# Silver Meteor



## jerseymariner (Mar 23, 2012)

My wife and I just took the Silver Meteor as an alternative to flying to Miami for a cruise vacation. Both of us now agree that the trip on Amtrak was the highlight of our whole vacation.

With the help of this site and it's members we researched the booked a Viewliner roomette on the Meteor out of Philadelphia/30th street for a Friday-Saturday ride to Miami. Since we live in south Jersey we decided to leave from Atlantic City on NJ Transit. For $10 each we and our bags got to Philly few hours early so that we could take in the station and try out the Acela lunge. Everything went as planned, and the lounge was great. Good Wifi, snacks and soft drinks, and a very attentive pair of attendants that answered out newbie questions with grace.

The Meteor was on time, we were escorted to the sleeper boarding area, and boarded the first sleeper behind the dining car. We had a very pleasant SCA named Leo. He asked about our preferred dining time, gave us a tour of our roomette and the rest of the sleeping car, and even inquired as to if we were smokers (we are) and promised to give us a heads-up when approaching stops that would give us a chance to step off and pursue our habit.

We settled in quickly and the train left of time. The ride was smoother than expected, everything worked in the roomette, and most to my surprise the care was very clean and in overall good repair and appearance.

We were scheduled into the dining car just out of Baltimore, and as we were waiting for our salads we pulled in to Washington, D.C. The dining car staff announce that we would be having a "candlelight dinner" as they change the engines here and the light would be out for about 20 minutes. The came through handing out glow sticks for each table. The lights came back on as we got our entrees. The food was good, warm to hot, and nicely presented. Overall the whole dinner experience was fun.

We wandered back to our roomette to read and watch the scenery. I used the hotspot feature on my Verizon iPhone to connect out iPads and it worked fine the whole trip.

Soon Leo announced a smoke stop in Rocky Mount, NC, and while we got ready for that he made our bunks down. I was a little surprised that once in the 'night' mode the only place to stand up and change clothes was on top of the toilet, but after bumping my head a couple of times I learned to use that space.

The beds were clean and adequate, though it takes a little while to realize that they are "tapered" with one end wider than the other. They were of course made up that way and you won't swap ends if you are larger than a 12yo.

We remained within half an hour of on-time most of the trip. Getting up and having breakfast happened around Savannah. We sat and read and watched the world go by the rest of the morning. Leo came by to suggest that since we were going all the way to Miami we should have a late lunch seating to let the considerable Orlando passenger count to eat and get off before we hit the diner. That worked great.

The rest of the ride was a little monotonous as the scenery is a little stark down south. We got off to stretch and smoke in Jacksonville as they changed train crew and refilled water tanks.

We arrived in Miami about 3 minutes ahead of schedule! Leo said this was probably because it was the weekend and freight traffic and rail work was light. The Miami Amtrak station is not in a good part of town, so don't wander, get a cab and go. There were a couple of homeless guys bumming cigarettes and panhandling on the platform when we waited for our bags!

Overall this was a wonderful introduction to Amtrak. We had pleasant and helpful staff where ever we were, from the baggage guy at 30th Street to all of the train staff. Thanks to all the posters here I'm sure we are now going to plan an actual train vacation...who needs cruise!


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## jb64 (Mar 23, 2012)

Sounds like you had a great trip. For your next train vacation, try something out west. The scenery is fabulous for hours on end to us easterners. Thanks for sharing with us.


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## DocJohnB (Mar 23, 2012)

Thanks for the write-up.

I am planning this exact same thing. . . . . . . . a round trip on the SM sandwiched around a cruise.

The only differences is that I will start my trip in Boston and join the SM in NYT and detrain in Deerfield Beach (DFB). I have family that live about 4 miles from the DFB station and will spend some time with them.

Good information on the lunch (late). Makes sense. I also found interesting your comment about changing clothes. hboy:

Usually, I look forward to the cruise, but in this case I am more excited about the Amtrak experience.

John


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## mediaman (Mar 23, 2012)

Thanks for posting a report of your trip. Sounds like you had a great time!


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## pennyk (Mar 23, 2012)

Thanks for the trip report. Leo is my favorite SCA. :wub: I travel on the Meteor quite often and am always pleased to get Leo as my SCA.


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## Shanghai (Mar 23, 2012)

We have taken the Silver Meteor twice to Ft Lauderdale for cruises.

It is a wonderful way to travel. Thank you for your trip report.


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