Train or plane Washington DC to New York City

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Have a look at the Marriott chain. They do a best rate guarantee which matches the price, AND beats it by 25%. We stayed at the Marriott at Washington Metro Centre for about USD$117pn in November last year using this deal.

As for the train, yes, the 2 trains are identical, except the Acaela just stops less. And yes, definately get the red cap. It was madness all those people scrambling for seats in general boarding!

Can +1 for both the train to DC and the Marriott Metro Centre. I took the NE Regional Train which although was slower than the Acaela (only by 30 minutes) was a nice ride and not as full as the Acaela which made seating and luggage easy. I didn't use the Red Cap service and given the light load on the train I was glad I didn't, but a full Acaela may be another issue.

The Marriott Metro was a fantastic hotel. Coming from a tiny NYC hotel room to a roomy DC hotel with a king bed was a nice treat. Starbucks outlet in the lobby, great location and easy walk to the Mall. Enjoy DC, look into the Segway tours for the Mall. I wish I was aware of them when I was there!
 
Can +1 for both the train to DC and the Marriott Metro Centre. I took the NE Regional Train which although was slower than the Acaela (only by 30 minutes) was a nice ride and not as full as the Acaela which made seating and luggage easy. I didn't use the Red Cap service and given the light load on the train I was glad I didn't, but a full Acaela may be another issue.

The Marriott Metro was a fantastic hotel. Coming from a tiny NYC hotel room to a roomy DC hotel with a king bed was a nice treat. Starbucks outlet in the lobby, great location and easy walk to the Mall. Enjoy DC, look into the Segway tours for the Mall. I wish I was aware of them when I was there!

The less crowded things was the reason why I was considering the NE Regional train. Starbucks seem to be is pretty much every hotel Lobby, which is no plus for me as I don't like there coffee and American coffee in general is rubbish IMO. Segway tour sounds neat but my two travelling companions I'd have to say May struggle! Will check out the Marriott Metro thanks.

Btw Where did your stay in NYC?
 
Has anyone taken the Acaela DC to NY in First Class? if so what was it like? worth the upgrade from Business?
 
To add my 2cents, I've recently returned from a leisure trip in the states. I took AMTRAK from Penn station to DC. I did book it rather last minute but it cost me $126 USD, which worked out more than some of the internal flights (DC to NOLA was $99USD).

Iit was a pleasant train ride of 3 hours and had some lovely scenery. While it cost a little more, it was more convenient than flying as it takes you from the centre of one city to another.
 
To add my 2cents, I've recently returned from a leisure trip in the states. I took AMTRAK from Penn station to DC. I did book it rather last minute but it cost me $126 USD, which worked out more than some of the internal flights (DC to NOLA was $99USD).

Iit was a pleasant train ride of 3 hours and had some lovely scenery. While it cost a little more, it was more convenient than flying as it takes you from the centre of one city to another.

Train service with Amtrak is generally on-time, and you also save transport to/from airport.
 
Saves you from being Groped and dealing with TSA queues
 
I can now reply to my own question. We did it and it was great. Was good to see some countryside we would never have done and not have to deal with airports or TSA was a great bonus. I've got some photos which I'll post in a few days.
 
I can now reply to my own question. We did it and it was great. Was good to see some countryside we would never have done and not have to deal with airports or TSA was a great bonus. I've got some photos which I'll post in a few days.

Trip report?
 
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Ahh the memories! It was the Park Hyatt Washington - terrific stay, as we got upgraded to the Presidential Suite

Highly recommended!

DC must be the place for amazing upgrades. We got upgraded to the Abraham Lincoln Suite at the Willard Intercontinental. Best room upgrade I've ever had and likely to have I'd sa
 
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Trip report?

Working on it!

Look forward to it.

Trip report has been slow going but I'm up to day 30 now, out of 40 so 1/4 to go!. My trip full report is over at another forum but here is the post for the DC to NYC train trip which I just posted today..

DC to NYC - Amtrak (Part 1)
We had breakfast at the hotel, it was really busy and we had to wait for a table. We were just about to leave when a table opened up for us. We had a 12:00 pm train so it was a rather leisurely morning. Train travel was not something we had done before in the US and I wasn’t 100% sure how we were going to go and if we would enjoy it. Many people on line recommended the train between DC & NYC. Flight at that time of years due to weather I read were delayed or cancelled a lot. And avoiding a US airport if at all possible can’t be a bad thing really. We chose to go on the Acela Express and the trip was 2hr 45mins. There is another train, The Northeast Regional which is a slightly longer trip at 3:30.

