Amtrak Dining and Cafe service 2023 H2

[caravanman]

I have done this myself, I ask for a normal coffee and an extra cup of hot water, give a small tip, and do the mixing back at my seat.
Don't forget to bring your own bowl and spoon! (I usually carry my own small travel kettle aboard Amtrak, for a proper cup of British Tea, but that is another story...)

 

[joelkfla]

I have done this myself, I ask for a normal coffee and an extra cup of hot water, give a small tip, and do the mixing back at my seat.
Don't forget to bring your own bowl and spoon! (I usually carry my own small travel kettle aboard Amtrak, for a proper cup of British Tea, but that is another story...)

The oatmeal comes in a "just add hot water" cup, but a spoon would be nice.

 

[caravanman]

The oatmeal comes in a "just add hot water" cup, but a spoon would be nice.

Ah, that must be the posh stuff, I bought the oatmeal that comes in a packet. Although one imagines one is eating a healthy breakfast, these instant mixes use a lot of guar gum to thicken them...

 

[joelkfla]

Ah, that must be the posh stuff, I bought the oatmeal that comes in a packet. Although one imagines one is eating a healthy breakfast, these instant mixes use a lot of guar gum to thicken them...

No thickener, but plenty of sugar. At least it's real sugar, not corn syrup.

 

[ja5151]

Yeah, I love those Quaker Oats cups - although Maple & Brown Sugar is my go-to.

Thanks for the help. I hope to pick up a few at the grocery store in Browning tomorrow, before heading to the GPK station.

 

[Old MM]

Note on the cup of hot water: YMMV. On the Michigan coaches, the dining car staff has twice refused to provide - wanted to charge as if purchasing tea or coffee. We gave up on bringing our own tea or oatmeal, not worth the argument.

 

[PVD]

. Hot Water - Customers are entitled to hot water in cafe/lounge cars by request. Hot water requests using revenue cups are captured Complimentary Service.

 

[wrowland]

Probably lack of supervision and direction. It's ridiculous as is the prohibition of coach passengers being offered meals at extra cost rather than gratis.

I'm confused here; you think coach passengers should get the same meals as sleeper passengers for free? I'd be all for that if the price of a sleeper went down a fair chunk and they still got priority seating in the dining car. No way they could feed everyone on the train in a timely manner; they can barely feed sleeper passengers within a 4 hr window.

 

[uncleboots]

Note on the cup of hot water: YMMV. On the Michigan coaches, the dining car staff has twice refused to provide - wanted to charge as if purchasing tea or coffee. We gave up on bringing our own tea or oatmeal, not worth the argument.

I just purchased a coffee mug electric warmer, perfect for coffee, tea, and warming food in a mug. Just for train trips.

 

[caravanman]

I'm confused here; you think coach passengers should get the same meals as sleeper passengers for free? I'd be all for that if the price of a sleeper went down a fair chunk and they still got priority seating in the dining car. No way they could feed everyone on the train in a timely manner; they can barely feed sleeper passengers within a 4 hr window.

I read the item as the prohibition by Amtrak of passengers in coach being able to purchase dining car meals is wrong?
Not that sleeper passengers get free meals, they pay in with the sleeper accommodation price. (I never know how much of the sleeper price is the food element though)?
On longer train journeys in India, they daily offer "at seat" meals to all passengers on their 20+ carriage trains, at a modest extra cost. Also an app is available to order non train food to be delivered to your coach from a restaurant en-route.
Sadly, although they have "pantry cars" to prepare hot food, almost no sit down dining cars remain on Indian trains.

I just purchased a coffee mug electric warmer, perfect for coffee, tea, and warming food in a mug. Just for train trips.

Would you feel okay to use that when at your coach seat?

 

[jis]

On longer train journeys in India, they daily offer "at seat" meals to all passengers on their 20+ carriage trains, at a modest extra cost. Also an app is available to order non train food to be delivered to your coach from a restaurant en-route.
Sadly, although they have "pantry cars" to prepare hot food, almost no sit down dining cars remain on Indian trains.

Many things become possible when you carry 8+ Billion passengers per year, and have a geographically densely distributed departmental kitchens augmented by external vendor contracts all over the place. I don't think it is possible for a sparse service situation that Amtrak faces to provide the sort of myriads of options that Indian Railways is able to provide.

