Palace on Wheels- India

Trip Report - - Palace on Wheels



In the first week of November (2007), we spent a week on a tour of Rajasthan
aboard a train called the "Palace on Wheels".



The trains was made up of 14 cars for passengers and a number of support
cars - - two restaurant cars, a bar car, staff, power, equipment, supplies,
etc. When fully booked, the train carries a little over 100 passengers.



Each passenger car contained four private, air conditioned compartments and
a small sitting room. The private compartments were small, compact and
fairly comfortable with a bathroom (shower, toilet and wash basin) and two
single beds. The beds had a firm mattress pad and were wide enough for the
occupant to entertain a visitor for a brief period of time but were
inadequate for long-term, double residency. Storage space was limited to
several drawers and a narrow closet about 15 inches wide. Most of our stuff
stayed in suitcases stored under the beds.



Each car had two attendants at its beck and call. They could be summoned
24/7 by a call button in the compartment and usually responded in a less
than a minute. They were responsible for the comfort of the people in their
car. They prepared breakfast to order which was served in the sitting room,
fetched drinks, ice, coffee. . took care of laundry, mailed letters,
provided wake-up calls and seemed to be responsible for getting us off the
train in time for tours.



Evening meals were served in two sittings (7 pm and 8:30 pm) in the dining
cars. Food was distinctly Indian with spices tamed down for western tastes.
Serving attendants passed through the car serving each table a large number
of different items. It was like a tasting menu - - - a little of
everything. A limited wine list made wine available at around $60 per
bottle.



Days were filled with tours led by a local guide from whatever town we
happened to be in. To make things more manageable, passengers were broken
down into 4 separate groups of 20 to 25 people with the different groups
identified by colored buttons. These buttons seemed to be the "open sesame"
to a lot of the places we visited - - - bypassing entry lines or being
funneled to separate entrances. There was not a lot of contact between the
different groups. We were kept with our own group on tours, busses and
sittings at evening meal. Opportunity for socializing with members of the
other groups was very limited.



All in all, this was a convenient way to see the highlights of Rajasthan
without packing and unpacking. Most of the traveling was done at night
while we slept. The accommodations were comfortable, the food was very good
and the service was, for the most part, satisfactory. Serving staff in the
dining car in the evening seemed to be in a hurry to get the meal over with.
Clearing was rushed. While they could be fended off, leisurely conversation
over the evening meal was a challenge.



This tour did have several distinct drawbacks:



Shopping:



The majority of the passengers were affluent, seasoned travelers. Shopping
was not a priority item on their agenda. However, Palace on Wheels appeared
to have contracts with emporiums at every town we visited and stopped every
day at a "Genuine, Government Approved, Best Prices Madam, You Must See .. .
.. . retail outlet of one type or another where we wasted several hours.
Requests that we skip this sort of thing fell on deaf ears. This clearly
represents a source of revenue. As long as POW can fill its cars, there is
no incentive for them to discontinue this practice.



Tour Group Size:



The locations we visited were clearly the most impressive and popular sites
in Rajasthan. They tended to be crowded and fairly noisy. In most cases,
the guides contracted by POW were trying to project their voices over the
racket. Indian accented English delivered in a monotone shout was great for
volume, but lousy for comprehension. We could usually only pick up every
4th or 5th word.



Limited scope:



We had hoped to see and learn something about India - - - it's culture,
society, education, politics, caste system etc. We looked forward to
strolling through a market. None of this happened. This tour was focused
exclusively on the history of the rulers of this area who apparently devoted
virtually all of their time in very bloody and expensive military
shenanigans or draining the resources of the area in the construction of
over-the-top architectural baubles. As advertised, this tour took us to
the most impressive forts and palaces in Rajasthan. After a couple of days,
they all started to look the same.



One woman became so disgusted with the whole experience that she made
arrangements to abandon ship and fly home in mid-tour. Her bags were packed
and she was preparing to leave when the train manager offered her a private
car and guide.



My over-all impression was this was more Glitz than Luxury . . . a lot of
red and gold paint, and turbaned attendants who addressed us as Maharaja or
Mahajarani while they were setting us up to be hosed in a tourist trap.



While the tour was interesting, the luxury was over-stated and the trip was
over-priced.

Thanks Bubba - was considering the Deccan Oddyssey - a similar train from
Mumbai. Might give it a miss - the price is extremely high - and it sounds
as if the experience did not deliver value for the price!




