Amtrak's Marketing Pitch & Degenerating Food Service

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The Soylent Green logo brings to mind one of the famous ( or Infamous) "Twilight Zone" Episodes where the invading Aliens bring a Book to Earth called "To Serve Mankind" and at the end we find out its a Cookbook!!!!
 
There was a news article today claiming that the Australian census people don't know what to do with the inordinately large number of people that have stated their religion to be "Jedi" or "The Force" :)

Of course progressively more and more, none of this has anything to do with Amtrak's marketing pitch about anything anymore :p
 
We booked a 2 bedroom suite for 2 nights on the Canadian for same price as Zephyr, . . .
That sounded like an ideal anniversary surprise for the Wife and I, but after searching high & low I can't seem to find a "2 bedroom suite" on the Canadian. Did you mean "Cabin For 2" or perhaps the "Prestige Cabin For 2"?
 
Yesterday we were in the WAS Acela First Class lounge awaiting our train. My wife went for a soda and guess what? There were no straws and no lids. Think about not even offering 2 cent items. Is the cup next to be cut? I guess people will be drinking next from their cupped hands. This has to be a new low point.

I believe that Amtrak needs to better understand that the First Class and Sleeper Class passengers are their premier customers. If they want to maintain this mainstay audience, they must provide quality food and not give them less for their money. If those passengers [who already pay the highest fares] go away or travel less often the revenues will go down sharply.
 
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Cut the cup and make everyone drink out of the can. I don't need a cup, lid, and straw to drink something that's already in a drinking vessel.
 
I can honestly say that I have no idea where these complaints are coming from.

I have been riding Amtrak LD trains, and eating in the dining car many times a year for the last 18 years. The best 10 meals I have had were all this year. Quality and consistency are both much better. The sides that came with my dinners were now not only edible, but good! Sure, we lost the diners for now on the Star and Lake Shore, but what does one expect when the dining car fleet is nearing 70?
 
That's not the customers fault or concern there. The issue is high prices, most would say overpriced, for services rendered.

Amtrak is not a charity.
 
I can honestly say that I have no idea where these complaints are coming from.

I have been riding Amtrak LD trains, and eating in the dining car many times a year for the last 18 years. The best 10 meals I have had were all this year. Quality and consistency are both much better. The sides that came with my dinners were now not only edible, but good! Sure, we lost the diners for now on the Star and Lake Shore, but what does one expect when the dining car fleet is nearing 70?
While I would not say the dining car meals this year were the best ever I've had on Amtrak, they were pretty decent, better than the ones last year, and of consistent quality over four different trains (all Superliner though, so the diners themselves were only 25-35 years old) The "best" Amtrak dining car meal in my experience goes to the steak with a blueberry based sauce they served on the Starlight in the late 1990s when the Starlight had its own unique menus (which also changed each day).

BTW, at no time have the meals again degraded to the point where they were in the "picnic" era around 1980 at the time of the Carter Cuts. Then it really was airline food, and not the good kind from First Class.
 
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For the best dining and lounge experience on Amtrak I have to go back a long way to the '70s. Specially memorable for some reason were the Broadway and the Montrealer - both pre-Amfleetization.

More recently, I'd give it to various experiences on the Coast Starlight for Superliner equipped trains, and the Meteor for the single level ones. The Builder is supposed to be good but in my experience it has been wanting in the department of consistency.

But back to tipping. Frankly I don't need to look at employees tax returns to decide how much to tip. In the US where the tradition is to tip, If the service provided is upto expectation I tip some. If it surpasses expectation, I tip some more. If it is abysmal, I do not tip, or tip one cent to send a message.

When I compare my airfare in First Class domestic vs. Amtrak Sleeper, I include an estimate of the tips expected to be paid, to arrive at a fair comparison. Usually though, if I have found the time in my busy schedule for a long Amtrak ride, the difference in fares is a relatively minor consideration. And no I cannot just switch to VIA since my ride is usually from point A to point B for a specific purpose, and until VIA starts operating in the US, that is not an option. If I really want to ride exotic high value luxury service I hike over to Europe or Asia or Africa and grab one of the dozens of luxury tourist specials.They are usually much much better than anything on offer in the US these days. Expensive as hell, but better. Haven't done that in quite a while though due to lack of time and money. Should be able to do a few after I actually retire one of these days, unless the market crashes and burns up completely, at which point there will be many other things to worry about anyway..
 
