We recently took an Amtrak journey from Seattle to Chicago on 3/10/26. We were excited for the journey and had flown to Seattle the previous day to assure we wouldn't miss it. We looked forward to our mini vacation and even booked a First Class bedroom on the train. The previous month we had booked an amtrak roomette and enjoyed it so much we decided to do it again this month on a longer route with a bigger room. During that train ride, we had excellent service in first Class ! The attendants were awesome ! They were very friendly, attentive, and happy to see ya !
This recent journey, however, wasn't even on par. Sadly because we had expectations of an awesome experience again but it wasn't even close. I will say though, in everyone else's defense, it was really only 1 person that made the trip so miserable; Jan, the lead attendant in the First Class dining car.
She was not happy. Not nice. Talked down to you if you accidentally did something wrong that went against her routine. Just not polite at all. Ever. She had a cutting , condescending demeanor toward not only the passengers but her fellow co worker working underneath her as well. Everything was done like roll call. Very routine and very strict very impersonal. No pleasure in her voice at all whether making announcements or talking to you directly. Not a good experience for us as far as dining goes.
Our room attendant, on the other hand, was wonderful, and expressed care for her passengers. She was very attentive and a very sweet personality.
In the end, this experience set us back a little bit with Amtrak. First Class rooms are too expensive to endure the treatment we received from her 3 times daily at mealtime. Something which should be pleasurable.
I do not wish anyone the misfortune to get her as their dinning car attendant.
I'm not sure if and when we will travel with Amtrak again. read more