*meals*

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jenikaye

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Hi all,

I know meals are included when you have a sleeper but I was wondering what a "meal" consists of. For example, do you have to pay extra for soup or dessert? Thanks for any insight any of you may have :D

Jeni

ps

I heard a rumor you can be served meals in your room....any truth to this?
 
The only thing that's not included is liquor. Desert, salad, soup if it's available, plus the main meal are all included.

Yes you can get the sleeping car attendant to bring you your meals, however they generally try to make that a perk only for the elderly, handicapped, or those traveling with small children. A nice attendant will still usually try to accomodate anyone outside the above group, but they will encourage you to head to the diner. Besides, that's half the fun of being on the train. You get to wander around some and meet new people. :)
 
Plus in the Sleeper you get free coffee, bottled water and soda, along with some other things sometimes. Boy I miss those cookies. :)
 
You must try to dining car experience...it is highly to be recommended. The dining in your room thing, is just like ALan B. said, yes, you can do it, but it is more encouraged for elderly, handicapped, etc. Kind of depends on the attendant, their other duties, etc.

My recommendation: get very used to the dining car experience, and sometime in the future, just for a lark, you might try being served in your room. It is very nice either way.
 
Bill Haithcoat said:
You must try to dining car experience...it is highly to be recommended. The dining in your room thing, is just like ALan B. said, yes, you can do it, but it is more encouraged for elderly, handicapped, etc. Kind of depends on the attendant, their other duties, etc.  My recommendation:  get very used to the dining car experience, and sometime in the future, just for a lark, you might try being served in your room. It is very nice either way.
I agree with Bill, its indeed a wonderful experience.

Your diner is most likely to look like this

http://www.amtraktrains.com/cgi-bin/photo?...o?/DSC00025.JPG

However you may encounter this

http://www.amtraktrains.com/cgi-bin/photo?...eritdinrINT.jpg

And if you're very lucky, you'll get a diner that looks like this, for example 8552 is the number of one.

abr8552interior.jpg
 
Actually, out of the 22 Heritage Diners, 10 have gone through Temoinsa rebuilds, and 2 have gone through a Beech Grove rebuild so you have a 60% chance of riding in a rebuild. However, there's nothing wrong with unrefurbished diners, they actually have a nice "old" touch, though a little beat up.
 
Sometimes those cushions you sit on can/will slide off.

Also why do there seem to be variatios of the rebuilds?
 
There are the Temoinsa rebuilds then the Beech Grove rebuilds that have the white/grey interior, red seat cusions, and the blue bulkhead walls. Also those cars never got a remodled kitchen, just new quipment. Here are some photos of the Beech Grove rebuild.

#8512

p238.jpg


#8550

p068.jpg
 
While overall I like the Timoinsa referubs, the one thing that I don't like is the new seats. They are far too small. The bench seating in the original diners is far superior. I find myself sometimes squished or half hanging off the seat in a Timoinsa rebuild, since the only other choice is to sit in my companion's lap.

I love the rest of the work that they did to those cars, it's very impressive and makes for a very pleasent dining experience. They just need to use different seats.
 
Viewliner,

Which diner am I most likely to see on the LSL out of Albany since their is no diner out of Beantown?

AND WHERE ELSE CAN I GET SOME PICS OF THE VIEWLINER DELUXE BEDROOMS. ANYTHING AT ALL. I'VE SEEN THE ONES HERE, THEYRE GREAT. KEEP IT UP. BUT I NEED MORE. DETAILS. DETAILS. AND MORE DETAILS. :lol:
 
While eating in the dining car can be a fun experience, I'm sure there are plenty of people (me included, especially when traveling alone) who aren't all that comfortable being forced to sit and eat with people they don't know. Everybody isn't a great conversationalist and everybody isn't traveling by train to meet new people. Why should someone be forced to make one part of their trip an uncomfortable experience?

While I understand it would be a hassle to offer meal delivery as a standard service for all sleeper riders, it would be nice if something like "carry out service" could be offered. This way you could still receive the same food offerings the diner provides but not take up the time of somebody to deliver it.

"Car 3001, Room 4, your order is ready!" :)

seajay
 
Seajay,

I've seen passengers come in to the diner for take out, both sleeper and coach passengers. Granted I haven't seen many, but it does happen, and in all cases the passenger was accomodated. You did have to wait for your food, they weren't going to call you.

