"Wake Up" Coffee Service

[rickycourtney]

While flipping through the Amtrak Service Standards Manual (aka the "Blue Book") I notice that under the Sleeping Car setup procedures it mentions a "Welcome Aboard tent card that:

Summarizes amenities offered.

Space for the passenger to indicate a time for their wake up coffee.

I've never received one of these tent cards in my room. Have any AU'ers seen them recently?

Also, I wasn't aware of this wake up coffee service. I assume the SCA gives you a wake up call with coffee in hand. That would be pretty nice! Has anyone taken advantage of this service before? How did it go.

I'm getting excited for my next trip on the CZ in a few weeks!

 

[Steve4031]

Have never seen that. There is coffe set up and available from about 6 am by the stairway in superliner sleepers. In viewliner sits at one end of the car.

 

[SarahZ]

My last sleeper trip was in December, but I don't recall seeing anything like that. Maybe it's new? (Does your Blue Book have a date on it?)

 

[Shortline]

I'm sure they will, if asked, but I've never bothered. I just get it myself whenever I get up. Have not seen those cards, I assume they disapear pretty quickly, even the good SCA's probably don't want folks to know just how many things they can ask for!

 

[jphjaxfl]

In the early days of Amtrak, Sleeping Car attendants would take your order for a Wakeup Cup of Coffee or hot tea. This was carried over from better Railroads like the Santa Fe and Seaboard Coastline, but I haven't had that happen in years. They also would shine shoes when you put them in the shoe locker which they don't have any more.

 

[rickycourtney]

My last sleeper trip was in December, but I don't recall seeing anything like that. Maybe it's new? (Does your Blue Book have a date on it?)

I actually have two versions of the Blue Book. #7 is dated October 30, 2012 & #6 is dated April 30, 2011.

Both mention the "welcome aboard" card and the "wake up" coffee service.

I've traveled in the sleepers three times and always made good use of the coffee and juice in the center of the car. This just sounded like a cool service. (Working nights, I'm not a big fan of waking up in the morning!)

 

[fillyjonk]

the only "wake up" coffee service I've seen is the SCA telling us "I'll have the coffee pot up and running by 6 am"

I'm a tea drinker so that doesn't help me much. I just wait until I get breakfast and then get my cuppa. (But Amtrak tea water is never quite hot enough to brew properly....)

 

[AlanB]

I've seen those cards maybe 2 or 3 times over the years, last time was about a year ago. Not sure if they're not issued with any regularity by the commissary or if the attendants just don't use them.

 

[rickycourtney]

They also would shine shoes when you put them in the shoe locker which they don't have any more.

I recently had the pleasure of spending a weekend on the restored 10/6 sleeper PV Pacific Sands. Our wonderful car attendant used the shoe locker as a water bottle locker. She would go by every few hours and replace the bottles that were taken out of the closet.

 

[fairviewroad]

I would probably pass on this offering. I don't need a "wake-up call" as I am perfectly capable of setting the alarm on

my cell phone if needed. And frankly the idea of a bleary-eyed me being greeted by an SCA knocking at my door

really isn't an exciting way to start the day. I'm perfectly happy to walk the 10 feet or whatever to the coffee station

in the center of the car.

(But there had bloody well BETTER be coffee there!!!) :angry2:

 

[SarahZ]

We're night people too, so the idea of someone greeting me with coffee doesn't sit well. If you're going to wake me up with a knock at the door, you'd better be holding a giant sweepstakes check.

I usually just stumble down the hallway, grab us both a cup, and head back to hide in our room until we are caffeinated and no longer feral.

 

[Guest]

I am perfectly able to fetch my own coffee in the morning, especially since such is readily available right in my own sleeper car.

Matter of fact, I would feel like I was being "difficult" if I demanded the SCA bring me a cup of coffee at some specific time in the morning. Not to mention that the appropriate tip for such a demand would easily exceed the value of a cup of coffee even from Starbucks.

 

[rickycourtney]

We're night people too, so the idea of someone greeting me with coffee doesn't sit well. If you're going to wake me up with a knock at the door, you'd better be holding a giant sweepstakes check.

I usually just stumble down the hallway, grab us both a cup, and head back to hide in our room until we are caffeinated and no longer feral.

Haha. This is a great point... and one I had not fully considered.

Come to think of it... I had an experience similar to "wake up" coffee service the first time I rode on the CZ:

My AWESOME SCA saw my roomette door was open around 9 in the morning... so he stopped by to remind me to hurry over to the diner because last call for breakfast would be in about 30 minutes. While he was there he also offered to get me coffee (which I gladly took him up on) and asked if he could put away my bed while I was at breakfast.

