My wife and I live in the Chicago area, and last summer we started planning a winter escape for January 2013. We were mainly interested in a Caribbean cruise and did not care which port we cruised from. We found some very attractive pricing on the Navigator of the Seas out of New Orleans. To keep the costs low (and just to try something different), we decided to take the Amtrak train from Chicago to New Orleans. This is the train they call the City of New Orleans. We have been on Amtrak several times before, but never on an overnight train. This would be a new experience and we decided on a roomette. The combination of an overnight train ride plus a night in New Orleans plus a 7-night cruise and finally another overnight train ride back resulted in a 10-night vacation with all but two meals included in the cost.
In addition to being fun, we saved some money by using Amtrak. I learned some things about finding the lowest prices by reading this message board. In particular, the amsnag website was very helpful. We booked months in advance, and with the AAA discount, the total for our roomette was about $620 round trip for two people. This is the equivalent of $310 per person. At the time, round trip airfare was running $400 per person, although I saw at least one sale price getting the air fare down to $300 per person. When I factored in the cost of ground transportation from my home to the airport and then from the New Orleans airport to the hotel, Amtrak was an even better deal. We live in a suburb where we can ride a commuter train from our home to Chicago. In New Orleans, the Amtrak station is right in the downtown. Plus Amtrak allows you to check two bags for free. When I compared the total door-to-door cost, the advantage was Amtrak.
We rode a Metra train to Chicago. We then walked from the Ogilvie Transportation Center to Union Station, about two blocks away. There is an underground entrance off of Madison Street, so our actual time outside was very small. Note that Metra trains are difficult for people carrying heavy bags, and the Metra staff seem indifferent to people who do. It was as if our bags were just an annoyance to them. On this trip, I found that the Amtrak staff were much more helpful than their Metra counterparts.
After arriving at Union Station and checking our bags, we enjoyed the peace and quiet of the Metropolitan Lounge. The lounge was not crowded. It had some complimentary snacks, including a soda fountain. We boarded at 7:30 PM, and our train rolled out of Union Station on time at 8:00 PM. This was on Thursday Jan 10. I think we pulled out of the station backward. After about ten minutes we seemed to turn 90 degrees, then we stopped and started moving in the other direction. At this point we were heading east. It wasn't long before the track turned south and I see could Soldier Field and Lake Shore Drive. A little after that we were called to dinner. It was about 8:30 PM.
We were in a roomette in a sleeper car. A "roomette" is a rather generous name for something that can be described as two chairs (which can be converted into a bed) and a sliding door. At least we were cozy and had privacy. The sleeper car was near the front of the train, separated from the coach cars by the dining car and the lounge car. The train horn seemed very loud in our car.
During the trip, we had dinner, breakfast, and lunch on the train, and the food was surprisingly good. We had brought lots of snacks with us, just in case, but we left them all unopened. Amtrak kept us well fed. On our southbound ride, the dinner was not the full menu. It was a just three entrees: a burger item, a chicken item, and a pasta item. I had the burger and my wife had the chicken. The people across from us had the pasta. The consensus was that all of it was good. In retrospect, I probably should have have tried something other than the burger, since that item also appears on the lunch menu the next day.
After dinner, we had the attendant convert the room for sleeping. This process took about 30 seconds. I have to say that sleeping in the upper bunk of a roomette on a moving train is not for the faint of heart. The bed is hard and narrow. There is no headroom. The train is shaking, and the horn is blasting away at every road crossing. Still, I managed to get some rest, and my wife (in the lower bunk) did much better. I have never been able to sleep on an airplane, so any chance to lay flat and rest is a welcome improvement. We awoke to see the sun rising over Memphis.
Track conditions between Memphis and Yazoo City vary between bad and awful, with the train shaking and lurching like mad. It certainly added a sense of excitement to breakfast. I now know what it is like pouring milk into a cereal bowl while riding a roller coaster. I think some senior citizens would have had a difficult time on this particular train, as walking between cars (or just to go to the bathroom) could be quite a challenge.
We stopped for long break in Jackson, Mississippi, where we got out and walked up and down platform. It's an elevated platform with a view of the city. We do not smoke, but this stop was clearly announced as a smoking stop for all passengers.
This train provides a great view of the scenery around Lake Pontchartrain and the nearby wetlands north of New Orleans. On the southbound ride we saw it in the fog, which made it look eerie and primeval. I almost expected to see a dinosaur appear out of the mist. The abundance of swamp Cypress and moss was fascinating. I grew up in the Chicago area and this terrain was alien to me. It reminded my wife of something from Longfellow's poem Evangeline. The marshes seemed to go on for miles.
Even with the rough ride, I enjoyed the train trip. I also enjoyed all the views of America's backyard along the way. Train travel provides a very different perspective than driving on the interstate.
