What is the City of New Orleans like now?

Advertise with us
Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
You're right, cpotisch--I forgot about the bedrooms on the upper level having bathrooms in them (I almost always ride Viewliners, so had forgotten the whole Superliner consist). I agree about the H room in the Superliner--it looked very depressing (the Viewliner ones are quite nice, with their own enclosed bathroom and a lot of space).

I was just remembering the trouble my mother had going up and down stairs in her late 80s and early 90s, and that was after a lifetime of routine daily long walks. However, once up and once down should be okay, especially if it's when the train is not moving.

The main thing is for the OP's mother to have a lovely trip
default_smile.png
.
 
Mystic River Dragon said:
The main thing is for the OP's mother to have a lovely trip
default_smile.png
.
Click to expand...
Last year, my mom and I took my 87 year old grandfather in a roomette overnight on Meteor from NYP to West Palm Beach. It took a lot of convincing to get him to come with us, but he eventually agreed loved the ride. There was some concern about him falling on the train, but we felt that it was worth the risk. So glad we did.
 
benale said:
I'm on the CONO as I write. Chicago to New Orleans in a roomette. I had probably the worst dinner I ever had on board last night. Some beef thing. They have the nerve to charge $22 for Coach passengers. It was probably a can of Dinty Moore Beef Stew. I'll be on the Sunset tomorrow night and I'm looking forward to a full diner and their incredible steak. Last time I was on the CONO was in 2001 when I was connecting to the Eastbound Sunset heading to Fort Lauderdale
Click to expand...
Sad to hear that report. I was thinking one of these days I might do an Amtrak trip to Memphis, and seems like(per your post and the one from niemi24s), that it'd be better to not upgrade to a sleeper for the southbound trip, and to only do so on the northbound trip back to Chicago. Thanks for the warning here!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Interesting suggestions here. I made the reservations, the round trip, three business class seats going north and the bedroom and three fares returning. That came to right about 20,00 points, which considering she had 65,000 points didn't seem too bad. And I learned something. When they switched cards I was under the impression you had three years to use them or they went away. But the woman told me that although they were running out in October this year, by using some of the points it extends the time for three more years.

Mom thought after seeing the menu that she would enjoy the caesar salad, but I am worried about the problem there having with it right now. I had pretty much decided we would have lunch at Macys Walnut Room somewhat late and then the train food wouldn't matter too much as to the quality, although I don't like that fact. We might still be better off getting something light in Chicago and forgetting the train food from what I hear.

She can manage the steps with a little help, she climbs the basement stairs in her home still. Actually for her age she is far better overall shape than I am, almost no pills. Her biggest issue is that she has a bad back which is constant, but she doesn't usually complain about it. Her attitude is that it won't be any worse than staying home so she would go.

I do have a question related to the Union Station. We used to always walk to State Street and up to Marshal Fields when it was still owned by them. Now however that long walk neither mom nor the neighbor who is 92 can probably make. I looked at the Subway connections and it looks like the Blue line runs about two blocks south of the Station and then stops at Washington Street which from the map I saw is around a block from Macys. Tickets for that would be about two dollars each person.. I wondered what a Taxi for three would cost, anyone have any idea. It would be about where the Palmer House is to where we want to go. I noticed the metro information on the Blue line said it "Might not be safe at all times"? Mid afternoon or early evening most likely isn't in that time period? Also for sightseeing years ago I had ridden the "L" north to its end and back. Would that be a safe thing to do in the afternoon?
 
Larry H. said:
I noticed the metro information on the Blue line said it "Might not be safe at all times"? Mid afternoon or early evening most likely isn't in that time period? Also for sightseeing years ago I had ridden the "L" north to its end and back. Would that be a safe thing to do in the afternoon?
Click to expand...
Where does it say that it "Might not be safe at all times"? I find it hard to believe that CTA would actually say that, let alone that they wouldn't give you any more info...
 
I found the transit maps for Chicago and when you keep enlarging them they give more details. In the part about the Blue Line is where I found it. If I can run into it again latter I will try and link it.
 