He also offered to get me a beverage (coffee, juice, or water) when I boarded in SAC and he made me a makeshift cooler with a plastic bag and a paper ice bucket when I asked for ice.

Needless to say... he got a huge tip. Plus, it was my first long-distance train trip since I was a kid... and he made a really good impression in my mind of Amtrak (maybe it's the reason I love train travel so much now!)

 

[Big Iron]

In the early days of Amtrak, Sleeping Car attendants would take your order for a Wakeup Cup of Coffee or hot tea. This was carried over from better Railroads like the Santa Fe and Seaboard Coastline, but I haven't had that happen in years. They also would shine shoes when you put them in the shoe locker which they don't have any more.

Your experience mirrors mine. I used to see this with the Heritage 10-6 sleepers because they had no coffee pot. The SCA would also bring a newspaper that was picked up along the way. There was also the wine and cheese basket in the room.

I've never seen it in the Superliner era but that is contained to the CL as that is the only one I've ridden over the years.

 

[blueman271]

In the early days of Amtrak, Sleeping Car attendants would take your order for a Wakeup Cup of Coffee or hot tea. This was carried over from better Railroads like the Santa Fe and Seaboard Coastline, but I haven't had that happen in years. They also would shine shoes when you put them in the shoe locker which they don't have any more.

Your experience mirrors mine. I used to see this with the Heritage 10-6 sleepers because they had no coffee pot. The SCA would also bring a newspaper that was picked up along the way. There was also the wine and cheese basket in the room.
I've never seen it in the Superliner era but that is contained to the CL as that is the only one I've ridden over the years.

I rode the Star in late September and I didn't see the cards nor did I receive a wake up. Neither of which bothered me as I don't drink coffee and I hate being woken up if I'm not working.

 

[the_traveler]

I never have seen them either. But I just set the alarm on my iPad, wake up and head for the Dining Car for "first call"!

 

[buddy559]

This seems to me like a case of something that looked "cute, fun, and cheap" for the decision makers to implement that just didn't fly in person.

I can picture some well meaning SCA getting barked at a few times for disturbing a guest, and those cards ending up as fluid absorbers at the bottom of the trash cans, as an onboard norm.

For example when I was flying, they started sending out glossy paper tray table place mats to place the meal trays on in first class. The problem that, while pretty and fancy, it turned the tray table into a greased cookie sheet. I used them on 1 flight, after the 2nd tray accident on that flight, I promptly collected them, and never used them again.

 

[rrdude]

I'm a BIG FAN of wake up calls, iPhone, iPad or TA-S, dun't matter. Need something to pry my fat arse outta bed in the morning, after that bottle of Cab (or two) the night before...........

 

[the Other Mike]

I never saw the cards, however, back during the heritage equipment days on the CNO, I was asked what time I wanted breakfast resv. and what time I'd like to get up. I was greeted in the AM with a knock at the door with a small tray with coffee, orange juice and a morning paper from the last stop we had made.

 

[Guest]

Going off on a slight tangent...

Do sleeper passengers still get a morning paper dropped off at their roomette/bedroom?

I remember getting one many years ago on the Silvers, but for one reason and another (like running late), such seems to have stopped.

 

[fredevad]

I actually have never needed a wake up call. Although I sleep later at home, I'm usually up pretty early when on a train. I roll the mattress to the head end of the cabin, set the seat up, grab my own coffee, turn on the scanner, wake the phone GPS, and sit and watch the scenery go by (sometimes I'll do this in the middle of the night, too. Especially when the moon is bright). The hard part is figuring when to shower so as not to miss anything.

As far as coffee goes, I like to have it available 6am or a little earlier to well into the night.

 

[fairviewroad]

Going off on a slight tangent...

Do sleeper passengers still get a morning paper dropped off at their roomette/bedroom?

I remember getting one many years ago on the Silvers, but for one reason and another (like running late), such seems to have stopped.

IME the papers are put in a stack near the coffeepot (in Superliners, at least).

 

[the_traveler]

To give an Amtrak answer - sometimes yes, sometimes no!

I've had some SCA's give them to me, either in the room or while I was "stretching" at the "fresh air" stop or just walking thru. Other times, the SCA just put them by the coffee machine.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

In the last week, all three mornings I had the paper delivered under my door on Superliners.

########################################################################​

On heritage equipment sleepers I remember getting coffee served, but as has been stated, there were no 'communal' coffee pots.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT​

One can request getting breakfast served in one's room, and though I've never done it, I'd think that qualifies as coffee served, but you would need to wake up and hit the call button. That said, in this day and age with all our electronic devices, if you need a wake up call and can't do it yourself, maybe you should never leave your residence.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

While I'm not a coffee drinker nothing starts the train day off right than waking up and finding a paper, if even if it is the US Today has been slid under your door and is waiting for you