OBS differences by route

[sportbiker]

I saw this on railpac.org:

On the Starlight I talked to three couples who had ridden the Zephyr before the Starlight. All three of them had ridden different days and had nothing good to say about the crews. One of them said they were treated so bad on the Zephyr that they were thinking of flying home but the Starlight crew changed their minds. Elsa and I were in the last group of people in the diner at lunch time when the wife of the one Zephyr couple went up to our dining car waitress and thank her over and over on how wonderful she was and how bad their Zephyr experience was. At this point the lounge car attendant was eating his lunch and witnessed the exchange, afterward the dining car attendant asked him how could a crew be so bad and his response was “Zephyr crews are based in Chicago so yes they are that bad.” Even the other Amtrak employees can see it!!

I'm playing Cruise Director next March for a small group on the CZ and it's our first LD trip. Is there validity to what those people observed? Did I make a big mistake? Will my travel friends ever talk to me again?

Say it isn't so...

 

[had8ley]

I saw this on railpac.org:

On the Starlight I talked to three couples who had ridden the Zephyr before the Starlight. All three of them had ridden different days and had nothing good to say about the crews. One of them said they were treated so bad on the Zephyr that they were thinking of flying home but the Starlight crew changed their minds. Elsa and I were in the last group of people in the diner at lunch time when the wife of the one Zephyr couple went up to our dining car waitress and thank her over and over on how wonderful she was and how bad their Zephyr experience was. At this point the lounge car attendant was eating his lunch and witnessed the exchange, afterward the dining car attendant asked him how could a crew be so bad and his response was “Zephyr crews are based in Chicago so yes they are that bad.” Even the other Amtrak employees can see it!!

I'm playing Cruise Director next March for a small group on the CZ and it's our first LD trip. Is there validity to what those people observed? Did I make a big mistake? Will my travel friends ever talk to me again?

Say it isn't so...

I wish I could....just last month going to the Forum in Chicago we had an excellent dining car crew. As far as the sleeping car attendant I might as well have slept in the baggage car. He opened the vestibule door in Hammond, LA and opened it again in Chicago and that's about all he did and he was New Orleans based.(I had to make my own bed up because he wanted to pull it down when I got on board at 2:30 p.m.; in addition the car ran out of water some time in the night.) Things can get really ugly when you have a mixed crew as on the Crescent. The LSA and diner crew are NYP based and everyone else is from New Orleans. I've had Pacific Surfliner attendants blow up balloons for my grand-daughter so it is basically the luck of the draw. Unfortunately, the CZ does not have a stellar reputation for OBS services. There are those that will say they've never had a bad trip on the CZ but they will be far outweighed by those that haven't. Enjoy the trip for what it is and try to make your interactions with the bad apples as minimal as possible. And hopefully you'll pull the lucky straw and have a crew that cares.

 

[AlanB]

I agree with Had8ley, things can be hit or miss at anytime with Amtrak unfortunately.

I will tell you that there is hope for a good trip, as I had a wonderful experience on the CZ this past July. Both going and coming from California I had wonderful crews overall. Coming home there was one dining car attendant that was so-so, but the rest of the food crews were very nice and all the sleeping car attendants were wonderful. To the point where the sleeping car attendants even took it upon themselves to help out each morning in the understaffed dining car.

They would come in and pour coffee, clear tables, one even carried some food to a table all in an effort to ensure that their passengers got the best service possible under Amtrak's poorly conceived SDS plan.

One simply can't have a diner with one cook, one waiter, and one LSA on a train where the sleepers are sold out and coach is running pretty full too.

 

[user 683]

I guess I've been pretty fortunate on my LD/sleeper trips: 2 SWC segments, 4 CL segments and 4 (old) Palmetto segments (non-sleeper). Granted, I probably don't have as much LD experience as most folks here and there were no major mechanical problems on the trains in question. Like everything else, I suppose you have attendants that really go out of their way to provide excellent service and those who simply do as little as possible to stay employed. Given the opportunity, I'd rate (1-10 scale, 10 = far exceeded expectations, 5 = met expectation, 1 = absolutely poor) most of the LD service folks (sleeper and dining car attendants) as a 6, with only one or two 10's and perhaps one less than 4.

Just my 2 cents.

Deimos

 

[AKA]

Three trips on the CZ in three years. Always in May, 2005-06-07. Crews where OK. One sleeper car attendant CHI to EMY was a 9. Others where fair to good. However we dont ask for much. We dont expect much eather. Diner crews over all 3-4, with one 10. If the train stays on the tracks we are pretty much happy! Amtrak is an adventure and I would not have it any other way. [ Well maybe on time once in a while. ]

Lounge attendants, most all 5. On the famous Southwest Zephyr hook up last May the lounge attendant was an 11. A tough trip for her. She was also a new hire. This was one of her first trips. She was outstanding, severing many extra meals to coach pax. because of lateness .

