I am going on a vacation, and will be traveling on Amtrak.
So if you’ve gone on a trip using Amtrak, I’d like to hear how it went.
Was the train reasonably on time?
How much room will there be for carry-on bags?
How is the food - quality and price?
Were you able to sleep during the night?
How comfortable was it?
Any bad or good experiences?
Rode AmTrak across country a while ago (1989), and while I liked it overall, it wasn’t as easy as it seems in the movies…
Reasonably on time. But I don’t recall that I had to be anywhere on time, so I didn’t pay much attention.
Carry-on - depends. I travelled coach, which is roughly equivilent to First-class on a plane, or in a bus. It cost abut the same as coach on a plane. To get a private room was several hundred $.
Food is decent for travel, better than airplane, but a bit pricey for the quality.
Sleep depends on how you go. First-class (aka private room) shouldn’t be too bad. Sleeping in coach ain’t for the faint of heart (or back). Imagine sleeping in a reclining chair. Or on the floor.
But the scenery through the Rockies is incomparable.
Bottom line - if you’re a hardy traveller (or rich and have the time), and you’re more into the trip than the destination, it ain’t bad.
what redhawke said…
When it comes to carry-ons, remember that, on the train, almost ALL of your luggage is carry-on. You CAN check baggage, but it isn’t a requirement. If you’re riding a Superliner (Double-level long distance cars used mostly west of Chicago) you will see an area for luggage as you enter to put your bags. You then go upstairs to your seat. There are NO overhead bin on Superliners. East Coast trains do have overheads (If I remember correctly), plus a few racks at the end of the car near the entrance.
Another nice thing about trains - you don’t have to stay in your seat all the time. As a matter of fact, if your train has a Lounge Car, you can hang out there most of the trip, tie one on, meet people, play cards, sober up, have dinner; repeat as necessary.
As for ‘tying one on’ - beware - if you have a tendency towards being an obnoxious drunk, don’t get drunk on the train. Amtrak has no qualms about dropping you off into the loving arms of a local sheriff in the middle of nowhere. And most of your fellow passengers will gladly wave bye-bye as the train pullls out.
Overall, I find trains (Amtrak) roomy and comfortable. Different train routes have different accomodations, but generally people are surprised by the room for themselves and luggage.
Food is better than airlines because the prep area allows for actual cooking.
A few years back I travelled from central FL to Colorado Springs, with stops in Philadelphia and Chicago. I travelled coach on the way out and had a private room on the way back.
I’ve resolved I will never fly again anywhere on this continent. The seats are roomy and comfortable, with a lot of room to roam all over the train. The lounge car was good, and all the interesting people were in the smoking car - one guy had a guitar and played very well. Compare that to the cattle car conditions on any airliner, and AMTRAK is far superior.
One word of warning, though: they kept those cars flippin’ freezin’! Carry along a warm blanket if you travel coach.
Been on that wonderful stretch between Seattle and Chicago more than a time or two, but I’ll admit it’s been awhile.
Unless you’re getting on at the origin of the route, or it’s a frequently used commuter route, you may as well forget about being ‘on time’. But then, that’s part of the charm of taking Amtrak: the slower pace. The most ‘off time’ I’ve had to deal with was about an hour. (Tracks were slick going over the Rockys, so we had to go slower.)
The food is actualy very good, even more so if you compare it to what the airlines try to give you. Just be warned it can be a bit on the expensive side, and portions tend to be small. Bring a picnic lunch if it’s a long trip, or you’re a heavy eater.
Seats are generously sized: the cars I’ve been in are in the two seats - aisle - two seats layout, with a nice wide isle that’s more than big enough for a wheelchair to be in and still have room for people to get by. Plenty of room for your legs to stretch out, and you don’t have to worry about the person in front of you reclining their seat into your soup!
I’m not sure how much room they’ve got now days for carry-ons: when I traveled the general attitude was: “As long as you’re reasonable about it, we will be also. If the train fills up and space is being a problem, we may have you put larger items into the luggage car.”
Overall, it’s well worth it, espically if you’re going to a smaller town that’s close to one of their stops. A heck of a lot cheaper than flying, and possibly even faster under some circumstances.
Too bad they’re kinda stuck in a catch-22: more routes would mean more convient times, flexibility (get off for a few hours at an interesting looking city, then hop back on again later), and more riders, but they won’t be able to justify (read: get the money to do so) unless they increase ridership to begin with.
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