A very Late Shore Limited.

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Joined
Jun 8, 2017
Messages
99
Location
New York/Tel Aviv
I'm currently in downstate New York visiting family, but I reside in Western New York. On Tuesday, my girlfriend realized that she had left all the course materials for her online class, back in the apartment up by Rochester.. This was Tuesday around 2pm. I decided it'd be a perfect opportunity for a little train trip. The plan was to take 49 to ROC, get in at 11:09, go to the apartment, spend the night, and get back on 48, at 9:50 the next morning.

I got ready, packed up, and went to CRT, where I boarded the 49 destined for Chicago.

We pulled out of CRT at 4:23 on Tuesday, and all seemed fine. Then, ominous storm clouds started surrounding us, and it started raining, with strong winds and thunder/lighting. Ten minutes after leaving CRT, we stopped at Metro-North's Cortlandt station, one not served by Amtrak. It was announced we'd be holding for a few minutes due to the weather. Then minutes turned into hours. At dinner, I had the Butternut Squash Risotto, which, as always, was pretty good, followed by the wonderful chocolate raspberry tart.

. At 8:30pm, after I had dinner, and we were still at the Cortlandt station, it was announced that MNR wouldn't be able to let us proceed until 4AM. This was not looking good. From Cortlandt, it's another 7 hours to ROC, so I wouldn't be there until 11. I decided to go to sleep early, so that I could at least get some rest.

I was woken up by the sudden movement of the train at 1:45 AM. Nine hours after we had arrived, and 2.5 hours earlier than they thought we'd be able to leave.

I went back to sleep, and woke up 30 minutes outside of Syracuse. As always, I slept very well, although the temperature control knob didn't seem to have any impact on the temperature of the room, so it got a bit hot.

Went to breakfast, and while eating the French Toast, I checked the status of the EB 48. I was in luck. 48 was 1h44 minutes late. Despite my arrival 10 hours late, I'd still have 2 full hours in ROC, to get what I needed.

We arrived at 9:30, 10 hours and 20 minutes late. I jumped in a cab, went to the apartment, grabbed what I needed for her class, and went back to the station with an hour to spare. 48 came in at 12:15, 2h25 behind schedule. I boarded, and got settled in, in Bedroom A of the 4812 car. I was completely exhausted from this adventure, so I asked the SCA to put the bed down so I could rest. There was a medical emergency, so we didn't leave Rochester until 12:45.

Went to lunch at 1:15, and it was frankly a disaster. I was seated with three elderly people, one of whom was a gentleman with Parkinson's. The man had ordered a burger, and once it arrived, the waiter said sternly "I'm going to need your set of silverware, there's a shortage." The man tried to explain that his hands weren't stable enough to pick up a burger. The waiter this time raised his voice and said, "I NEED THE SILVERWARE." The man refused, and the waiter walked away, mumbling obscenities under his breath. I received my meal, the Goat Cheese/Grape salad, but there was no dressing basket on the table. I waited a few minutes, and then asked our server if I could have some dressing for the salad. He replied in an exasperated way "I'll get to it when I get to it. OK?" 15 minutes, when everyone except me had finished their meals, he came around and asked "what do you want?" I reiterated that i needed salad dressing for the salad, and he finally brought it. Pretty horrifying.

I rested for the remainder of the trip, and reached CRT at 20:10, 28 hours after boarding the train. In that 28 hour window, I spent 25 hours on the train. I didn't mind the delay. I slept, and all worked out!
 
From back in February, when I had a less than magical experience in the LSL's Diner-Lite.

My RR French Toast was like flan inside. It was so undercooked I nearly gagged. I asked for them to cook it a bit more and they did - so the outside was tough as leather and the inside was right. Ah, how I love convection ovens. It was still decent (mainly because of the powdered sugar), just nowhere near V-II or Heritage quality. And it didn’t help that at lunch, the waiter was a bit of an a**hole. The waiter puts a bottle of water on the table in front of my dad.

Dad: Oh, I didn’t order water (which is correct)

Waiter: NO. You did.

Dad: I actually didn’t.

Waiter: I’m telling you you did.

[walks away shaking his head]

Later on when dad receives his burger:

Dad: Can I have the guac I ordered?

