Amenities difference on Southwest Chief 2014 vs 2016??

[IndyRacingNut]

I've heard there's some amenities that have been cut, but it still depends on LD train to LD train....so lets narrow it down to just the SWC. I'm taking it next month, so what difference can I expect (or not expect) between my 2014 roomette experience vs 2016? Think of everything. Food, service on the sleeper car, everything.

Just want to plan my trip, is all. Thanks everyone!

 

[chakk]

I rode the SWC early this year. There was no small bottle of champagne or wine in the room upon departure from LA. No free newspaper each morning. But our SCA did turn on the hotspot on his cell phone and posted the SSID and password, thus providing a Poor Man's WiFi for his patrons

 

[Triley]

I rode the SWC early this year. There was no small bottle of champagne or wine in the room upon departure from LA. No free newspaper each morning. But our SCA did turn on the hotspot on his cell phone and posted the SSID and password, thus providing a Poor Man's WiFi for his patrons

Poor man's Wi-Fi? Up until recently my phone's hotspot blew my Comcast connection out of the water, and it certainly blows any connection I find onboard, even when I am literally the only person on the trainset, while in the yard.

Keep in mind this man was incredibly generous to do something like this. On my personal trip last week from Boston to Chicago and back (albeit coming back via D.C.), I went through 6GB of data by myself, in two days. I pay 12GB of data to be shared, and just that data itself costs me $80/month. So imagine sharing a connection with a car full of passengers who are onboard for days. Granted he would only make two roundtrips per month, I can only imagine how much this man is paying out of pocket.

So I would call it the rich man's Wi-Fi, not the other way around... I hope everyone who used it thanked him appropriately!

 

[SarahZ]

I rode the SWC early this year. There was no small bottle of champagne or wine in the room upon departure from LA. No free newspaper each morning. But our SCA did turn on the hotspot on his cell phone and posted the SSID and password, thus providing a Poor Man's WiFi for his patrons

I've never received wine or champagne on the SWC. Are you thinking of the EB?

 

[oregon pioneer]

It is a cell phone hotspot, but I believe it must be a "company phone" (not paid for out of personal funds), because Peggy had one, too, when I was on the SWC in December. She said is was experimental, but she did not say it was personal.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

I rode the SWC early this year. There was no small bottle of champagne or wine in the room upon departure from LA. No free newspaper each morning. But our SCA did turn on the hotspot on his cell phone and posted the SSID and password, thus providing a Poor Man's WiFi for his patrons

I've never received wine or champagne on the SWC. Are you thinking of the EB?

Agreed... in 2014 I rode the Zephyr, Chief, Starlight, and Builder. In my experience you received free champagne or sparkling cider on the Starlight, and the Builder. You also received the little soap and shampoo kit on those trains.

Now in 2016.... The only difference I can think of on the chief from 2014 to 2016 is no newspaper, no cranberry juice, and coffee is on a morning only schedule (6-11 is the posted schedule).

 

[SarahZ]

Now in 2016.... The only difference I can think of on the chief from 2014 to 2016 is no newspaper, no cranberry juice, and coffee is on a morning only schedule (6-11 is the posted schedule).

Agreed. My only addition to that is you have to ask for more bottled water.

 

[printman2000]

And no ice. Some attendants provide it themselves, but from what I understand, ice is no longer offered in the sleeper. The attendant has to go get you a cup from the dining car.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

And no ice. Some attendants provide it themselves, but from what I understand, ice is no longer offered in the sleeper. The attendant has to go get you a cup from the dining car.

Ice is still offered.

The attendants don't provide it themselves. It comes from Amtrak. But the attendants are not supposed to leave it out for self-serve. So you have to ask the attendants. This is technically not a new rule, it is just more strictly followed these days.

As far as attendants needing to get it from the dining car... I think that has to do with the fact there is nowhere to store the ice if all the sleepers are booked. This is one of those, everyone does it different things on Amtrak.

 

[printman2000]

I have been told the past couple of years by attendants they were not giving it to them anymore.

 

[IndyRacingNut]

Any changes to the dining car amenities?

 

[KmH]

http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/61855-southwest-chief-menu/

https://petecrow.wordpress.com/amtrak-southwest-chief-dining-menu/

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Any changes to the dining car amenities?

From 2014? on the Chief? Not much at all. No flowers on the table, no wine glasses (plastic wine glasses now) and the "Chef Inspired" menu items are gone. Those were pretty good menu items, but nothing else has really changed.

 

[willem]

I had at least one TA-S tell me that attendants are no longer allowed to have ice, even in room 1. Any ice must come from the dining care or lounge.

 

[jis]

Small bottle of wine or sparkling wine upon departure was quite regular on all First Class sleeper service on Amtrak many moons ago, when the service was touted as First Class. Some of the regular participants here were probably not born yet, or were too young to worry about Amtrak back then.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Small bottle of wine or sparkling wine upon departure was quite regular on all First Class sleeper service on Amtrak many moons ago, when the service was touted as First Class. Some of the regular participants ehre were probably not born yet, or were too young to worry about Amtrak back then.

Remember the "gifts" they used to give out!? Route Specific mugs was the normal in my experience, I still have mine from the Capitol and Texas Eagle. That was MANY moons ago indeed.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Up until recently my phone's hotspot blew my Comcast connection out of the water, and it certainly blows any connection I find onboard, even when I am literally the only person on the trainset, while in the yard.

