My wife and I just got back from a vacation to Montreal in July, taking the Adirondack from New York to Montreal as part of a round-trip from Florida (during which we also rode the Silver Meteor).
I thought some people might enjoy a trip report, and those planning a future trip might also find some of the info helpful.
**This post is for the Adirondack...I have already posted a separate thread/report for the Silver Meteor**
Heading to Montreal, we arrived at Penn Station early as we knew there was a separate passport check prior to boarding and we wanted to get on early enough to ensure we would get two seats together.
A small stand was set-up near Amtrak baggage claim for people crossing the border to check in. At this stand they checked IDs, passports, and put special tags on your bags as well as stickers on the back of our tickets, which matched us to our luggage. We also received a special slip of paper that we had to show to get on the train at boarding time, and of course the regular tickets were checked on the train.
There were actually two boarding lines that formed inside the station next to each other--one for those getting off at other New York stops and one for those crossing the border going to Montreal (the Montreal line was much longer).
We got on the train and picked our seats--our car was totally full. A couple of times the conductor came through saying this was a "full train", that all seats needed to be used and there was to be no luggage, bags, laptops or anything else blocking an available seat.
There is no baggage car for the Adirondack, so everything is carry-on. There are size restrictions on Amtrak's website, but the restrictions are VERY generous (nothing like airline carry-on limits). The luggage racks above the seats are large and open...we had four pieces of luggage (two of them very large suitcases an inch or two over the limit) and they all fit with no problem. There were also little compartments at the front and rear of the car to stow extra luggage if needed. Never once did I see anyone check or measure the dimensions of any bags or suitcases.
We left Penn Station just a couple of minutes late and we arrived in Montreal on-time (it might have even been a couple of minutes early).
Since we were doing a round-trip, our plan was to sit looking east going up and looking west coming back, which is what we did. (I'll get to the actual trip shortly).
Returning from Montreal to New York there are no customs or passport checks nor any special lines to go through before boarding. You just wait around until you know which track number to line-up by and get on the train. There is a customs form you can pick up to fill out once you are on the train to present to U.S. customs at the border, but that's all. I found Montreal's station to be very nice, calm and organized, but of course they probably don't deal with a fraction of the crowd that Penn Station does.
Returning to New York there seemed to be a few less people with an open seat here and there, but it still felt like a pretty full train. We left Montreal Central Station on-time and arrived back in New York right on-time. I still can't believe we had no delays in either direction as I often read about delays on this route.
The views and scenery? Lovely. The ride and comfort? Not so much.
Even though we went in the summer, the views on both sides were really nice (I can only imagine how gorgeous it looks in the autumn/fall).
As others have said, it would be ideal to sit looking west going along the Hudson River on the southern end of the trip and then move to the other side of the car looking east for the northern part around Lake Champlain, but switching seats mid-trip would have been impossible with our cars as full as they were.
Going along the Hudson and Lake Champlain was really beautiful. At the southern end along the Hudson you had the amazingly long and tall bridges spanning the river and quite a few small, historic-looking lighthouses and houses. One of my absolute favorite moments was watching a long freight train as it hugged the coastline on the opposite side of the Hudson in New York, seeming to run parallel to us for some time...an incredible sight!
Going along Lake Champlain also offered many beautiful natural landscapes, and we saw many people out on the water in boats and other watercraft. It was also interesting to see some of the very small towns up in the northern part of the trip. I was surprised (looking east going northbound) as to how high up we were along the Lake Champlain coastline at times--providing wonderful views, but it also had me feeling "on edge" literally and figuratively
As for the ride and comfort...
This is a long, laboriously slow train. There are many very slow sections, quite a few stops between stations (for traffic clearance), a 20-30 minute stop in Albany for personnel changes, and then of course the customs stop at the border. The border stop northbound feels painfully long when you've already been on this slow-going train for so long and then have the stop so late in the trip. Having the border crossing stop early in the trip going southbound is much nicer. Much of this must already be taken into account in the schedule as we were still on-time each way.
The coach cars, while mostly clean, felt quite dated and they were not very comfortable. The seat cushions felt hard and worn down, many people had trouble getting the recline and leg rest levers to work (myself included), and it just started to feel physically uncomfortable after about 5 hours. During the last half of the trip it was hard to enjoy the scenery outside being uncomfortable inside. As beautiful as the trip was, there were quite a lot of aches and pains after getting off. I'm thrilled we got to do it once, but I don't know if we'd do it again.