This is much too complex for Amtrak "chefs."
This kind of cheap shot at hundreds of Amtrak employees has no place on this or any other forum. :angry:
It's not a cheap shot, it's spot on. WITH, the disclaimer that Amtrak won't LET their chefs be what they COULD be...
Sorry dude, but it absolutely is.

Saying that it's too complex for the chefs is totally unrelated to what management will or won't let them do. It doesn't have anything to do with the ability of the chef in the dining car.
 
We booked a 2 bedroom suite for 2 nights on the Canadian for same price as Zephyr. . .
At first glance this sounded a bit far-fetched. But a call to VIA Rail revealed that a 2 bedroom suite for 4 nights on the Canadian (Toronto <> Vancouver) for two adults during the off-peak season (US$2822, not discounted) can be less expensive than 2 Bedroom suites for two adults not only for the California Zephyr, but also the Southwest Chief, Texas Eagle, Sunset Limited and Empire Builder - provided Amtrak has Bedrooms priced at their top two buckets. The Canadian provides a minimum of about 20 more hours of train time and as many as 5 more meals.

Some of this probably has to do with the most favorable exchange rate. BTW, VIA's 2 bedroom suites cannot be priced or booked online and are mentioned briefly on Page 15 here: http://www.viarail.ca/sites/all/files/media/pdfs/111139179-1-Sales-tools_Anglais_WEB.pdf And no, I've no stake in VIA. :)

Regards

P.S.: Got to thinking the price I quoted, above, for a 2 Bedroom Suite on the Canadian also sounded a bit far-fetch, so another call this a.m. to VIA now elicited a price of US$4006 for 2 adults from Toronto to Vancouver - at which point I lost all interest in the subject. Sorry for the (apparently) bad info. Moderators may delete this entire post if so desired.

P.P.S.: A third call to VIA late last night answered by a third VIA agent elicited yet a third price of US$4770. Coincidentally, a pair of Cabins for two each with 1 adult also costs 2 X US2385 = US$4770 in the off-peak season. Does that mean US$4770 is the true, no foolin' fare? Your guess is a good as mine!
 
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I think the chefs would like to make better meals, but management (like MCC on Orange is the New Black) forbid them to. http://pixel.nymag.com/imgs/daily/vulture/2015/06/18/18-oitnb-food.w529.h352.jpg

This is much too complex for Amtrak "chefs."
This kind of cheap shot at hundreds of Amtrak employees has no place on this or any other forum. :angry:
It's not a cheap shot, it's spot on. WITH, the disclaimer that Amtrak won't LET their chefs be what they COULD be...
Sorry dude, but it absolutely is.

Saying that it's too complex for the chefs is totally unrelated to what management will or won't let them do. It doesn't have anything to do with the ability of the chef in the dining car.
 
I totally agree. Amtrak is a transportation company, not a land cruise.
I wonder if that is accurate. It's quite clear to me that Amtrak aims to be both. From it's vacation packages and the colorful illustrated brochures (not just timetables) to its on-board accommodations that include bedrooms, private baths, roomettes, to its dining car, to its panel of chefs that advise on meals (not saying they really do anything!), to its on-board interpreters, to the rotating dome car, to THE PRICES AMTRAK CHARGES for this--I think it can be considered a land cruise company for those who pay for these services and amenities and consider their trip a land cruise.

There are also people traveling from point to point--e.g. Hartford to NYC, not a land cruise for them!

Really, it's both, and for those who BOOK AND PAY for the Amtrak land cruise, they are entitled to expect and receive that level of service and amenity.
 
I think people who think they are paying for a land cruise on Amtrak are mainly delusional and are mostly disappointed ;) and then they come and ***** here and threaten to defect to VIA. :p
 
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Anything from Wawa is better than anything in the Amtrak café car. (Actually, anything from Wawa is better than anything I could cook, too :p .)

I've been fine with everything (except that dreadful cheesecake mentioned above) in the dining car (Meteor and Crescent are the two trains I've been on with a dining car).

