BEST/WORST OF AMTRAK (Trip Summary)

[John-MCPO-USN]

Full trip report will be posted in the travel board later this week.

Just finished my 12 day odyssey from JAX to SEA (via SAC), and return (on #98, #51, #5, #14, #8, #30, #97).

Interested to hear thoughts/comments about the trains mentioned below. Am I pretty much on the spot, or was I traveling on "bad days".

Best Train (Scenery) - #5

Best Train (Staff) - #14

Best Food - #14

Worst Train (Staff) - tie, with the edge going to #30, then #5.

Worst Train (Scenery/OBS) - #51 (due to tardiness, went thru gorge in the dark).

Lounges: CHI was best for luggage safety - left my back-pack w/laptop and my 25" roller, all day - with no problems (tipped a $1/bag). WAS lounge was better for comfort and less crowded (left roller but not laptop).

Worst Track/Ride - tie #30 on NS out of CHI and #51 on Buckingham Branch (both sections were as rough as riding in a truck with no shocks down a dirt road).

Out of 7 trains, the only significant delay was #51 - all other trains were close to on time or < 60min delay.

Viewliner sleeper was by far my favorite over the Superliner.

Over all, the trip was fun and worth every dollar and I guess that I get double-rewards points for the trip...so, that will have a positive impact on my point balance.

John

 

[gatelouse]

Over all, the trip was fun and worth every dollar and I guess that I get double-rewards points for the trip...so, that will have a positive impact on my point balance.

...and if you paid for every leg in sleeper, you'll probably be Select or Select Plus to boot!

I'd say your observations are pretty close to mine, dated as they are. You will indeed miss the best scenery on #51 when it's late; always ride #50 if your schedule allows. Was #8 a close second in service or food? There have been a lot of good reports from this train. Also, glad to hear that the Silvers didn't make your worst OBS list. These used to have a reputation as well, but I've heard fewer complaints of late. A colleague had a wonderful trip on 97 not long ago.

 

[John-MCPO-USN]

...and if you paid for every leg in sleeper, you'll probably be Select or Select Plus to boot!

I'd say your observations are pretty close to mine, dated as they are. You will indeed miss the best scenery on #51 when it's late; always ride #50 if your schedule allows. Was #8 a close second in service or food? There have been a lot of good reports from this train. Also, glad to hear that the Silvers didn't make your worst OBS list. These used to have a reputation as well, but I've heard fewer complaints of late. A colleague had a wonderful trip on 97 not long ago.

#8 wasn't bad (for food and OBS).......and both #97 and #98 were "good" for food/service (not great, but not bad).

I was just really disappointed with the service on #5.....with such a great train (and great scenery) it would have been so much better if the OBS had been better. Again, maybe just a bad trip for the CHI based crew. Also, all the mooning from the rafters was always hi-larious (esp with some of the more elderly riders that just couldn't quite make it out what they were doing......until I explained it to them.....and, sure enough.....the next rafters were doing the same thing and everyone knew where to look that time and we all got a great laugh out of it).

And, yes----I had sleepers on all the trains.....so, I will be very interested in my point balance----once everything has time to post.

John

 

[George B]

I was just really disappointed with the service on #5.....with such a great train (and great scenery) it would have been so much better if the OBS had been better. Again, maybe just a bad trip for the CHI based crew.

No, unfortunately, lousy service is the norm on #5.

 

[raisin]

Full trip report will be posted in the travel board later this week.

Just finished my 12 day odyssey from JAX to SEA (via SAC), and return (on #98, #51, #5, #14, #8, #30, #97).

Interested to hear thoughts/comments about the trains mentioned below. Am I pretty much on the spot, or was I traveling on "bad days".

Best Train (Scenery) - #5

Best Train (Staff) - #14

Best Food - #14

Worst Train (Staff) - tie, with the edge going to #30, then #5.

Worst Train (Scenery/OBS) - #51 (due to tardiness, went thru gorge in the dark).

Lounges: CHI was best for luggage safety - left my back-pack w/laptop and my 25" roller, all day - with no problems (tipped a $1/bag). WAS lounge was better for comfort and less crowded (left roller but not laptop).

Worst Track/Ride - tie #30 on NS out of CHI and #51 on Buckingham Branch (both sections were as rough as riding in a truck with no shocks down a dirt road).

Out of 7 trains, the only significant delay was #51 - all other trains were close to on time or < 60min delay.

Viewliner sleeper was by far my favorite over the Superliner.

