The good, the bad and the ugly on our trip on the Empire Builder earlier this month:
First the good: the staff on the trip were uniformly excellent: our room attendant welcomed us, warned us that our call button wasn't working but that we could contact him in his roomette for anything we needed, and stopped by our room several times to ask if we needed water, ice, etc. Also offered to and carried our two 21 inch suitcases up to our rooms, both boarding in Seattle and leaving in Chicago. The lead in the dining room set a great example for the whole dining car staff--friendly and clear in all onboard announcements, including post-meal announcements thanking those of us who had just eaten in the diner and that they looked forward to serving us again. The entire dining room staff were both efficient and welcoming. Also, the lead attendant made announcements during each meal about how many coach passenger slots remained for dining car availability, which meant that coach passengers didn't have to make fruitless trips to a sold-out dining car.
And, contrary to most Amtrak train trips we'd taken, we got quick information announcements anytime we were stopped unexpectedly for freight trains, even though none of those episodes exceeded fifteen minutes. So--well done across the board!
An unexpected good surprise was that the windows were cleaned, inside and out, to begin the trip. On a route with some lovely scenery, that was a plus for sure.
The bad turned out to be the chef. We'd eaten on the Southwest Chief earlier this summer with pleasure, but eating on this train was an example of why chefs matter. Railroad French toast was overheated to the point of crunchiness at breakfast, no one at our table the first night had their steaks done as requested, and the second night, the roasted chicken came in a pool of ketchup instead of the tomato sauce on the menu. Really a disappointment, given that the traditional dining menu can be much, much better, as it was on our earlier LD train this year.
The ugly? Toilets in our sleeping car were out of commission the whole trip, meaning we all needed to use the other sleeper's facilities, which were rapidly becoming unpleasant due to overuse. The less said, the better regarding this episode, but it was the second time this season that we'd had a sleeping car without functioning toilets. I realize that the rolling stock is ancient, but Amtrak needs to get its maintenance act together if they expect repeat customers.
So...waited on hold for forty five minutes today with Customer Relations, gave specific kudos to all the staff once I got answered in the order received, and registered my dismay at the toilet situation, which resulted in a $400 voucher.
All's well that ends well...
but I've always liked them. Better than the flex dining, which I don't think was all that horrific.
