# Crescent #19 #20 April 2009



## ourlouisiana (Apr 21, 2009)

Boarded #20 Saturday 11 April, 2009. Reminder, the only bad thing about sleeper is that it is a long walk from the gate past the 4 coaches, lounge, and diner to get to the sleeper, and we were in the 1st one. Left NOL on time. This trip, I brought my scanner !!! Our SA Shana, came to tell us about our Viewliner features aboard the Sea View. . Breakfast was served as we passed Lake Ponchartrain, watching the pelicans sitting on piers and fishing. We sat with a father-daughter returning to Virginia from spring break in New Orleans. Can’t beat scrambled eggs and grits !! Donna had the omlet, but didn’t like the taste of the vegetables in it. We picked up a dining car attendant in Meridian. Track got rough just before Tuscaloosa.

Our SA Shana helped out in the diner with lunch, making sure that her people were served - even though there was a steward and two attendants. From Birmingham the train slowed down as we climbed the southern Appalachains. We had a problem in that the electricity went out a few times during the afternoon, but Shana went into the panel and reset the breakers as soon as she was notified. During the night the same thing happened, again she took care of it.

We made dinner reservations for 1630, and went to the diner at our appointed time. We were seated promptly, then the whole thing came apart. A lady and her grandson enroute to Atlanta joined us. Others came into the diner, were seated, their orders taken, and were served - in fact, 4 couples. We were stopped at ATL when our order was finally taken. Our SA came to let our companion know that we had arrived at her destination. Without their dinner, they left, not very happy. I let the steward know she would not be eating, to cancel her order. Almost 90 minutes after entering the dining car, we were served. There was nothing wrong with the food, the steaks were cooked correctly and served hot. but the service was terrible. Though there was a steward and two servers, there seemed to be chaos in the dining car.

More fun was coming. We thought we saved enough money to pay for our auto rental by reserving roomettes instead of bedrooms. What we didn’t consider is that two large, past middle age adults fill a roomette !!! Changing into bedclothes was fun, when we converted the seats into the lower bed (yes, we should have stepped out and let the SA do it) was even more fun. Climbing into the top bunk was the best. I made several attempts to climb forward before .I figured it was designed to back into the upper bunk. We rested well except that the engineer from Atlanta to Charlotte would slow the train down then lock the brakes at the last second.

Breakfast Easter morning was another challenge. We were joined by the father from Saturday, his daughter slept in. Our orders were taken shortly. Donna was served her coffee, but the orange juice and cranberry juice was given to the table across from us where the passengers looked puzzled. Our food was delivered later, but our seating companion’s food was given to the table past us, again more puzzled passengers. We called the steward’s attention to it, and his breakfast was delivered later. My eggs/grits and Donna’s French toast were good. (Hard to miss with those items) The clear weather made the Virginia countryside even more beautiful.

Since we would be eating dinner with my wife’s sister, we asked for a double small salad for lunch. We were joined by a young lady and her son on their way home from Spring Break in Atlanta. All four of us were brought two small salads. By now, we couldn’t wait to get out of the dining car. I can figure that if we didn’t tip them, we would have received this poor service, but we did, and we tipped the LSA prior to our first meal.

Our SA Shanna, was fantastic. Though we did all of her work in our roomette, she continued to check up on us the entire trip. The only thing she didn’t do was follow us out of our roomette to make sure we had everything, we forgot the bag of pralines under one of the seats. We arrived in Philadelphia on time - which made us on time for the entire trip.

After a few days of visiting and seeing Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, we returned to Philadelphia on Friday 17 April 2009 for our return trip. We were escorted to the Acela Lounge by our red cap Tony. Amtrak needs to take this as a model and do something with the Magnolia Lounge in New Orleans. This place is really nice, with computer work stations, sofas, comfortable seats, snacks and drinks.

#19 arrived on time. We were introduced to our SA Rob, whom we encountered on a previous trip on the Crescent. This was the same trainset that we took as #20. I asked our SA to check out our roomette from #20. He came back later joking that there was a bag that was torn, and only sugar crumbs, no pralines. Shortly a cheerful voice invited us to the dining car. We were seated with a visitor from Germany who was in the roomette across from us.. Our orders taken promptly by our server Delisa. We joked about not having Dr Pepper on Amtrak. Our food was served hot and promptly, we had the steaks again. This crew seemed to work together and enjoy working together I teased our server asking if we could come to breakfast in our pajamas - to which told us to come on. .

