food (meals on 28 and 30)

[William]

As to your question re: Trip Insurance offered by Amtrak, I have had experience with this and offer that with a caveat. I ticked the choice on each leg of a booked Amtrak Journey. When I went to the Insurance provider to have them all put into one coverage, I discovered that one only covered the loss of my electronics, Another did have trip cancellations, but with many exclusions. I will keep it for my upcoming trip, and hope for the best. But in the future, I will go to one of the highest rated providers that my needs require. A Google search gave me all the choices one could want - including price points and value. Also, there is the potential cost for the families of those with advanced years of "re-patriation of remains", which can cost up to 20K, should the misfortune arise.

And if you used Amtrak Rewards for any part of your itinerary, I imagine they don't deal with the return of those (very valuable) points; only "The cost of the trip".

I hope this helps.

 

[Dominick Stevens]

I write to again thank all who have posted and shared the vast knowledge base all of you have acquired. I sent my brother Bob a cell phone. He called me on the house phone and told me it doesn't work..........no "dial tone"......

I'm looking at this Consumer Cellular unit that indeed has a dial tone and will send that out to him...

But in reality, I don't expect him to be able to really use it until he gets here to Washington D.C. and I can walk him through it's operation.

I did find a phone number for the Pasco, WA "Transportation Center"......was impressed with the pictures people posted on "Yelp"..looks brand new and spiffy clean and swell lighted............I'll try calling to see if anyone at the station would be willing to help me out. Often, people in smaller towns will step forward to help if asked.

Again, I thank all who took the time to post and all the suggestions and pointers offered. Much appreciated andd I'm grateful to you all.

"Nick"

 

[cpotisch]

I write to again thank all who have posted and shared the vast knowledge base all of you have acquired. I sent my brother Bob a cell phone. He called me on the house phone and told me it doesn't work..........no "dial tone"......
I'm looking at this Consumer Cellular unit that indeed has a dial tone and will send that out to him...

But in reality, I don't expect him to be able to really use it until he gets here to Washington D.C. and I can walk him through it's operation.

I did find a phone number for the Pasco, WA "Transportation Center"......was impressed with the pictures people posted on "Yelp"..looks brand new and spiffy clean and swell lighted............I'll try calling to see if anyone at the station would be willing to help me out. Often, people in smaller towns will step forward to help if asked.

Again, I thank all who took the time to post and all the suggestions and pointers offered. Much appreciated andd I'm grateful to you all.

"Nick"

You’re very welcome. Hope Bob has a good trip!

 

[Guest]

Your brother will enjoy the closest thing Amtrak really has anymore, to first class service, on the Empire Builder.

Be sure to let him know of the red cap service in Chicago, they can take him to the Metropolitan Lounge to wait for the Cap, so he doesn't have to walk through the station which is almost always very hectic. The Lounge staff will announce boarding and he can request Red Cap service to go back out to the track for boarding.

Food options on the CL are no longer what you would think of as first class. No hot breakfast with protein, it's cold continental options and no one knows quite what that looks like yet as it doesn't take effect until June 1st. My experience on the CL to Washington is that it's poorly provisioned to begin with, and often late. So with this new "cold choices" crap, tell your brother to obtain and save whatever is offered, even if it's not a preferred option, that way if the train is late he won't feel sick from not eating. The cafe car should have hot breakfast sandwiches available, if they don't sell out, which FC passengers should automatically receive as part of the fare but don't get me started on that....