Acela Travel to Boston -- From Philadelphia or from New York Penn?

I'm traveling to Boston (BOS) on a Thursday in March, starting from Harrisburg (HAR). I also want to travel first class to experience it (I've only been on Acela once, in Business from Philadelphia (PHL) to Washington).

The website tells me that I can take a Keystone, leaving HAR at 8:00 a.m., change in PHL, and take Acela 2158, leaving PHL at 10:35 a.m. and arriving in BOS at 3:40 p.m. The current price for first class would be $298.

However, I can take the same Keystone at 8:00 a.m. from HAR all the way to New York (NYP), and take Acela 2160, leaving NYP at 1:03 p.m. and arriving at BOS at 4:40 p.m. The current price (for two separate tickets) would be $54 + $187 = $241 (and I'm ignoring the $5.40 AAA discount on the Keystone).

I don't have to be in Boston until later in the evening (I'm meeting my wife at a conference, and she will be in meetings all day anyway), so the difference in arrival time is no concern.

My main question is this: Is there any reason that I should spend close to $60 more for taking the Acela out of PHL? Is the "experience" worth it? (As I type this, I'm realizing my answer is "no", but on the other hand, I'm already paying more just to experience Acela FC).

I've already checked and see that PHL-BOS and NYP-BOS in first class both receive 750 AGR points, so I'll likely come out ahead in earning AGR points by changing in NYP.

Another question is: what should I expect on the Acela? Is lunch served on 2160, even though it leaves after 1:00 p.m.?

Thanks for your help!

One plus I see to the more expensive itinerary is that in my recollection PHL is a more hospitable place to change trains than NYP.

I was in a similar situation a few years ago, however, I did not want to spend the money on Acela first class so I did not have access to club Acela. I decided to change trains in Philadelphia because I was more familiar with this station (knew where bathrooms, food, and overall layout) and I felt it was nicer station then my recolection of NYP. Of course having acess to club acela being in first class would maybe persuade me to change in New York.

There are a few benefits to boarding in PHL and going north.

The first is that while the seat selection is sometimes crappy in PHL, the train will empty out in NYP and then you can change seats to a single or more desirable seat before anyone boards in NYP.

Secondly, depending on the time of day of your trip, you can get two meals when you ride between PHL and BOS. That is because they do a meal service between WAS - NYP and a second one between NYP - BOS. Sometimes the crew gets cranky about giving you two meals, so YMMV on that one.

I love the Club Acela in PHL and it is so nice that you can board directly from the club. That means that you don't have to do the song and dance with tipping the red cap $5 in NYP to get you down to the platform to board the train first to get the best seat selection.

Is what I mentioned above worth the additional price? That is something that you hav eto decide.

My choice would be PHL. Yes sometimes the seat selection is s*&t but in ClubAcela as Amamba said you will have direct access to the platform via elevator. On 2158 You'll get Breakfast and Lunch. You'll also be able to use the CA in Boston South Station.

And if you're of that persusasion, the Booze is Free @ your Seat along with the Meals! Definitely a Bucket List Experience that Everyone should Experience!

jimhudson said:

And if you're of that persusasion, the Booze is Free @ your Seat along with the Meals! Definitely a Bucket List Experience that Everyone should Experience!

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Well, I don't drink much, but perhaps I'll have a glass of wine with my lunch!

Acela150 said:

My choice would be PHL. Yes sometimes the seat selection is s*&t but in ClubAcela as Amamba said you will have direct access to the platform via elevator. On 2158 You'll get Breakfast and Lunch. You'll also be able to use the CA in Boston South Station.

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But you can always change in NYP if you get a terrible seat in PHL.

amamba said:

There are a few benefits to boarding in PHL and going north.
The first is that while the seat selection is sometimes crappy in PHL, the train will empty out in NYP and then you can change seats to a single or more desirable seat before anyone boards in NYP.

Secondly, depending on the time of day of your trip, you can get two meals when you ride between PHL and BOS. That is because they do a meal service between WAS - NYP and a second one between NYP - BOS. Sometimes the crew gets cranky about giving you two meals, so YMMV on that one.

I love the Club Acela in PHL and it is so nice that you can board directly from the club. That means that you don't have to do the song and dance with tipping the red cap $5 in NYP to get you down to the platform to board the train first to get the best seat selection.

Is what I mentioned above worth the additional price? That is something that you hav eto decide.

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I agree with changing in PHL to get an extra meal and better seat selection (of course, at a price). I do find the Club Acela in PHL a bit more pleasant than NYP (seems less crowded) and I think it's also less chaotic when boarding the train.

amamba said:

Acela150 said:

My choice would be PHL. Yes sometimes the seat selection is s*&t but in ClubAcela as Amamba said you will have direct access to the platform via elevator. On 2158 You'll get Breakfast and Lunch. You'll also be able to use the CA in Boston South Station.