We arrived shaken (but not deterred) in New Orleans at 3:00 on Friday afternoon, which was 30 minutes ahead of schedule. A nice thing about train travel is that the stations are usually located right in the downtown areas of their respective cities. Therefore, it was an inexpensive cab ride to go the one mile to our hotel. We stayed at the SpringHill Suites on Joseph Street. Breakfast was included in the room rate. The hotel was clean and well maintained, and we had no complaints with the quality of service. This hotel does not have free shuttle service, so took we a cab to the French Quarter for dinner.
New Orleans is an amazing city for visitors. We had dinner at The Gumbo Shop, a very touristy restaurant, but the food was good and reasonably priced. Afterwards we walked around the French Quarter. There were several street performers out and about. I had a Hurricane at Pat O'Briens and we enjoyed the dueling pianos. My wife was both amused and appalled by all the bizarre souvenirs for sale in the shops. We sampled only a fraction of what New Orleans had to offer, but we managed to enjoy ourselves thoroughly. We were back at the hotel before things got too wild.
The next morning, we took at taxi to the port and boarded the Navigator of the Seas. This was our first time sailing out of New Orleans. Many people are unaware that New Orleans is not actually on the ocean. It is about 60 miles upriver from the mouth of the Mississippi, which means that a ship spends eight to nine hours cruising the river before reaching the Gulf of Mexico. First, the ship pulls away from the dock, then it has to turn completely around before starting down river. After the turn, we had a dazzling view of downtown New Orleans at sunset. At last we were cruising the Mississippi, river of legend, the Father of Waters. We sailed along, unvexed, to the sea.
After seven days of cruising, the ship arrived back in New Orleans at 6:00 AM. In the space of a few hours, it had to disembark 3000 passengers (and their luggage) and load 3000 new passengers. We lingered on the ship as long as we could, but at 9:40 AM it was clear that they wanted everyone off. We walked down the gangway, got our luggage, went through customs, and were in the cab line in less than 15 minutes. Unfortunately, the cab line moved slowly, and we waited there for about half an hour.
By 10:35 we were at the Amtrak station, where we checked our bags. The first class lounge is nothing to write home about, and the only dining option at the station was a Subway sandwich counter. We had a few hours, so we took a cab to Harrah's to gamble and to get some lunch. Fortunately, I had entered the phone numbers of a few New Orleans taxi companies into my phone, so it was easy to call for a cab. There are few (if any) cabs waiting at the station, except when the trains are due to arrive. We got back in time to board our train, which left at 1:45 PM.
I did better sleeping in the upper bunk of the roomette on the trip back. I think I was mentally more prepared for it, having experienced it before. Overall, the service on the train (both southbound and northbound) was fine. We were back in Chicago (a very cold Chicago) at 9:00 AM on Sunday morning. On both the southbound and northbound rides, Amtrak staff required that you show your checked-bag stub in order to retrieve your checked bags. This is something that most large airports do not do anymore. I like it that Amtrak takes security seriously, or at least they seem to.
We enjoyed just about everything on this trip: the train ride, the city, and the cruise. We would love to do it again.
In addition to being fun, we saved some money by using Amtrak. I learned some things about finding the lowest prices by reading this message board. In particular, the amsnag website was very helpful. We booked months in advance, and with the AAA discount, the total for our roomette was about $620 round trip for two people. This is the equivalent of $310 per person. At the time, round trip airfare was running $400 per person, although I saw at least one sale price getting the air fare down to $300 per person. When I factored in the cost of ground transportation from my home to the airport and then from the New Orleans airport to the hotel, Amtrak was an even better deal. We live in a suburb where we can ride a commuter train from our home to Chicago. In New Orleans, the Amtrak station is right in the downtown. Plus Amtrak allows you to check two bags for free. When I compared the total door-to-door cost, the advantage was Amtrak.
We rode a Metra train to Chicago. We then walked from the Ogilvie Transportation Center to Union Station, about two blocks away. There is an underground entrance off of Madison Street, so our actual time outside was very small. Note that Metra trains are difficult for people carrying heavy bags, and the Metra staff seem indifferent to people who do. It was as if our bags were just an annoyance to them. On this trip, I found that the Amtrak staff were much more helpful than their Metra counterparts.
After arriving at Union Station and checking our bags, we enjoyed the peace and quiet of the Metropolitan Lounge. The lounge was not crowded. It had some complimentary snacks, including a soda fountain. We boarded at 7:30 PM, and our train rolled out of Union Station on time at 8:00 PM. This was on Thursday Jan 10. I think we pulled out of the station backward. After about ten minutes we seemed to turn 90 degrees, then we stopped and started moving in the other direction. At this point we were heading east. It wasn't long before the track turned south and I see could Soldier Field and Lake Shore Drive. A little after that we were called to dinner. It was about 8:30 PM.
We were in a roomette in a sleeper car. A "roomette" is a rather generous name for something that can be described as two chairs (which can be converted into a bed) and a sliding door. At least we were cozy and had privacy. The sleeper car was near the front of the train, separated from the coach cars by the dining car and the lounge car. The train horn seemed very loud in our car.
