The Amtrak Downeaster is a great mode of transportation to use, if you don't need to be anywhere on time. Another great part about the Amtrak Downeaster is that they don't let you know when the train will ACTUALLY be getting to the station. The schedules on their website are a joke. They want the trains arrival to be a SURPRISE. Don't bother trying to download their app! That doesn't usually have the times your looking for either! Neither does the volunteer at the station! I would use Amtrak Downeaster again, as long as I had no one waiting to pick me up and I didn't have to be anywhere at a certain time. Perfect for people who love waiting at stations for at least 1/2 hour over their scheduled time. You'll love it! read more

The only reason why I gave this one star is because we did actually make it. In the last 6 months my fiance and I had received 3 one way vouchers each because of bad service on the train, mainly due to being stuck in the middle of nowehere on the train for over half an hour each time. We were able to use 4 of the 6 vouchers, but the timeframe for their expiration is so tight if you don't travel on the train on a regular basis it's very hard to redeem them. With this said, I decided to mail the vouchers to my father who lives near Portland and invited him down for a free daytrip earned from our misfortunes. The vouchers are good anytime except certain blackoout days and they also don't allow you to reserve a ticket with them, you just hop onboard and give the voucher to the conductor. I'm sure you might be thinking that it's wierd that you can't reserve a seat with the voucher given to folks as a token of apologies for their horrible service. Well, their track record for their horrible customer appreciation was able to shine this week. My father tried to come down on Marathon Monday, whiich anyone would think would be a great day trip for someone, and was turned away as soon as he entered the parking in Portland by the attendant letting him know his voucher wasn't good that day. This was before 8am. So, he took it on the chin, returned home, and we scheduled him to come to Boston today. Thank God he lives close to Portland, imagine if you just traveled a couple of hours to be denied. Anyway, I thankfully looked at the schedule late last night and saw that the 8am train was recently sold out during the evening and he'd have to take the 5:45am train if he was up for it. He agreed and I met him this morning at 8:15am at North Station and we had a great day in the city. As we were enjoying lunch I decided to pull up the tickets on my cell phone and realized that once again, sometime between 10am in the morning till 3pm in the afternoon, the 5 and 5:40pm train had been sold out. We decided to go to the train station to see if they could help us. The person at the counter told me that it was up to the conductor and he had no control. We walked out to the conductor and I couldn't even get two words out explaining what we went through before he was saying, "sorry, you're out of luck, please let others who have tickets pass you!" I couldn't believe it. I was trying to turn in my voucher which was received for their horrendous service and got even worse service than what the free voucher represented!! With all this said, I brought my father to South Station and welcomed him to the new location he'll be traveling to and from from Portland. Myself and my fiance will also be following in his footsteps. The service completely sucks when they stiff their customers like this. There's a bus every hour and is cheaper than the train. For those that this hasn't happened to, enjoy it while it lasts, because it's due to come....... and for those who have chosen this train for their regular commute, God bless read more

I have taken the amtrak downeaster several times and have had exceptional service and have always enjoyed my ride. Unfortunately I feel the need to write this review because of the comment just made by one of the train attendants. With plenty of seats available, I felt no need to move my bag from the seat next to me unless I was to be approached by someone who wanted to sit there. The female train attendant came over to me and said in an incredibly unprofessional snarky tone "We are EXTREMELY busy you need to move your bag right now. You are taking up two seats when we have boarding passengers!". I felt that I was being scolded by a teacher. Of course I was courteous and did as she asked but I fully intend on filing a complaint. There is no reason for such a rude tone. Clearly she should not be working in the service business. It was train 682 out of Durham, NH. The attendant was an older woman with short blondeish hair. Other than that the train is great...good luck though! read more

My son and I begged the conductor on train tonights 8pm 9/26/15 Train# 697 to hold the train 1 minute while my wife ran through North Station to get to us. This was at 8pm. My wife said it was 7:59 when she went onto the platform. The conductor said, "sorry" and gave the ok to pull the train away. He said, "Are you getting on?" I was like without my wife? Are you kidding me? She was running to meet the train, there were a couple people running with her. We were separated because some people elbowed there way in front of her behind me on the T and my son and I jammed in there couldn't get out before the doors closed and she was left behind. This is the great service business class passengers get from Amtrak. The conductor as he rolled away said, "Hey 200 people paid to be on this train on time." I was like I would be ok with waiting 1 minute if I were sitting in there and a family was separated on the platform. Where is customer service anymore? We were delayed almost an hour on the train heading to Boston this morning. 1 Minute was all I asked for. Stuck in Boston in a stressful situation. Thanks for nothing Amtrak. read more