An excerpt of the video transcript:
Ashley Rains, Visit Mobile Senior Public Relations and Communications Manager:
What makes Mobile such a great anchor route for Amtrak Mardi Gras ServiceSM is that on one side, you do have New Orleans, which certainly has the largest Mardi Gras celebration. But on our end in Mobile, we are the birthplace of the Mardi Gras celebration in the United States.
What a lot of people who may not be super familiar with Mobile are going to find out when they start visiting is that you're going to want to stay a while.
There's so much to do and so much to see, and honestly, so much to eat. There are 50-plus restaurants downtown, and many of them are chef-owned and most are locally owned. But I feel like you're really going to want to stay overnight.
When you visit Mobile and when you see how much there is to do, Mobile.org is a great place to look for hotel discounts and see what hotels might be offering, maybe special packages for Amtrak train riders.
Marc Magliari, Amtrak Senior Public Relations Manager:
For the first time in about 20 years, you will be able to buy an Amtrak ticket to Mobile. We had not served Mobile ever since [Hurricane Katrina].
The new service that starts now has trains twice a day, in the morning and in the afternoon, from here to New Orleans and from New Orleans back. The service will be reliable. It'll be relevant to the region. And the fares are pretty attractive, starting at $15 each way.
Rains:
I know that our downtown attractions and our downtown restaurants, they've also been preparing. I know that they're creating special dishes and looking at the times of these arrivals and being prepared to shower everybody with our Southern hospitality.
Mobilians are just known for being gracious and grateful, and I know that just everybody downtown there's just an air of excitement through the Downtown Mobile Alliance and Visit Mobile and our partners.
We're very excited to welcome everybody here, and so I know that there have been accommodations made for that.
