A two part question on dinner service and on booking a train

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L

lagniappe

Train Attendant
Joined
Oct 24, 2016
Messages
18
I'm taking the Crescent 20 all the way down to NOLA from Charlottesville. I've only done this trip one time and we got to the station after 9 and I was in coach. I'm in a roomette this time. Will they be serving dinner before getting to New Orleans? I'm diabetic and need to plan for that.

On my return trip, the roomettes were priced way out of my price range so I'm coming back coach. Something I saw when searching a site for cheaper fairs (after I booked my return trip), there were some rooms available from Atlanta to CVS. In the future, can I book a leg from CVS to Atlanta, book another separate leg from Atlanta to Nola and book a roomette if it's available for that leg only? That will be the night part of the trip and it seems like you could save money doing it that way.

Thanks in advance!
 
Yes, you can break up your trip into coach and roomette sections as part of your total trip. But whether it will actually save you money can only

be determined by testing.

And dinner is served on the southbound Crescent before arrival in New Orleans, albeit a somewhat shortened service. There will also be food service in the lounge car regardless of whether the diner is serving dinner.
 
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You can reserve Coach for part and a Roomette for another, not a problem. Getting Dinner going south, I wouldn't plan on boarding and having dinner. Like said above, OTP is poor right now.
 
I've never been able to create any meaningful savings from breaking a single trip into a daytime coach fare and a nighttime sleeper fare. Maybe it saves more money if you swap schedules and sleep during the day in a compartment while spending the night in coach, but that seems kind of pointless to me.
 
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Thanks for the responses. I would have needed to shorten my trip to take advantage of the savings, but it was over $200 for the day I saw it. I'll keep that in mind for the future if I decide to go by train again.

I know that I will not get dinner after boarding the train and will eat before leaving home. Dinner before getting into New Orleans is what I was wondering about since meals are included and dinner service time starts a few hours before we arrive, if we are on time. I'm hoping not to spend anything additional on food while on board.
 
Yep, the Dinner served on the last leg into NOL on #19 is a Limited Time/Limited Menu affair as the Crew is anxious to clean up and get to the Hotel since they have to be back @ Union Station @ O-Dark-Thirty in the morning to prep for Breakfast as #20 Rolls across the Lake!
 
Given your concern about blood sugar levels .... When we took the Crescent to NOL in March, dinner was one seating, and very early (5PM? 5:30?) even though we were running several hours late by then and didn't arrive NOL until after 9PM. Suggest you bring some snacks.
 
I do have some snacks packed. I think it was about 9 when I got there last time. So far it's saying the train is running fast and should get there an hour earlier. We'll see
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We lost an hour outside of Atlanta last time and it was about 40 minutes late getting to my stop, so it was way passed dinner time when I got there and I was starving for some real food.

Thanks again everyone! I'll talk to the person managing our car when I get in tonight.
 
tricia said:
Given your concern about blood sugar levels .... When we took the Crescent to NOL in March, dinner was one seating, and very early (5PM? 5:30?) even though we were running several hours late by then and didn't arrive NOL until after 9PM. Suggest you bring some snacks.
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I second that. I am also diabetic and I *always* take various snacks, some protein, some carb-rich (for the lows) on train trips regardless of the schedule and diner. I've been doing that for several years and I've never had any health problems.

But didn't you tell us you were considering CONO and the Cardinal to get back to C'ville? What made you change your mind?
 
By the time I got around to checking, the rooms were booked on the Cardinal. So just coming back coach on the Crescent. I think the two day trip would have been fun. And yes, I always travel with snacks too. Heading out now
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lagniappe said:
By the time I got around to checking, the rooms were booked on the Cardinal. So just coming back coach on the Crescent. I think the two day trip would have been fun. And yes, I always travel with snacks too. Heading out now
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That’s the thing about the Cardinal. It’s a tiny, pricy, and thrice weekly train, so even in the rare case that you find a room at a good price, you turn your back for a minute, and it’s gone. D:
 
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Devil's Advocate said:
I've never been able to create any meaningful savings from breaking a single trip into a daytime coach fare and a nighttime sleeper fare. Maybe it saves more money if you swap schedules and sleep during the day in a compartment while spending the night in coach, but that seems kind of pointless to me.
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As an example, taking the SM from MIA to NYP on 28 May 2018 is $414 for one adult in a sleeper all the way. But only $18 (4%) is saved by having that night Roomette only from SAV to WAS and riding Coach at the start and end of the trip.