Back in our roomette we were watching a DVD on our laptop and our SA stopped by frequently to catch glimpses of the movie. Again, we set up our own beds.

At breakfast .we were joined by a lady and her grandson, returning to Mississippi from a trip to DC. ( Seems as though a lot of grandparents are taking their grandchildren on train trips - glad to see that) Our server teased us about not being in pajamas. We were now at the station in Atlanta. After breakfast, I went out to the platform to meet Rob, who was smart enough to have a jacket in the cool morning. I thought Atlanta was a refueling operation, but apparently I misunderstood.

We were served lunch at Birmhingam, and were joined by a doctor and his wife from New Orleans. I tried the veggie burger - which was good, Donna had the warm turkey sandwich, which she really enjoyed. We had slow orders west of Tuscaloosa, and were put in a siding about 10 minutes to await #20. My camera went to sleep just as it passed,. And I missed a great photo. At Meridian we stepped off the train for a few minutes, it was now cloudy and much warmer. We were now 30 minutes late.

We went for our final meal just north of Hattisburg, and the train stopped on the main for about 30 minutes. My scanner was in our room, so I didn’t know why we stopped. After one last feast, we said goodbye to our new friends Lori and Delisa in the diner. The chef‘s at Amtrak have created a decadent dessert called “Oreo Dream Pie“ which is absolutely sinful. .

All too soon, we were backing into the station in New Orleans, our train stopped at 7:39 PM, only 6 minutes late. While waiting for our checked baggage, we were told that the train hit a motorcycle at Hattisburg. We corrected the lady that the motorcycle hit the train as the train cannot swerve.

And so our trip had ended. Can’t wait until next year.  We did mention the names of the great employees, and deliberately left out the names of the others.

.


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## guestlsa (Apr 21, 2009)

First of all ....I am glad your trip was ok...and not quite the best. Second of all I had the pleasure of working shana , rob every trip (i get rob on 20 and shana on 19 every week). I am sorry that you had really bad experience with the some other employees. If you were ever on my train while I have to working (I work in diner) then I sure promise the best experience.

Look forward to some day meeting you and your family.



ourlouisiana said:


> Boarded #20 Saturday 11 April, 2009. Reminder, the only bad thing about sleeper is that it is a long walk from the gate past the 4 coaches, lounge, and diner to get to the sleeper, and we were in the 1st one. Left NOL on time. This trip, I brought my scanner !!! Our SA Shana, came to tell us about our Viewliner features aboard the Sea View. . Breakfast was served as we passed Lake Ponchartrain, watching the pelicans sitting on piers and fishing. We sat with a father-daughter returning to Virginia from spring break in New Orleans. Can’t beat scrambled eggs and grits !! Donna had the omlet, but didn’t like the taste of the vegetables in it. We picked up a dining car attendant in Meridian. Track got rough just before Tuscaloosa.
> Our SA Shana helped out in the diner with lunch, making sure that her people were served - even though there was a steward and two attendants. From Birmingham the train slowed down as we climbed the southern Appalachains. We had a problem in that the electricity went out a few times during the afternoon, but Shana went into the panel and reset the breakers as soon as she was notified. During the night the same thing happened, again she took care of it.
> 
> We made dinner reservations for 1630, and went to the diner at our appointed time. We were seated promptly, then the whole thing came apart. A lady and her grandson enroute to Atlanta joined us. Others came into the diner, were seated, their orders taken, and were served - in fact, 4 couples. We were stopped at ATL when our order was finally taken. Our SA came to let our companion know that we had arrived at her destination. Without their dinner, they left, not very happy. I let the steward know she would not be eating, to cancel her order. Almost 90 minutes after entering the dining car, we were served. There was nothing wrong with the food, the steaks were cooked correctly and served hot. but the service was terrible. Though there was a steward and two servers, there seemed to be chaos in the dining car.
> ...


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## Guestlsa (Apr 21, 2009)

sorry I meant to say I sorry you had a bad trip on 19 . Please discard the 1st line .


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## ourlouisiana (Apr 21, 2009)

You've got some great people that you work with then !!! Of course with every job, there's people that are only there for the check and really don't care about the services they are paid to perform.


