Boarding in Wilmington vs. Baltimore

Next month I am traveling on the Crescent from either Wilmington or Baltimore to Atlanta. We are coming from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware and my family is flying out of BWI airport. They would either drop me off at Wilmington on the way to the airport or I would take the light rail from BWI to Penn Station.

I just googled getting to BWI from Rehoboth and find it interesting that going north to get on 95 is only 20 mins more than taking the bay bridge across the Chesapeake Bay. Though they would have to add about another 30-40 mins to drop you off at Wilmington.

Though I've heard traffic can be bad on the Bay Bridge, I don't know if it would be worse than the traffic on 95. Just from 273 into Wilmington can be bad on Fridays and weekends with people headed to NJ and NY over the Delaware Memorial Bridge.

I' ve never been in the Baltimore Station, but will say I do like Wilmington Station. So that's my vote.

Coach or sleeper? If Coach, Wilmington would (mathematically anyways) give you a slightly better choice of seats since in theory less people will have boarded.

MattW said:

Coach or sleeper? If Coach, Wilmington would (mathematically anyways) give you a slightly better choice of seats since in theory less people will have boarded.

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On the Crescent, if boarding at an intermediate station, does the crew allow you to "pick your seat" or do they assign one to you?

jb

It depends on how full the train is. If so the coach attandent will give you a seat number when boarding. They will give you a small piece of paper with your final desiation marked on it. It has your the station you are getting off at as a station code. Make sure you put this above your seat.

That small slip of paper is a "seat check".

jb

John Bobinyec said:

MattW said:

Coach or sleeper? If Coach, Wilmington would (mathematically anyways) give you a slightly better choice of seats since in theory less people will have boarded.

Click to expand...

On the Crescent, if boarding at an intermediate station, does the crew allow you to "pick your seat" or do they assign one to you?

jb

Click to expand...

It might also depend on your destination. I boarded the Cardinal at Wilmington heading to Chicago. As I recall, my car was maybe only 1/2 full if that much. I was allowed to pick my own seat. But later, at Charlottesville, they were assigning seats.

Seems like the BWI option would be way easier than detouring all the way to Wilmington. The light rail from the airport to Penn Station is easy and cheap.

Another option would be taking a MARC train or Amtrak Regional from the BWI rail station to Union Station in DC. That would only be a few bucks more than the light rail, and wouldn't require backtracking into downtown Baltimore. Plus, Union Station would be a nicer place to wait.

I'm assuming you have a rental car that is being returned to BWI. Otherwise I would say if you went to Wilmington, they could take a train to BWI.

Day of the week matters also, BWI to WAS on weekends is not that frequent on MARC

PVD said:

Day of the week matters also, BWI to WAS on weekends is not that frequent on MARC

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True, but advance purchase on Amtrak can be as little as $11 from BWI-WAS. That's only $4 more than MARC. I doubt the money is the issue, I'm just trying to think of things that would be most convenient/comfortable.

probably the light rail from BWI to Batimore, they have to go there anyway.

I suggest the light rail or the shuttle to the BWI station for a MARC to Baltimore.

Lonestar648 said:

I suggest the light rail or the shuttle to the BWI station for a MARC to Baltimore.

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Depending on how they approach the airport, they wouldn't even need to use the shuttle, his family could just drop the OP off directly at the BWI station. It's pretty easy to get to and would save the OP from potentially having to take a parking shuttle to the terminal followed by another shuttle to the train station.

brianpmcdonnell17 said:

Next month I am traveling on the Crescent from either Wilmington or Baltimore to Atlanta. We are coming from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware and my family is flying out of BWI airport. They would either drop me off at Wilmington on the way to the airport or I would take the light rail from BWI to Penn Station.

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It can be a rotten drive from Wilmington to BWI. Tolls and traffic. I would have them drop you off at BWI.

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