Trip Reports by our Clients:
Aboard the American Orient Express:
Autumn in New England and Quebec
by Dale F. Redig, D.D.S.
AOE added Autumn in New England and Quebec as a tour event this year. Our tour, September 15-22, was the third of seven 8-day tours, all of which originate and terminate in Boston (Sept 1-8 thru Oct. 13-20). The tour's route is designed to cover parts of New England and Quebec during the period of fall color. In that regard, the first three tours of 2002 decidedly missed the mark; it is likely that the prominent fall coloring is not in place until the last three weeks of the 2002 tour period.
The tour began with an overnight stay at the Boston Copley Plaza, one of the city's great old hotels. It is now a Fairmont Hotels property and is maintained to the high standards of the Fairmont chain. A first-night reception & dinner hosted by AOE was used to introduce fellow travelers (96) to one another and for introductions to AOE team leaders who would accompany the group at all times during the tour.
On Monday morning, the group assembled, after a full and excellent breakfast buffet at the hotel, for a half-day tour of Boston. This activity, including luncheon at the Bay Tower Restaurant, overlooking the city, was a correct foretaste of the side-trips provided by AOE during the entire journey. The team guides were very well organized, the buses were very clean and obviously "the best in the business," with ample extra space on each bus, and the local tour guides were very knowledgeable about their environs, as well as being personable in all ways - not always the case in such tours. Overall, for the entire tour, the grade would be "A" for the side-trip activities.
The tour travel information indicated departure from a location near Boston Monday afternoon, traveling southwesterly through Sharon MA; Providence, Wickford, Westerly, RI; Mystic ,New London, Norwich, Willimantic, Stafford Springs, CT; then back into MA at Palmer. However, because of difficulties in arranging track availability, the entraining point was changed to Palmer, 1 * hours west of Boston, and the group was transported by bus to that departure point. We learned that the itinerary had been modified to accommodate the route change, over which the AOE people had no control since their use of leased track for the tour is subject to the railroad owners, whose engines pulled the train at all times (replacing the design/color unity of the consist, an esthetic disappointment, though not a functional one, though that point was revisited toward the end of the tour).
Substitute tour arrangements were made, providing an excellent side-trip to Concord MA, with a visit to a museum of local artifacts, including a "visit" in small groups with Henry David Thoreau, portrayed by an actor in the style and setting of the mid-1800's, who provided interesting information about Thoreau's life and times in Concord and nearby Walden Pond.
The AOE train consist, one of two operating in the U.S. at this time, is as described in promotional materials. The Lounge Car, the "new" Dome Car (added this summer- the other Dome Car is now used on Train 2), Observation Car and Dining Car, are all beautifully appointed; staff service was excellent. The sleeping cars are all paneled in mahogany and the accommodations are quite adequate. Since we were fortunate to obtain a presidential suite, storage and floor space were both very good. Our porter was very efficient, with fresh coffee at our door each morning at 6:30 per our desire, during the entire trip. It appeared that other accommodations in the sleeping cars were also well furnished.
On Day 4 we arrived in Quebec City, starting with a half-day city tour, after which we were transported to the city's premier hotel, Le Chateau Frontenac, where an excellent lunch was served, following which we were assigned rooms in the hotel, where luggage had been placed prior to our entering; again, an example of well coordinated staff functioning. Afternoon activity was guest option, with guests choosing between additional touring or free-time in the city.
On Day 5, following breakfast at the hotel, we entrained once again, traveling across Quebec to Bar Harbor Maine. On-board lectures were provided and guests were encouraged to explore the train and utilize the dome car and lounges. We arrived at Bar Harbor early in the morning on Day 6. Customs inspectors boarded the train (a four-time occurrence during the tour, twice by U.S. officials, twice by Canadian officials) during the night and checked everyone's identity documents, a careful procedure these days.
