Thanks - how was the short rib dish? Were enough options stocked for everyone to get their first choice?

Looks the same as the Flexible Dining on the Long Distance trains (with a few different options). I'd assume the same vendor as the presentation is fairly similar to the Eastern Long Distance Trains with the Brownie/Blondie placed in the salad bowl holder. Hopefully the nutritional values aren't nearly as bad. Nice to have a variety of hot food options back though.

It was fine; on par with pre-pandemic meals. Note the plastic serving all-in-one tray. Still plastic utensils and no roll/butter. Desert was teh 360 calorie toffee square. There were 11 in FC as I recall; I heard a few say they would not be dining but just wanted drinks :) So everyone got what they wanted. Also -- the "gourmet steakburger" a.k.a. kid's meal option was still on the menu!

Here's the current menu...


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The mixed drinks on Acela are fantastic--particularly the Old Fashioneds. Amtrak long distance trains ought to have them.

Acela First class - 3/19 NYP to PHL
 

First off, I grabbed this fare because it was only $88 for Acela first class. I don't know why the fare was so low; I've never seen it so cheap. As far as I could tell, with the COVID distancing, the first class car was close to 100% booked by the day of departure. For reference, the same train in two weeks (next time I might take Amtrak) is over $200 for first class. It was good to sample the first class product since hot meals were restored and this was also my first time in the new Metropolitan Lounge.
Service was good with proactive drink refills and the lounge is gorgeous, but will be much better once they open up the bar area.


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Entrance to lounge from the station
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Check in area at the top of the escalator
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Lounge view
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"outside" Balcony
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Lounge view
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work station
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storage lockers
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Beef short ribs

Yeah, I grabbed a $126 one-way First Class fare on WAS-BOS next month. I have NEVER seen pricing that like ever. It is usually four times that. Business Class was going for $69 but I felt the price differential was so low that it was worth the difference, especially with hot meals back. How were the short ribs? The Metropolitan Lounge looks fantastic. I am going to try it once they have alcohol available.

In late June, I’m planning to meet my wife and son in NYC. I booked myself Acela First WAS-NYP for $122 at 3pm on a Thursday, in the old days that would have been around $350. Their BOS-NYP tickets were $76 per person (my son may have gotten a slight child discount, not sure, all I know is it was $152 total). I’d never seen prices anywhere near that low, couldn’t pass it up and really looking forward to checking out the NYP club.

That’s $57 for a TV dinner which may or may not be fully warmed through. I hope you enjoy. :D

But you may get a hand-written thank you note in the mail a couple weeks later!

A little more seriously, with 50% blocking in Acela business there’s really no reason to spend extra for FC now. Not sure when that goes away.

For WAS-BOS at those price points, I could easily spend the price difference on booze! :-)

Now you are talking! :D

As of next week, the Acela First Class seatmaps are being changed to allow up to 20 window seats to be selected/occupied, vs. the current 16. This includes the dreaded Row 16, which is right against the galley and do not recline at all. One of the FC attendants told me that their rules allow one attendant to serve up to 20 passengers; above that, Amtrak must staff two attendants.

I thought you were joking about the handwritten letter, but I got one in the mail today. Actually kinda nice. :-)


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I've been on Acela F twice a week for the last few months (NYP-30th route). Salmon is absolutely excellent. Restaurant level good (I actually crave it at 5p when in Moynihan). Unfortunately, they run out of Salmon 90% of the time on the Sunday night train from PHL. As an aside, I don't understand why domestic airlines can serve food this good in J... Surely it has to be a somewhat similar setup.

Moynihan lounge at is the exact opposite of the NYP lounge. As you can see from the pictures, it has an Asian airport feel to it (reminds me of the new terminal at ICN). They just started serving non-alcoholic drinks and snacks at the Moynihan lounge last week (although they may be hiding the booze from the only millennial in there... I kid). Just had a sparkling water as I only had about 5min before the train left. Offering seemed to be much better than the usual stuff at 30th, although no hot food. The food/drink is staffed by a lounge attendant. Pro tip is to hang out on the balcony overlooking the train hall as you are sort of outside and you can see when boarding actually begins plus its more difficult to shame you for not having a mask covering nose, face, and chin.

They spent so much time and money on Moynihan, but overlooked the ability to board right from the lounge via elevator like you do at 30th. Sort of a head scratcher.

Also, Im sure this has been brought up on here, but am I the only one that tips the train staff? I give between $5 and $10 depending on how much of a pita im being.

Are they now selling two of the four seats at the table? I assume they're still blocking one of the seats at the two person table.