Ft. Lauderdale to Chicago with Amtrak: Final Thoughts/Observations

• A wonderful trip and I am really very glad we did it. I would recommend travel by train to anyone (maybe with a few caveats)!
• All Amtrak personal encountered were polite, pleasant and helpful. Some more than others but none were "bad". To single three out who were particularly helpful: Faith, the ticket agent in D.C. who handled our upgrade; Paula, the car attendant from D.C. to Chicago and Leo the car attendant from D.C. to Ft. Lauderdale.
• Overall, the food was really quite good on board! Each meal had four menu items to choose from and this never varied other than a chefs special at lunch and a seafood special at dinner plus dessert (the specials seem to change each week). Any sleeping accommodation ticket includes all food and soft drinks except in the cafe/lounge car.
• Alcoholic drinks are $5 across the board except for a half-bottle of wine (also available by the glass) which is $12. You are also allowed to bring your own bottles into your roomette or room (but not so in coach).
• The Viewliner Roomettes are OK for a "real" couple for a single night (I'm not sure that plain old "good friends" would cut it). Any longer and a room would be better. I cannot recommend the Superliner Roomettes at all! Maybe if you are younger and don't mind sharing washrooms that get dirtier as the trip goes on! Unfortunately rooms are not that cheap! If we had opted for a room on each leg (four in all) it would have added over a thousand dollars to the cost of the trip! For that $250 to $300 a leg you get much nicer accommodation, a truly private and decent sized bathroom with shower included and a huge reduction in traffic up and down the corridor!
• I don't ever recall having to tip as frequently as was appropriate on this trip! On the train and in the hotel! On the train, you'd better tip the meal servers (even though the meals are included) and the cafe car attendant for any purchases there and, of course, the biggest tip of all is reserved for your car attendant at the end of the trip. In the hotel we were were expected to tip the omelette maker at the free breakfast and the bar tenders at the daily reception! And then you were also expected to tip the drivers of all the "free" trolleys offered by the city!
• Chicago is a truly magnificent city and if you have not visited and get the chance, please do so!
• We did not care for the deep-dish pizza at all. Maybe we just got a bad one but it seemed the crust was made from bisquik! New York pizza is much better!
• As I said above, it was a great trip and we are very glad that we did it. One thing though - in hind sight it might have been better to take the train there and then fly back! That would have given us another day in Chicago and reduced the overall cost of the trip! I hate to say it but doubling back on yourself with the train can induce a little boredom! Maybe not a lot but some!
• We are thinking that our next trip will be out to the west coast and while that won't happen for over a year, we are thinking of flying to New Orleans and then training to LA; then up the coast to Portland or Seattle and then back across to Chicago and flying home from there. Not sure what will really happen since it is quite a bit in the future and we would also like to do a leg across Canada! The North American Rail Pass may come in use there!
• If you have followed this journey with me I thank you very much and I hope you have enjoyed it! I know I did!

P.S. I have lot more pictures I'd like to share but I still have to find the best method of doing so!