We finally made it to our destination 3 hours later. The private room was not like in the picture shown when I made the reservation. The reclining seating opens to a full side bed that was very comfortable. The upper bed we open and use it as storage for our 4 luggages. There was ample and very spacious head room below to sit. I thought the private cabin had USB ports, it didn't. Overall, it was roomy. As for the bathroom suite, it has a toilet, sink and shower hose. To me, it's actually an Asian style bathroom with no shower stall, just floor drain, bathing in the same location as toilet and sink. Make sure your toilet paper is not anywhere near the shower spray, or it will be drenched. We had room service with complimentary lunch and dinner meals on train. Angus burger for lunch and sirloin steak for dinner. It tasted very good, especially the desserts. Service was good but the delay is why I took off 2 stars. Suppose to arrive at 1:41am, got there a little after 5:30am read more

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Stateroom service was and is above par Was a bit disappointing to have to reschedule because of inclement weather conditions but overall.... read more

The Columbia SC station was closed. I booked five seniors to travel for a funeral. When they arrived over one hour early for their train, scheduled to depart at 4:13am, there was no one there. I called national customer service which told me the station should be opened and gave me the local station number. The phone had a busy tone - no message to direct customers in case station is closed - just busy signal. I made a second call to national customer service. This time a different agent told me that regardless if the station is open, passages must make their way to the platform and wait for the train there - at 4am in the morning, outside, in the cold dark. Two of the five travelers needed assistance. Had it was made known the station would not be open, I would have made other arrangements. Amtrak needs to do better. read more

Train showed up late, but the ride was comfy and the train was kinda boujee. Definitely better than flying for short distances.

I don't think it's fair to review the station poorly because of trains being late since it's not something the station can control. Therefore, I will write my review based on the station itself. The staff is always exceedingly kind to me. They also address issues promptly such as people singing at the top of their lungs at 3:30am (who is that energetic at 3:30am though?). They always keep you up to date to what time the train is arriving as well. There are places to park while you're waiting, which is important. It's fairly clean and the bathrooms seem to be clean. My only real complaint are the extremely uncomfortable seats...and I only care about those because you will undoubtably wait in them since the train WILL indeed be late. I've waiting for up to 4.5 hours in these chairs. Give us a cushion, please. read more

Train travel isn't everyone's cup of tea but we enjoyed our trip from Columbia, SC to Tampa, Fl. We could have driven but it was nice to just ride and look at the countryside. My mom and daughter stayed in a "roomette" while I rode in coach. Amtrak takes the CDC guidelines seriously so I had two coach seats to myself. We caught the train down at about 2 am, it was 40 minutes late but that's just train travel, so it was easy to get some sleep going down. We had breakfast and lunch on the train. Meals and beverages (including 1 adult beverage) are included with the sleeper cars. I brought snacks so can't speak to the quality of the food. Mom and daughter liked their lunch entree of be3f tips enough to request it again going home. I really hope that Amtrak gets some upgrades and additional lines in the future under a president who seems to appreciate that it is a needed service. Not everyone can afford to fly. read more

I especially enjoy Amtrak!!! I have absolutely nothing but praise for the service and stations. My daughters and I regularly take Amtrak from Columbia to Hollywood. We are originally from the Miami area. It's very comfortable and I love that we can get up and walk around. The bathrooms are clean and the snack car has pretty good food! We enjoy eating and playing board games in the snack car! I even will get a beer sometimes! The only downside is if there is not a train station close to your residence. I drive 2 hours to get to Columbia and park in a nearby long term garage and it's still worth the drive. We don't like to fly and the Atlanta airport would take 2 hours to get to as well. Amtrak is awesome hands down read more

You can bet everything you have that the train will be late. I have picked up my Mother in law from the Columbia SC station many times because she won't fly. The train has never been on time. Not even within 20 minutes. It's a joke. They should do away with times and reservations and just let it be first come, first served. read more

Very unhappy with the temperature inside the train. This is the first time I have taken Amtrak and will say I will not be riding again. The temperature in the train is freezing. I'm sure it is a marketing ploy to sell more blankets because unsurprisingly the blankets are sold out. When you ask them to turn down they ac they do nothing. I did not realize I needed to bring my winter coat on the train to go to Orlando Florida. read more

