Amrak from NY to Fl. Feedback???

[Harambe]

Glad you survived! It makes a great story to explain the trip to people! My sister cracks up everytime I do the pantomime of us trying to eat on the train. At least you can say you did it!

How was WDW, BTW!

 

[AnnaS]

Originally we were flying Delta and staying 4 days in Jupiter and then had reservations for 4 das in WDW, since all our plans changed - we took Amtrak, went down to Jupiter earlier and stayed here the 10 days. Jupiter is beautiful. Luckly for us being here earlier since we had to rush my father-in-law to hospital. (In-laws do not speak english). It helped also having the rental car since they do not drive anymore and they did not have to bother niece with driving back and forth to hospital.(The overnight trip to WDW went out the window too of course). He is okay now - he was in there for 7 days. We will be on the Magic in July and staying in OKW after that so we are looking forward to this.

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

Well, I just got back about 3 hours ago and hope I never see another train again!!! We had Silver Meteor going down (left easter 7 pm). Got the best seat in the house and settled in. My dd met some kids and loved going back and forth (we were just one car behind the lounge/snack car). Did all the activites we brought, sleeping was great for dd, but horrible for me. They don't turn down the lights enough and people get on and off all night. I tried to get a sleeper in Washington (after 11:30 pm), but couldn't. Had breakfast in the dining car and it was actually good (Denny's good I guess). We made it to West Palm Beach only 20 minutes late. Coming back though was a NIGHTMARE!!!! They put us on the Palmetto which as previous stated, did not have a dining car. OK, brought snacks with us and used the lounge for the mini pizzas and gardenburgers which were quite good for dinner. We left at 4:45 pm on Monday the 28th- right on schedule. My dd met some more friends so that was great. So far, so good. Well, I was seated next to a young man (31) who was traveling with his dad. The son just had a lung transplant and couldn't fly home, so they put him on the train. Nice family to talk to. Around 11:30 that night, he started coughing and I think his tracheotomy (sp) was bothering him, so I gave him our water bottle. Said thanks to me and seemed ok. He and his dad got up to go to the lounge to get something to eat. Saw no more of them since I fell asleep and they were not there in the am - I just thought they got off in the middle of the night. Turns out he DIED in the lounge!!! I felt so bad. As we were all sleeping, we made a four hour stop in Jacksonville to wait for the coroner to pronounce him and have him removed. I got all teary eyed when I found out. He was such a nice young man. After that, we had 2 hours delays in NC for track work (seems they do it mon-fri until the end of spring)so the grand total was a 6 hour delay!! Now we wouldn;t be into Penn Station until 3 AM!!! Spoke with the conductor, and he approved my dd and me to get off at Washington DC, they put us up in a hotel and put us on a train this am. Finally got home around 3 pm after almost two days on the train. I think AMTRAK did a wonderful job considering the circumstances, but I think I will fly from now on!! LOL!

 

[Harambe]

Now that is a story!

As my flight-challenged DH said of the train - "I'd rather spend three hours in the air fearing for my life, compared with 28 hours on a train trying not to slit my on wrists!"

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

Tell me about it!!! Thank goodness he did not die in our traveling car - would have been more tramautic for all the kids. The father was in horrible shape. Turns out the young man was 31 and had an identical twin brother. Such a sad sad thing

I can't hold anything against amtrak since it was such a strange thing to happen. The only thing they could have done was stock up on more food, drinks, cutlery, etc. at the next stop since things ran out around 8:30-9:00 and they still had over 6 hours to travel.

 

[AnnaS]

How sad and horrible for that young man but you have me cracking up. Thanks for the laugh. Like I have said, it is an adventure, we need to experience everything at least once. We got lucky when we went down to W. Palm Beach. The train after us broke down for 6 hours, no flushing toilets either, and after starting up again, I heard Amtrak hit a car and it was fatal. Instead of Mon. afternoon arrival, they arrive sometime on Tues. Thanks for the laugh.

 

[NADINENURSE]

How Horrible!! I can only say you should write this "death on the train trip" into a magazine of worst train trips. Also, I can not believe someone so critically ill to die on the trip, would have been sent with his MD's approval, on the train. It really must have been a fluke. You definately win the award for the WORST TRAIN experience. I was going to try the auto train, not now, no way !!

 

[zurgswife]

If available is there a substanital savings to getting a sleeper when checking in or while on board..?

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

NADINENURSE - I didn't talk to the dad after his son died, so I don't know exactly what the cause of death was, but as I said before, the poor guy had a little coughing fit before he went into the lounge. I'm not a dr. or anything, and can only guess, but I think that his lung probably collapsed or something. I know if that was my child, I would be 100% sure that she was able to travel after such serious surgery. They said he couldn't fly because of the cabin pressure in the air, or something like that. Me? Well, I would have put her on an ambulance the whole way home - or even had a dr. travel with me. I still have nightmares about it.

Anna S - I don't know how I made you "crack up" and laugh, but I don't think this whole situation was funny - just very tragic and sad.

Zurgswife - The sleeper car was an additional $340 before we boarded. AFter you pass Washington and if there are passengers who didn't make the train, decided to downgrade, etc., then they open the sleeper cars up. Some people have been getting them for about $100 - $150!! I put my name on the waiting list with the Conductor when I first got on. It would have been great to get one, because all meals are included in the dining car for everyone in your party! Good Luck!!

 

[AnnaS]

Lovethatmouse. As I said on my post, it was sad and horrible, but I should of said I cracked up after Harambe's two replies about her flight-challenged husband, he would rather fly three hours fearing for his life or 20 something hours trying to slit his wrist and about her sister cracking about the eating part. My son told me sometimes he could not aim for his target (toilet). My apologies. As I said, it's an adventure and an experience no matter how you look at it. No one wants your experience - we definitely do not want our kids to have those memorie. (MY new keyboard stinks).

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

AnnaS - apology accepted - I just thought it was a strange post and couldn't understand what was funny at all about it. There are alot of strange people out there - glad to see you're not one of them LOL!

 

[singitalto]

Well, we just got back late last night after the train ride from you know where!! The train was over 5 hours late. There was some strange people on our car. We brought a electric cooler and a game system and dvd player and had no outlet this time. I found the employees on the train to be very unaccomodating and uncaring.(long story) We ended up in Penn Station at 10 pm on a sat night. Scarey to say the least.

Put it this way, I really hate flying , I am very afraid of it. This train ride was enought to say next time I will visit the doctor for a couple of valume or something and be home in less then 3 hours. It would be better than 30 + on a train.
Never again!

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

singitalto - were you on a Palmeto Train #90? That's the one train that seems to have the most trouble.

 

[singitalto]

No, I was on silver star #92. We were scheduled to arrive in NY at 3:50 and finally got there at 9:15.

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

It seems like there are more delays coming home than going down. I think it has something to do with the fact that the trip is longer by 2 hours to start (I was told they re-route the trains on the return trip).

 

[AnnaS]

Did everyone catch the news yesterday? What an awful accident.

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

What accident?

 

[TandyR]

It was a train vs truck in GA. It was train number 91 which is NYC to Miami. The truck driver died and 40 people on the train were injured. The rest of the people were transfured to buses and were Bused to Jacksonville.

As my DH says he much rather be in a train accident then a plane accident because the chance of survival is much higher.