 

[Guest]

"Things can get really ugly when you have a mixed crew as on the Crescent. The LSA and diner crew are NYP based and everyone else is from New Orleans"
"I had to make my own bed up because he wanted to pull it down when I got on board at 2:30 p.m"

"interactions with the bad apples as minimal as possible"

I've had a lot of experiences on the Crescent in the last 6 months and have experienced the above. Other than 1 ,very odd but attentive, sleeper attendant the others have been very responsive, but not always proactive, which seems to me to be a byproduct of their lack of sleep or asphyxiation from something odd in the car. .. Although not OBS, there is definitely one tall male Conductor on the route between Atlanta and New Orleans who I lay low from. I don't know what he eats before he gets on the train but he needs to include a chill pill. He is that way from the get-go before any introductions are made.

As far as the bed down at 2:30pm, what reason was given? Where were you supposed to sit?

Re: mixed crews, if you can judge by the accent, I've witnessed someone who counts money in the diner getting all bent out of shape in a New York manner with some other employee. That was only 1 time, though.

I will suggest that the best service is obtained if you clearly communicate that you tip by beginning when you are shown your sleeper and have been assisted with your bags. Right or wrong. I don't know, but it works. I usually tell them at that point that I am a low-maintenance passenger and will ask if I need something. That is at the same point that I say I would like water pretty much every hour or if they will show me where it is kept, I'll get it myself. Secondly, if there is something wrong in your car that the attendant has to deal with realize that they have been dealing with it for many more miles than you and trying to deliver passenger service as well. So don't at that point go overboard by feeling slighted at lesser service.

At this point I have encountered 1 sleeper attendant 3 times and another 2x. The good employees have far outnumbered the bad on the Crescent.

 

[had8ley]

"Things can get really ugly when you have a mixed crew as on the Crescent. The LSA and diner crew are NYP based and everyone else is from New Orleans"
"I had to make my own bed up because he wanted to pull it down when I got on board at 2:30 p.m"

"interactions with the bad apples as minimal as possible"

As far as the bed down at 2:30pm, what reason was given? Where were you supposed to sit?

This is where the Grand Canyon between crews and I exists. Having put in 37 in engine service and just as many (almost) riding Amtrak and 20 plus years pre-Amtrak I can fairly readily tell what kind of attendant the person is if I have not had them before. I did not want to verbally tango with this attendant for the entire trip to Chicago about a bed that I knew how to make. It was bad enough when we ran out of water in the middle of the night and he refused (to another passenger) to try and water up at a station stop.

My beef with the Crescent is not with the sleeper crews. We rode to Meridian for the Rail Fest two weeks ago and had the BEST duo in the 11 car on #19. One fellow was training another who had been bumped off of the City because of the new dining service car. You would have thought it was his first day on Amtrak; they were both extremely polite and courteous and had recognized us from previous trips. My bone is with the diner. #20's did not open until we were pulling into Picayune, MS~ about an hour and 20 minutes after leaving New Orleans. There was an LSU-Alabama game that day and the diner filled up every seat immediately. The last person left about 10:30 a.m. Returning on #19, the diner had one and only call at 4:30 p.m. and the lounge car attendant took the liberty to actually shut the vestibule passageway door and closed at 5 p.m. Needless to say, there were no managers or extra help on a packed train either direction. Granted, six months is a good trial period but I believe over 50 years of riding the same train has shown me the good and the bad; I have repeatedly written and called about the Crescent diner opening and closing. The replies are like the Florida leg of the Sunset; "We don't wanna talk about it."

 

[RailFanLNK]

I have taken 7 trips on the CZ in the last 18 months and I have had great crews and some that suck. The Dining Car crew on the #6 in July was abrasive, rude and pretty much terrible. Parts of that crew were on the CZ on my return home from the Get Together and we didn't have the rude waiter but we did have the rude LSA. She ended up being pretty nice and even sat down and visited with us. Both Brenda and I thought we were on drugs when she sat down and visited with us. The exceptionals are these individuals....Ray Chambers, Reggie Howard both Sleeper Car Attendents, Dan Smith and Mr. Noel coach attendents, Asst. Conductor Larry Rudolph, Conductor Lester Peterson. I could name the jerks but won't do that on a public forum. Also on a trip on the CZ last October, we had the "unknown coach attendent". The train was jam packed with not one available seat and we had no clue if we had an attendent. The train was 12 hours behind and there was trash all over the place and billowing out of the dumpsters. That was a real funky trip. Sat next to a guy who had just been released from San Quentin. So instead of acting fearful (which I think was the response he wanted to see from me) I just acted like it was no big deal and asked questions about the family he was going to see in Chicago. I too, have come to not expect much on the train, but that doesn't mean that I want to be treated like crap either.