Earlier this week I enjoyed me first overnight sleeper trip on Amtrak in about 3 years. I took the Tuesday evening departure of the Cardinal #50 from CHI to CVS. Departure was 20-25 minutes late but when I woke up in the morning we were sitting in Huntington waiting for departure time from there. We remained on schedule until I got off. I had roomette #3. The sleeper car was in fine shape, not worn looking at all, and with very few rattles until we hit the BBRR. The attendant was Joyce who should be superannuated soon as she could barely move and accomplish the barest minimum of her duties.
The car immediately in front of the sleeper was the business class car with the conductors' lounge and a few spaces for sleeper passengers in the front half. BC was heavily patronized departing CHI and the following day it seemed to always be at least half filled. The car in front of that was the snack bar on one side with one attendant (never busy) and the sleeper diner on the near side with another attendant. His name was Hector and he was very good. He offered table service to everyone every meal. You could sit where you wanted (some folks voluntarily shared), he came and took your order, prepared your order and brought it to your table. He also cleared your table. He was not particularly busy. The food itself seemed to me to be on a par with Amchow I've experienced before with notable absences of course. It's the presentation that's different. There is an enormous amount of plastic generated by this presentation which I find more troubling than anything else. Mother Earth begs Amtrak to seek a better solution. It's probably just that plastic is cheapest but that's only because significant costs are externalized, i.e., no one has to pay them FOR NOW. Oh, by the way the wifi on the Cardinal was remarkably good almost all the way I was awake.
The fare was $256 which I took for 8424 AGR pts after the 5% rebate and at the highest redemption ratio of $.0289/point. Considering that my American Airlines ticket the day before from CHO-ORD was $118 and a room plus 3 meals would be in the $150 range I thought it was not a bad deal!
My next trip will be this Saturday from BOS to CVS. Because it is Sat. the Roanoke NER doesn't originate in BOS so I don't get a one seat ride. I have to take a NER from BOS to NYP, have a 2 hour layover and then take the Crescent #19 the rest of the way to CVS. It will be a long day - 12 hours but, hey, I'm not complaining. I guess I'll get to experience a new diner finally on the Crescent.
The car immediately in front of the sleeper was the business class car with the conductors' lounge and a few spaces for sleeper passengers in the front half. BC was heavily patronized departing CHI and the following day it seemed to always be at least half filled. The car in front of that was the snack bar on one side with one attendant (never busy) and the sleeper diner on the near side with another attendant. His name was Hector and he was very good. He offered table service to everyone every meal. You could sit where you wanted (some folks voluntarily shared), he came and took your order, prepared your order and brought it to your table. He also cleared your table. He was not particularly busy. The food itself seemed to me to be on a par with Amchow I've experienced before with notable absences of course. It's the presentation that's different. There is an enormous amount of plastic generated by this presentation which I find more troubling than anything else. Mother Earth begs Amtrak to seek a better solution. It's probably just that plastic is cheapest but that's only because significant costs are externalized, i.e., no one has to pay them FOR NOW. Oh, by the way the wifi on the Cardinal was remarkably good almost all the way I was awake.
The fare was $256 which I took for 8424 AGR pts after the 5% rebate and at the highest redemption ratio of $.0289/point. Considering that my American Airlines ticket the day before from CHO-ORD was $118 and a room plus 3 meals would be in the $150 range I thought it was not a bad deal!
My next trip will be this Saturday from BOS to CVS. Because it is Sat. the Roanoke NER doesn't originate in BOS so I don't get a one seat ride. I have to take a NER from BOS to NYP, have a 2 hour layover and then take the Crescent #19 the rest of the way to CVS. It will be a long day - 12 hours but, hey, I'm not complaining. I guess I'll get to experience a new diner finally on the Crescent.
Even of all food items, they surprisingly ran out of hummus!
