点评:On August 14th, 2023 my wife and I embarked on our 50th anniversary Amtrak vacation. For the next 11 days we will spend 8 on trains from Harrisburg, PA to Pittsburgh to Chicago to Seattle to San Francisco and back to Harrisburg via Chicago and Pittsburgh. Included in our package was a one night stay in Seattle and two nights in San Francisco. Also included were Hop On Hop Off bus tickets in both cities and a tour of Muir Woods.
Is a trip of this length for everyone. No!! Let me tell you some pros and cons of an Amtrak trip.
Pros:
If you choose not to sit in a coach seat on your trip, Amtrak offers a Roomette and the bigger Room. The room includes a shower and toilet which takes some getting used to. You can go to Youtube.com to see the differences and to hear what the individual thought about the accommodations.
Meals are outstanding and are cooked - not microwaved. All meals are included if you are staying in a sleeper car.
Opposed to driving across country - the driver actually gets to look out the window as opposed to watching the road.
It’s a great way to relax, read a book, meet new people or just sit and watch our great country go by.
Each sleeper car has an attendant who will turn down and make up your beds; bring your food to your room if you choose not to go to the dining car; make sure you are awake if you happen to have a middle of the night stop and bring you bottled water when you run out. Now I have read some reviews where the writer complained about rude Amtrak employees. Maybe their review got some people terminated because every single employee on our 7 leg trip was kind and very helpful.
Cons:
Need total quiet when you sleep? If you don’t bring ear plugs it isn’t going to be a restful night. First off, the cars are made of metal and metal creaks. One good thing is there is a rule that 10:00pm to 7:00am is quiet time. That means no PA announcements are made. These are not express trains so they make a lot of stops plus sleeper cars are double decker and you tend to sway more if you are on the upper level.
The menu for the Empire Builder (Chicago to Seattle), the Coast Starlight (from Seattle to San Francisco) and the California Zephyr (San Fran to Chicago) is the same. That doesn’t matter if you are only traveling between two cities but can get a little challenging if you are to be on the train for multiple days.
The sleeper rooms are somewhat expensive but are well worth the price if you are to be on the train for a few days.
As I said before, multiple legs of the trip are not for everyone. If you check out Amtrak’s website you will be surprised at the number of routes they cover. My wife has been on numerous trips to Europe but I think the opportunity to see our beautiful country ranks very high on her list.
翻译:2023 年 8 月 14 日,我和妻子开始了我们的 Amtrak 50 周年假期。在接下来的 11 天里,我们将花费 8 个小时乘坐火车从宾夕法尼亚州哈里斯堡到匹兹堡再到芝加哥再到西雅图再到旧金山,然后经芝加哥和匹兹堡返回哈里斯堡。我们的套餐包括在西雅图住一晚和在旧金山住两晚。还包括两个城市的随上随下巴士票和穆尔森林之旅。
这么长的旅行对每个人来说都是如此。不!!让我告诉您 Amtrak 旅行的一些优点和缺点。
优点:
如果您选择在旅途中不坐在经济舱座位上,Amtrak 会提供 Roomette 和更大的 Room。房间里有淋浴和厕所,需要一些时间来适应。您可以访问 Youtube.com 查看差异并听听个人对住宿的看法。
饭菜很美味,而且都是煮熟的——不是用微波炉加热的。如果您乘坐卧铺车厢,则所有餐点均包含在内。
与驾车穿越国家相反——司机实际上可以看窗外而不是看路。
这是放松、读书、结识新朋友或只是坐下来观看我们伟大的国家过去的好方法。
每辆卧铺车厢都有一名服务员为您提供夜床服务和整理床铺;如果您选择不去餐车,请将食物带到您的房间;如果您碰巧半夜停下来,请确保您保持清醒,并在用完时带上瓶装水。现在我读到了一些评论,其中作者抱怨美铁员工粗鲁。也许他们的审查让一些人被解雇了,因为我们 7 段旅程中的每一位员工都很友善并且非常乐于助人。
缺点:
睡觉时需要完全安静吗?如果您不带耳塞,那将不会是一个安宁的夜晚。首先,汽车是由金属制成的,而且金属吱吱作响。一件好事是有一条规定,晚上 10:00 到早上 7:00 是安静时间。这意味着没有发布 PA 公告。这些不是特快列车,因此会停靠很多站,而且卧铺车厢是双层的,如果您在上层,您往往会摇晃得更多。
Empire Builder(芝加哥至西雅图)、Coast Starlight(西雅图至旧金山)和 California Zephyr(旧金山至芝加哥)的菜单相同。如果您只是在两个城市之间旅行,这并不重要,但如果您要在火车上呆几天,那就有点困难了。
卧铺房有点贵,但如果您要在火车上待几天,那么这个价格非常值得。
正如我之前所说,多段旅程并不适合所有人。如果您查看 Amtrak 的网站,您会对他们覆盖的路线数量感到惊讶。我的妻子曾多次前往欧洲,但我认为参观我们美丽的国家的机会在她的愿望清单中名列前茅。