I wouldn't mind so much if they were honest. If Amtrak's marketing department simply said:

We are no longer interested in customer service, we only care about Congress, so we serve the cheapest garbage we can find at the highest prices we can get away with. We may or may not put the dining cars back, with decent menus, when the new ones come online. It depends how terrified we are of Congress at that point. We have taken away as many amenities as possible--free newspaper, paper timetable, bed made up with the blanket--and blamed it all (often incorrectly) on passengers not wanting those amenities. We have to grovel before Congress to get money and because we are afraid of Congress. We hope you, our passengers who take the train because you don't fly or drive, will realize that we have had to become basically a no-frills commuter service, and we thank you for paying more money and getting less for it.

If they said that, at least I could have some sympathy for any true problems Amtrak has. And if you think I am being overly harsh, an Amtrak employee (I will not say who in case Amtrak management trolls here) told me that Amtrak is no longer interested in customer service, and a lot of the good Amtrak veterans are leaving because they are disgusted.
As for the food, most of the trains I've ridden with full dining service had acceptable food, although they've discontinued a few of my favorite items. Long distance trains need decent food, so I hope they don't make more cuts in quality or choices. By far the worst food I've encountered on Amtrak was on the Cardinal, but it wasn't deadly.

A more distressing issue imo is the awful service we received on our last trips this spring on the CZ. One SCA was horrible, and the others only minimal. The trash can in my bedroom was completely full and was never emptied, despite my polite request. I'm not even absolutely sure the sheets had been changed. I didn't see anything on them, but they didn't look as crisp as fresh ones usually do. Hopefully they were just ancient. I was lucky to have the bed made. In the past I've found the SCA's to be excellent on the Crescent, the train I've most often used, but I wasn't even expecting that level of service. The service on the CZ didn't approach my lowered expectations. In the interest of future travelers, I suppose I should have complained, but I didn't. Until now, I've managed not to whine here, either. But the service was unacceptable. For Amtrak fans, this is sad. For others, likely infuriating, especially at the high prices.
 
Jim-Bob (how southern-sounding!), it's been several months now, but I suppose I should phone. I'm still debating with myself whether to phone Delta with a complaint from three years ago. LOL That employee has probably retired by now.

My decisiveness is one of my strong points.

Totally off-topic, but I'll have to say the scenery was awesome! And there was that big handy trash can in the corner not too far from my door... :)
 
Is there any chance of Amtrak introducing rotating menus on its long distance trains that operate west and south of Chicago, different menus for either each train or each second train?

If one is travelling from say Chicago to Los Angeles, Seattle or Emeryville being presented with the same menu day in day out might be a bit boring.

I appreciate Amtrak wants to keep its costs down and provisioning space in the diners (and diner/cafe or cafe cars) must be finite and fairly limited but a few, different menu items on the 'second day' would go down very well.
 
A more distressing issue imo is the awful service we received on our last trips this spring on the CZ. One SCA was horrible, and the others only minimal. The trash can in my bedroom was completely full and was never emptied, despite my polite request. I'm not even absolutely sure the sheets had been changed.
Sounds like you're finally bumping into some of my previous SCA's. The CZ route is so beautiful and it deserves better staff. That's my opinion anyway.

Is there any chance of Amtrak introducing rotating menus on its long distance trains that operate west and south of Chicago, different menus for either each train or each second train?
What you're describing is how things used to work until they got rid of it in the name of cost savings. If there is a chance of the dining service substantially improving it will need to wait for Boardman's successor at a minimum. More realistically it would probably require a change of leadership in both the House and the Senate, which is extremely unlikely in my view.
 
Is Amtrak Vacations even owned by Amtrak?

"Amtrak Vacations is operated by Yankee Leisure Group, Inc."
Yankee Leisure Group Inc. explains it this way:

"In 2006, YLG was selected by Amtrak to operate the Amtrak Vacations brand. Amtrak Vacations provides rail vacation packages inclusive of accommodations, sightseeing and entertainment to encourage and increase the desire to travel by rail. As the national tour operator for Amtrak, Amtrak Vacations offers over 300 rail vacations to amazing cities, scenic landscapes and spectacular National Parks with options to depart from more than 500 Amtrak rail stations across the country."

It seems Amtrak hired a 3rd party provider to operate its tour business for it. To my mind, land cruise is an apt description for this mode of vacationing. The fact is that people who don't use Amtrak Vacations but, instead, book their train tickets and destination accommodations themselves may still consider what they are doing as taking a "land cruise." Whether they are delusional or not I will have to leave up to their shrinks.
 
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