.) I’m not ready to even go inside a restaurant yet, let alone sit next to a stranger at a meal.
I feel the same way. I have had my 2 shots of Moderna but I am still taking baby steps about being out in public and I still wear a mask. There is no way I want to take the risk of getting even the lowest case of Covid, or get the flu or cold from some one. So my meals will be brought to my roomette in Sept. And I will be double masked getting to the train and to my roomette. Call me paranoid, but until the percentage of vax people goes up, I will be extra careful. I am traveling this yr because we cancelled last yr.IndyLions, you make some excellent points, especially about the dining car economics.
I used to love getting out of my room, meeting a variety of people—all different and all interesting—and learn about their different occupations and different areas of the country.
However, I think some of us who used to love communal dining, and may again, are not quite ready for it yet because of the pandemic.
After a year of keeping my distance from everyone, I am just getting used to allowing people within six feet of me on the sidewalk.
I am sure I read way too many of the articles last year about all the disgusting germs people breathe on each other all the time, which I’d never thought about before, and I’m just not ready to have strangers breathing, sneezing, or coughing on my food. (I’m sure some would feel the same about me
if I traveled now, I would have meals in my room, which is a bit ironic because I never used to because I though the pull-down tables were old and dirty and did not pull them out.
However, I hope to feel differently in another year or so and travel LD again and have meals in the dining car. It’s just an adjustment period some of us are going through more slowly than others.
Heck, if I go any slower, maybe the eastern trains will have real food by the time I’m ready!
This. I too have enjoyed meals with others on my LD trips, however sometimes you just want to dine alone or with your own party.
That applies to absolutely any dining on Amtrak, not just Flex. They could just call the whole thing an "Unforgettable Dining Adventure", tongue firmly planted in the cheek of course.
Please let us know how they seat passengers in the dining car on the Chief. The menu on the Chief looks really good. And I am very curious about whether they have a coffee pot in the roomette cars for us.
We all predict the future. We are rarely right. If we could do it reliably, we'd be too rich to care.
If not related, maybe a minimum of two at a dining car table? I think the problem is the "squashing" in of 4 unrelated people.
Exactly! Never liked side by side with a stranger. A pretty girl..well I could handle that
Flexible dining and traditional dining are 180 from each other. You will certainly appreciate traditional dining on your return.
Because thaee are a number of power-hungry staff who like to make up their own rules. This has always been the case on Amtrak - no consistency. There are Standards Manuals but some Amtrak employees think they are only a suggestion. It has nothing to do with Covid. It has to do with a lack of management on trains.
Yeah, hopefully they continue to allow you eat in your room. I do think it would be reasonable to be allowed to dine alone in the later seating where enough tables are available. Obviously not going to happen most of the time.
I certainly do hope coach will be able to eat in the diner.
As the coach passengers' dining car reservations were taken last it'll be interesting to learn whether pre-ordering will give we afterthought coach passengers a better choice of mealtimes. Often at the later serving times commonly left over for coach passengers the diner is out of menu items.
