Dining car limits?

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My understanding of the policy is that if a child is booked in a regular room (roomette/bedroom), that child may order off the adult or the children's menu as he wishes. However, if he is traveling as a child passenger in the Family Bedroom, he must order off the children's menu. I could see an upcharge being levied if such a child wished to order an item off the adult menu.
 
I've never been given grief when asking for a refill. Sometimes, I have a can of soda at dinner and then ask if I can have a second can of soda (i.e. "a refill") to take back to my room. They've always obliged. If you look at the ticket check thingie, each diner is allowed 2-3 drinks (refills). I can't remember the exact number, but it isn't 1.
 
Does anyone have the official Amtrak rule on the rules regarding the number of refills a sleeping car passenger can have? 4 LD trips so far, and its been all over the place.
 
A Voice said:
Nobody who stays at a roadside hotel which offers free breakfast - as most chains do - would argue that the breakfast was pre-paid as opposed to an amenity included with the room. So why do we need to make such a distinction with Amtrak?
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For hotels, there is competition. One hotel might charge $89. So the hotel across the street also charges $89, and tosses in a breakfast to sweeten the deal.

Is that breakfast free, or pre-paid?
 
Cho Cho Charlie said:
A Voice said:
Nobody who stays at a roadside hotel which offers free breakfast - as most chains do - would argue that the breakfast was pre-paid as opposed to an amenity included with the room. So why do we need to make such a distinction with Amtrak?
Click to expand...
For hotels, there is competition. One hotel might charge $89. So the hotel across the street also charges $89, and tosses in a breakfast to sweeten the deal.

Is that breakfast free, or pre-paid?
Click to expand...
I make the distinction between an advertised "free" breakfast and one that comes with the room. If it's really free, I could walk into the hotel and eat breakfast without staying there. The breakfast is included in the price of the room, just as meals in the dining car are included in the price of the room (except on the Silver Star).

Americans like to see the word free, but an advertisement saying something is free does not make it free. The meal, whether in a hotel or on Amtrak, is included in some other price.

Since it is included, there is no refund if the customer (not guest, even though businesses like to say guest just like businesses like to say free) chooses not to partake.

When traveling by train, I sometimes stay at hotels that allow customers to park a vehicle. Since I have no vehicle, I don't park one. I get no refund or discount. Nonetheless, parking is not free; it is included in the price of the room. If parking were free, someone could park a vehicle there while taking a train trip.

In short, it is a distinction with a difference. Included is not the same as free.
 
willem said:
Cho Cho Charlie said:
A Voice said:
Nobody who stays at a roadside hotel which offers free breakfast - as most chains do - would argue that the breakfast was pre-paid as opposed to an amenity included with the room. So why do we need to make such a distinction with Amtrak?
Click to expand...
For hotels, there is competition. One hotel might charge $89. So the hotel across the street also charges $89, and tosses in a breakfast to sweeten the deal.

Is that breakfast free, or pre-paid?
Click to expand...
I make the distinction between an advertised "free" breakfast and one that comes with the room. If it's really free, I could walk into the hotel and eat breakfast without staying there. The breakfast is included in the price of the room, just as meals in the dining car are included in the price of the room (except on the Silver Star).

Americans like to see the word free, but an advertisement saying something is free does not make it free. The meal, whether in a hotel or on Amtrak, is included in some other price.

Since it is included, there is no refund if the customer (not guest, even though businesses like to say guest just like businesses like to say free) chooses not to partake.

When traveling by train, I sometimes stay at hotels that allow customers to park a vehicle. Since I have no vehicle, I don't park one. I get no refund or discount. Nonetheless, parking is not free; it is included in the price of the room. If parking were free, someone could park a vehicle there while taking a train trip.

In short, it is a distinction with a difference. Included is not the same as free.
Click to expand...
LIKE

When I call for a police car or fire truck, I am not charged....however it most certainly is not free. Someone's taxes are paying for it, possibly mine, depending on where I might be at the time. So just because there is no extra charge, or charge at all....most tangible things are most certainly not free.
 
