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RRRich's itinerary got me thinking about doing a similar trip. Can sleeping car accomodations be purchased if the rail portion is a Railpass. I'm talking about confirmed accomodations not onboard upgrades. Any help or suggestions?
Frank in Beautiful Santa Barbara, CA.
traveler Member # 1415
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Check out comments on the rail pass on the Amtral forum at railroad.net. Bradkansas
traveler Member # 1415
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"Amtrak"
Geoff Mayo Member # 153
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You certainly can book accommodations with a USA Rail Pass - I've done it several times; I assume the NA Railpass is the same. If you have the pass already, take it down to your local station and they'll book it for you. You might be able to quote the pass number over the 1-800 number too.
Geoff M.
RRRICH Member # 1418
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I am not using a "North American Rail Pass" on my trip, since I'll only be in Montreal overnight. But I thought you could NOT book sleeping accomodations with a Railpass until like 10 days before your departure or something. Has that changed?
Geoff Mayo Member # 153
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I've booked mine months beforehand, this is going back to 1999 at least.
Geoff M.
royaltrain Member # 622
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Having used the North America rail pass since its inception, I can confirm that you are able to book sleeping car reservations many months in advance--there is no restriction as to when these reservations can be made. I returned home last month (I live in Toronto) after travelling over 8000 miles in Canada and the U.S. I confirmed both my Via and Amtrak reservations in April of 2003 for my trip starting in December 2003. One advantage of booking so early, is that I saved considerable money. For example my deluxe bedroom charge from Seattle to Los Angeles was only $375 in April, but in September it had gone up to $890. My Deluxe bedroom from Los Angeles to Winter Park Fla. was $502 in April, but would have been $979 in September.
One other comment on the N.A. pass. The rules say that you must take at least one trip in Canada and one in the U.S. But in fact you could use the pass exclusively in only one or the other country. If you wanted to travel, for example, New York to Los Angeles on the Chief and return on the Empire Builder without setting foot in Cnaada, all you would have to do is purchase a ticket e.g. Toronto-Saskatoon and simply not use the ticket. Since you use the pass to "purchase" the ticket, it costs you nothing.
sutton Member # 1612
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As Royaltrain says, not necessary to do a Canadian train ride, but IMHO, I wouldn't miss out on a ride on The Canadian, easily the best train I've ever been on. Enjoy it if you can. The 3 day ride across the country is best, but if yu can only do the ride to Jasper and back, that'll be fun too.
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