One interesting idea that IR has is that even on trains where normally food is included in the ticket, anyone can opt out of the food inclusion and make their own arrangements either bringing their own food or use the rich network of App based ordered food. I don't think such a thing will be sustainable on Amtrak, because in the first place Amtrak included food in the ticket ostensibly to save the Dining Car service from oblivion. The normal tradition was that the ticket fare was only for transportation and accommodation. Food was paid for in the Diner by the passengers who availed of the service.

 

[caravanman]

Many things become possible when you carry 8+ Billion passengers per year, and have a geographically densely distributed departmental kitchens augmented by external vendor contracts all over the place. I don't think it is possible for a sparse service situation that Amtrak faces to provide the sort of myriads of options that Indian Railways is able to provide.

One interesting idea that IR has is that even on trains where normally food is included in the ticket, anyone can opt out of the food inclusion and make their own arrangements either bringing their own food or use the rich network of App based ordered food. I don't think such a thing will be sustainable on Amtrak, because in the first place Amtrak included food in the ticket ostensibly to save the Dining Car service from oblivion. The normal tradition was that the ticket fare was only for transportation and accommodation. Food was paid for in the Diner by the passengers who availed of the service.

Indeed, I wouldn't imagine in my wildest dreams that Amtrak could provide a decent hot meal for all passengers who required it, even on their truncated LD trains. Nevertheless, given the ability of airlines to provide hot basic tray meals for everyone on their planes, I feel there is a little room for improvement in Amtrak's on board food service. Even getting their staff to stop hogging the tables meant for dining car passengers could improve things a tad.

I seem to remember that there was an option for Amtrak sleeper passengers to "opt out" of the meals in return for a reduced fare at one time? Maybe an experimental thing on just a limited number of trains, but I might be wrong ?

 

[tgstubbs1]

I seem to remember that there was an option for Amtrak sleeper passengers to "opt out" of the meals in return for a reduced fare at one time? Maybe an experimental thing on just a limited number of trains, but I might be wrong ?

I know they didn't always have the dining included with sleeper fares, but I don't know if they had a period where it was optional.


When I was in school my parents would buy me a lunch meal ticket for a week or month or some other period.

Advance meal tickets for both coach and sleeper passengers would help Amtrak predict meal volumes ahead of time.

 

[MARC Rider]

I seem to remember that there was an option for Amtrak sleeper passengers to "opt out" of the meals in return for a reduced fare at one time? Maybe an experimental thing on just a limited number of trains, but I might be wrong ?

Are you thinking of the "Silver Starvation" experiment where they removed the diner from the Silver Star and allegedly sold room space for a lower price than on the Silver Meteor? In that case, there was no dining car at all, and everyone had to get their chow from the cafe car or bring it aboard themselves. I think at some point, they started selling some dinner-type entrees in the cafe car, which is something I think they should have for all the cafe cars, including some of the Northeast Regional runs that are 8-10 hour trips, such as the Virginia - Boston trains, not to mention the longer day trains such as the Vermonter and the Palmetto.

 

[MccfamschoolMom]

I seem to remember that there was an option for Amtrak sleeper passengers to "opt out" of the meals in return for a reduced fare at one time? Maybe an experimental thing on just a limited number of trains, but I might be wrong ?

Way back in the Slumbercoach days (early 1980s), I don't believe Slumbercoach accommodations included meals. I once rode Slumbercoach from Boston to Chicago (Lake Shore Limited), coming back from an academic conference, and don't recall having breakfast included in the morning (although the sleeping car attendant did offer complimentary coffee).

 

[railiner]

I agree...there was never an 'option' to accept or decline for a credit, meal service on Amtrak, once it became all-inclusive for sleeper passengers. The Slumbercoach was not considered "first class" during the brief time they still operated at the beginning of the all-inclusive era, hence meals were not included.

Prior to Amtrak, some railroads, notably the Santa Fe, did offer a meal plan for those that wished to purchase it. I believe it was offered to both sleeper and coach passengers. Sort of like resorts that offer "European Plan", or "American Plan" (two or three daily meals included) rates. It yielded a nice discount for those travelling through several meal periods, compared to the ala carte pricing.