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Of course there's an inherent cost to everything.

Of course everything costs money to make.

Of course every "free" item anywhere costs somebody something.

"Free" simply means that there's no direct charge TO YOU.

We inherently have NO IDEA whether the "free item" is built into the cost of doing business, or whether we're being "charged extra" for it, or whether we're actually paying nothing extra for it. In Amtrak's case, prices fluctuate, often drastically, based on supply and demand. If I buy my tickets a year in advance and pay half the price of someone who buys their tickets a week ahead of time, are we both paying for our meals onboard? Or, is the passenger who is paying twice my fare actually paying for my meals, and the meals of half a dozen other people?

"Free" items are simply offered AT NOT ADDITIONAL COST TO YOU. That's it. To say otherwise is to misunderstand the meaning of the word "free".
 
willem said:
Cho Cho Charlie said:
A Voice said:
Nobody who stays at a roadside hotel which offers free breakfast - as most chains do - would argue that the breakfast was pre-paid as opposed to an amenity included with the room. So why do we need to make such a distinction with Amtrak?
Click to expand...
For hotels, there is competition. One hotel might charge $89. So the hotel across the street also charges $89, and tosses in a breakfast to sweeten the deal.
Is that breakfast free, or pre-paid?
Click to expand...
I make the distinction between an advertised "free" breakfast and one that comes with the room. If it's really free, I could walk into the hotel and eat breakfast without staying there. The breakfast is included in the price of the room, just as meals in the dining car are included in the price of the room (except on the Silver Star).

Americans like to see the word free, but an advertisement saying something is free does not make it free. The meal, whether in a hotel or on Amtrak, is included in some other price.

Since it is included, there is no refund if the customer (not guest, even though businesses like to say guest just like businesses like to say free) chooses not to partake.

When traveling by train, I sometimes stay at hotels that allow customers to park a vehicle. Since I have no vehicle, I don't park one. I get no refund or discount. Nonetheless, parking is not free; it is included in the price of the room. If parking were free, someone could park a vehicle there while taking a train trip.

In short, it is a distinction with a difference. Included is not the same as free.
Click to expand...
I think the word is "complimentary".

Sort of reminds me of a commercial with Chevy Chase back as Clark Griswold, for some hotel booking service. He was complaining that he was charged for the bottle of water in the room that was advertised as "complimentary". The hotel clerk then snapped back "It was complementary. It complements the room."
 
"Included" would be much better, but since "Free" is a Marketing Lie,its the one we all react too.

As for Complementary,thats a Vegas come on to make suckers think they are getting something for nothing!
 
Oh my goodness. How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?

I'm just glad folks had a great time in their first sleeper experience.
 
D.P. Roberts said:
"Free" items are simply offered AT NOT ADDITIONAL COST TO YOU. That's it. To say otherwise is to misunderstand the meaning of the word "free".
Click to expand...
Actually, to say that items offered at no additional cost are free is to misunderstand the meaning of free.

the_traveler said:
The same could be said about "free" road and "free" public schools.

I do not drive and I do not have kids, but I do pay taxes. So are they free or prepaid? :huh:
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Often, the roads and the school are post-paid, especially if they are provided by some entity issuing bonds. But they are not free, and (as I'm sure you have noticed) you don't get a discount or refund on your taxes for not using them—just as you don't get a discount or refund from Amtrak or a hotel if you don't eat breakfast.

Bob Dylan said:
"Included" would be much better, but since "Free" is a Marketing Lie,its the one we all react too.
Click to expand...
Well put.
 
So all this talk about the meaning of free, complimentary, who actually pays for it, but no one actually has the official info regarding how many drinks that a sleeping car passenger can get for "free", "complimentary", "Included in the price" or whatever you want to call it that makes you feel better?
 
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