Well ~ After reading through this thread and learning of the extended delays on the Empire Builder, I am certainly glad (and fortunate!) that my husband and I were on the west bound train that left Chicago on Wednesday, December 30th!!
We actually arrived into Seattle about 1/2 hour ahead of schedule on January 1st. From what I could tell, we were pretty much on schedule for the entire trip inspite of some pretty cold temperatures ~ it was 1F in Minot during daytime hours ~ with periodically heavy snow and gusty winds along the route.
All in all we had a grand time and would like to do the trip again during the summertime when daylight hours are extended, so we can enjoy more of the scenery along the way. It was totally dark by 5pm and the sun (when we saw it) didn't fully rise until after 8am! We missed the spectacular scenery of Glacier National Park altogether.... :unsure: I must say that the full moon we had enroute shining down on the freshly fallen snow was truly beautiful.
So as not to start another thread about our "adventures" on our trip ~ we did have some good experiences, as well as some negative ones.
Bad:
1. As we went down the platform looking for our sleeping car, we showed our tickets to the first sleeping car attendent whom we came upon and he told us we were in his car and to go up to Bedroom B there. Once we got our coats in the closet and our bags tucked away, we decided to take a brief stroll towards the dining car. When we came back, there was ANOTHER person in our bedroom! Hmmmmm... <_< I got off the train with our tickets and asked another sleeping car attendent I found if we were supposed to be in the car we were told to get into. Nope! Turns out that we were in the PORTLAND section of the train and we were going to Seattle! At this point, we had to gather up all our belongings, get our bags out of the downstairs storage area, and make a mad dash to the correct car! :angry: You would "ASSUME" that the sleeping car attendents would know the number of the car that they're assigned to!
They're supposed to helping us!!! AND ~ I assumed (wrongly, obviously!) that employees would be providing correct information.
2. We were not notified by our sleeping car attendent or our server on our final evening meal that there would be NO breakfast service after 7am on our final morning leg into Seattle. When I asked the sleeping car attendent about why we weren't told of this, he replied that an announcement had been made sometime after he turned our beds down (and we had retired for the night). :angry: He also told us that the crew isn't allowed to make public announcements before 7am....BUT they didn't seem to have any problems with walking through the sleeping car using walkie-talkies! We had been awake for quite awhile before 7am, but had refrained from showering early out of courtesy to our next door neighbors. When we showed up in the dining car at about 7:10am ~ where there were still quite a few diners ~ we were told that we could have yogurt and a muffin, but all the other food gad been "thrown away." I told the lead dining car attendent, Gina, that my husband is a diabetic and both those items are sugar based. They finally scrounged up a couple of oranges, a couple of biscuits (still not good for carbs) and some milk. I got the impression that we were causing an unwelcome "problem" for them by not accepting the yogurt and muffins. Neither of us drink coffee either ~ which was offered ~ due to heart palpitation issues. Our "breakfast snack" tided us over until we got to Seattle, but my husband who is 6'4" and has a good appetite was NOT a happy camper..... he was all set for eggs and sausage, which would have been far better for him than the carbs in the biscuit and orange. I WILL be writing a letter to Amtrak complaining about this situation. The servers should notify EACH TABLE seating at the evening meal on the night before the train splits in Spokane, that they MUST be in the dining car before 7am to be served breakfast on the last day out. Seems like a VERY simple thing to do, but it wasn't.
3. Both my husband and I thought that the quality of the food was not as good as we had on our recent trip on the California Zehphr in late September ~ although the menus were almost identical. The "cooked to order" steak was pretty good, although I thought that the "flat iron steak" (pot roast style actually) that we had on the Zephyr was just as tasty. The "angus steak burgers" weren't nearly as tasty and the breakfasts were just sort of "blah" on the Empire Builder.
4. One of the servers made several very public comments about how he had a TERRIBLE COLD, which made us feel rather uncomfortable that he was serving us! He also made a comment that due to the dish washer not showing up for the run, we had to be served on plastic for all the meals on the entire trip.
Good:
1. We REALLY enjoyed the wine and cheese tasting that was held the second day out. We never were treated to any special events during our trip on the California Zephyr.
2. We liked the complementary splits of champagne that were provided as we left Chicago!
We didn't get this on the Zephyr either.....
QUESTION??? Why don't long hauls ~ 2 days or more ~ have identical perks for sleeping car passengers??
3. The temperatures on the train were quite comfortable in spite of the very cold weather we encountered along the route.
