I'm giving Amtak 1 star only because of the fare price. Otherwise they would get no stars! To start with there is no service in ID. I had to travel by Greyhound to Salt Lake City. And of course they couldn't schedule a bus to arrive close to the departure time. I had to reserve a motel room for the 10 hrs I would have to wait for my connection. I arrived at the station by 3:30 am for my 4:30 departure time. That went rather smoothly, at that hr the station master was relatively friendly. I didn't know it then but that would be the last friendly employee I would meet. The conductors and other personnel on the Ca Zephyr were rude and curt. The only passengers that were treated with anything resembling courtesy were the handicapped. And I wouldn't rate that as really friendly. My grandson & I were assigned seats and then ignored. I had traveled by train as a child (remember the Wabash Cannonball? Wonderful memories). This trip was nothing like that. While there was lots of leg room and overhead storage they did not provide blankets (the coach was cold)and the pillows were a joke! Maybe for a doll bed but not for humans. Restrooms were extremely dirty and smelly. Ours broke down and we had to go to the car ahead. This lasted for over 8 hrs. The train rocked, rolled and bounced so hard it was impossible to sleep. I remember the soothing motion of trains long past. This was more like a roller coaster ride. While the view was fantastic from SLC to Denver it was impossible to get a seat in the observation car. Certain passengers would get there early and stake out a seat. Train personnel could have done something about this but apparently had other more important jobs to do than take care of passengers. Train staff were discourteous and surly at times. Food was ok but overpriced and portions were very small. Impossible to enjoy a meal due to the rocking, bouncing and jerking of the train. Meals were always late. Some passengers were still being called to dinner at 9:30 pm. I don't know why they bothered with reservations since you were never called at your reserved time. Our train was 3 hrs late getting in to Chicago and we missed our connection. We had to be bussed to Indianapolis where we caught our train (the Cardinal) which was also late. The Cardinal was freezing and smelly. They did have newer, cleaner restrooms however, and the staff was relatively friendly. Arrived in Cincinnati 4 hrs late. By this time my grandson had been traveling for 50 hrs + and were dirty, tired and disgusted. Oh yeah, the website states there are showers on the train. Yes, maybe, if you are first class or have a roomette or bedroom. I guess common passengers don't need to bathe. They probably think we are used to bathing only once a week. As horrendous as the trip to Cincinnati was, the trip back was even worse. Every train was late but fortunately the layovers were long enough that no connections were missed. We were supposed to have a 3 1/2 layover in Chicago but barely had time to detrain, grab a bite to eat and get to the next gate. There we were herded to our train. I am 62 so I got to board first. We were not assigned seating so my grandson and I found seats together but moved when a family with 3 children sat across from us. We should have stayed there because in our new seats we were surrounded by 2 families all with small unruly children. One mother traveling with her mother had 4 children under the age of 7, one was a baby. The children were loud and the baby cried most of the trip. Another mother with 2 small boys sat in front of us. She was traveling with another family member. This mother believed if she repeated a command often enough eventually her small son would obey. Not only did he not obey, he repeated continuous demands of his own. This child would throw himself down in the middle of the aisle and refuse to move. His mother continually requested he get up but did not physically remove him. Staff and passengers had to climb over him. For the entire 34 + hrs of the trip I had to listen to crying, whining, loud children. Once I went to the observation car to get away from them but they followed me. Why didn't I change seats? I tried but was told to return to my original seat. I asked for a change and was refused. I was so sleep deprived and upset I cried for over an hour. Several staff went by but no one stopped to ask if I was ok. We finally arrived in SLC and I was actually looking forward to the bus ride to Boise. The attendant in the SLC station was rude. I called several hotels and finally got one that had a room. They neglected to tell me they were 25 miles from SLC. I had the station attendant call for a taxi and the taxi driver informed me of the distance. He was pissed when I told him never mind. Went back to the station, found a room in town and asked for another taxi to be called. The attendant actually chastised me for dismissing the first taxi!! He reluctantly called a second taxi for me and I gladly