Travelling on Amtrak during the Holidays

[Guest_shanghaiamtrak]

I am planning on travelling on Amtrak this Christmas-New Years. I will travel approx December 18th from Washington DC to Chicago on the Capitol Limited and then on to Salt Lake City on The Zephyr. Coming back, Ill leave Spokane on the Empire Builder around January 1st to Chicago, then on to DC on either the Cardinal or Capitol Limited.

Anybody here ever travel on Amtrak much around Christmas time? Is it really crowded? How is the service?

Im looking forward to my first cross country trip in two years, and to getting more points on my new Amtrak Guestrewards Mastercard!

 

[WICT106]

I've taken Amtrak during the Spring Break period and during December 25, and, while the builder nor the Capitol were full to the gills, they were both busy enough. The Builder really has no true "off" season. Some of my trip reports have been posted in the respective section at Train Web. Overall, I've had good experiences with both trains and crews for the Builder and the Capitol. Like any other method of travel, train travel has had its share of imperfections, but overall the crews were professional. It wwas on my trips to Florida where I ran into some more interesting crews.