Also as another alternative, and something that I hope Amtrak would do in all future purchases of diners, the Timoinsa rebuilds now have a small counter with bar stool seating for 4 or 5. So solo riders can sit there if they want a little more privacy than the regular tabels provide. You don't get a nice window to look out of, just a view of the service area wall, but it is another alternative.
 
Seajay. I sort of see your point....I, too, just speaking for myself here, consider myself very much of an introvert. I, too, am uncomfortable making small talk with strangers, as a rule....but on a train, I find it much easier....aside from the ever present weather, and asking how they like their food....there is often conversation about trains, destinations, plans, etc. I find there is usually enough to fill up the conversation gap. So many times the people are new train riders and I am able to give them concrete help on the train itself, possible sightseeing tips from the train.I find, shy though I normally am, that the whole thing is kind of different(and better) on the train.

Some of my fondest memories from the train are of people I have eaten with...I think the most unsual person I ever sat across from was a frumpy old lady from Mississippi who was, get this, now....a retired SPY for the U.S. Government.Traveling with her was an actress, not too well known, I guess.

One night I sat in strained silence in the diner of the Empire Builder with a man and and a younger lady...as uncomfortrable as you would want....then, guess what...the next morning at breakfast they were seated with me again, I groaned, oh no!! But then they started talking very comfortably...turns out they were father and daughter, and the wife/mother who would have been traveling with them had died a few months before...so they just needed periods of reflection....I happend to be in their way of needing that, the night before. But, it turns out, we were all fellow railroad freaks and had ridden many of the same trains. We had a very delightful breakfast, indeed!. They were traveling to Seattle and taking a cruise the next day.

So hang in there...shy as I am, I find it most delightful much of the time..I am quite the wallflower in many other situations..
 
I have had some very pleasant experiences in a dining car and I don't mean to say that I would ever want to just shut myself in my compartment and have meals shoved under the curtain. :lol: But, there are times, especially for breakfast, when I would prefer to have my meal in private and I can simply enjoy eating with the dawn of a new day spreading out in front of me. That's my favorite time of day and I like to spend it with my own thought, ideas, and, yes, perhaps even dreams. (Is Hallmark calling?!?) Also, I don't want to have to worry if I haven't had a chance to get to the shower yet! :lol:

I like the idea of a counter set-up. I understand that would take a lot of reconfiguring and might not be cost-effective. I would certainly utilize somthing like that, though.

seajay
 
I enjoy mornings in peice. One time we went to the diner for breakfast around 6:30 in the morning and this lady we were sitting with would not shut up. Bla bla bla bla. She wasn't mostly going on about how her life sucked, she hated her job, and the train was over 2 hours late which she wasn't happy about. So all in all I like having a meal delivered to my room, so I can just relax.
 
Usually there will be maybe one person at the table at most. I understand what you guys mean, after all "Silence Is Bliss." I think breakfast is one of my favorite meals on the train.

As for the seating that might be feasable, keeping in mind that the Temoinsa Rebuilds have 4 fewer booth seatings, however maybe the Viewliners could take advantage of the Counter Seating (I'm dreaming again :rolleyes: ).
 
-Late Shore- said:
Viewliner,
Which diner am I most likely to see on the LSL out of Albany since their is no diner out of Beantown?

AND WHERE ELSE CAN I GET SOME PICS OF THE VIEWLINER DELUXE BEDROOMS. ANYTHING AT ALL. I'VE SEEN THE ONES HERE, THEYRE GREAT. KEEP IT UP. BUT I NEED MORE. DETAILS. DETAILS. AND MORE DETAILS.   :lol:
Late Shore,

As Amfleet said in a previous post, there is about a 60% Chance of getting a rebuild. As for the Lake Shore Limited itself, I'm not familiar with it, you probably have as fair a chance as any route.

Here's one more deluxe bedroom picture. Note that aside from 8552, and some Viewliner Exterior Pics, these aren't ones I've taken.

viewlinerdeluxebr.JPG


This is one of those diagrams of the Viewliner Deluxe Bedroom

viewlinerdeluxbdr.gif


Not that this'll help you now but I'll try to get some interior Viewliner pics in March, whren I take the Silver Meteor.
 