The tickets we had gave us access to the Acela Lounge at Union Station. He we stored our luggage and had a nice clean quiet place to wait for the train. There was actually an exit directly out from the lounge onto the platform. We had arranged a “Red Cap” with the lounge staff and they would take our luggage and store it in the carriage for us. The only thing I will mention is that the Red Cap put our luggage on first, along with some others who had used the service. Then when others came on they placed their luggage on top of ours. There are racks to place luggage and also some open alcove areas. Ours were mainly in this alcove. Because everyone else had put there on top and around ours, we couldn’t get to our luggage without moving all the others. It didn’t end up being problem as most people were getting off at NYC, but I was a little bit worried for a moment after the first few stops where they really only stopped for a short time so I thought we would have to be really quick in getting off., but it was worry for nothing. As I said earlier it was a 2hr 45min hour train trip. I had never been on a train this long in my life and I wasn’t really sure how I was going to like it, but I honestly loved it. We were in the First Class cabin which was really comfortable, though it certainly was a little dated. The ticket price included lunch and drinks as well as coffee/tea and snacks.


There were a number of stop in our 2hr45m our journey. The stops that were on our route were:

  • Washington, DC - Union Station (WAS)
  • BWI Airport, MD - BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI)
  • Baltimore, MD - Penn Station (BAL)
  • Wilmington, DE (WIL)
  • Philadelphia, PA - 30th Street Station (PHL)
  • Trenton, NJ (TRE)
  • Iselin, NJ - Metropark (MET)
  • Newark, NJ - Penn Station (NWK)
  • New York, NY - Penn Station (NYP)
We got to see some countryside which we would never have seen, and even though it was just passing by it was nice to see. DS was kept noticing bridges which looked very similar to bridges we have back home, The Storey Bridge, The Harbour Bridge…


Here are some photos from both the Acela Lounge at Union Station and also during the train trip itself.

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There were a variety of seat configurations, single, doubles and booth style for 4 (with foldable table in between) This is what where chose to sit.

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continued next post....
 
DC to NYC - Amtrak (Part 2)

Continued from previous post. We got to see some of the country, fleeting as it was, that we would never have seen if it weren't for traveling on the train.



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The balloon it is for the Philadelphia Zoo and you can see a Kangaroo!
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It was a miserable day weather wise
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Son had bought an earpiece like the secret service use from the International Spy Museum in DC which plugged into is headphone jack which he was using for the rest of the trip.

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The trip went really fast, before we knew it we were pulling into Penn St Station. We were lucky enough to have a Red Cap who was delivering other people’s bags, help us with our luggage. I’m glad we got him as it was up a few levels and he also arrange for our car service to pick us up at a more appropriate place than where they had originally told us. We got up out of the station and it sure was cold. We had a couple of mins to wait before our driver picked us up and then loaded us and took us to our hotel.

I thoroughly recommend the train between DC & NYC. It was really enjoyable journey, didn’t take that long and if you can avoid airports in the USA then that is real bonus in my eyes.
 
Have just booked my ticket from Penn Station to Washington DC for 16 Oct. Am so looking forward to my upcoming US trip.
 
Thanks for sharing your TR and photos. I'm currently working on my US itinerary for next year and am tossing up between the Acela service and the slightly slower and much cheaper Northeast Regional service. Trainn travel doesn't seem to be a thing with Americans and they don't seem to much like the Acela service or Amtrak as a whole. As long as it's not rubbish like Cityrail, I don't think I'll have much to complain about.
 
You seemed to have same pictures I took from train, it's my choice of travel on east coast. I did an overnight to Charlestown, really liked it, had my own cabin, it was great having dinner in the dining car, watching the sunset.
 
We took the express train from Penn Station to Washington back in June.
It would have been a great trip - plenty of room on the train, and a nice little food place on it as well.

Only problem was that there was a problem with overhead wires on the track. Instead of a 2 hr 50 minute trip, it became a 5hr and 50 minute trip, stopping at Trenton for over an hour, then crawling to Washington at a very low speed.

I complained to Amtrak about the abysmal service, and that I could have bought a much cheaper bus ticket to get us to Washington quicker than their useless train. So they emailed me a voucher that only I can use on Amtrak trains within the next year - which is totally useless as I won't be going back to the US within the next year.
Regards,
Renato
 
HVR, could I have some details plse - Is it a return tkt, which train and price? Thanks

Have just booked my ticket from Penn Station to Washington DC for 16 Oct. Am so looking forward to my upcoming US trip.
 
Perhaps an AFFer going next May could help you out with that unused ticket, oh wait that's me. ;)


We took the express train from Penn Station to Washington back in June.
It would have been a great trip - plenty of room on the train, and a nice little food place on it as well.

Only problem was that there was a problem with overhead wires on the track. Instead of a 2 hr 50 minute trip, it became a 5hr and 50 minute trip, stopping at Trenton for over an hour, then crawling to Washington at a very low speed.

I complained to Amtrak about the abysmal service, and that I could have bought a much cheaper bus ticket to get us to Washington quicker than their useless train. So they emailed me a voucher that only I can use on Amtrak trains within the next year - which is totally useless as I won't be going back to the US within the next year.
Regards,
Renato
 
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