"Bubba" wrote in message
...
Trip Report - - Palace on Wheels



In the first week of November (2007), we spent a week on a tour of
Rajasthan aboard a train called the "Palace on Wheels".



The trains was made up of 14 cars for passengers and a number of support
cars - - two restaurant cars, a bar car, staff, power, equipment,
supplies, etc. When fully booked, the train carries a little over 100
passengers.



Each passenger car contained four private, air conditioned compartments
and a small sitting room. The private compartments were small, compact
and fairly comfortable with a bathroom (shower, toilet and wash basin) and
two single beds. The beds had a firm mattress pad and were wide enough
for the occupant to entertain a visitor for a brief period of time but
were inadequate for long-term, double residency. Storage space was
limited to several drawers and a narrow closet about 15 inches wide. Most
of our stuff stayed in suitcases stored under the beds.



Each car had two attendants at its beck and call. They could be summoned
24/7 by a call button in the compartment and usually responded in a less
than a minute. They were responsible for the comfort of the people in
their car. They prepared breakfast to order which was served in the
sitting room, fetched drinks, ice, coffee. . took care of laundry, mailed
letters, provided wake-up calls and seemed to be responsible for getting
us off the train in time for tours.



Evening meals were served in two sittings (7 pm and 8:30 pm) in the dining
cars. Food was distinctly Indian with spices tamed down for western
tastes. Serving attendants passed through the car serving each table a
large number of different items. It was like a tasting menu - - - a
little of everything. A limited wine list made wine available at around
$60 per bottle.



Days were filled with tours led by a local guide from whatever town we
happened to be in. To make things more manageable, passengers were broken
down into 4 separate groups of 20 to 25 people with the different groups
identified by colored buttons. These buttons seemed to be the "open
sesame" to a lot of the places we visited - - - bypassing entry lines or
being funneled to separate entrances. There was not a lot of contact
between the different groups. We were kept with our own group on tours,
busses and sittings at evening meal. Opportunity for socializing with
members of the other groups was very limited.



All in all, this was a convenient way to see the highlights of Rajasthan
without packing and unpacking. Most of the traveling was done at night
while we slept. The accommodations were comfortable, the food was very
good and the service was, for the most part, satisfactory. Serving staff
in the dining car in the evening seemed to be in a hurry to get the meal
over with. Clearing was rushed. While they could be fended off, leisurely
conversation over the evening meal was a challenge.



This tour did have several distinct drawbacks:



Shopping:



The majority of the passengers were affluent, seasoned travelers.
Shopping was not a priority item on their agenda. However, Palace on
Wheels appeared to have contracts with emporiums at every town we visited
and stopped every day at a "Genuine, Government Approved, Best Prices
Madam, You Must See .. . . . retail outlet of one type or another where we
wasted several hours. Requests that we skip this sort of thing fell on
deaf ears. This clearly represents a source of revenue. As long as POW
can fill its cars, there is no incentive for them to discontinue this
practice.



Tour Group Size:



The locations we visited were clearly the most impressive and popular
sites in Rajasthan. They tended to be crowded and fairly noisy. In most
cases, the guides contracted by POW were trying to project their voices
over the racket. Indian accented English delivered in a monotone shout
was great for volume, but lousy for comprehension. We could usually only
pick up every 4th or 5th word.



Limited scope:



We had hoped to see and learn something about India - - - it's culture,
society, education, politics, caste system etc. We looked forward to
strolling through a market. None of this happened. This tour was focused
exclusively on the history of the rulers of this area who apparently
devoted virtually all of their time in very bloody and expensive military
shenanigans or draining the resources of the area in the construction of
over-the-top architectural baubles. As advertised, this tour took us to
the most impressive forts and palaces in Rajasthan. After a couple of
days, they all started to look the same.



One woman became so disgusted with the whole experience that she made
arrangements to abandon ship and fly home in mid-tour. Her bags were
packed and she was preparing to leave when the train manager offered her a
private car and guide.



My over-all impression was this was more Glitz than Luxury . . . a lot of
red and gold paint, and turbaned attendants who addressed us as Maharaja
or Mahajarani while they were setting us up to be hosed in a tourist trap.



While the tour was interesting, the luxury was over-stated and the trip
was over-priced.

On Tue, 4 Dec 2007 15:34:35 -0600, "Bubba"
wrote:

Trip Report - - Palace on Wheels

snipped for brevity but read

Thanks for a useful report. Reinforces my decision to hire a
car and driver.


Cheers, Alan, Australia
--
http://loraltravel.blogspot.com/
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