Viewliner,

Those are some EXCELLENT pics. Just what I needed to confirm a few things about the deluxe room. Great. :)
 
After reading the thread, I recall that I haven't seen the mint chocolates in the sleeper lately!!!

This is starting to bite! :(

B)
 
Miami Joe said:
After reading the thread, I recall that I haven't seen the mint chocolates in the sleeper lately!!!
This is starting to bite! :(

B)
So whats left besides soda, juice, coffee, and some fruit, or did we lose some of those amenities as well. :unsure: :(
 
AlanB said:
Also as another alternative, and something that I hope Amtrak would do in all future purchases of diners, the Timoinsa rebuilds now have a small counter with bar stool seating for 4 or 5. So solo riders can sit there if they want a little more privacy than the regular tabels provide. You don't get a nice window to look out of, just a view of the service area wall, but it is another alternative.
I had a dining car last week MIA/NYP that had stools, but no one is allowed to sit on them because the stools don't have backs and people could fall off. Beleive me I tried to eat on one of them.

I was in the accessable room, due to six strokes, and had asked for meals to be served when I made reservations. I can manipulate the narrow halls of the sleepers without falling, but have no balance in the dining car. The car attendant saw me getting coffee from the galley (two hours after I woke up) and said, "You can go to the dining car" His attitude seemed to be, "If you can walk, I ain't serving you."

My 6/4 325 frame, combined with the after effects of the strokes does not work in a dining car booth without taking the tablecloth off, so I balanced on my cane and asked for an order to go. The server said my car attendant had to get it. I explained the above, and he sat me at one of the stools. A second person came along and said no one was allowed to sit there. They suggested I "try the booths again." No thanks, not in front of a dining car full of people. I found a bench seat while my breakfast was prepared. When it was ready, a dining car attendant carried it back to the accesable room for me. He received a good hunk of what would have been the car attendant's tip.

Amtrak is doing a great job meeting the needs of the mobility impaired, until we want to eat. How about one booth for the disabled, just as they have one room for that purpose?
 
Hmm, very interesting. I wonder if that's a new rule, as I've seen people and crew eat at those stools. It's also a stupid rule, as I've also seen people bounced right out of the bench seats at the tables. I wonder if they are trying to keep those stools for crew only.

I'm also sorry to hear that you hit a sleeping car attendant with no brain, nor any idea of common courtesy, let alone the requirements of his job. :( You were quite right to give the dining car attendant a nice tip. :) I hope that you also told the sleeping car attendant where his tip went. :angry: It would serve him right to know what he lost out on, because of his laziness. Frankly though, I don’t get it. I’ve seen attendant’s serve people who did not have mobility problems, so I can only guess that this was one of the few lazy ones left who like to coast through their jobs. You’d think by now that he’d know that people base tips on service, not lack of service. If that ever happens again, I highly recommend seeking out the conductor, since the OBSC has been eliminated, and making a formal complaint. I would also take note of the attendant’s name and write a letter to Amtrak including a copy of your ticket stub.

With regard to a handicapped table, I doubt that you would ever see any of the current cars setup for that. Perhaps if Amtrak ever orders new diners, they may include such a table, but the current cars don’t really have the room for such a table. Besides I’m not sure that Amtrak ever intended to have handicapped moving from one car to the next, due to the dangers involved in passing from one car to the next. That’s precisely why it is the sleeping car attendant’s job to bring meals to anyone in the handicapped room. Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not trying to say that a handicapped person should be barred from the dining car either, but there is a very serious safety issue here. One good bounce, while walking between cars, can throw anyone off balance.

It should also be noted that a wheel chair could never pass between cars, as the doorways are too small for that. Therefore again Amtrak probably never envisioned the need for a handicapped table. Also consider the fact that all of Amtrak’s dining cars were built before much of the current ADA laws were written. Add to that the constant ongoing fiscal crunch, and that eliminated any hope of provisions for handicapped tables even if it was considered. Now I’m not trying to make excuses for Amtrak, merely trying to explain what I think are some of the reasons for the current setup.

I do think that Amtrak should try to make some accommodation with any future diners for mobility-reduced passengers such as you. At least they could put backs on those stools if they are worried about your falling off.
 
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