City of New Orleans leaving Chicago

[ourlouisiana]

We are taking the CNO from NOL to CHI, leaving Fri 20 June, and returning Mon 23 June, going by Superliner bedroom.

We understand that northbound lunch leaving NOL is at our expense, but in talking to Amtrak, one tells us that lunch is paid for, another tells us that it is at our expense.

We also understand that southbound the diner is opened before departure for sleeper passengers for dinner, and is paid by Amtrak.

Are we correct ???? Or should we eat before arriving at Chicago Union station ???

 

[haolerider]

We are taking the CNO from NOL to CHI, leaving Fri 20 June, and returning Mon 23 June, going by Superliner bedroom.
We understand that northbound lunch leaving NOL is at our expense, but in talking to Amtrak, one tells us that lunch is paid for, another tells us that it is at our expense.

We also understand that southbound the diner is opened before departure for sleeper passengers for dinner, and is paid by Amtrak.

Are we correct ???? Or should we eat before arriving at Chicago Union station ???

Upon departure from New Orleans, lunch is not included in your sleeper accommodations, however the Cross Country Cafe is open for the All Day Menu and you can order from the Lounge counter. Upon departure from Chicago, sleeping car passengers are boarded early and dinner is available (and included) prior to departure. The Sleeping Car attendant will take your reservation for dinner and you can choose when you want to eat.

 

[ourlouisiana]

Thanks for the info: one of the Amtrak people we talked to about leaving NOL said lunch was paid for, another said it was our expense.

We wanted to verify information about Chicago, no sense buying dinner elsewhere when it is inculded.

 

[Kramerica]

My wife and I just got back from a round trip on the CONO. From the Metropolitan Lounge, you're boarded around 6:45 PM. As you get on the train, your attendant will greet you and either ask when you want to eat or tell you when your seating is. Ours just told us that we'd be eating at 7:30 PM.

Personally I'd pick 8 PM if possible, so you're in the diner when the train departs, so you can have nice views of the city. For us, we ate half our meal in the dungeon of the Union Station train shed, which wasn't the best. But nobody seemed to be coming into the diner after we were done eating, so we sat there for quite a while.

Coming out of NOL, lunch is not provided, but you can buy food shortly after departing from the cafe.

 

[AlanB]

Just to follow-up with this, the one agent that told you lunch was served out of New Orleans is wrong. Haolerider's info is 100% correct, dinner out of Chicago included, lunch out of NOL not included.

 

[RRrich]

Just to follow-up with this, the one agent that told you lunch was served out of New Orleans is wrong. Haolerider's info is 100% correct, dinner out of Chicago included, lunch out of NOL not included.

Actually, not quite. Haolerider said that the pax in the Metro Lounge are boarded early and dinner is prior to departure. When we rode the CNO from CHI, we were not boarded from the Metro Lounge particularly early (which got me nervous) and the included dinner was after departure.

The significance of the difference is I got nervous and bugged the Metro Lounge staff - but they were "on top of it". DO NOT eat dinner prior to boarding the CNO in CHI unless the idea of Giordano''s Pizza is irresistible to you - a reasonable thing