 

[wrowland]

I read the item as the prohibition by Amtrak of passengers in coach being able to purchase dining car meals is wrong?
Not that sleeper passengers get free meals, they pay in with the sleeper accommodation price. (I never know how much of the sleeper price is the food element though)?
On longer train journeys in India, they daily offer "at seat" meals to all passengers on their 20+ carriage trains, at a modest extra cost. Also an app is available to order non train food to be delivered to your coach from a restaurant en-route.
Sadly, although they have "pantry cars" to prepare hot food, almost no sit down dining cars remain on Indian trains.

I seem to recall on a trip last October that coach passengers could purchase a meal in the dining area but the prices they stated were absurd; I think they wanted like $50 for the steak meal. I remember they announced it over the intercom and I was like, "holy hell that's expensive." So, with 4 of us in sleepers all eating several meals, that would be a big chunk of change. Had our 1st coach meal experience in July on the LSL in the Cafe car, traditional dining is, by far, superior. We get our 1st dose of flex dining this Oct.

 

[jimmrl]

For everyone who thinks a $50 steak meal is "holy hell expense", you have not went out to eat lately. The price of food has went through the roof, Whataburger was under $10 for a combo meal two years ago and is now over $13.

I like everyone had the same knee jerk reaction to the $50 price, then I processed it and realized that that is not as bad as I first thought.

 

[jis]

For everyone who thinks a $50 steak meal is "holy hell expense", you have not went out to eat lately. The price of food has went through the roof, Whataburger was under $10 for a combo meal two years ago and is now over $13.

I like everyone had the same knee jerk reaction to the $50 price, then I processed it and realized that that is not as bad as I first thought.

Specially considering it does include a considerable dessert and a glass of wine.

 

[wrowland]

Specially considering it does include a considerable dessert and a glass of wine.

I disagree; dessert and wine would cost extra most likely as it would be an alacart type purchase; to be transparent, I do not recall them saying that but that is what I would expect. In addition, you can get a great steak with two sides dessert, peanuts and unlimited fresh rolls at Texas Roadhouse for far less than $50.

 

[jiml]

In addition, you can get a great steak with two sides dessert, peanuts and unlimited fresh rolls at Texas Roadhouse for far less than $50.

While moving across the country? I can get a hot dog at Costco for $1.50 too, but at a ballpark or a theater not so. It's all about where you are.

 

[jis]

I disagree; dessert and wine would cost extra most likely as it would be an alacart type purchase; to be transparent, I do not recall them saying that but that is what I would expect.

In the current incarnation of the package sold to Coach passengers the dessert and wine are included AFAICT.

 

[wrowland]

In the current incarnation of the package sold to Coach passengers the dessert and wine are included AFAICT.

I stand corrected. Based on location and the fact you have very few options perhaps that $50 bucks is not as bad a deal as I stated above. I love thier desserts, not sure why you cant just buy them in the cafe car too). Hopefully I never have to buy it separately....because I will be in a sleeper car....that trip to New York in coach was tough (for a big guy, with a wife and 2 kids under 13 yrs old).

 

[jiml]

The problem with "unbundling" (to use airline terminology) meals from sleeper fares is that it may result in not enough purchases to justify the diner in the first place. It's one of those vicious circle models. Including meals guarantees the dining car and its staff will be used - perhaps not to capacity, which is where sales to coach passengers would make sense.

 

[MARC Rider]

I disagree; dessert and wine would cost extra most likely as it would be an alacart type purchase; to be transparent, I do not recall them saying that but that is what I would expect. In addition, you can get a great steak with two sides dessert, peanuts and unlimited fresh rolls at Texas Roadhouse for far less than $50.

I just priced my local Texas Roadhouse. A strip steak dinner with appetizer, salad and dessert, plus a non alcoholic and alcoholic beverage is about $45. Plus sales tax and tip. I would think a $5 upcharge for being a captive audience and getting the dining car experience isn't too unreasonable.

The real problem with serving coach passengers in the dining car is that the number of reservations are limited, and that it's often impossible to find the LSA who is willing to make the reservation. Thus, you can't be sure that you'll even be able to eat in the dining car, even if you're cool with paying Amtrak $50 for your meal.