find us alternate transportation via bus. What is ridiculous is the fact that Amtrak offers us no compensation at all, given train tickets are more expensive than the bus. And even worse, when I asked the employee about this, he simply told me my ticket was already the lowest priced coach ticket, so he wasnt't giving me anything. If you paid for a service, but instead were given a less valuable replacement, the least you should do is compensate us for that difference read more

My wife and I took the Amtrak train from Vancouver, WA to Seattle for an overnight birthday trip. The stations in Vancouver, WA and in Seattle were both clean and easy to get to. We were very happy with the train itself. Clean, modern, and much smoother/quieter than we were expecting. Our train was full so we had to sit at a table facing a couple of strangers, but they were nice and we had a pleasant trip. The trip took about three hours, a bit faster than driving but far less hassle. It somehow "felt" faster though when you can just sit back and relax for the trip. Watch the sights, read a magazine, get something to eat, or use the restroom. Much of the trip runs along hillsides, and we were on the side of the train facing the hill. So we only saw the side of the hill blurring by our window for much of the trip. But there were open areas where we could watch the sights, or simply look out the windows on the other side of the train. We were really looking forward to the return trip home, but unfortunately mechanical failures caused our train to be canceled. We had to wait three hours while Amtrak chartered buses to drive us back home. The four hour bus ride detouring to every Amtrak station with no breaks to stretch was not very enjoyable. We were supposed to get home around 10pm but didn't get home till well after 1am. We loved the train ride up to Seattle, but were disappointed they simply canceled the train back home when there was a mechanical failure. One would think they would have a backup engine, could pull out the car that was having trouble, or whatever. Heck, even a freight engine pulling the train back home at a slower pace would have been preferable to the bus ride. At least we would have been on the train. Still, we enjoyed the one-way train ride and would like to try it again some day. Hopefully without the bus ride next time. read more

"We're doing you a favor!" Okay, really Amtrak? Recently took a weekend trip from Salem, Oregon to Seattle on Amtrak and was incredibly disappointed. The trip started on a greyhound bus as it takes us to Portland and then we transfer to the train. The charter bus had a driver in training so we left about 15 minutes late, and that wasn't terrible until she took a wrong turn, we got stuck in traffic and we (everyone on the charter) missed the connecting train in Portland. Amtrak said there was another train coming in 40 minutes but wasn't sure there'd be enough room to fit everyone that missed our scheduled train. When we finally got on the train they didn't have enough seats, but shortly thereafter they said they had seats for us. So we were assigned two seats, and within minutes were told by the same staff we weren't allowed to sit there because those weren't our seats. After explaining we were just assigned to these seats the Amtrak staff member told us we should be lucky they took us onboard and that they were doing us a favor. Really, a favor, after our earlier train left without a sizable amount of connecting passengers? And we've had to wait to be boarded and not assigned seats? After a longer than anticipated day we arrived in Seattle, and could not wait to get off the train. The hassle and irritation of Amtrak makes flying a breeze. This was a really disappointing train trip. read more

Air conditioning was broken. WiFi was broken. Paid extra for First Class because they advertise it's the best way to get the best views. However, you share window shades, so if the person behind you doesn't want the shade open, you can't see anything. The train ride advertised an 8 hr trip, and it took 9 1/2hrs. Would not recommend. read more