Over all, the trip was fun and worth every dollar and I guess that I get double-rewards points for the trip...so, that will have a positive impact on my point balance.

John

I ride 29 and 30 quite a bit and find the service intermittent. I'd love to hear more details of what made #30 stand out in a bad way.

 

[John-MCPO-USN]

I ride 29 and 30 quite a bit and find the service intermittent. I'd love to hear more details of what made #30 stand out in a bad way.

Well, pretty much started from boarding (car attendents at the doors I past were very short/curt with passengers unfamiliar with AMTRAK).......upon boarding, was told that I had a 8pm dinner reservation.....no problem----I know that they are time sensitive, and sometimes run early or late. Went to diner at 8pm......was told (rudely) that they are not ready for 8pm seating, and that I should head to the lounge car and await a call----no problem, I understand.....went to the lounge, and waited (and waited) - - finally, at 8:48pm, the 8pm reservations were seated. I was sat with 3 very nice ladies from St Louis that had not riden #30 before.....they were in coach, and very excited about their trip and about eating dinner in the diner. Well, we sat (and sat) and talked.....and finally, at 9:10pm, we were finally asked what we would like for dinner. The waiter just wasn't into discussing the menu or specials with the 3 ladies.......and he treated them poorly (so, their excitement dimmed a bit). This was the tail end of my trip, so I pretty much had the menus memorized, and just gave her my order. Our meals finally arrived just before 10pm (9:50pm to be exact), almost 2 hours after the reservation time. My order was correct, but they managed to mess up the ladies order (by then----no matter how much I talked "up" AMTRAK, the ladies weren't buying it, and they were just completely depressed by the entire series of events). The entire time I was gone (from 8pm to about 10:30pm) the SCA had not put down the bed........I had to find him and request that it be put down (even though when I boarded, I had requested that the bed be put down while I was at dinner). He apologized and stated that he had gotten busy (and I know that he is "off" at 10pm----because he told us over the intercom).

Anyway---I lived with the poor service (I'm patient and have a high tolerance level for frustrating events)......but, I felt really bad for the ladies at dinner.

John

 

[AlanB]

He's not off at 10 PM, except maybe in his own little fantasy world. But no SCA is supposed to be off at 10 PM.

 

[greatcats]

In defense of #5, on my trip westbound this past February with a stopver in Salt Lake City, I received very good to excellent service from the train staff, especially the two ladies in the dining car, both named Mildred. I was not too impressed with the station staff at Salt Lake City. I will be on #29 next month with a friend and I hope the service will be decent.

 

[guest]

Full trip report will be posted in the travel board later this week.

Just finished my 12 day odyssey from JAX to SEA (via SAC), and return (on #98, #51, #5, #14, #8, #30, #97).

Interested to hear thoughts/comments about the trains mentioned below. Am I pretty much on the spot, or was I traveling on "bad days".

Best Train (Scenery) - #5

Best Train (Staff) - #14

Best Food - #14

Worst Train (Staff) - tie, with the edge going to #30, then #5.

Worst Train (Scenery/OBS) - #51 (due to tardiness, went thru gorge in the dark).

Lounges: CHI was best for luggage safety - left my back-pack w/laptop and my 25" roller, all day - with no problems (tipped a $1/bag). WAS lounge was better for comfort and less crowded (left roller but not laptop).

Worst Track/Ride - tie #30 on NS out of CHI and #51 on Buckingham Branch (both sections were as rough as riding in a truck with no shocks down a dirt road).

Out of 7 trains, the only significant delay was #51 - all other trains were close to on time or < 60min delay.

Viewliner sleeper was by far my favorite over the Superliner.

Over all, the trip was fun and worth every dollar and I guess that I get double-rewards points for the trip...so, that will have a positive impact on my point balance.

John

Not surprised you found the best staff on 14. Having ridden it a half-dozen times now, I've never encountered a single crew members not happy with their jobs. Maybe it's the California weather? And maybe happy crews extend to the chefs as well?

 

[AlanB]

I'm on #5 right now and have had great service by and large. The weakest link if you will so far has been the LSA whom I had to summon to our table to collect for my wine and for our dinner companions.

The waiter was excellent, and our SCA is very good IMHO. Texas Sunset probably wouldn't like him because he likes to do car announcements, but Tony has been very helpful, busy checking on everyone, he's even provided two types of Coffee Mate for the coffee, that he clearly brought with his own money to give people a choice from the usual creamers that Amtrak provides.