Acela - PVD to PHL roundtrip

I rode the Acela from Providence to Philadelphia on Thursday, 2/23 to visit my family and throw a baby shower for my sister. While I was excited for the party, I was almost just as excited for another acela ride!

Thanks to some excellent friends I have made on Amtrak Unlimited, a discussion forum for railfans, I was armed with two extra upgrade coupons to First Class. I had used all mine for the year, which goes from March 1 to the end of February, so I was grateful to them for the opportunity for a free upgrade. I had one 12 hour upgrade and one 48 hour upgrade, so I decided to use the 12 hour coupon for my trip on Thursday as I figured the train would be less crowded, and use the 48 hour coupon on the Sunday return home.

I was originally booked on a 3:15 acela from BOS - PHL, which I had hoped to board in PVD at 4 PM, right after work. However, after being at work until 9 pm on both Tuesday & Wednesday, I decided to take the day off, sleep in, and go railfanning. I bought myself a coach ticket PVD - BOS so I could hang out in Boston in the Club Acela and listen to some train noise on my scanner. I arrived in PVD ready to board a train at about 11:45 north to BOS, when I noticed a  southbound acela hitting PVD at 11:56 AM. I decided to talk to the ticket agent about the possiblity of changing my tickets and just boarding the southbound train. As luck would have it, I got a super nice ticket agent who changed me to the upcoming acela without even jumping the price to the next fare bucket for me.

I almost went down to the platform as the amtrak trains almost always board from the same platform, but I noticed that the track numbers had been removed from the solari board for the next few trains. About 5 minutes before scheduled departure, they announced that we would be boarding on track 5, which is the opposite platform from where we normally board. I went down to track 5 and noticed what appeared to be a stranded acela train set just outside the station on track 1. That explains it!

Two of us boarded the First Class car, which was at the rear of the train, in PVD. I was first on and luckily snagged the only remaining single seat. I was seated backwards but that was OK because I was in a single seat! Huzzah. The car was about half full, and the pleasant attendant immediately hooked me up with a cocktail and some lunch. I had the chicken enchiladas, which were pretty cheesy and not bad. They were served on a bed of rice. The ride was smooth and on time all the way to NYP.

In NYP a few people detrained, and then the car started to get hopping. We appeared to be completely full heading south out of NYP. Sadly they also ran out of bourbon out of NYP - I didn't even get one bottle as they were out of it by the time I placed my initial drink order. How strange! But the sweet attendant apologized and gave me some crown royal, so it was all good. We arrived in PHL right on time at 4 PM.

I had a great weekend with my family - and my sister's baby shower was pretty wonderful. She was surrounded by friends and family, and I think everyone had a nice time. I called amtrak at about 46 hours ahead of departure to upgrade my reservation to first class and also change to the 2252 train which leaves PHL at 12:37 PM, as I was originally booked for the last acela of the day, which leaves PHL at 5:37 on Sundays. I had to pay an additional $50 to change trains, but it was worth it to get home a little earlier.

However, I awoke early at my friend's house on Sunday and decided to head over to 30th Street Station and try to catch the 2250 if at all possible, which leaves PHL at 10:37 AM. I also love the crew that generally works this train. I checked the amtrak app on my phone which showed the train sold out, but I figured it was worth a shot. I immediately headed to the Club Acela in PHL, which is one of the best clubs in the entire amtrak system. It is located above the tracks and has these cool elevators that you can take directly from the club to the platform. It is nice because you can avoid the riff-raff. :)

The attendant at the club was super friendly, and informed that the train was showing as sold out. However, he told me to grab a seat and he would see what he could do to put me on the 2250. No more than five minutes later, he came by with a ticket for 2250! I have no idea what he did - as my iphone was still showing the entire train as sold out - but it was awesome. The guy was super friendly, and he spoke in slightly accented English. I think he might have been European. In any case, he also didn't charge me for changing trains. Normally with amtrak there is no change fee, but you do have to pay the current/prevailing fare for the train when you change. I can't believe how lucky I was to not get charged the high bucket fare on both my way down and my return home.

Anyway, the club attendant called the elevator for us and escorted us down to the platform a few minutes before the train came in. There was just two of us boarding in PHL, and I was surprised that the FC car only appeared to be about 1/3 full. I easily snagged a single seat on the water side, but unfortunately the person behind me insisted on having the drapes closed the ENTIRE RIDE. Oh well. I have seen the scenery before.

