S
Susan
Guest
We loved loved loved the train trip! We took the SW Chief from ABQ to CHI, then the Lakeshore Limited from CHI to BUF and all back again. I can't wait to go again! We never did the upgrade to a bedroom. Now that I'm back and don't have a big bill staring me in the face, I'm glad. The attendants were all very helpful, attentive, and pleasant.
The food...eh... not so great, but a few things were pretty ok. The lunch pizza was too hot (instead of tomato sauce, tobasco...I realized later it was supposed to be Buffalo chicken pizza. The cod was bland and not the best. The oatmeal was a little lumpy but passable. The hamburger and chicken sandwiches were good. The beef dinner was good. Roast chicken was good, broccoli cooked right one night, over cooked another. Breakfast quiche..yuk. Hashbrowns, BLEH, YUK, PHOOEY! Baked potato good. Omlette was ok, chicken fried steak was cold. Cheesecake passable, chocolate cake yummy. Coffee, not so much. One lady we sat w/ at lunch was mad because she had been told by an Amtrak rep about a month ago when she made her reservations that there would be china and gourmet food and was hugely upset w/ the misrepresentation as she upgraded to a bedroom based on this information. The diner staff were pretty good...however, I think they were training a few new employees as a few people seemed to be struggling, but no big deal except on the LSL for breakfast. One gal was making wise cracks and goofing off while the other was doing all the work. This resulted in extremely poor service and angry diners who were pretty vocal about their disatisfaction but it seemed to fall on deaf ears.
As I may have mentioned earlier, my husband had to use medical equipment and therefore required a working electrical outlet. When we returned on the SW Cheif, we discovered that the outlet had been filled in w/ some kind of epoxy material making it unusable. We were moved from number 2 roomette to number 10. As a result, we got more bounce and jiggle as we were right over the wheels and I got a bad case of motion sickness. I should have refused this room and demanded something else as I was a little worried this might happen when he moved us down there. By the time I was feeling bad, it was well into the trip and not worth the hassle of moving since I wasn't sick sick. Since it was evening, I told the attendant I wasn't feeling well and needed to lie down and he promptly made up our beds. I felt much better after lying down.
About smoking...oh wow. The conductor on the Chief made a major big deal about this and warned that if caught, you would be put off the train at the next stop. Fine w/ me as I hate cig smoke. But he was kind of funny. After the huge tirade he made against it, he comes back about an hour later announcing his disappointment in discovering that someone was caught smoking and we got to hear it all again. It was quite humorous. I'm very glad they don't tolerate it though. On the LSL in the middle of the night, I smelled smoke but was too drowsy to get up and make a fuss. It seemed that soon after we made a stop and I never smelled it again...perhaps the offenders were put off. There also seemed to be quite a problem w/ people wandering around the train w/o shoes on, which required more announcements.
The red caps on CHI on our way to BUF were good, on the way back we were not happy w/ one of the guys. He seemed put out that we needed his assistance and needed a ton of direction from us as to what we needed and where we needed it. I would have thought it was us except we'd had no problems w/ the others.
Since we had a layover in CHI, we visited the Sears Tower on the way back. If you go be prepared for security checks as if you are at the airport. We also got our pics taken and I got the idea it wasn't a choice. You had an option to purchase them though as a souvenier. We ate at Lou Mitchell's, which was GREAT! It's real near the station and the food was fantastic! The tower and restaurant were all w/i easy walking distance (I blew a disk in my back earlier in the summer and am still not 100% and it was not too challenging a walk for me). The neighborhood felt very safe, albiet a panhandler here and there..we just ignored them or said, "no" and they left us alone.
Sorry for the lengthy post. Can't wait for the next trip!
The food...eh... not so great, but a few things were pretty ok. The lunch pizza was too hot (instead of tomato sauce, tobasco...I realized later it was supposed to be Buffalo chicken pizza. The cod was bland and not the best. The oatmeal was a little lumpy but passable. The hamburger and chicken sandwiches were good. The beef dinner was good. Roast chicken was good, broccoli cooked right one night, over cooked another. Breakfast quiche..yuk. Hashbrowns, BLEH, YUK, PHOOEY! Baked potato good. Omlette was ok, chicken fried steak was cold. Cheesecake passable, chocolate cake yummy. Coffee, not so much. One lady we sat w/ at lunch was mad because she had been told by an Amtrak rep about a month ago when she made her reservations that there would be china and gourmet food and was hugely upset w/ the misrepresentation as she upgraded to a bedroom based on this information. The diner staff were pretty good...however, I think they were training a few new employees as a few people seemed to be struggling, but no big deal except on the LSL for breakfast. One gal was making wise cracks and goofing off while the other was doing all the work. This resulted in extremely poor service and angry diners who were pretty vocal about their disatisfaction but it seemed to fall on deaf ears.
As I may have mentioned earlier, my husband had to use medical equipment and therefore required a working electrical outlet. When we returned on the SW Cheif, we discovered that the outlet had been filled in w/ some kind of epoxy material making it unusable. We were moved from number 2 roomette to number 10. As a result, we got more bounce and jiggle as we were right over the wheels and I got a bad case of motion sickness. I should have refused this room and demanded something else as I was a little worried this might happen when he moved us down there. By the time I was feeling bad, it was well into the trip and not worth the hassle of moving since I wasn't sick sick. Since it was evening, I told the attendant I wasn't feeling well and needed to lie down and he promptly made up our beds. I felt much better after lying down.
About smoking...oh wow. The conductor on the Chief made a major big deal about this and warned that if caught, you would be put off the train at the next stop. Fine w/ me as I hate cig smoke. But he was kind of funny. After the huge tirade he made against it, he comes back about an hour later announcing his disappointment in discovering that someone was caught smoking and we got to hear it all again. It was quite humorous. I'm very glad they don't tolerate it though. On the LSL in the middle of the night, I smelled smoke but was too drowsy to get up and make a fuss. It seemed that soon after we made a stop and I never smelled it again...perhaps the offenders were put off. There also seemed to be quite a problem w/ people wandering around the train w/o shoes on, which required more announcements.
The red caps on CHI on our way to BUF were good, on the way back we were not happy w/ one of the guys. He seemed put out that we needed his assistance and needed a ton of direction from us as to what we needed and where we needed it. I would have thought it was us except we'd had no problems w/ the others.
Since we had a layover in CHI, we visited the Sears Tower on the way back. If you go be prepared for security checks as if you are at the airport. We also got our pics taken and I got the idea it wasn't a choice. You had an option to purchase them though as a souvenier. We ate at Lou Mitchell's, which was GREAT! It's real near the station and the food was fantastic! The tower and restaurant were all w/i easy walking distance (I blew a disk in my back earlier in the summer and am still not 100% and it was not too challenging a walk for me). The neighborhood felt very safe, albiet a panhandler here and there..we just ignored them or said, "no" and they left us alone.
Sorry for the lengthy post. Can't wait for the next trip!