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## amtrakwolverine (Apr 21, 2009)

sorry to hear about the lack of service by the employees. amtrak needs to crack down on that.


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## Long Train Runnin' (Apr 21, 2009)

KISS_ALIVE said:


> allot of Amtrak employees have the attitude like "im going to do the BARE minimum i can to keep from getting fired and still get paid and if you pax don't like it don't ride my train its your fault i got to actually work instead of twiddling my thumbs and getting paid for doing nothing" amtrak needs to step up to the plate and crack down on those employees who could care less about there pax and just want the pay check.


I don't think its that bad... I wouldn't say a lot. I would say a few feel that way although yes not every employee gives 110% MOST will give you a reasonable degree of service. Trains would not operate if ALOT of employees had this attitude. Granted I wish there was more incentive for crews to give 110% but since over the summer Amtrak had trouble just paying their employees I'm not holding my breath.


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## ALC Rail Writer (Apr 22, 2009)

Long Train Runnin said:


> KISS_ALIVE said:
> 
> 
> > allot of Amtrak employees have the attitude like "im going to do the BARE minimum i can to keep from getting fired and still get paid and if you pax don't like it don't ride my train its your fault i got to actually work instead of twiddling my thumbs and getting paid for doing nothing" amtrak needs to step up to the plate and crack down on those employees who could care less about there pax and just want the pay check.
> ...


That's why he edited his post while you were writing yours. 

At any rate I have never had a bad Amtrak employee by any sense of the word-- I've had weird ones, ***** ones, odd balls, ect. But never a truly 'bad' employee. Many enjoy their jobs and will go above and beyond to make sure they keep them.


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## Long Train Runnin' (Apr 22, 2009)

ALC_Rail_Writer said:


> That's why he edited his post while you were writing yours.


Whoops sorry Kiss_Alive


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## Rail Freak (Apr 22, 2009)

I'm trying to forget a portion of my "1st & only" Long Distance Trip, which happens to be the #6, but am reminded of it, from time to time, while reading Other's Comments!!!! I was assigned to a SA's care, who really thought she should get paid for ignoring & insulting a few more passengers than me!!!! Criticized Amtrak with every breath!!!!

I'm now about ,7 months later, over it and planning more Rail Travel! You would think, by the time we get to my age, you'd know how to deal with it. Being from a Hospitality Background, I get carried away at those who think they deserve gratuities for just being there, somewhere, and ignoring the basic needs of their guests!!!!!! <_< :blink: 

Then Again,

Maybe I'll Shut Up!


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## amtrakwolverine (Apr 22, 2009)

ALC_Rail_Writer said:


> That's why he edited his post while you were writing yours.



don't you got anything better to do then follow me and harass me all day alc-rail-writer. :angry:


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## ALC Rail Writer (Apr 22, 2009)

KISS_ALIVE said:


> ALC_Rail_Writer said:
> 
> 
> > That's why he edited his post while you were writing yours.
> ...


Again, assuming. I was chastising LTR for responding to something you edited. I actually stick up for you and you decide to become upset.


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## ourlouisiana (Apr 22, 2009)

We too did several years in the hospitality business before moving to the challenging fuel business.

The one thing we learned was that if unless our guest left feeling better than when they arrived, then we did not do our job.

That has stuck with us.

In all of our trips by Amtrak, this dining car crew was bad. That's not saying others were, this was our FIRST bad experience.


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## AlanB (Apr 22, 2009)

ALC_Rail_Writer said:


> KISS_ALIVE said:
> 
> 
> > ALC_Rail_Writer said:
> ...


Kiss, ALC is correct, he was defending you with his post, not attacking you in this case. If ALC was attacking anyone, it was LongTrainRunning, and he wasn't even really attacking LTR, just pointing out to him that you had edited your post. That's why LTR apologized to you.

I think you owe ALC an apology.


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## printman2000 (Apr 24, 2009)

ourlouisiana said:


> Boarded #20 Saturday 11 April, 2009. Reminder, the only bad thing about sleeper is that it is a long walk from the gate past the 4 coaches, lounge, and diner to get to the sleeper, and we were in the 1st one.


That has now changed. The sleepers will be on the rear now. Personally, I like walking the whole train. Just adds to the "build up" of excitement.


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## greatcats (Apr 24, 2009)

A few years ago I had DeLisa as my server south of Washington, and she was one of the most professional dining car employees I have encountered.


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