The Metropolitan
OBS Chief
Just returned from New Orleans aboard the Crescent this morning, and had a great time. Here's the highlights.
Food: SPECTACULAR improvement over the prior incarnation of SDS!!! Cheese Omelet was well prepared, Chicken Apple Sausage is a definite winner, Chicken Caesar Salad was excellent, Flat Iron Steak was so good, it didn't need sauce. Companion had the Beef Burgundy special and said it was much better than she'd expected. Biscuit was decent, Potatoes (breakfast, mashed, and baked) were fine, but green beans are still lagging. Desert Items (Lemon Torte, Caramel Cheesecake, Vanilla Ice Cream) were all A-OK!
On-Board Service: Here again, mostly good (attendants were based from NOL while food service personnel came from NYP). Our Room Attendant Marcie was extremely sweet and sincere, had a good bit of warm conversation, and made the difference in making a good trip great. Both SA's Mike and Jackie were very good and pleasant, but the LSA was rather annoying, loud, and brash. All the Operating personnel were fine, even if we didn't encounter them that much.
Timekeeping: Despite falling nearly an hour behind by Tuscaloosa and Birmingham, we began to make up our time pretty well through the night, and were only 15 minutes late into Charlottesville, 10 minutes down in Manassas, and 10 minutes up by Alexandria. We arrived back into Baltimore 30 minutes early, a big plus, as it allowed us just enough time to get the 10:50am MARC train back to where my friend parked at BWI.
Co-Riders: As usual, the diner companionship was a mixed bag. Breakfast out of NOL had us across from an Amtrak Attorney (who was nice) and another gentleman (he looked like a cross between Michael Moore and the Comic Book Guy on the Simpsons) who said very very little, and even then only to me or the other man. He would not look at or say a word to my friend, and this vibe tended to stifle any conversation across the table. We later got the gist that he had something against females. Lunch was across from another guy who was cool but was more into reading his magazine than chatting. We had the dinner table to ourselves, and breakfast across from another lady who was very pleasant and engaging. We also found ourselves talking a bit to a very nice trio of young ladies who were travelling from NOL to ATL.
Loads: It was noted that the sleepers were heavier than usual out of NOL, and in our car at least, seemed to be nearly fully occupied, assumed partly due to the Jazz Fest that weekend. Coaches looked about half full out of NOL. At ATL, there was a pretty good load turnover in which both sleepers and coaches seemed to be heading north nearly PACKED!!!
Fun Firsts: All the mileage on the Crescent south of Charlottesville was new to me, so that was a big plus, and it was also my first trip in a Viewliner sleeper (roomette) which was another big plus. Biggest plus was that my companion was taking her first Amtrak trip EVER, and she loved every single minute of it (except for the annoying LSA). Some of the good feedback included "I'd have NEVER thought to travel this way until you asked me!" "This is so much more relaxing than flying!" "I thought this was going to be torture but it was a piece of cake!" and "I slept like a rock!"
I think I might have a new travelling companion!~
Food: SPECTACULAR improvement over the prior incarnation of SDS!!! Cheese Omelet was well prepared, Chicken Apple Sausage is a definite winner, Chicken Caesar Salad was excellent, Flat Iron Steak was so good, it didn't need sauce. Companion had the Beef Burgundy special and said it was much better than she'd expected. Biscuit was decent, Potatoes (breakfast, mashed, and baked) were fine, but green beans are still lagging. Desert Items (Lemon Torte, Caramel Cheesecake, Vanilla Ice Cream) were all A-OK!
On-Board Service: Here again, mostly good (attendants were based from NOL while food service personnel came from NYP). Our Room Attendant Marcie was extremely sweet and sincere, had a good bit of warm conversation, and made the difference in making a good trip great. Both SA's Mike and Jackie were very good and pleasant, but the LSA was rather annoying, loud, and brash. All the Operating personnel were fine, even if we didn't encounter them that much.
Timekeeping: Despite falling nearly an hour behind by Tuscaloosa and Birmingham, we began to make up our time pretty well through the night, and were only 15 minutes late into Charlottesville, 10 minutes down in Manassas, and 10 minutes up by Alexandria. We arrived back into Baltimore 30 minutes early, a big plus, as it allowed us just enough time to get the 10:50am MARC train back to where my friend parked at BWI.
Co-Riders: As usual, the diner companionship was a mixed bag. Breakfast out of NOL had us across from an Amtrak Attorney (who was nice) and another gentleman (he looked like a cross between Michael Moore and the Comic Book Guy on the Simpsons) who said very very little, and even then only to me or the other man. He would not look at or say a word to my friend, and this vibe tended to stifle any conversation across the table. We later got the gist that he had something against females. Lunch was across from another guy who was cool but was more into reading his magazine than chatting. We had the dinner table to ourselves, and breakfast across from another lady who was very pleasant and engaging. We also found ourselves talking a bit to a very nice trio of young ladies who were travelling from NOL to ATL.
Loads: It was noted that the sleepers were heavier than usual out of NOL, and in our car at least, seemed to be nearly fully occupied, assumed partly due to the Jazz Fest that weekend. Coaches looked about half full out of NOL. At ATL, there was a pretty good load turnover in which both sleepers and coaches seemed to be heading north nearly PACKED!!!
Fun Firsts: All the mileage on the Crescent south of Charlottesville was new to me, so that was a big plus, and it was also my first trip in a Viewliner sleeper (roomette) which was another big plus. Biggest plus was that my companion was taking her first Amtrak trip EVER, and she loved every single minute of it (except for the annoying LSA). Some of the good feedback included "I'd have NEVER thought to travel this way until you asked me!" "This is so much more relaxing than flying!" "I thought this was going to be torture but it was a piece of cake!" and "I slept like a rock!"
I think I might have a new travelling companion!~
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