Oddly enough, coming back from Montreal to New York, the car we had felt a little more comfortable and it seemed like we had a little more room, so southbound was a little easier on us than the northbound trip. I've read about being in Amfleet I vs II cars on the Adirondack, so maybe that had something to do with the difference...but why wouldn't we have had the same roomier car going northbound?
I believe there are some same-day trains--like the Maple Leaf--that offer business class seats, and the Adirondack could certainly use them! I think it would have made a big difference in the enjoyment of the trip having better seats in terms of plushness, cushion, support, etc. Room was not really an issue, but the comfort of the actual seat was.
Other random thoughts and info:
The border crossing was pretty smooth in both directions. I'd estimate we were at the border maybe 70-80 minutes at most in either direction. It was pretty uneventful and the customs officials asked basic info...reason for the trip, how long are you staying, where are you staying when you arrive, etc. In both directions the agents seemed professional and friendly.
The Wi-Fi...horrible. There were not many places where it worked and when it did work it was dreadfully slow. You MIGHT be able to check e-mail, but not much else...dont even think about opening up that Netflix app
There is a cafe car on board, but it does close at various times. It closes prior to the staff change in Albany and prior to the border crossing, but re-opens after each of those and was open for most of the trip. The food is so-so and options are somewhat limited, but it serves its purpose.
Going back to New York we ended up bringing on food from a convenience store at the Montreal station as you can bring your own food and drink on-board. Sandwich and snack options at the convenience store were better than what was on the train.
In both directions there was someone from the National Park Service who invited passengers to a little lecture in the cafe car to discuss some of scenery and historic sites along the route as part of the Trails and Rails program. We didn't participate in this, but I thought it was a nice thing to offer.
Going in either direction you'll get a stretch break at Albany for the 20-30 minute stop. It came in very useful southbound when it was in the later part of the trip.
The conductor/staff on the train were OK. They seemed to have a lot of responsibilities to deal with (plus passenger issues), and at times they came across as a tad short, but Im sure it's just to keep everything running as smoothly and on-time as possible. They really appeared to have their hands full at times yet were still able to maintain their sanity, so I would call that a success.
I've read nightmare situations about the restroom. I only used it once in each direction, but it was near the end of the trip and found the restroom in decent shape each time.
That's about all I can think of for now. If I think of anything I've forgotten I'll add it to the thread, and I welcome any comments or questions anyone might have. Thanks for reading!
I thought some people might enjoy a trip report, and those planning a future trip might also find some of the info helpful.
**This post is for the Adirondack...I have already posted a separate thread/report for the Silver Meteor**
Heading to Montreal, we arrived at Penn Station early as we knew there was a separate passport check prior to boarding and we wanted to get on early enough to ensure we would get two seats together.
A small stand was set-up near Amtrak baggage claim for people crossing the border to check in. At this stand they checked IDs, passports, and put special tags on your bags as well as stickers on the back of our tickets, which matched us to our luggage. We also received a special slip of paper that we had to show to get on the train at boarding time, and of course the regular tickets were checked on the train.
There were actually two boarding lines that formed inside the station next to each other--one for those getting off at other New York stops and one for those crossing the border going to Montreal (the Montreal line was much longer).
We got on the train and picked our seats--our car was totally full. A couple of times the conductor came through saying this was a "full train", that all seats needed to be used and there was to be no luggage, bags, laptops or anything else blocking an available seat.
There is no baggage car for the Adirondack, so everything is carry-on. There are size restrictions on Amtrak's website, but the restrictions are VERY generous (nothing like airline carry-on limits). The luggage racks above the seats are large and open...we had four pieces of luggage (two of them very large suitcases an inch or two over the limit) and they all fit with no problem. There were also little compartments at the front and rear of the car to stow extra luggage if needed. Never once did I see anyone check or measure the dimensions of any bags or suitcases.
We left Penn Station just a couple of minutes late and we arrived in Montreal on-time (it might have even been a couple of minutes early).
Since we were doing a round-trip, our plan was to sit looking east going up and looking west coming back, which is what we did. (I'll get to the actual trip shortly).
Returning from Montreal to New York there are no customs or passport checks nor any special lines to go through before boarding. You just wait around until you know which track number to line-up by and get on the train. There is a customs form you can pick up to fill out once you are on the train to present to U.S. customs at the border, but that's all. I found Montreal's station to be very nice, calm and organized, but of course they probably don't deal with a fraction of the crowd that Penn Station does.
Returning to New York there seemed to be a few less people with an open seat here and there, but it still felt like a pretty full train. We left Montreal Central Station on-time and arrived back in New York right on-time. I still can't believe we had no delays in either direction as I often read about delays on this route.
