5 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

Use this thread for any discussion about our trip on Train #97(14), the Silver Meteor from your start point to wherever you are detraining in Florida.

[KevinKorell]

Three currently aboard #97 out of New York. There should be 7 of us aboard this train eventually, if Chris W makes it. It was 6 minutes late leaving New York and Newark, so I expect nothing less when it gets to Philly. Not an insurmountable lateness as they could dwell less time in Washington, as soon as our people board!

[AlanB]

Well we're currently just north of JAX, running about 14 minutes late at present. So the group headed to JAX will have lots of time to spend in JAX. For me & my mom, we've still got a ways to go to Winter Park. And Chris didn't make it last night, latest word is that he's flying into JAX today to meet up with the group.

[steve4031]

Dinner and breakfast in the diner was outstanding. Though a little inefficient, the crew was pleasant. Bianca the sca was very helpful. Mike lost his id wallet and she offered to take contact info in case she found it later. She allowed me to sit in room 10 across the hall after breakfast. This gave mike and I a little extra space. I had a power nap the last hour before Jacksonville.

[KevinKorell]

97 got into JAX on time, and then we saw it began to lose back the minutes it had gained further down the line. Ditto on the excellent service on this train. Bianca was awesome, and the dining car crew (names withheld due to absence of nametags) was great. Not superb, but they were attentive and cordial. Perhaps the crew we had on the Southwest Chief going to Albuquerque set the bar very high.

[AlanB]

Actually, we were rather let down by the dining car crew when it came to lunch. Our breakfast was a bit slow IMHO. But lunch wasn't good at all. When the LSA came around to do reservations, he was late. Lunch was supposed to start at 11:30 and he never even got to us until 11:45. He told us that he couldn't feed us in time before Winter Park. So we were going to give up. Then Bianca came by and said that was nonsense that we should go to the diner for lunch at precisely 12. So we did. And the kitchen dragged their feet on things, and did not prepare the meals in the order that people were seated. End result, I had to get the SA to make ours to go, as they couldn't figure out how to reheat 2 cheeseburgers in a half an hour. And the people we were seated with, weren't too happy with the slow service either. The 4 of us were the first people in the diner for lunch. Our orders were in the kitchen before a table further down in the car was seated, yet they got their meals before we did. When I poked my head around the corner into the kitchen to tell the SA to make our's to go, I could see all the checks lined up in random order. They weren't in seating order. I do agree that Bianca was great. But the diner crew dropped way down the scale IMHO.