Do Amtrak have sales/offers

michele-p

Hi all, I'm looking to book one way train tickets for next June from New York to Washington. Tickets are available now, but in the spirit of MSE I'm looking to save if I can!

Anyone know if Amtrak have a sale, or regular offers? I've signed up for their email, and just followed them of Facebook, but if they never do discounts I may as well book now.

Many Thanks

Mr_Wang

michele-p wrote: »

Hi all, I'm looking to book one way train tickets for next June from New York to Washington. Tickets are available now, but in the spirit of MSE I'm looking to save if I can!

Anyone know if Amtrak have a sale, or regular offers? I've signed up for their email, and just followed them of Facebook, but if they never do discounts I may as well book now.

Many Thanks

Amtrak is always overpriced and often more expensive than flying. In fact, usually more expensive than flying. Greyhound is the same.

Try either Megabus, hire a car, or fly.

littlereddevil

It is but it's a novelty !

Voyager2002

Amtrak is a good experience, worth paying more than for a bus ticket...

Their travel passes can be good value, depending on your plans.

dondo

Admittedly it was nearly 20 years ago that I travelled by Amtrak as I got a month's railcard and travelled all over (they had just stopped doing air passes and I didn't fancy spending forever on buses so was next best thing) and it was great- much better in my opinion than travelling by rail in this country.

Have never been aware of them having any offers though unfortunately other than me getting a student discount on my pass

GRM

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amtrak-guest-rewards-399/

includes a thread on 2014 discounts and promotions.

michele-p

Thanks all, this will be a one off journey, part of our mad adventure!
We fly into New York for 4 night, train to Washington (heard it was quite a scenic route, and just priced it again flying, it's cheaper on train!) Then we fly to Buffalo to visit Niagara, fly to Boston, then pick up a car, head to the White Mountains, Arcadia National Park, Maine coastline, finally fly back from Boston to New york, and back to the UK.

Phew!

We have most internal flights booked, managed to use some avios points for one of them. I don't fancy the bus, as apparently the New York to DC road trip can have quite heavy traffic.

I'll check out the flyertalk link above thanks.

The full price is $104 for us both, around £64 so not a lot for a 3.5 hr journey!

Alan_Bowen

The fare of $104 sounds as though it may be on a North East Regional train as opposed to the Acela Express which is a lot more expensive. The NER trains tend to be 1970's vintage, acceptable for a short journey but not the first word in luxury! Arcadia NP is beautiful as is the Maine coastline, attempted to get up Mount Washington but the whole area was shrouded in mist so gave that up as a bad job. Really enjoyed a cruise across Lake Winnipesaukee, very 'On Golden Pond' even saw and heard the loons.

Don't spend too long in Buffalo, pretty grim city but if you are flying Jet Blue, a good way to get there. Niagara was commercialised to the point of me hating it on the Canadian side, may not be quite as bad on the US side but once you have done Maid of the Mist, had lunch and bought some tacky souvenirs, its time to leave.

John259

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

Niagara was commercialised to the point of me hating it on the Canadian side, may not be quite as bad on the US side

I've only visited the US side. The approach road from the east to the US Niagara Falls town has the typical US "gas, food and lodging" strip. The downtown area is somewhat run-down and depressing. However, the park area near the falls is excellent and I especially enjoyed doing a leisurely stroll round Goat Island.

Here's a link to StreetView on one of the walking paths on Goat Island (i.e. on the US side). You might like to have a virtual wander around. If you're not familiar with StreetView, you can pan or tilt the camera by draging the image with the mouse, and you can move along a path or a road by clicking on the image or pressing the cursor keys on the keyboard or dragging the yellow man icon on the map.
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Goat+Island,+Niagara+Falls,+NY,+United+States&hl=en&ll=43.080173,-79.073346&spn=0.011363,0.026157&sll=37.6,-95.665&sspn=49.738899,107.138672&oq=goat+island&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=43.080065,-79.073453&panoid=GL8LG60ZA6Cpd_H2JVGGwg&cbp=12,242.62,,0,4.28

Here's the Canadian side in StreetView:
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Goat+Island,+Niagara+Falls,+NY,+United+States&hl=en&ll=43.082555,-79.077787&spn=0.005156,0.026157&sll=37.6,-95.665&sspn=49.738899,107.138672&oq=goat+island&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=43.082925,-79.077557&panoid=X3fQ6_hh1AnnA_MRwNRM8Q&cbp=12,49.25,,0,5.32

John259

michele-p wrote: »

New York for 4 night, train to Washington (heard it was quite a scenic route)

Here's a video so you can judge for yourself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDEO4dxVB48

Arcadia National Park

Here's the Acadia section of the US National Park Service web site (there's a link to a map of the park in the left margin):
http://www.nps.gov/acad/index.htm
Here's a short video about Acadia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQTA8HU07zc

apparently the New York to DC road trip can have quite heavy traffic.

Yes indeed. A bus would almost certainly use I-95 and that stretch has a reputation for being congested.

Buzby

Amtrak do offer deals but not publicly on their website. I saved 60% buy purchase through Trailfinders in the UK, the discounted rate is to encorage overseas travellers to use the service - we used the Silver Meteor from Kssimmee Fla to New York, it was superb. Go to the Amtrak site and look for recommended UK agents - they'll all charge roughly the same but you must buy the tickets here.