The views and scenery? Lovely. The ride and comfort? Not so much.
Even though we went in the summer, the views on both sides were really nice (I can only imagine how gorgeous it looks in the autumn/fall).
As others have said, it would be ideal to sit looking west going along the Hudson River on the southern end of the trip and then move to the other side of the car looking east for the northern part around Lake Champlain, but switching seats mid-trip would have been impossible with our cars as full as they were.
Going along the Hudson and Lake Champlain was really beautiful. At the southern end along the Hudson you had the amazingly long and tall bridges spanning the river and quite a few small, historic-looking lighthouses and houses. One of my absolute favorite moments was watching a long freight train as it hugged the coastline on the opposite side of the Hudson in New York, seeming to run parallel to us for some time...an incredible sight!
Going along Lake Champlain also offered many beautiful natural landscapes, and we saw many people out on the water in boats and other watercraft. It was also interesting to see some of the very small towns up in the northern part of the trip. I was surprised (looking east going northbound) as to how high up we were along the Lake Champlain coastline at times--providing wonderful views, but it also had me feeling "on edge" literally and figuratively
As for the ride and comfort...
This is a long, laboriously slow train. There are many very slow sections, quite a few stops between stations (for traffic clearance), a 20-30 minute stop in Albany for personnel changes, and then of course the customs stop at the border. The border stop northbound feels painfully long when you've already been on this slow-going train for so long and then have the stop so late in the trip. Having the border crossing stop early in the trip going southbound is much nicer. Much of this must already be taken into account in the schedule as we were still on-time each way.
The coach cars, while mostly clean, felt quite dated and they were not very comfortable. The seat cushions felt hard and worn down, many people had trouble getting the recline and leg rest levers to work (myself included), and it just started to feel physically uncomfortable after about 5 hours. During the last half of the trip it was hard to enjoy the scenery outside being uncomfortable inside. As beautiful as the trip was, there were quite a lot of aches and pains after getting off. I'm thrilled we got to do it once, but I don't know if we'd do it again.
Oddly enough, coming back from Montreal to New York, the car we had felt a little more comfortable and it seemed like we had a little more room, so southbound was a little easier on us than the northbound trip. I've read about being in Amfleet I vs II cars on the Adirondack, so maybe that had something to do with the difference...but why wouldn't we have had the same roomier car going northbound?
I believe there are some same-day trains--like the Maple Leaf--that offer business class seats, and the Adirondack could certainly use them! I think it would have made a big difference in the enjoyment of the trip having better seats in terms of plushness, cushion, support, etc. Room was not really an issue, but the comfort of the actual seat was.
Other random thoughts and info:
The border crossing was pretty smooth in both directions. I'd estimate we were at the border maybe 70-80 minutes at most in either direction. It was pretty uneventful and the customs officials asked basic info...reason for the trip, how long are you staying, where are you staying when you arrive, etc. In both directions the agents seemed professional and friendly.
The Wi-Fi...horrible. There were not many places where it worked and when it did work it was dreadfully slow. You MIGHT be able to check e-mail, but not much else...dont even think about opening up that Netflix app
There is a cafe car on board, but it does close at various times. It closes prior to the staff change in Albany and prior to the border crossing, but re-opens after each of those and was open for most of the trip. The food is so-so and options are somewhat limited, but it serves its purpose.
Going back to New York we ended up bringing on food from a convenience store at the Montreal station as you can bring your own food and drink on-board. Sandwich and snack options at the convenience store were better than what was on the train.
In both directions there was someone from the National Park Service who invited passengers to a little lecture in the cafe car to discuss some of scenery and historic sites along the route as part of the Trails and Rails program. We didn't participate in this, but I thought it was a nice thing to offer.
Going in either direction you'll get a stretch break at Albany for the 20-30 minute stop. It came in very useful southbound when it was in the later part of the trip.
The conductor/staff on the train were OK. They seemed to have a lot of responsibilities to deal with (plus passenger issues), and at times they came across as a tad short, but Im sure it's just to keep everything running as smoothly and on-time as possible. They really appeared to have their hands full at times yet were still able to maintain their sanity, so I would call that a success.
I've read nightmare situations about the restroom. I only used it once in each direction, but it was near the end of the trip and found the restroom in decent shape each time.
That's about all I can think of for now. If I think of anything I've forgotten I'll add it to the thread, and I welcome any comments or questions anyone might have. Thanks for reading!