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But you can always change in NYP if you get a terrible seat in PHL.

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LOL! When I get a bad seat, I do that so many times.. The LSA's look at me and say. Your our "switcher". They say that usually once a trip someone will switch seats at NYP on WAS-BOS trains.

Unless Amtrak is going to start assigning seats, they need to expect people will move seats.

The experiance of boarding Acela in my limited experiance is much different than boarding other trains. It was like boarding a subway where we all stood waiting on the platform for the train to arrive. Once it stopped, everyone pushed to the nearest door you got on. It wasn't alot of time before the train was moving. After I sat down, I noticed I was in the quiet car which is not where I wanted to be. You probably won't have this issue with 1st class, but this is what I found in my experiance.

Acela150 said:

My choice would be PHL. Yes sometimes the seat selection is s*&t but in ClubAcela as Amamba said you will have direct access to the platform via elevator. On 2158 You'll get Breakfast and Lunch. You'll also be able to use the CA in Boston South Station.

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(Somewhat) to my surprise, it seems everybody so far has talked up the benefits of going out of PHL instead of NYP (chance of a better seat selection at least out of NYP, PHL being a nicer place than NYP, two meals as opposed to one).

Therefore, I'm considering going out of PHL on 2158, but using AGR points instead of paying money. I'd have to pay for the Keystone from HAR-PHL, but I'd "save" some money.

I don't dispute that PHL is nicer than NYP, and I can easily imagine that even a bad seat out of PHL can easily turn into a good seat out of NYP.

On the third point, is it "tradition" that I'd get one meal before NYP and another after NYP? Or is there a rule that I can point to mandating that I'm guaranteed to two meals since I got on before NYP? I'd rather know beforehand so that it doesn't sour my experience.

Also, are there Quiet Cars in Acela First Class? And where are the single seats?

Thanks for the input. I appreciate it.

DivMiler said:

Acela150 said:

My choice would be PHL. Yes sometimes the seat selection is s*&t but in ClubAcela as Amamba said you will have direct access to the platform via elevator. On 2158 You'll get Breakfast and Lunch. You'll also be able to use the CA in Boston South Station.

Click to expand...

On the third point, is it "tradition" that I'd get one meal before NYP and another after NYP? Or is there a rule that I can point to mandating that I'm guaranteed to two meals since I got on before NYP? I'd rather know beforehand so that it doesn't sour my experience.

Also, are there Quiet Cars in Acela First Class? And where are the single seats?

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Standard operating procedure is for a meal between WAS and NYP, Then a meal is served between NYP and BOS. I have always received the two meals.

There is not a separate FC quiet car. The business class quiet car is adjacent to FC car.

The single seats are quite obvious. They fill up first so finding a vacant one is rare at PHL.

amamba said:

I love the Club Acela in PHL and it is so nice that you can board directly from the club. That means that you don't have to do the song and dance with tipping the red cap $5 in NYP to get you down to the platform to board the train first to get the best seat selection.

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I have to agree. The Club Acela in PHL is better than the one in NYP. Far, far better. Possibly, its the little things. The attendant in PHL keeps the snack area full, whereas the snack area in NYP is kept empty. In PHL, there are storage cabinets to store your luggage located amongst the seats so its always comfortably nearby. In NYP, there is a common area to store luggage, and its right by the exit door, and visibility to the staff is blocked by a wall; such doesn't make me feel my luggage is ever safe (especially in NYC).
And the personal touch in the PHL Club Acela, where the attendant comes to personally tell you, your train is available to boarding, and puts you on an elevator that takes you down to the platform, is second to none. In NYP, there is only a common PA announcement for trains, and you are on your own to try to make it to the platform.

There is only one FC car so there is no quiet section. It chatter bothers you, bring headphones.

There are single seats, an aisle, and then double seats, so the entire car is 1 x 2 seating. The seats are fixed so some ride backwards.

I am currently on the 2251 riding backwards to NYP.

My "Plan C" would be to ride the Keystone to Newark (NWK), and change there for the Acela to Boston. The Acela fare from NWK to BOS is usually the same as the fare from NYP to BOS. The advantage to boarding at NWK is that you are on the train into NYP, and when the mob exits the train at NYP, you can do your seat switch before the NYP boarding mob arrives. Yes, you miss using the Club Acela at either PHL or NYP, but in my opinion, you are not missing much.

I assume you are riding as a single. If so, the Acela First Class car has precious few good seats for singles - as in forward facing, window, not part of a facing pair or a facing quad. Boarding at NWK minimizes your exposure to the lousy seats to about 15 minutes and maximizes your chance of getting one of the very few great seats in Acela First Class. For the money that has to be paid for Acela First, I for sure do not want to be riding backwards facing a someone across a table even for an hour.

