Woo hoo! Wine tasting resuming in the Parlour Car!

Just got on board... Nanette is doing the wine tastings.... Cost is 7.50 per person, 3 wines and a larger pour.... Great job fighting the nickel and dimers!

The Wine Tasting is well worth $7.50, especially if the pours are plenty tall and plenty long and if it helps keep money coming into the PPC Kitty, so much the better! Is it open for Coach as well?

I had read in Trains Magazine the CS was very likely going to resume the wine tasting as a paid event.

JayPea said:

I had read in Trains Magazine the CS was very likely going to resume the wine tasting as a paid event.

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Resuming the wine tasting as a paid event is certainly acceptable and better than just doing away with them!

FrensicPic said:

JayPea said:

I had read in Trains Magazine the CS was very likely going to resume the wine tasting as a paid event.

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Resuming the wine tasting as a paid event is certainly acceptable and better than just doing away with them!

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Agree 100%!!! And this coming from someone who has never participated in wine tasting nor am I likely to.

Excellent news! The OBS and Passengers Strike Back against the Evil Empire in WAS!!!!!

Hopefully they'll still have Columbia Crest, a Washington State Wine I first discovered in the PPC and which is an excellent reasonably priced wine! The cheese can be saved for the mice! LOL

Bravo, Amtrak. Well done.

No coach on this train but lunch sold out before we were even asked... We grabbed a 6 in the parlour car. Staff seem really happy, even Nanette, who is the attendant. Looks like they are using the cheese thing from the cafe car? Luckily, when we were in San Diego, we hit the Famer's Market and I purchased cheese that would travel well.... so I will bring that along! I think people in the know REALLY want to support the Parlour Car and say yes to some extra cost....

Is there any cheese involved in this, or should we plan to buy our own?

Although this is fine and I'll be happy to pony up seven or eight dollars on my next ride I'm still somewhat surprised that Amtrak couldn't find a winery to supply free samples and simply charge for full bottles once you found one you liked. I'm not a wine person myself but being able to try before you buy made it easy for me to find something I enjoyed and purchase it without hesitation. I'm also confused as to why another measly seven dollars couldn't simply have been added to the cost of a sleeper in order to maintain the status quo. I doubt anyone would have even noticed. The other factor is that we may be seeing a precedent whereby future AGR redemptions may require bringing some extra cash to get the full Amtrak experience.

Chris' point about sponsorship by a Winery is excellent, might as well do the same with cheese producers!

Amtrak's Marketing Team ( or whatever they're called) should really look into this for the Auto Train, Starlight, Zephyr and Builder and perhaps the other LD Routes also!

that's fine. so we pay our taxes, our sleeper fare and a wine taste fee. my understanding is that brian rosenwald, the guy boardman forced out who understood customer service, is working toward some sort of rail service of his own. anybody know more about it?

I had mentioned in an earlier post that a number of vintners and cheese makers would have gladly provided product gratis for the chance to promote their items on the trains. But no one at Amtrak was interested at all when I suggested this to them. I still frustrates me to no end how little they do in "real" marketing and promotion. Despite all of the challenges of LD train travel, Amtrak could make the experience soooooo much better than it is now (for both coach and sleeper folks btw) with some creativity and partnerships with literally dozens of companies who would jump at the chance to partner with them. As I said before, Disney and other entertainment venues use these tenets of marketing to great advantage.

Woohoo! Isn't it awesome to have to shell out even more money in addition to preposterous sleeper fares for what was once included in the fare?

Coming up next-

"Complimentary meals in Dining Car removed from LD Sleepers"

followed a month later by

"Meals in Dining Car will be restarted, available on payment of only $49.95 per person per day"

"Also available: Premium meals served in real china, for additional $9.95 per meal per person"

I started laughing--then realized you may be accurate in your prediction!!!!

:-(((

OK i got to share my "wine story." In the late 80's I was a guest of Apple after writing a grant they awarded. They held a conference in Cupertino and one of the evening events was a meal and wine tasting at California's oldest winery. I never acquired a taste for wine, but god know i loved my Budweiser (I am getting ready to celebrate 20 years of sobriety) The thought of an evening of nothing but wine could not be comprehended, so when we got to the joint I huddled with the bus driver and got him to go find a liquor store, get me a case of bud, a trash bag and a bag of ice (aka Appalachian cooler) When he made it back i hid it in the bushes , and simply went out and dumped the wine out of my glass and filled it with bud. By about the seventh course the woman across the table said "i thought we got red wine this time" My reply that i as working on the previous course. When we got back on the bus i had maybe a twelve pack left,,,, and as I started finishing that off I became in instant friend four other folks who also had no taste for wine,,,, i tell this story at AA meetings as proof how powerful alcohol can be

I read on this forum that meals never used to be included with the sleeper. That was something amtrak started.

amtrakwolverine said:

I read on this forum that meals never used to be included with the sleeper. That was something amtrak started.

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Very true and in the pre-Amtrak days this was the case as well. Of course the Menus had a much wider variety then and railroad food was highly regarded.

jimhudson said:

Chris' point about sponsorship by a Winery is excellent, might as well do the same with cheese producers!

Amtrak's Marketing Team ( or whatever they're called) should really look into this for the Auto Train, Starlight, Zephyr and Builder and perhaps the other LD Routes also!

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Mightn't that open then to charges of favoritism?... especially given the factions of Congress that are ever second guessing every move Amtrak makes [ie, the best government money can buy].... :-(

jimhudson said:

Chris' point about sponsorship by a Winery is excellent, might as well do the same with cheese producers!

Amtrak's Marketing Team ( or whatever they're called) should really look into this for the Auto Train, Starlight, Zephyr and Builder and perhaps the other LD Routes also!

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I really do agree with this post. Having such an amenity available during a LD trip would be an inticement for me to book, and I would think, maybe others.

Good cheese (and breads/crackers) and good wines at a reasonable price at what is reported being charged in the Parlour Car would be a "steal". And, I base my opinion on wine tastings that I have experienced and paid for at other venues.

bobnjulie said:

Just got on board... Nanette is doing the wine tastings.... Cost is 7.50 per person, 3 wines and a larger pour.... Great job fighting the nickel and dimers!

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I'll verify this report next week!

ps They sold the cheese and cracker tray from the cafe car.... but I had fun at the Farmer's Market in Little Italy San Diego since I was determined to have some wine and cheese... Sharing is caring and I did. Lots of fun. On a side note: the only thing I know about wine and cheese is what I learned from the Parlour Car. We don't drink wine but find it enjoyable to get out of our nest and comfort zone and enjoy nice people and the wonderful ambiance of the Parlour Car. Had they not resumed, we would have purchased 2 glasses of wine and tried our cheeses. Life is what you make of it and we had some cheese with our "whine"

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Another p.s. It's the same 3 bottles of wine for both days... a cab, a reisling from Washington and a something else we didn't like.

Is it sad to pay for something once given... you betcha but I will pay my Amtrak tax gladly.

The first time I traveled on the CS, they were charging $5 for the wine and cheese tasting. The next time, it was free. I will be traveling in October and will gladly pay $7.50.

I'm so glad the wine tasting is back, and for a very modest additional fee. I'll be on the CS next week and I was really bummed that the tasting had gone away. Happy it's back!