Yet another meal times question

[darien-l]

I'll be travelling Houston - Tucson in a roomette soon. The train is scheduled to arrive in Houston at 9:13 pm, and my understanding is that dinner ends at 9 pm. However, a check of amtrakdelays.com shows that the train often arrives in Houston early, around 8:40 pm. My question is, can I get a "free" dinner if I get on before 9 pm, or will this be seen as an attempt to grab a freebie I'm not entitled to? (My guess is that the dining car crew wouldn't care, but who knows.)

 

[AlanB]

If you're on the train during meal times, even if you shouldn't be, you get a meal. You get a meal if the train runs late, no reason you shouldn't get one if its running early. Even if it is ontime, still couldn't hurt to go see if they are still serving, especially since last seating under SDS is supposed to be 9:00 PM. Of course all that assumes that you want to eat that late and that you want to chance that it is still open.

 

[wayman]

If you're on the train during meal times, even if you shouldn't be, you get a meal. You get a meal if the train runs late, no reason you shouldn't get one if its running early. Even if it is ontime, still couldn't hurt to go see if they are still serving, especially since last seating under SDS is supposed to be 9:00 PM. Of course all that assumes that you want to eat that late and that you want to chance that it is still open.

Another option--if you don't want to run the risk of missing dinner altogether, but still want to enjoy the dining car--is to eat something before the train but skip dessert. Then you can ask to take dessert and coffee in the dinner. Given the timing, unless the train is very late into Houston or the diner completely overwhelmed I think this would work out nicely.