Nice place, wonderful train ride, not so hot on the organisation. Only to be expected in a place that relies heavily on volunteer workers but also there is a design problem with the building. The check-in desk is too close to the entrance. This leaves the que through the door and out on to the street which means it blocks the station cafe entrance and the station shop entrance. The gentleman (one gentleman, no ladies) doing the check-in looked to be past retirement age so I assume he was a volunteer was very efficient and did the job well but he was on his own checking in 200 to 250 people and also he was in charge of hampers. You have the option to purchase a lunch hamper when you book your ticket. 3 options as I remember it. Firstly they are not hampers, they are baskets and once 2 or 3 hamper people were checked in he would dash over to a table and dispense hampers/baskets and the que would get longer while he was gone. At one stage the train guard and the train manager both turned up to discuss something with check-in guy and the que got a lot longer as that took 7 or 8 minutes. I'm sure it was important but it certainly didn't help the que. There were several disabled travellers so may be it was that. There was another man who spent his time trying to keep the que single file so the entrances didn't get blocked but it didn't work and I can't help feeling the problem would have been a lot smaller had he got behind the check-in desk and got the que moving faster. The journey was lovely. Beautiful scenery. Great ride. No refreshments (probably due to staff shortages as you need hygiene qualifications for that. ALL of Wales is advertising for catering staff at the moment. Thank you Brexit). My wife and I had lunch in Porthmadog (The Rock cafe) so I can't tell you about the hampers/baskets but I can definitely recommend The Rock. Personally I would have liked another hour in Porthmadog. By the time we had taken photos of the engine and a video of the engine leaving to get coal all we had time for was lunch and one charity shop. 3 hours would have improved that but then we wouldn't have got back to Caernarfon until 17:30 which would have meant different problems. I will probably do it again but not in a hurry as there is also the Festiniog Railway (same station in Porthmadog but ending up in the mountains. Don't miss it. Be patient with the poor check-in guy.
Maciej Iwanicki286 days ago
Nice and clean station, coffee shop and gift shop well supplied.
(Original)
Una linda estación
Only to be expected in a place that relies heavily on volunteer workers but also there is a design problem with the building. The check-in desk is too close to the entrance. This leaves the que through the door and out on to the street which means it blocks the station cafe entrance and the station shop entrance. The gentleman (one gentleman, no ladies) doing the check-in looked to be past retirement age so I assume he was a volunteer was very efficient and did the job well but he was on his own checking in 200 to 250 people and also he was in charge of hampers. You have the option to purchase a lunch hamper when you book your ticket. 3 options as I remember it. Firstly they are not hampers, they are baskets and once 2 or 3 hamper people were checked in he would dash over to a table and dispense hampers/baskets and the que would get longer while he was gone. At one stage the train guard and the train manager both turned up to discuss something with check-in guy and the que got a lot longer as that took 7 or 8 minutes. I'm sure it was important but it certainly didn't help the que. There were several disabled travellers so may be it was that. There was another man who spent his time trying to keep the que single file so the entrances didn't get blocked but it didn't work and I can't help feeling the problem would have been a lot smaller had he got behind the check-in desk and got the que moving faster.
The journey was lovely. Beautiful scenery. Great ride. No refreshments (probably due to staff shortages as you need hygiene qualifications for that. ALL of Wales is advertising for catering staff at the moment. Thank you Brexit).
My wife and I had lunch in Porthmadog (The Rock cafe) so I can't tell you about the hampers/baskets but I can definitely recommend The Rock. Personally I would have liked another hour in Porthmadog. By the time we had taken photos of the engine and a video of the engine leaving to get coal all we had time for was lunch and one charity shop. 3 hours would have improved that but then we wouldn't have got back to Caernarfon until 17:30 which would have meant different problems.
I will probably do it again but not in a hurry as there is also the Festiniog Railway (same station in Porthmadog but ending up in the mountains.
Don't miss it. Be patient with the poor check-in guy.