An extreme example would be taking the TE (422) from LAX to CHI in a Roomette on 26 May. All the way in a Roomette is $1058, but breaking the trip up into 3 night Roomette segments and 3 Coach segments costs $52 (5%) more. By shortening the times in each sleeper segment you might end up with a net savings. Maybe. Sounds like something Scrooge McDuck would do.
 
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niemi24s said:
Devil's Advocate said:
I've never been able to create any meaningful savings from breaking a single trip into a daytime coach fare and a nighttime sleeper fare. Maybe it saves more money if you swap schedules and sleep during the day in a compartment while spending the night in coach, but that seems kind of pointless to me.
Click to expand...
As an example, taking the SM from MIA to NYP on 28 May 2018 is $414 for one adult in a sleeper all the way. But only $18 (4%) is saved by having that night Roomette only from SAV to WAS and riding Coach at the start and end of the trip.
An extreme example would be taking the TE (422) from LAX to CHI in a Roomette on 26 May. All the way in a Roomette is $1058, but breaking the trip up into 3 night Roomette segments and 3 Coach segments costs $52 (5%) more. By shortening the times in each sleeper segment you might end up with a net savings. Maybe. Sounds like something Scrooge McDuck would do.
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Yeah, the savings you from having one continuous ticket often exceed any savings from taking coach party of the way. Every time I’ve looked into getting a “half and half” ticket, savings are at best negligible.
 
On the other hand, look at the Cardinal (I randomly picked 11/11) from WAS-CHI.

$470 if you do it in a roomette.

Of you can book the roomette one stop short to Dyer, IN and save yourself $102. Scheduled time is 8:32, so you'll still get breakfast.

Then buy yourself a $12 coach ticket DYE-CHI and come out with a nice 20% discount.
 
Ryan said:
On the other hand, look at the Cardinal (I randomly picked 11/11) from WAS-CHI.$470 if you do it in a roomette.Of you can book the roomette one stop short to Dyer, IN and save yourself $102. Scheduled time is 8:32, so you'll still get breakfast.Then buy yourself a $12 coach ticket DYE-CHI and come out with a nice 20% discount.
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Another example of that sort of thing is on the Sunset/Eagle. If you take two people in a roomette on #422 LAX-CHI, the lowest bucket fare is about $800. But if you do that from Pomona, the second stop on the line, its about $600. Factor in the $20 coach ticket for the 40 minute ride LAX-POS, and youve saved yourself about $180, which is pretty significant. But those savings stem mostly from the fact that Los Angeles and Chicago are much more desirable destinations than Pomona and Dyer. So there are significant savings in getting a coach ticket for a very short starting or finishing segment of the trip. But when you look at what it would cost do coach during the day, and a roomette at night on even just a one night ride, youre splitting up your ticket into three segments. On a two night trip, its now split into five segments. And when youre doing that, savings are slim to none.
 
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Best "Deal" Ive lucked into was also on #422 from LAX-CHI. As above, took Coach from LAX-Pomona, then Bedroom A from Pomona to St.Louis,then Technically back into Coach from STL-CHI for the 5 hour run,but the SCA let me stay in the Bedroom since no-one had booked it!

Total savings over a Roomette or High Bucket Coach was over $400!!

Disclaimer:Also in the Old Days, one could often Upgrade aboard the Train with the Conductor for Low Bucket Rooms if the Conductor was willing to do it!
 
Once in this life, I did a "short-haul" - and have never felt right about it.

