Coast Starlight

Author: Melissa Schmidt
Date of Trip: October 2013

The mission was to get down to San Francisco,CA in a relaxing and most zen filled way ever. Amtrak was the key player in this mission. We got into a roomette. That was sweet in so many ways. They’re was a bottle of Champagne‎ waiting for us in our room as well as some bottled water. My husband drank the Champagne‎ as I really don’t drink that much maybe a cocktail once a year if that. We had four pieces of luggage checked in and we had a couple carry ons’. What I really like about Amtrak is the chance to meet new people and conversation was great. When you get into the sleeper class all your meals are covered and you get two choices of menus. The Parlor car foodies and the dining car foodies. In the dining car you are seated with other people which is so totally cool. The food is great and they’re is a lot of choices. The Steak was great.

In the roomette itself was ample just to sleep in and as well as get some quiet time. After dinner when we got back to our room the beds were turned down and made. My Husband got the upper bunk and I took the lower one. Was kinda cool getting rocked to sleep.

The parlor car was outstanding. Swivel chairs and in the lower part of the parlor car is where us sleeper peeps enjoyed movies with pop corn. So cool. I do believe that the next trip will be in a big bedroom. The staff was warm and friendly and nice to talk to. In the sleeper trains they’re showers you can use with towels provided and as well as soap. All Sleeper peeps meal are provided as part of the fare. I would highly recommend this as a preferred way to travel. Oh our end to the trip was a short stay over for one night in San Francisco,CA. Because….. the next day we were to board the Grand Princess to Hawai’i for a 15 day cruise. Being this our first ever cruise I can not have anything to go by but our own experience as we went along. What I found totally cool was that The Love Boat was on TV with a new episode everyday. To me that was stellar. What was outstanding was the staff, from the cooks to the house keepers and the deck staff. They each were amazing and very helpful.

I was stuck in the room the first three days with a horrible cold and our Steward was the best. His first name is Roger and hands down to him he was awesome! I was on C102 and the room was tight and Roger always left me an extra box of tissues too. Five stars! Our room was very spacious for our needs and the restroom was more than enough room to do what ya have to do in there. Shower was spacious for a nice lingering shower. Very clean and the Steward staff was ace!

The Horizon court was just the best foodies in the world with everything under the sun there. Boggles my mind how they did all the food preparations and how they cooked it all. The Government shut down and Princess worked it to where we had a comparable excursion to the Natl. Volcano Park and they had us go the the Volcano Tree state park instead which was really nice to go through. Thank you Princess for that act of coolness on your part.

I would for sure go on another cruise. I would for sure take another Amtrak vacation as well.