I’ve been doing Acela up and down the NE corridor for a few years now and like it for the most part.
-We got upgraded to first class one time with miles and that was pretty nice.
-Boarding any train at Penn Station NYC is possibly the worst headache in all of transportation. Much worse than TSA sec lines at airports. It’s probably comparable to soccer matches in hostile countries where people get stampeded and shot when their team doesn’t win.
-Wifi on Acela is great. They even block bandwidth hogs like youtube and hulu. There’s also power outlets at every seat.