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Caledonian Sleeper

AberdeenBill

AberdeenBill

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21 Feb 2021
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85
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Poole
I notice the Service Alterations page on the CS Website has been updated to include the RMT strikes of 18 and 20 July. Usual message about CS having agreed a pay deal but it is still likely to impact services. This transpires into cancellations going by the recent strikes. I am travelling on the night of Friday 12th August. A Google search seems to indicate that there is an RMT strike on 13th which would scupper that journey, so i would need to arrange alternative means of travel (day train on afternoon of 12th). However the 13th of August date does not appear on CS Site. Is this perhaps only an ASLEF strike (when CS ran during the last one) or is it an omission by CS?
 
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alistairlees

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AberdeenBill said:
I notice the Service Alterations page on the CS Website has been updated to include the RMT strikes of 18 and 20 July. Usual message about CS having agreed a pay deal but it is still likely to impact services. This transpires into cancellations going by the recent strikes. I am travelling on the night of Friday 12th August. A Google search seems to indicate that there is an RMT strike on 13th which would scupper that journey, so i would need to arrange alternative means of travel (day train on afternoon of 12th). However the 13th of August date does not appear on CS Site. Is this perhaps only an ASLEF strike (when CS ran during the last one) or is it an omission by CS?
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13th August is an Aslef strike - not an RMT one. So Cal Sleeper will run as normal on 12th August.
 
najaB

najaB

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Was looking at some train fares and notice that this message still appears:
Customers travelling alone on the Sleeper service in standard class may have to share a twin berth cabin with another passenger of the same gender
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Has this become a thing again or did the message never go away?
 
6

6Z09

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Joined
19 Nov 2009
Messages
499
najaB said:
Was looking at some train fares and notice that this message still appears:

Has this become a thing again or did the message never go away?
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Doesn't happen, message must need getting rid off.
 
najaB

najaB

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alistairlees said:
That's fine, I have no control over that. You should look on sleeper.scot!
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I wasn't actually looking specifically for Sleeper fares, they just came up in the mix. That said, if/when I'm next looking to book the Sleeper I'll be using that site.
 
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tricky18jan

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11 Nov 2010
Messages
121
Morning everyone, been looking at the reviews on you tube for the sleeper and really want to give it a go next month.

Club room would be ideal but the price is shocking!! £500 for the club room return Glasgow or Edinburgh to London!

Seating coach wouldn’t really bother me but if I start snoring I feel a but concious about that

Is the room worth the price ??
 
najaB

najaB

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Deafdoggie said:
Basically, it depends how you value it. Whichever way you look at it £500 is a lot of money for a bed.
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Take out the cost of an Off Peak return (£160) that's only £170 a night - that's not much over rack rate at a lot of hotels.
 
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Bletchleyite

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najaB said:
Take out the cost of an Off Peak return (£160) that's only £170 a night - that's not much over rack rate at a lot of hotels.
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Who ever paid rack rate at a hotel since about 1980?

The room is Travelodge standard at best, perhaps more YHA in the case of Classic. £170 for a Travelodge does happen (e.g. Edinburgh Fringe) but is very rare, while I doubt the YHA have ever charged £170 for a twin room.
 
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alistairlees

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tricky18jan said:
Morning everyone, been looking at the reviews on you tube for the sleeper and really want to give it a go next month.

Club room would be ideal but the price is shocking!! £500 for the club room return Glasgow or Edinburgh to London!

Seating coach wouldn’t really bother me but if I start snoring I feel a but concious about that

Is the room worth the price ??
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It’s busy now. Try it out later in the year when bookings are lower and prices are currently cheaper
 
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Bletchleyite

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najaB said:
True, but the point is that while it sounds like a lot it isn't actually crazy money.
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It's not crazy, but it's very poor value in my view.

They do seem to be selling at that price so it makes sense for them to charge it, but it's too high for me to be willing to pay it when an Off Peak Return* and a Travelodge, Premier Inn or similar is better (in terms of sleep quality) and cheaper, and I get to see the scenery. To be fair the Fort William (and to a lesser extent the Inverness) are a special experience, but I just can't see the attraction of the Lowlander or indeed the Aberdeen at all, certainly not at those prices.

* Or a split. The bar on outbound break of journey on journeys from the South East to the Highlands to avoid people using them to/from Manchester is just stupid. An overnight break at Glasgow is a natural way to do that journey.
 
najaB

najaB

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Bletchleyite said:
It's not crazy, but it's very poor value in my view.

They do seem to be selling at that price so it makes sense for them to charge it, but it's too high for me to be willing to pay it when an Off Peak Return* and a Travelodge, Premier Inn or similar is better (in terms of sleep quality) and cheaper, and I get to see the scenery. To be fair the Fort William (and to a lesser extent the Inverness) are a special experience, but I just can't see the attraction of the Lowlander or indeed the Aberdeen at all, certainly not at those prices.

* Or a split. The bar on outbound break of journey on journeys from the South East to the Highlands to avoid people using them to/from Manchester is just stupid. An overnight break at Glasgow is a natural way to do that journey.
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It's the market they're going for. Rightly or wrongly CS isn't about transportation, it's about an "experience".
 
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route101

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Everything seems to be aimed at wealthy tourists now, high prices. Same with car hire, premium options.
 
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Bletchleyite

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najaB said:
It's the market they're going for. Rightly or wrongly CS isn't about transportation, it's about an "experience".
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Oh, I know - as I said, particularly given the subsidy, if they can get that they should charge it. But it (combined with the poor sleep I get) does mean I won't use it (bar the FW in some cases), and will instead take the cheaper and more enjoyable experience of a stopover in Glasgow (which for some reason is much maligned, but I really like it as a city), and I'd not use the Lowlander if it was free.
 
najaB

najaB

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route101 said:
Everything seems to be aimed at wealthy tourists now, high prices.
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Which is a good strategy. It's better to have ten people spending £1,000 each than 100 spending £150 - the overall take might be smaller but so are the hidden costs.

I grew up with the consequences of a tourism policy that chased arrival numbers rather than spend and it isn't pretty.
 
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Deafdoggie

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najaB said:
Which is a good strategy. It's better to have ten people spending £1,000 each than 100 spending £150 - the overall take might be smaller but so are the hidden costs.
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How so? If you have 10 people on a train that will carry 100 people, you're surely best with 100 people? Better to sell another 100 drinks in the buffet than 10, etc. The train is running anyway, the costs of extra passengers is neither here nor there. Obviously the ideal is 100 passengers at £1,000 each!
 
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najaB

najaB

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Deafdoggie said:
How so?
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Note that I was talking about the overall tourism strategy, rather than each individual operator.

It all comes down to hidden costs. Each additional tourist incurs costs which are borne out of the public purse/society generally - e.g. water, traffic, damage to roads/trails, higher property prices, construction despoiling sites of natural beauty etc. - rather than by the operator themselves. So while it serves an individual operator to fill as many seats as possible, overall society doesn't benefit from large numbers.

As I noted, I've experienced it first-hand back home as the Ministry of Tourism chased higher and higher visitor numbers (up from ~420,000pa in 1982 to 1.1M in 2019) while in real terms the revenue didn't increase by nearly as much. And this in a country that is desperately water-scarce (less available water per head than Jordan) and densely populated (in the top 20 globally).
 
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STINT47

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I've often wondered if or when CS will run out of wealthy tourist's and businesses people who ate willing to pay the fares?

Looking at the review for the sleeper across various places it seems that a lot of people are disappointed by the experience and vow never again. There must come a point where they'll start to struggle to find customers willing to travel at these prices although there seems to be no sign of this at the moment.
 
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