The food service aboard the train was excellent. Printed menus were provided for each meal. The Dining Car and a portion of the upstairs section of the Dome Car were used, in two sittings, for all meal services, with continental breakfasts and buffet lunches served in the Observation Car. Table settings were correct at all times and the young staff people serving guests were, to a person, attentive and efficient. The head chef provided for a wide variety of choices, all excellently prepared. Wine was served with meals if desired, at no extra charge. The AOE hosted reception functions on the train were very well managed as well. A staff hostess provided piano renditions of wide variety with charming style each evening in the Lounge Car.
Day 6 was spent around and in Bar Harbor, ME, with an elaborate fresh lobster luncheon served at the Bar Harbor Inn. A side-trip to Acadia National Park in the morning and an afternoon of on-shore sight-seeing or a boat tour in the Bay, observing important landmarks and various marine life, most notably a large seal colony (seas were too rough to allow venturing far enough out for possible whale sighting), were available at guest option.
From Bar Harbor, the train reversed the previous route, traveling through the night, to Montreal, where guests de-trained, touring the city with guides or on their own, as desired. The Day 7 visit to Montreal concluded with a planned train boarding at 5 p.m. It was at this point that the best laid plans of AOE staff went seriously awry. After guests had de-trained for the Montreal visit, the train consist was taken to the local service yard for routine check and maintenance, following which it was to return to the station where guests were to be re-boarded at 5 p.m. for the Farewell Cocktail Reception and Dinner. Guests were deposited at the boarding platform as scheduled and awaited the arrival of the train.
The wait extended to two and one half hours, by which time the team leaders had repeatedly contacted, or attempted to contact, AOE headquarters, the Canadian Rail Service (whose trackage had been used for much of the tour) and local dispatchers, in order to find out what had gone wrong. When the train did arrive, guests boarded and were encouraged to make the best of a much delayed Farewell Reception and Dinner. Guests did not have time or inclination to dress for the final function; some were very frustrated, and as it turned out, showed the frustration in their comment remarks on the evaluation forms provided.
We learned later that the Canadian Rail people simply did not provide an engineer to run the train after it had been serviced, delaying the return to the pickup point by 2 * hours, for no ostensible reason. In addition to that mishap, late in the evening, one of the engines, the one providing auxiliary power for the consist, was pulled from service and all but one or two of the cars were without electricity or water for the balance of the trip (our car, Istanbul, fortunately for us, had an auxiliary generator), including the Dining Car, which eliminated Breakfast service on Day 8 prior to de-training in Palmer, MA for return by bus to downtown Boston or Logan Airport.
In conclusion, the trip was a mixed bag. The promotion of fall color as a tour highlight should be sharply modified; potential guests should be advised that color should probably not be expected until at least the second week of October - after going through the countryside and talking with locals at various points, it is clear that the color season is short and does not begin in September. However, the trip through the area, with stops in various places, on a train which does provide the surroundings and amenities of rail travel in a luxe setting, is a good adventure. It is also clear that the problems posed by using trackage owned and controlled by someone else (and it appears in this instance at least that the Canadian Railway system is inclined to treat AOE as a very poor relation) is an enormously complex and frustrating endeavor.
The undercarriages of the train's cars are not new; that equipment was designed and built to travel on smooth, very well maintained trackage. Since much of the trackage on which the train traveled during the tour is used primarily for freight, the maintenance of track is not up to the standards of relatively high-speed passenger train use; all guests would attest to some fair degree of motion at many times. In discussing the trip with one of the team leaders, who was on the same return flight as ours from Boston to Chicago, it seems very clear that this tour must be carefully and objectively evaluated prior to next year.
As guests, my wife and I, having experienced many frustrating problems in many years of all kinds of travel ("If one wants the comforts of home at all times, one should stay home"), graded the trip a "B". The train is a very good experience; the staff, at all levels, did their very best to make it the best possible experience they could, especially the team leaders; the side-trips were perhaps the best handled of any in our memory. AOE can be forgiven for the very unfortunate problems with use of leased track and railway owners; however, once this year's tours are complete, plans for 2003 should be seriously reconsidered. A fair number of the guests were repeat travelers on AOE; while most of them understood the problem they would likely not make the same trip again.
Dale F. Redig, D.D.S.
October 11, 2002
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