I get 50Mbps/25MBps on my phone and 150Mbps/30Mbps at home, but on the SWC/SL/TE/CZ/CS I generally get 1-5Mbps if I'm lucky. At various times I've tried all four of the major providers and they were all like that. I understand a lot of spectrum has been sold over the last few years and that more towers/transceivers are going up so hopefully things will improve over time.

So I would call it the rich man's Wi-Fi, not the other way around... I hope everyone who used it thanked him appropriately!

Perhaps a more accurate term than "poor man's WiFi" would be a "Rich Rancher WiFi" or "ClivenBundyNet"?

And no ice. Some attendants provide it themselves, but from what I understand, ice is no longer offered in the sleeper. The attendant has to go get you a cup from the dining car.

Ice is still offered. The attendants don't provide it themselves. It comes from Amtrak. But the attendants are not supposed to leave it out for self-serve. So you have to ask the attendants. This is technically not a new rule, it is just more strictly followed these days.

For my satisfaction providing self-serve ice is the quickest, easiest, and most foolproof method of earning a tip. I understand the potential for problems but I prefer that we be allowed to choose our own battles rather than have Amtrak fight them for us.

Any changes to the dining car amenities?

From 2014? on the Chief? Not much at all. No flowers on the table, no wine glasses (plastic wine glasses now) and the "Chef Inspired" menu items are gone. Those were pretty good menu items, but nothing else has really changed.

The've also replaced the Corelle Dinnerware with single use plastic plates that struggle to handle metal untensils and they replaced cloth table covers with paper. For a business that claims to be focused on being green they seem to do a rather questionable job of living up to green goals.

 

[willem]

Remember the "gifts" they used to give out!? Route Specific mugs was the normal in my experience, I still have mine from the Capitol and Texas Eagle. That was MANY moons ago indeed.

One time, I was selected for a focus group meeting. I had my soft-cloth lens cleaner with the Amtrak logo. No one there, including the Amtrak employees, had seen one before.

 

[Bob Dylan]

I miss the "bottomless" coffee mugs,the Cranberry Juice and Sodas in the Sleepers,the key chains and pens,the Newspapers, the little cloth bags with the grooming items, the chocolates and cookies @ night, and the hats and t-shirts that were Route specific and were Sold in the Cafe or PPC.( I still have my Starlight and Eagle Shirts and Hats but someone Stole my CONO Shirt ( the prettiest of them all)while riding on the Zephyr!

 

[jis]

I still have my old Amtrak Broadway Limited folder which they used to give each Sleeper passenger. It contained envelopes and letterhead paper, two Broadway Limited picture postcards, a pen and sometimes assorted other goodies. There used to be a wine and cheese spread neatly laid out on the table in each compartment as you boarded at New York Penn Station. Ah! Those were the days! ....

 

[crescent-zephyr]

And no ice. Some attendants provide it themselves, but from what I understand, ice is no longer offered in the sleeper. The attendant has to go get you a cup from the dining car.

Ice is still offered. The attendants don't provide it themselves. It comes from Amtrak. But the attendants are not supposed to leave it out for self-serve. So you have to ask the attendants. This is technically not a new rule, it is just more strictly followed these days.

For my satisfaction providing self-serve ice is the quickest, easiest, and most foolproof method of earning a tip. I understand the potential for problems but I prefer that we be allowed to choose our own battles rather than have Amtrak fight them for us.

Any changes to the dining car amenities?

From 2014? on the Chief? Not much at all. No flowers on the table, no wine glasses (plastic wine glasses now) and the "Chef Inspired" menu items are gone. Those were pretty good menu items, but nothing else has really changed.

The've also replaced the Corelle Dinnerware with single use plastic plates that struggle to handle metal untensils and they replaced cloth table covers with paper. For a business that claims to be focused on being green they seem to do a rather questionable job of living up to green goals.

I agree... I would much rather take my chances with the ice. But I'm not going to blame a Sleeper attendant for following orders from their boss.

As for the Chief... My experiences on the Chief in 2014 saw paper table cloths and plastic plates already. But real wine glasses with wine.

ASFIK the only trains that ever got or kept the Corelle Dinnerware after the first round of "Simplified Dining" cuts were the Starlight, the Builder, and the Capitol. I have never found the plastic plates to be difficult to eat on... but then again, I'm not a steak eater. ha.

 

[inspiration100]

It is a cell phone hotspot, but I believe it must be a "company phone" (not paid for out of personal funds), because Peggy had one, too, when I was on the SWC in December. She said is was experimental, but she did not say it was personal.

Same here - we got lucky enough to have Peggy on the SWC and had the wifi hotspot.

 

[IndyRacingNut]

I hope I get a SCA who does that....My cellphone data limit is.....limited. Maybe I should just bring a few extra novels to read? lol

 

[oregon pioneer]

I hope I get a SCA who does that....My cellphone data limit is.....limited. Maybe I should just bring a few extra novels to read? lol

Definitely bring the novels to read. In my experience, data performance was good enough (after most people got over the novelty and gave up) to check email and news. If your expectations are reasonable, you will not be disappointed.

 

[andersone]

I would be hard pressed to miss the entertainment value of She Who Must Be Obeyed 's Kindle, but we preload everything . We shall be on the Chief in May, its been decades,,, I am rather planning an homage to Paul Harvey to be honest, but we are also going to the GC for several nights before traveling on,,, there is just something about sitting there and let the world roll by,,,, kick back and enjoy