Same waiter: You didn’t order any guacamole.

Dad: I did when you took the drinks

Waiter: You definitely didn't. Fine, I’ll get it.

[walks away shaking his head]

I feel like my dad would know what HE personally had said better than ANOTHER PERSON. And even if the waiter IS right, basic customer service says you don’t tell the customer what they had ordered, or that they’re wrong.

I gotta say, I’m not exactly smitten with the D-L’s food or service.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Wonder if it was the same waiter? That is the kind of experience that will surely drive away all but the most hard-core loyal Amtrak passenger.
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Perhaps we should go back to the old practice of writing down your exact order?
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Lucky thing you had a sleeper for that trip, eh?
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I'm currently in downstate New York visiting family, but I reside in Western New York. On Tuesday, my girlfriend realized that she had left all the course materials for her online class, back in the apartment up by Rochester.. This was Tuesday around 2pm. I decided it'd be a perfect opportunity for a little train trip. The plan was to take 49 to ROC, get in at 11:09, go to the apartment, spend the night, and get back on 48, at 9:50 the next morning.

I got ready, packed up, and went to CRT, where I boarded the 49 destined for Chicago.

We pulled out of CRT at 4:23 on Tuesday, and all seemed fine. Then, ominous storm clouds started surrounding us, and it started raining, with strong winds and thunder/lighting. Ten minutes after leaving CRT, we stopped at Metro-North's Cortlandt station, one not served by Amtrak. It was announced we'd be holding for a few minutes due to the weather. Then minutes turned into hours. At dinner, I had the Butternut Squash Risotto, which, as always, was pretty good, followed by the wonderful chocolate raspberry tart.

. At 8:30pm, after I had dinner, and we were still at the Cortlandt station, it was announced that MNR wouldn't be able to let us proceed until 4AM. This was not looking good. From Cortlandt, it's another 7 hours to ROC, so I wouldn't be there until 11. I decided to go to sleep early, so that I could at least get some rest.

I was woken up by the sudden movement of the train at 1:45 AM. Nine hours after we had arrived, and 2.5 hours earlier than they thought we'd be able to leave.

I went back to sleep, and woke up 30 minutes outside of Syracuse. As always, I slept very well, although the temperature control knob didn't seem to have any impact on the temperature of the room, so it got a bit hot.

Went to breakfast, and while eating the French Toast, I checked the status of the EB 48. I was in luck. 48 was 1h44 minutes late. Despite my arrival 10 hours late, I'd still have 2 full hours in ROC, to get what I needed.

We arrived at 9:30, 10 hours and 20 minutes late. I jumped in a cab, went to the apartment, grabbed what I needed for her class, and went back to the station with an hour to spare. 48 came in at 12:15, 2h25 behind schedule. I boarded, and got settled in, in Bedroom A of the 4812 car. I was completely exhausted from this adventure, so I asked the SCA to put the bed down so I could rest. There was a medical emergency, so we didn't leave Rochester until 12:45.

Went to lunch at 1:15, and it was frankly a disaster. I was seated with three elderly people, one of whom was a gentleman with Parkinson's. The man had ordered a burger, and once it arrived, the waiter said sternly "I'm going to need your set of silverware, there's a shortage." The man tried to explain that his hands weren't stable enough to pick up a burger. The waiter this time raised his voice and said, "I NEED THE SILVERWARE." The man refused, and the waiter walked away, mumbling obscenities under his breath. I received my meal, the Goat Cheese/Grape salad, but there was no dressing basket on the table. I waited a few minutes, and then asked our server if I could have some dressing for the salad. He replied in an exasperated way "I'll get to it when I get to it. OK?" 15 minutes, when everyone except me had finished their meals, he came around and asked "what do you want?" I reiterated that i needed salad dressing for the salad, and he finally brought it. Pretty horrifying.

I rested for the remainder of the trip, and reached CRT at 20:10, 28 hours after boarding the train. In that 28 hour window, I spent 25 hours on the train. I didn't mind the delay. I slept, and all worked out!
You really should report that guy. That's just completely unacceptable behavior. Usually I'm pretty lenient with that kind of stuff, but that waiter needs a talking to.
 
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