During the trip, we had dinner, breakfast, and lunch on the train, and the food was surprisingly good. We had brought lots of snacks with us, just in case, but we left them all unopened. Amtrak kept us well fed. On our southbound ride, the dinner was not the full menu. It was a just three entrees: a burger item, a chicken item, and a pasta item. I had the burger and my wife had the chicken. The people across from us had the pasta. The consensus was that all of it was good. In retrospect, I probably should have have tried something other than the burger, since that item also appears on the lunch menu the next day.
After dinner, we had the attendant convert the room for sleeping. This process took about 30 seconds. I have to say that sleeping in the upper bunk of a roomette on a moving train is not for the faint of heart. The bed is hard and narrow. There is no headroom. The train is shaking, and the horn is blasting away at every road crossing. Still, I managed to get some rest, and my wife (in the lower bunk) did much better. I have never been able to sleep on an airplane, so any chance to lay flat and rest is a welcome improvement. We awoke to see the sun rising over Memphis.
Track conditions between Memphis and Yazoo City vary between bad and awful, with the train shaking and lurching like mad. It certainly added a sense of excitement to breakfast. I now know what it is like pouring milk into a cereal bowl while riding a roller coaster. I think some senior citizens would have had a difficult time on this particular train, as walking between cars (or just to go to the bathroom) could be quite a challenge.
We stopped for long break in Jackson, Mississippi, where we got out and walked up and down platform. It's an elevated platform with a view of the city. We do not smoke, but this stop was clearly announced as a smoking stop for all passengers.
This train provides a great view of the scenery around Lake Pontchartrain and the nearby wetlands north of New Orleans. On the southbound ride we saw it in the fog, which made it look eerie and primeval. I almost expected to see a dinosaur appear out of the mist. The abundance of swamp Cypress and moss was fascinating. I grew up in the Chicago area and this terrain was alien to me. It reminded my wife of something from Longfellow's poem Evangeline. The marshes seemed to go on for miles.
Even with the rough ride, I enjoyed the train trip. I also enjoyed all the views of America's backyard along the way. Train travel provides a very different perspective than driving on the interstate.
We arrived shaken (but not deterred) in New Orleans at 3:00 on Friday afternoon, which was 30 minutes ahead of schedule. A nice thing about train travel is that the stations are usually located right in the downtown areas of their respective cities. Therefore, it was an inexpensive cab ride to go the one mile to our hotel. We stayed at the SpringHill Suites on Joseph Street. Breakfast was included in the room rate. The hotel was clean and well maintained, and we had no complaints with the quality of service. This hotel does not have free shuttle service, so took we a cab to the French Quarter for dinner.
New Orleans is an amazing city for visitors. We had dinner at The Gumbo Shop, a very touristy restaurant, but the food was good and reasonably priced. Afterwards we walked around the French Quarter. There were several street performers out and about. I had a Hurricane at Pat O'Briens and we enjoyed the dueling pianos. My wife was both amused and appalled by all the bizarre souvenirs for sale in the shops. We sampled only a fraction of what New Orleans had to offer, but we managed to enjoy ourselves thoroughly. We were back at the hotel before things got too wild.
The next morning, we took at taxi to the port and boarded the Navigator of the Seas. This was our first time sailing out of New Orleans. Many people are unaware that New Orleans is not actually on the ocean. It is about 60 miles upriver from the mouth of the Mississippi, which means that a ship spends eight to nine hours cruising the river before reaching the Gulf of Mexico. First, the ship pulls away from the dock, then it has to turn completely around before starting down river. After the turn, we had a dazzling view of downtown New Orleans at sunset. At last we were cruising the Mississippi, river of legend, the Father of Waters. We sailed along, unvexed, to the sea.
After seven days of cruising, the ship arrived back in New Orleans at 6:00 AM. In the space of a few hours, it had to disembark 3000 passengers (and their luggage) and load 3000 new passengers. We lingered on the ship as long as we could, but at 9:40 AM it was clear that they wanted everyone off. We walked down the gangway, got our luggage, went through customs, and were in the cab line in less than 15 minutes. Unfortunately, the cab line moved slowly, and we waited there for about half an hour.
By 10:35 we were at the Amtrak station, where we checked our bags. The first class lounge is nothing to write home about, and the only dining option at the station was a Subway sandwich counter. We had a few hours, so we took a cab to Harrah's to gamble and to get some lunch. Fortunately, I had entered the phone numbers of a few New Orleans taxi companies into my phone, so it was easy to call for a cab. There are few (if any) cabs waiting at the station, except when the trains are due to arrive. We got back in time to board our train, which left at 1:45 PM.
I did better sleeping in the upper bunk of the roomette on the trip back. I think I was mentally more prepared for it, having experienced it before. Overall, the service on the train (both southbound and northbound) was fine. We were back in Chicago (a very cold Chicago) at 9:00 AM on Sunday morning. On both the southbound and northbound rides, Amtrak staff required that you show your checked-bag stub in order to retrieve your checked bags. This is something that most large airports do not do anymore. I like it that Amtrak takes security seriously, or at least they seem to.
We enjoyed just about everything on this trip: the train ride, the city, and the cruise. We would love to do it again.