As luck would have it, my favorite crew WAS on that day. Well, it was my favorite lead attendant - the one who mostly takes the orders and brings the food - and she was accompanied by another guy that I had seen before as well as a new attendant that they were training. She told me it was her first time on the acela and she was a little nervous - but she did very well. The attendant definitely recognized me and joked that she was going to have to restock her liquor in NYP. UH OH! Am I really that memorable? :)

I was early enough for breakfast, so I got the stuffed french toast on the way north to NYP. We arrived right on time, and after a few people detrained, it started to get a little busy int he FC car. There were many announcements made over the loud speaker by the conductor that the train was 100% sold out and that every seat would be occupied. A family of three boarded and sat at the four person table across from my single seat. The mother was complaining for about 10 minutes that she didn't want to sit with a stranger. Luckily we appeared to have two extra seats in the FC car and no stranger was subjected to her complaints. I popped on my head phones to tune her out.

They came through to take orders and I asked to get the small plate of sliders after we departed New Haven, as I was still full from the French Toast. The service was great - as always with the crew on this train - and they brought me my lunch right as the train was entering New Haven. The sliders are cute - they are literally one bite apiece - and come with some potato chips. There were three different sliders with different varieties of cheese on each one. The new FC menus this year are pretty good - but I definitely miss the salads that they had last year on almost each menu, as well as the tiramisu. The dessert now that I have had on all my trips this year has been carrot cake. It has nuts in it - way to ruin a delicious cake!

We pulled into PVD right on time, and I waved good bye to the train. My next acela trip will be next month - when I go back to PHL for a bridal shower. I am armed with upgrade coupons and counting down the days until my next trip!

I have determined that at this point I am incredibly spoiled - the only way for me to go to NY or PHL at this point is via Acela. It is comfortable and convenient.

NYP to PVD on the Acela

My return back up to Providence on the 2250 was much nicer than my trip down to Philly. I headed up to New York on Saturday with some of my friends via NJ transit, and spent the night in midtown. I was able to get my upgrade processed via phone, so all I had to do was have them print my ticket when I checked in at the Club Acela in Penn Station. They collected my upgrade coupon at that point, and again, I mentioned that I would like some assistance with my bags. It turned out that our train was running about 10-15 minutes late, so we didn't get called down to board until about 12:05 pm, the scheduled time for departure. They called my name at the counter and I headed over to meet Maurice the redcap. Maurice had assisted me several times before and was very friendly. He brought us over to the escalator and sent us down to the platform, where we actually still had to wait a few minutes for the train to arrive. There were many people waiting for the train, so it looked like it would probably be sold out again.

Grilled Chicken Tandoori Ceasar Salad

When the train arrived, I was thrilled to see my favorite attendant step off the train for the departing passengers! I don't know her name, but she is a young woman and also works in conjunction with another woman. I snagged a single seat on the left hand side of the train, and before we left NYP, the car was full with just one seat open in a foursome to the right of me. I was not feeling 100% after a late night out in NYC the night before, so I stuck to non-alcoholic beverages. I was surprised to see that the menu was identical to the southbound menu from Wednesday. Since the small bites involved shrimp (I am allergic) and I didn't think the ribs were that great, I went with the grilled chicken tandoori ceasar salad again. It was excellent. The dressing was delicious with spicy hints of tandoori!

The attendants were amazing and came by to offer drink refills and newspapers on multiple occasions. They did come through with hot towels and a tray with a cup for tips right before we hit Providence, and I happily tipped them for their great job. The car was quite loud, though, and I was happy I head my headphones so I could chill with some music.  We were perfectly on time, and I detrained in Providence after another great ride on the acela.

Boston to Philly and back

Last weekend I had another opportunity to take a trip via train, this time down to Philadelphia to attend my little brother's college graduation. Since amtrak was running a special triple points promotion, I decided to take the regional up to Boston rather than boarding the Acela in Providence. This time, I visited the station at 7 AM in order to get myself a 12 hour upgrade to first class. Having obtained my ticket, I ran off to work for the morning.

I took the regional up to Boston that was running about thirty minutes late. I comfortably waited at the station in Providence, which is equipped with pretty fast wifi. When I boarded the 170, it was pretty empty and I grabbed a pair of seats to myself. The ride was quick and we were in Boston in about 45 minutes. Once I got to South Station, I head directly to the Club Acela. I checked in and let the attendant know I wanted assistance from a redcap. After waiting in the seats for a few minutes, Frank, the redcap came over. He took my suitcase and gave me a little card with his name on it. He also let me know that we would be boarding at 2:45 pm, which was 30 minutes prior to the train's departure time.