During June '60 at age 18 and far more the railfan than I am today, I did a Hoboken-Dansville, NY joyride. The itinerary was ERIE Hoboken to Binghamton, DL&W Binghamton to Dansville, then return Dansville to Hoboken. I thought I'd be "cute" and "short haul" the Sleeper Binghamton to Hoboken using Coach Dansville to Binghamton. Although each segment was ticketed separately (an absurdly low priced excursion RT Binghamton-Dansville), the grapevine must have been humming ("some picture taking kid is loose"), for when I boarded at Dansville and took a seat in the Coach, the Conductor approached and said "you the one who has Pullman out of Binghamton"? "Yes Sir". "Well, you may as well go up there now, I lost a Coach and I'm going to need all the seats I got".

Here came the Porter to handle my bag. I was asleep well before Binghamton.

Last time in this life I ever tried a stunt like that.
 
Bob Dylan said:
Best "Deal" Ive lucked into was also on #422 from LAX-CHI. As above, took Coach from LAX-Pomona, then Bedroom A from Pomona to St.Louis,then Technically back into Coach from STL-CHI for the 5 hour run,but the SCA let me stay in the Bedroom since no-one had booked it!

Total savings over a Roomette or High Bucket Coach was over $400!!

Disclaimer:Also in the Old Days, one could often Upgrade aboard the Train with the Conductor for Low Bucket Rooms if the Conductor was willing to do it![emoji41]
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And in the Old Days, Amtrak would even call ME when I had booked the CZ in coach from Denver to Emeryville to offer me a roomette for just $100 extra. Fat chance of that happening today.
 
FWIW, the EB doesn't appear to have any secret pairs of stations close to the end points with drastically reduced Roomette fares. Selecting the start of a 4 day low bucket period of 16 May and moving away from the end points a station at each end, Roomettes stayed at $260 until the sixth stations from the ends (Wisconsin Dells and Spokane) before dropping $8 down to $252. The seventh stations away from the end points (LaCrosse and Sandpoint) saw it go down an additional $16 to $236.

Of course, this proves nothing except what a guy'll sink to when boredom sets in.
 
Those are some neat tips on how to save sleeper fares. I've noticed that the fares don't always rise a little at each subsequent station at a linear rate....sometimes the fare will remain the same for three consecutive stops, and then jump up at the next. At least that's the way it used to be...haven't checked that. lately.
 
The low bucket Roomette upcharge on the EB from CHI to SEA remains the same $260 for the first 9 stops from Chicago until Red Wing. The first drop following Red Wing coincides with the diner closing for the evening meal - which may or may not have anything to do with that initial drop.

After Red Wing it drops $29 to $231 for MSP to SEA and then decreases at a somewhat steady rate to a minimum of $100 for the 17 mile ride from Edmonds to Seattle.

Hint: If you want to do a similar search recommend using AmSnag to find a time period of constant buckets a few days longer than the route and use the first date of that period to begin the search. This may avoid subsequent searches getting into a different bucket and throwing a monkey wrench into the data - such as a sudden increase in Roomette upcharge from the next station - or a sudden sizable decrease if a low bucket period was not selected for the search. I pick low bucket periods to avoid that later misleading situation.
 
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Ryan said:
On the other hand, look at the Cardinal (I randomly picked 11/11) from WAS-CHI.

$470 if you do it in a roomette.

Of you can book the roomette one stop short to Dyer, IN and save yourself $102. Scheduled time is 8:32, so you'll still get breakfast.

Then buy yourself a $12 coach ticket DYE-CHI and come out with a nice 20% discount.
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FWIW, the same savings can be realized in the other direction. And depending on the travel date, similar savings can be had but are higher or lower depending on the "bucket du jour". In Ryan's example, the Roomette was at mid-bucket on 11/11.

• On a high bucket date when a Roomette is $524 between WAS & CHI, Ryan's plan will see a net savings of $133 or 21%

• On a mid bucket date when a Roomette is $369 between WAS & CHI, Ryan's plan will see a net savings of $90 or 19%

• On a low bucket date when a Roomette is $220 between WAS & CHI, Ryan's plan will see a net savings of $49 or 15%

But trying this with the first station from WAS on the way to CHI (ALX) won't save you anything as the Roomette buckets are the same.

After Cardinal service is restored all the way to NYP this Fall, similar savings can be had by also using DYE as the "sweet spot".
 
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