dining car reservations

[AKA]

Do you need to make reservations for all meals,or can you make them only for dinner? I guess what I want to know is ,how does it work? Will be on the CZ in two days in roomette. You all have answered so many questions for me. I am feeling like I owe dues by now. May be in time I will be as good with knowledge as some of you. I guess I will just have to ride more. Anyway Thanks in advance as always.

 

[Amtrak OBS Employee]

Do you need to make reservations for all meals,or can you make them only for dinner? I guess what I want to know is ,how does it work? Will be on the CZ in two days in roomette. You all have answered so many questions for me. I am feeling like I owe dues by now. May be in time I will be as good with knowledge as some of you. I guess I will just have to ride more. Anyway Thanks in advance as always.

Usually it depends on the train, LSA/steward (one in charge of the diner), and the passenger load count. Most of the time it is for dinner only, but on occasion I have seen it done for lunch once in a while. Reservations are usually the case for us here on the East Coast Florida-NYC trains. Our diners are smaller than the Superliner diners, only allowing us to seat a maximum of 40-48 people at a time, whereas the Superliner diners on the Western trains (as some the few Eastern trains using Superliner equipment) seat more people at a time. We here on the FL trains usually do reservations only for dinner unless the passenger counts are so low that it doesn't warrant it. I have only seen reservations for breakfast once in my carreer here at Amtrak, and have done lunch reservations about three times in the five years I have been at Amtrak, but almost always at dinner time. Have a great trip... OBS...

 

[Amtrak OBS Employee]

I meant to add to the above post earlier but had to run. It would be a good idea to check with the LSA/dining car steward to be sure about reservation times especially for the dinner hours. For breakfast and lunch, it really shouldn't be any issue as it is usually "open at the time the meal period starts and operated on a first come first served basis." Your LSA can let you know otherwise if for some odd reason they are doing reservations for the lunch and breakfast meal periods. I highly doubt you will be required to make breakfast and lunch reservations on the train you will be traveling on. OBS...

 

[IceColdMintJulep]

If the speakers are working well enough, they should make an announcement as to if they will be coming by for reservations or not.

 

[lepearso]

I almost always experience dinner by reservation. What I usually see is the LSA walk through the sleeping cars and get their reservations first, then sweep through coaches and get their reservations second, then walk through the lounge car last. Anyone who has a change of heart after the walk-through can go into the diner and speak with the LSA. Almost inevitably, the only seats left will be the final seating, which is usually at 8:30 or 9.

For breakfast and lunch, the diners can get full. Instead of doing reservations, my experience has been a wait-listing where the LSA calls people by name and the number of folks in the party.

There is something really special about waiting for your assigned time to have dinner in the diner. You just have to experience it for yourself to really understand!