At exactly 2:45 PM Frank came back into the Club Acela to collect his charges. He led us out to the platform, which was being guarded by a gate agent. The gate agent let us through and we boarded the rear car of the train, where the first class car was. There was a male african-american attendant aged about 30 today who was the main interface with the passengers. He seemed stressed out when we boarded and mentioned to Frank that the train was completely sold out. I was glad I went up to BOS to board early! I snagged a single seat on the left hand side (ocean side)

Jack & Diet Pepsi with peanuts

Rib Dinner

The service left something to be desired today. We all had drink orders taken before we left BOS, and the train kept getting more crowded at each stop we made. He didn't come by to take dinner orders until after we left PVD, at which point every single seat in the car was occupied. It was like pulling teeth to get drink refills, and they ran out of the dish I wanted for dinner. I got the ribs rather than go hungry. They were OK.

Right outside of PVD, we stopped for about half an hour. Apparently there was a problem with the pantographs which was announced by the conductor. The staff did a great job of letting us know exactly what was going on during the delay, and I was very impressed by that. We arrived late into NYP, and the car almost completely cleared out. I think I was one of only three people continuing farther south. The attendant came by to take food orders again after we left, and he seemed annoyed when I ordered the ceasar salad, which is what they had been out of during the first half of the trip. I told him I was getting off in Philly, and I had my food pretty quickly. I asked him for another drink and he eventually slammed down a plastic cup of bourbon on my table. The next thing I knew, we were in Philly and I was running off the train, almost nervous for a second that I was going to miss the stop.

Providence to New York and back - a preview trip

I took a quick trip down to New York City this weekend, and of course traveled by my preferred method, Amtrak Acela.

Friday morning I took the Acela 2155 from Providence to New York. My journey started the night before, however, where I turned in a one class upgrade coupon to the station agent and walked out with a first class ticket. My husband received these coupons earlier the week because he is an Amtrak Select member. He got three of them, and I will definitely be using all of them during the year.

The train arrived on time in Providence, and the first class car was at the end of the train. There were two businessmen that also boarded in Providence, and the car was about 2/3 full. I luckily snagged the only remaining single seat, but sadly it was on the westbound side of the train so I wasn't able to watch the ocean as we made our way south through Rhode Island and into Connecticut.

There were two male car attendants. Their service was polite, and they came to drop off a menu and take my order shortly after boarding. I ordered the bacon and cheddar scone with sausage as well as some hot coffee, which was delivered within 30 minutes.  The attendants sat and read the newspaper for a big chunk of the trip and did not walk through the car offering refills on drinks. I did get a New York Times to read during the trip, as well.

There was a short delay someplace in Connecticut, and we rolled into Penn Station about 15 minutes late. I snapped this picture of the NYC skyline on the approach into the city.

I had an amazing weekend in NYC with two of my dearest friends from high school, and a great lunch with a group of women I met online. We went to the Top of the Rock, which had excellent views, 360 degrees, of Manhattan.

For dinner on Friday, we went to DBGB, which is the newest restaurant by Daniel Boulud. The bone marrow was delicious, and I would highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for a reasonably priced Daniel Boulud eatery.

We went to a few speakeasy type bars after dinner. The first was called the Backroom, and it was Prohibition themed with cocktails in tea cups. My cocktail was bourbon and honey - delicious!

We also went to Lovers of Tomorrow, and I had a cocktail there that included blackberry preserves. So yummy!

For dinner on Saturday we went to Colicchio & Sons, the newest Tom Colicchio (from Top Chef fame) restaurant in New York. We had bone marrow (again!), and I also had the TC burger with chips. The burger was perhaps one of the best I have had in quite some time. However, after this weekend of bone marrow and burgers I will definitely need to be eating salad for weeks!

I returned to Penn Station for my trip on the Acela 2252 on Sunday. I got there about half an hour early and waited in the Club Acela. I had called to reserve my upgrade earlier that morning, and picked up my ticket at the Club Acela and asked for a redcap to help me with my bags. This is the best thing to do if you want to get a choice seat on the train, as the redcap will bring you down to the platform before the general boarding call. I got on the car early and selected a single seat towards the back of the car. Unfortunately it was not on the water side this time as well, but I knew that the train was going to be full.

There were two car attendants, June and Mr. Johnson. Mr. Johnson greeted every guest by name as he collected tickets in the first class car. Mr. Johnson offered polite service throughout the trip, and flattered me by carding me when I ordered a cocktail. He seemed to really go the extra effort and offered some service flourishes that reminded me of the romantic rail travel of eras gone by. He made clever announcements throughout the first class car - reminding folks to not be annoying on their cell phones since the car was very full - and brought all of our luggage onto the platform for all of the detraining passengers in Providence.  However, he did forget to bring me a cocktail refill which I specifically requested, which was a little disappointing.  I had the lasagna for lunch this time, along with some jack & ginger and some sparkling water.

Acela First Class Car

We had a smooth ride and pulled into Providence two minutes early.  I had a great trip, and it just made me all the more excited for my adventure. I leave in one week!