apologist, whiner, both, neither, other?

[SarahZ]

Other. I try to be a realist, try to have realistic expectations, and try to have fun.

Realist, more likely. I try to "Temper" my suggestions to friends to try Amtrak. Tell them it's not for everyone, "I like it, but you may not..........."

This.

It's a darn shame that having an understanding of how things work and what kinds of things are possible gets you labeled an "apologist" when people expect the impossible.

This sums it up for me.

 

[JayPea]

I consider myself neither one. I give credit where credit is due when it comes to Amtrak and complain when complaints are due. :lol: For the most part, I have had good luck with my trips, and when I have had bad luck, Amtrak handled that as well as possible. Last year was all fouled up, for instance. One one trip, Spokane-Seattle-Portland-Spokane, the westbound EB was 5 1/2 hrs late. I first got an automated phone call from Amtrak telling me about the delay and the fact that I would have to be bustituted from Portland back to Spokane on the return trip. A few minutes later, I got a call from a very friendly and professional Amtrak agent asking if I'd gotten the first call and explaining my options. She didn't believe me when I asked if I could still take the late EB to Seattle instead of the bus, but it was still an option. And the bustitution from Portland was all very smooth, too. Amtrak did a great job handling it. And later last year, I was to take an AGR award trip Chicago-Sacramento-Seattle, all in bedrooms, but the day before leaving, the CZ was cancelled. Again, Amtrak did a great job of letting us know (my uncle was also involved) and a great AGR agent was able to rebook us on the SWC, albeit by coach, to LA, then got us bedrooms all the way to Seattle, somehow. And AGR gave me a refund of 10,000 points and a $150 voucher. Again, all was handled very well. Other than that, all my trips have gone smoothly. Some trains have been late, but not so much that I missed any connections. I have had some great Amtrak service employees, some not so great, and a very few downright rude and a few downright worthless. In my opinion, the food has been very good, though I've had an occasional bad meal, and there have been times that the diner has run out of certain items. That happens. Amtrak can't do anything about weather problems, be it flooding, heat restrictions, or, as in the case of the EB a few times in winters past, temps of over -30 F that render the diesel in the locomotives a worthless jelly, making them unable to run. They are in those cases at the mercy of the elements, and also at the mercy of the host railroads, be it with track gangs in the way or dispatchers who put Amtrak on sidings to run freights around them. Amtrak can do nothing about that.

As for maintenance issues, they can do something about that. It seems lately every trip I've been on includes at least one instance where the toilets in my car haven't worked. And it seems that in almost all of those cases, it was due to negligence on the part of Amtrak maintenance personnel, who simply didn't bother to empty the tank while servicing the car before its next run. That's inexcusable and can and should be changed immediately, if not sooner. Those sorts of problems, along with cranky/worthless personnel, are things that Amtrak needs to work on.

Overall, my Amtrak experiences have been great. I have seen so many places, been to so many places, that I have always dreamed about seeing, due to Amtrak trips. I grew up in a town of 500 and live in a town of 2800, so seeing these places has been such a thrill for me. From the Capitol, the White House, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and the monuments in honor of the dead in past foreign wars in Washington DC, to Bourbon Street in New Orleans, to downtown Chicago, to Los Angeles, to the Colorado Rockies, and so many other places, all because of Amtrak, I can say I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know my country just a bit better. (I missed, to my everlasting regret, however, the Beaumont Slab. :lol: :lol: :lol: ) And meeting new people aboard trains, not only from every corner of our nation, but many wonderful folks from other countries has been great for me, someone who is not at all outgoing.

I guess it is for those reasons I'm not going to rip Amtrak every time something goes wrong on a trip, especially those things out of Amtrak's control. And I guess, too, I come from the perspective of, 9 1/2 years ago, coming home from work and finding my wife dead on the floor. Compared to an experience like that, having to use another car's restrooms, an occasional cold/bad meal, or encountering a jerk for an Amtrak employee or even having to make a major reroute of a long-planned trip really doesn't matter to me in the grand scheme of things.