I have traveled many times via Amtrak. There have been a number of snafus regarding timing and delays, typically beyond Amtrak's control. Weather, track availability (for those who are unaware, Amtrak does not own the rails, the freight lines do. Amtrak leases the right to use of the same rails), and such. I have always found the conductors and other Amtrak emplyees to be very polite even during the worst of circumstances (delays of five hours due to snow and foul weather, and having to pull aside to allow the freight trains to make way). They are courteous and kind, and as helpful as they possibly can be. I do wish Amtrak had day hours as well as their night hours. As one Station clerk explained, the trains can't be in a place at the perfect time of day in all places. Which certainly makes sense. I frankly would love to see more of a return to rails as a travel option. Unfortunately most of the time the trains don't actually go TO the town I'm heading for and middle of the wee hours of the morning pick ups make for difficulty getting to my end destination. Someone has to be out driving between 1:00 am and 4:00am. I am unable to drive at this time due to vision issues, otherwise I would drive and have more reasonable hours. I DO very much enjoy traveling on Amtrak. Typically I have two seats to myself (though not always) and plenty of room for all my myriad bags, which usually include a computer backpack, my small backpack which acts as a purse, and another bag where I have books, a travel pillow and tiny fleece blanket and my small travel cooler with drinks and food, etc. I am able to get up, stretch my legs, walk, use a nice, and typically quite clean restsroom, head to the cafe car, where I can get ice, or a deck of cards or food, or other items. Much better than a bus, certainly cheaper than flying, and easier than driving (other than the weird hours and not enough stops in my crazy destinations!) I would like to see Amtrak have better food options, and return to the cafe cars where all the food wasn't pre-processed and pre-packaged. At very least on the main, larger routes. Prices are not unreasonable per se, but beat my budgetary confines for something that is of less quality than something I can bring from home. All-in-All I would give Amtrak a solid plus rating. I have rideen the trains since the late 1970's itermittently, and resumed riding them since year 2000, again intermittently, until more recent years with the decline in my vision. They were far more likely to run on time in the late-1970's and early-1980's. I don't know what has changed since then, but they seem to run a minimum of one to two hours late. And if weather is an issue, as much as four to five hours late. At least I am not stuck in foul weather in my own vehicle, nor am I stuck in an airport (where I have experienced similar delays). I am free to sleep, move around, eat, etc. In addition, I saw reviews regarding other passengers. Frankly I have never experienced any problems with other passengers. I have found them to be polite, quiet, pleasant people to travel with. I have also noticed that the conductors try to place famiies, and couples separate from individuals traveling solo, when train seating and space allowes. I think that is likely helpful regarding the noise issues others mentioned. read more

So having gone on Amtrak twice now, I feel educated enough to be able to give a good enough opinion. There are reviews calling planes "cattle cars". Let me tell you, you haven't seen a cattle car til you spend more than 8 hours in an Amtrak train. I would rather fly. Either fly or get a view liner roomette. I will never take coach class Amtrak again. Here's one little example: we were warned repeatedly through the ride that if passengers did not stop relieving themselves on the bathroom floor that they would shut off access to the restrooms. That's cute. All through your ride you will be subjected to people who don't know what headphones are blasting various types of music at all hours of the day and night, babies babbling and making all kinds of noises while their parents ignore them and play video games on their phones (with sound enabled, of course), women on the phone cursing out people who have apparently scorned them, elderly people hollering into their cellphones because they can't hear, and of course the smells and odors of the food people bring with them. Good luck finding an attendant to address any concerns. I was placed first in a wet seat covered in runoff from the air conditioning unit, and then in a broken seat. I asked the man checking tickets where to find the attendant and he just shrugged at me. I went all the way to the front and back of the train and did not find him. Just spend the extra money on a plane. You'll get there in a fraction of the time and you'll retain your dignity. read more

I don't like the fact that it only operates at night. So I have been in Columbia all day (classes)and I can't wait in the lobby for my train..I had time to go back to Augusta! read more

Yes it takes longer by train but so much more relaxing, go by air and its a flying cattle car. O.K. you get there quicker but what a hassle by air. I get the berth, private seating and a bed, and the price is great, compared to all other transportation. The draw back in Columbia SC. is the time, going north 4am, going south 1:30am, not the best hours, but I will take the train over all others, definitely beats driving, and safer, one of the safest transportation around. read more