User Reviews for Minnesota Zephyr Limited

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Nov 6, 2006 by Phil
Overall Rating: 7

• Food is excellent, train ride is fun!
• Service was poor.

“The food is terrific and the train ride is fun, but bewares of some hidden charges if you go on the Minnesota Zephyr. When you are presented with your bar bill at the end of the trip, you will find a 10% gratuity already added in for the train staff. (They forget to mention this on the page of their website that discusses fares, reservations, gratuities, etc.) That 10% of your basic fare, before any beverages. The only train staff we saw was a group of four singers who walked through the cars singing 1940 songs. The last time through our car, they stopped and sang for a lady who was turning 81, completely ignoring my daughters 16th birthday. My daughter (who had requested a trip on the Zephyr as her birthday celebration) will probably never ask to go on the Zephyr again. For the four of us, that would have been another $29! Here where we had a problem. Although the food was terrific, the service was mediocre to poor. We had to ask for, and then wait a long time for, everything we needed. We even had to ask twice before my daughter could get another Coke! I mean really it doesn¿t get any simpler than pouring a Coke! And when the server brought my Boxcar (basically, a martini), he was so busy talking to a guest at another table that he spilled about half of it on the floor. Finally, we ate our dessert (cheesecake) with empty coffee cups because our server spent the last 25 minutes of the trip totaling everyone bar tab, and not checking to see if anyone needed anything. Then, about five minutes before we returned to the station, our server stopped at our table for some small talk obviously trying to salvage a good tip. We left him a $20 and I really feel that was too much. (I am from the old school that feels a server should earn the gratuity and is not just automatically entitled to one regardless of the job he/she has done). My conclusions: the food is great, the train ride is fun, the scenery is quite good, but the service is poor. The Minnesota Zephyr needs to learn more about customer care and they definitely need to give their servers a wake-up call.”

14 of 14 people found this review helpful.

Oct 20, 2006 by Ronald from Plymouth
Overall Rating: 6

• I liked the fact that entertainment in period attire is provided.
• No pricing information available online.

“While interesting and containing a modicum of information, the site has 3 big faults. 1) No pricing information 2) No online reservation capability. 3) No information on handicap accessibility.”

8 of 10 people found this review helpful.