Im with the Board in Philadelphia Posters! The Club Acela there is Really First Rate Compared to the NYP Club, and as was said, the Elevator from the Club Down to the Tracks is a Real Plus compared to Boarding in other Stations! The Ride from PHL-NYP isnt that Long on an Acela and you can have some Wine or a Drink with your Meal and Kick Back while Enjoying some of the Best Scenery on the NEC and in North America Rolling through New Jersey! <_<

Thanks for all the input. I looked at changing in Newark, but decided to stay with me changing at Philadelphia and (1) getting two meals (why not?) and (2) the ability to change seats in New York.

I've been in the Washington, PHL, and NYP Clubs Acela before (due to various sleeper trips), but I'm looking forward to seeing the Boston Club Acela when I get up there.

I've plenty of AGR points (mostly due to various credit cards over the years) and figure why not use some of them.

One last question -- is there a seat map of Acela Express (first and business) anywhere?

DivMiler said:

...
One last question -- is there a seat map of Acela Express (first and business) anywhere?

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Here's one I use:

Acela Diagram

I've taken Acela First Class from NYP to Boston and got two meals. The first one around Stamford, after that I was still hungery. Around New London the attendent was doing a round of "Can I get you anything?" I said I was still hungery and she "cooked" up something else for me.

I was on the 2250 today from NYP - PVD and it was pretty full, although not all the way sold out. I snagged the last single seat which was the one closest to the bathroom and farthest away from where they prepare the food. By the time they got to me for food orders they were out of ALL the lunch items. No kids meal. I had to dine on the breakfast foods.

This is not the first time that they have been out of the food I wanted. Why don't they stock the cars with more food?! Why would they stock the car with not enough lunch items for everyone in the car?

Very interesting. I was going to ask if there are meals available for BC pax to purchase. If they can't even accomodate the FC pax, what gives? Do they prepare the meals in a galley in the FC car? I guess you answered that... Seems like a horrible waste of space. Wonder why they didn't put the cafe car next to FC and prepare ALL the meals in one place?

As for Plan C (I know minds have already been made up, but this is interesting to me), can one get a meal out between NWK and NYP? Or, too short of a ride? Also, it sounds like you still get the benefit of the seat swap and easy train connection offered in PHL, but without CA. Sounds like a decent compromise.

Of course, if the layover was in the couple-of-hour range, I would make the swap in NY just to stroll around Manhattan.

There is a cafe care on the acela, and actually they did offer to bring me something from the cafe car. I declined because I didn't want the attendant to have to pay for it out of their own pocket.

I am not sure if its the commissary folks or the attendants who are in charge of making sure there is enough food in the car for all the pax in the FC car.

The FC car has its own very small galley.

There is NO way that anyone could get a meal in FC between NYP & NWK. I didn't even get my meal today until way after New Haven - it was over two hours after we left NYP that I finally got my meal.

amamba said:

There is a cafe care on the acela, and actually they did offer to bring me something from the cafe car. I declined because I didn't want the attendant to have to pay for it out of their own pocket.
I am not sure if its the commissary folks or the attendants who are in charge of making sure there is enough food in the car for all the pax in the FC car.

The FC car has its own very small galley.

There is NO way that anyone could get a meal in FC between NYP & NWK. I didn't even get my meal today until way after New Haven - it was over two hours after we left NYP that I finally got my meal.

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In regards to quantity of meals, the attendants have nothing to do with it. The commissary is governed by pars (Quantity) that are established by F&B dept.

OBS said:

amamba said:

There is a cafe care on the acela, and actually they did offer to bring me something from the cafe car. I declined because I didn't want the attendant to have to pay for it out of their own pocket.
I am not sure if its the commissary folks or the attendants who are in charge of making sure there is enough food in the car for all the pax in the FC car.

The FC car has its own very small galley.

There is NO way that anyone could get a meal in FC between NYP & NWK. I didn't even get my meal today until way after New Haven - it was over two hours after we left NYP that I finally got my meal.

Click to expand...

In regards to quantity of meals, the attendants have nothing to do with it. The commissary is governed by pars (Quantity) that are established by F&B dept.

Click to expand...

Yeah that is what I thought. The attendants were super nice about not having any more food and let me sort of pick and choose various elements from the breakfast meals (I got yogurt, fruit and an omelet). And they did offer to bring me something from the cafe car. I don't fault the attendants for what happened today.

I had a free upgrade and I generally am an amtrak apologist. But if I had paid $300 for that ride, I would have been pretty annoyed. I don't understand why the commissary can't provide enough meals for the meal period for every passenger on board. They did have the "small bites" left, but the train left NYP at 12 pm so my guess is that everyone ordered an actual meal vs. the small bites. And I was planning on lunch on the train, so the small bites wasn't going to cut it for me, either.