I took a cab from the station to my hotel in the North Loop, and it was under $10 if I'm remembering it correctly. And I think Macy's would be about the same distance or closer? (Our Chicago members on here would know.)

Definitely go to the Walnut Room. I didn't get to eat there, but it's on my list for when I go back. i did take a look at it, and it is beautiful, quiet, and relaxing, with old-fashioned comfort food (a chicken pot pie!), plus some lighter choices. You would have to plan for plenty of time there, though (the reason I didn't go in was because they had a tour group eating when I was there and I only saw one waitress, so not sure if they have a small staff).

The food would be way better than anything on Amtrak, even in a dining car.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
While the menu on the CONO is most certainly far below the standards of many other Amtrak LD train offerings, I have yet to receive "expired" yoghurt or "rotten" meat. The meat may not be especially tasty, but it has never been rotten. And furthermore, it's not slipped under the door.

The dining car still offers passengers the opportunity to meet and interact with other passengers, even if the meal is lacking. (And yes, I know there are folks who don't like the social, communal nature of Amtrak's dining service.)

So would I like to have the old CONO full dining car menu and staff back? Yes, yes, yes! Would I like a better menu, even in the current diner-lite setup? Yes!!! But there's no reason to resort to such categorically outrageous claims.
 
CAMISSY55 said:
While the menu on the CONO is most certainly far below the standards of many other Amtrak LD train offerings, I have yet to receive "expired" yoghurt or "rotten" meat. The meat may not be especially tasty, but it has never been rotten. And furthermore, it's not slipped under the door.

The dining car still offers passengers the opportunity to meet and interact with other passengers, even if the meal is lacking. (And yes, I know there are folks who don't like the social, communal nature of Amtrak's dining service.)

So would I like to have the old CONO full dining car menu and staff back? Yes, yes, yes! Would I like a better menu, even in the current diner-lite setup? Yes!!! But there's no reason to resort to such categorically outrageous claims.
Click to expand...
That's my point. Tommylicious kept on claiming that that was what Amtrak serves now.
 
Yesterday we took our round trip to Chicago on board the Saluki and return on the City of New Orleans. The first leg of the trip was surprisingly nice, the business class car and lounge area which were remodeled and looked a lot better than the previous cars we rode offering the same service. We got on at the second regular stop going north and on a Wednesday I was surprised that the seats in the Business car were almost all gone by our stop. Lucky the last row had three seats across which we used some of the time. Later we sat in the booths of the lounge, cafe area as the windows are easier to see out of without the drapes in the way. The attendant was by far the best we had seen in a long time. He was helpful and nice to everyone getting on and leaving. He said he was fairly new and hadn't made this run previously. His name was Reece. They were now offering all the hot drinks you wanted free, and one cold as well. The menu was larger than I recalled for things like sandwiches. We left on time and arrived almost to the minute in Chicago.

The first class lounge in Chicago was very nice. The only down side to it was a very controlling and rather rude attendant who monitored who came in. Evidently the Lake Shore had been stopped from getting closer to Chicago so arriving passengers were told they would be taking a bus to Toledo. Two of them had issues with that for various reasons. Her attitude was simply she had nothing to do with it and if they didn't like it the Amtrak desk next door could refund the trip. Granted she couldn't do anything about it, but the way tone of her comments were shocking for a person in such a position. She treated people like children and her the minder.

On board the sleeper was in pretty sad condition which I expected. It had a new attendant as well who was nice and tried her best to be helpful. The lounge was freezing and they said they couldn't do anything about it. The dinner looked pretty nice considering how things are trending. But the food which was one of two sandwiches or a Cesar Salad were all pretty sad. I got the Chicken with some kind of awful gooey nasty tasting sauce slopped way to thick on it. The Neighbor also got the combination meats which was huge but again had some kind of "Olive" sauce which like on the chicken made for a pretty difficult to eat item. My Mom ordered the Cesar Salad which had no Cesar Dressing and was a small plate of plain lettuce with a few pieces of vegetable on it. Nothing like a Cesar to be found.

I thought the cheese cake would at least be nice, but again where ever they are getting it, it didn't have much of any kind of flavor and was a poor excuse for a desert. A half a strawberry on the top for garnish.

