Seaboard, your comment prompted me to look through old photos. Took this in 2006 when AOE was parked in Savannah. No ride, but did get to do a walk through as it was being serviced. It was great and I do wish it had succeeded. I'm sure reasons you cite were its downfall. I think some of these promoters feel the need to have over the top equipment and amenities. I'm happy with good food, service, and comfortable accommodations where everything works. Of course a dome and observation help too!
And Savannah is another good location for a special train to tie up. While its not downtown, the station is nice and in a safe area with good servicing facilties, since the Palmetto turns there. An uber ride will get you to the historic downtown attractions.
Savannah is one of the best locations to tie up a special train without hindering operations. So is Jacksonville but it doesn't have as many nice things in downtown like Savannah. In Charleston, SC they tied up on Palmetto Railways on the former US Navy Base down there.
The problem most of these promoters forget is luxury isn't the ultimate selling point. If you have good food, good service, good activities, and comfortable accommodations you have a winning product. Look at VIA Rails's Canadian which as much as I hate to say it is a tourist train. It has good food that isn't gourmet (as that does turn some people off), VIA offers fantastic service that I would say is up there with most PV owners, and lastly you have decent activities. The AOE had a grand piano where they had a classical pianist playing whereas VIA has a local musician with a guitar playing.
What makes the local musician better is they oftentimes play popular music that the audience likes to hear and can sing a long with. It's fun and it is incredibly memorable. Whereas just background piano music while classy is not really memorable. Then VIA has other things like wine tastings, beer tastings, trivia games, etc.... The biggest difference is AOE stopped for the day so passengers could do sightseeing.
The best route in my opinion they had was "The National Parks of the West"
Here is the basics of the routing.
Day 1: Albuquerque, NM where they did a welcome aboard reception.
Day 2: Santa Fe, NM where they had the option of gallery and museum tours. Geared at art and dining it appears.
Day 3: Rail Day between Santa Fe and Grand Canyon apparently in daylight. This would be on the Southwest Chief route.
Day 4: Grand Canyon National Park (South Rim)
Day 5: Las Vegas, NV: Which is listed as having three options a on your own day, the Hoover Dam, or visiting Valley of Fire State Park. I'm sure this was a popular stop with the target demographic.
Day 6: Zion National Park or Bryce Canyon National Park from Cedar City, UT. Pick one or the other based on your interests.
Day 7: Salt Lake City, UT with tours of the city or the Great Salt Lake.
Day 8: Yellowstone National Park
Day 9: Grand Teton National Park
Day 10: Final day at Grand Teton National Park
The Second Best routing was the "Great Northwestern National Parks"
Day 1: Seattle, WA welcome reception
Day 2: Mt. Rainier National Park tour on the Road to Paradise.
Day 3: Rail Day either over Stevens Pass or the Columbia River Gorge depending on freight traffic the train could go either way.
Day 4: Glacier National Park: A guided tour over the Going to Sun Road.
Day 5: Missoula, MT a historic tour of homes, Bitterroot Valley tour
Day 6: Helena, MT a visit to the state capitol and a river boat tour.
Day 7: Yellowstone National Park
Day 8: Grand Teton National Park
Day 9: Fly Home from Jackson Hole, WY
Had the AOE Stuck to these two routings and had a lower price point they would have been far more successful. To further prove my point I'll analyze their operation more in depth in the next post.