A great trip to Florida

[Mike]

My wife and I just completed our first trip on Amtrak. We boarded the Capitol Limited #30 out of Cleveland. We had coach seats for that portion of the trip. Everyone on the train was very pleasant. We were very impressed with the roominess of the coach seats. We made use of the lounge car and enjoyed muffins and coffee for breakfast.

We arrived in Washington, D.C. at Union Staton on time. We had a six hour layover until our next train. Since the weather was nice we went out for a while then had lunch at the Union Station food court. We then waited for the next train in the Acela Lounge where they had snacks, drinks, tv, and very comfortable chairs.

We used the Red Cap service for our boarding on the Silver Meteor #97. The Red Cap took us in a golf cart to our sleeper car 9711 where we met our SCA Avia. She was great! She had already made our dinner reservations for that evening and our luggage was taken to our room. We went to the diner car where we had some pretty good meals and a great diner staff. We also met some real neat people at our table for the meals.

Sleeping in the roomette was a little tricky but we managed. I think the next time we'll try the bedroom. It was a pretty smooth ride most of the way with a few areas of rough tracks.

We had breakfast and lunch before we reached our destination of Winter Haven, Florida.

We had a great overall experience on Amtrak with a few ideas for improvement. I have read that Amtrak has ordered some new Viewliner cars. The ones we were in shown signs of wear but were very clean.

I can tell you definitely we will be taking Amtrak trips in the future.

This forum has been a great help in answerng our questions about the various aspects of Amtrak.

 

[Shanghai]

Glad you had an enjoyable trip to Florida.

My wife, her father and I flew to Ft Lauderdale yesterday

for a Caribbean cruise. It was a pleasant flight, although

not at all like being on the train.

Airport security was OK, no complaints, but it did take about

20 minutes. Had to remove shoes, belt, empty pockets, remove

coats and all that stuff. I have a titaninum hip joint, so I

was patted-down. Then the crush of boarding the plane, all the

overhead storage filled and those tiny seats with about on inch

of legroom

 

[Railroad Bill]

Enjoyed your trip report Mike. We have a similar trip planned for next month. CLE to WAS and then Silver Meteor to Ft Lauderdale. Hope we can the same great service that you had.

 

[Sbaitso]

It's always nice to hear from folks who have had a pleasant trip on the Silver line. Don't forget to give the Silver Star a try in the future if you can!

 

[NETrainfan]

Mike- Good to read your review. We have enjoyed the Silver Meteor many times and will be on it again in two months.

Sure you'll enjoy a bedroom next time.

 

[AC]

Did you check bags at CLE? I am planning an ORd to FLL trip and I wonder how they work the bags during the 6 hour stay at WAS.

Thanks. AC.

Mike- Good to read your review. We have enjoyed the Silver Meteor many times and will be on it again in two months.

Sure you'll enjoy a bedroom next time.