If I had to take this kind of meal service for two or three days I wouldn't go. My stomach is still a bit upset from the one I had which I only ate half of.

We left Chicago a few minutes early and arrived about a half hour late into Centralia. Considering how often it slowed way down or sat on a siding that wasn't too bad I guess.

The workers all were extremely unhappy with what is going on with the diners and requested we all write our congress people or perhaps Amtrak as well. There were two sets of Australians in the dinner and I felt embarrassed by the kind of food they were forced to endure. Another thing that made me wonder was how often we hear the coach passengers don't help support the diner but last night they somewhat rudely removed at least six sets of customers from the diner who were from coach. When we were finishing a lady came in and wanted to eat but the server ask the guy making up the sandwiches and he told her they could only get something from the snack side of the car. I told her she was probably lucky to purchased a hot dog and chips for half the cost of the 17.99 sandwich or the 16.99 plate of mostly plain lettuce.

I also inquired as to why if the other items were so much cheaper the sleeper passengers couldn't have ordered a way less meal from the lounge area of the diner, but was told they couldn't do that. It made me wonder if the high charges for a plate of lettuce might not help to create the idea that the cost of the diner was so high that they needed to eliminate it.
 
cpotisch said:
CAMISSY55 said:
While the menu on the CONO is most certainly far below the standards of many other Amtrak LD train offerings, I have yet to receive "expired" yoghurt or "rotten" meat. The meat may not be especially tasty, but it has never been rotten. And furthermore, it's not slipped under the door.

The dining car still offers passengers the opportunity to meet and interact with other passengers, even if the meal is lacking. (And yes, I know there are folks who don't like the social, communal nature of Amtrak's dining service.)

So would I like to have the old CONO full dining car menu and staff back? Yes, yes, yes! Would I like a better menu, even in the current diner-lite setup? Yes!!! But there's no reason to resort to such categorically outrageous claims.
Click to expand...
That's my point. Tommylicious kept on claiming that that was what Amtrak serves now.
Click to expand...
Yep I got the joke. I remember him posting something along that line on thread he started, trying to get us to sign the nonsense poorly written fact lacking petition.
default_biggrin.png


http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/72798-amtrak-dining-cuts-petition/?p=751944
 
Mystic River Dragon said:
I'm glad the trip went fairly smoothly. Did you have much time in Chicago? How did your mother like the trip?
Click to expand...
We had eight hours in Chicago. The most difficult part was walking for the two ladies. The neighbor barely could make it to the cabs since you had to walk nearly around the station to the street they were parked on. Then the cab was sort of a van affair and she nor my mom could get into the seat without us boosting them up. The driver took us directly to the Macy's for a very reasonable fare. Same on return. We had dinner at the Walnut Room and then they wanted to look at ladies clothing for a while. Most of the styles today don't work for women of their age so nothing was purchased. To kill some time and not walk so much we went to the Starbucks in the lower level of Macy's. We enjoyed a Latte and sat and watched all the people coming and going for at least an hour. We got back to the station two and a half hours before the train was to leave. They sat in the Lounge and I checked out the changes they have made since we were there last.

I didn't expect them to load as far ahead of leaving as they did, but at about 7:10 they called for the lounge passengers to load. Again it was a difficult walk and luckily one of the drivers of the little carts stopped and told the neighbor to get into the empty seat he had, which was thoughtful of him. Climbing the stairs was a bit difficult but they both made that all right. Chicago was its usual extremely busy self when we were going to the Station around 5pm. People running for trains and filling the escalators and halls, pretty wild for small town folk. Oddly the low level train rode a lot less rocky than the superliner cars. I don't recall on other trips they bounced so badly and made walking between cars near impossible in places. Overall we all had fun and enjoyed the scenery both moving and in town. Next time though we will return on the 4pm train with business class and just spend three hours in town.
 
That northbound CONO menu is what I had on the Cardinal last night. I had the chicken- adequate portion, fair quality. The hot roast beef and cheese st lunch was quite good. This morning the so called Breakfast Bowl was kind of a gloppy concoction- fair at best. The two gentlemen running the cafe car were good guys.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top