Amtrak Dining and Cafe service 2023 H2

[lordsigma]

I’ve experienced the same recently on the Silvers since the return of traditional dining. Some LSAs require communal seating and another seating parties at their own table. Given the number of people eating in their room the latter seems the better way to do it for passengers. I don’t find sitting at my own table a hinderance to socializing. On my most recent trip where I was given my own table and they spread people around the diner I just chatted with people at the adjacent table the same as I would with people at my table.

 

[west point]

It might be that seating arrangements depends on number of passengers schedule for that seating? Full seating seat 5 together as they come in. Say 10 - 20 just say seat where you want. Also number expected for next seating might effect how seated?

 

[jis]

It might be that seating arrangements depends on number of passengers schedule for that seating? Full seating seat 5 together as they come in. Say 10 - 20 just say seat where you want. Also number expected for next seating might effect how seated?

I don’t believe that to be the case since there were never more than a dozen people in the Diner for the seating that I was in.

 

[Willbridge]

I don’t believe that to be the case since there were never more than a dozen people in the Diner for the seating that I was in.

Some of it may depend on the demand. As a no alcohol--no steak coach passenger in the new regime I go in for breakfast. In late spring I rode PDX>DEN and in summer I rode DEN>PDX>SEA>DEN. On all trains announcements were made the night before about communal seating and then again in the morning after the curfew ended. The only time I ate breakfast by myself was because no further customers came in.

June 2023 Stopped to witness technology and nature in the SSL on my way to breakfast in Nevada.

 

[flitcraft]

It might be that seating arrangements depends on number of passengers schedule for that seating? Full seating seat 5 together as they come in. Say 10 - 20 just say seat where you want. Also number expected for next seating might effect how seated?

On our October trip on the Empire Builder, tables were filled by the LSA. In fact, the preliminary announcements for the dining car warned people who wanted to dine together to present themselves together at the diner or else their places would be filled with others.
I assumed that this was to keep the maximum number of seats available for coach folks, since the LSA made periodic announcements about how many seats were available in the dinner that seating for coach passengers. I thought that was a helpful thing, saving coach passengers from traipsing to the diner only to find no seating available, and potentially encouraging coach passengers to consider eating in the diner knowing that there were x seats open for them.

 

[lordsigma]

I will say though on the trip where the LSA let everyone do as they wished it did seem to create more work for him which may be why some stuff people at as few tables as possible. Though on the other hand it was also probably the busiest in diner seating I’ve experienced on the silvers since the return of traditional dining. This particular LSA is a class act always asking how you liked your meal and if the steak is cooked right etc. At a couple times during the seating it was busy enough where he got help from other OBS with both sleeper attendants and the coach attendant helping with the table service at times.

Out west and on the Auto Train I would expect communal seating. The practice seems to be more consistently done on those trains and there are more passengers who eat in person in the diner as well. On the Auto Train it’s due to the sheer number of sleepers on the train. Out west I have observed and sat with more sleeper passengers riding “for the experience of riding the train” and they’re much more likely to eat in the diner than their room.

 

[jis]

Some of it may depend on the demand. As a no alcohol--no steak coach passenger in the new regime I go in for breakfast. In late spring I rode PDX>DEN and in summer I rode DEN>PDX>SEA>DEN. On all trains announcements were made the night before about communal seating and then again in the morning after the curfew ended. The only time I ate breakfast by myself was because no further customers came in.

June 2023 Stopped to witness technology and nature in the SSL on my way to breakfast in Nevada.
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I was not commenting about Western trains or pre-Covid practices. Only reporting on what I observed on the Silvers in the recent past. Indeed it could be based on demand. But on the Silvers in the last two weeks it was not, in the sense that in spite of demand never being enough to fill all tables different seating algorithms were used. It depended purely on who the LSA was and what his/her preference was.

At least for now, on the Silver Service, a significantly larger proportion of passengers are eating in their rooms, causing the demand of Diner seats to be soft enough that seldom are all tables filled even with people sitting wherever they want. My impression is that if demand picks up enough for eating in the Diner they would revrt to communal seating to maximize capacity usage, but until that happens each LSA does what he/she sees fit.

I talked to one old timer LSA on the Silvers about this, and he said that one of the biggest complaints he hears from customers is about having to share tables. When the Diner is crowded one can legitimately say to them that shared seating is needed to accommodate everyone. But when half the Diner is empty all that it does is irritates such customers unnecessarily if you try to stuff them on three occupied tables while the rest of the tables are not used in that seating. Which seemed to make perfect sense to me.

 

[lordsigma]

I have noticed differences in the passenger market and reasons for taking the train on the Silvers and Western trains in my diner conversations. In my conversations with people on the Silvers it’s usually people whose trip purpose is getting somewhere and using the train because they either prefer the less stressful experience or don’t like flying (or in one case one who could not fly for medical reasons.) Out west on the few times I’ve traveled the western trains my conversations have been commonly about the train itself and the views and I have sat with a number of people who usually fly but who were taking the train for the experience of doing it and for the views. While obviously I am not implying that everyone who rides out west is an “experiential rider” or that no one rides the Silvers for that reason every route is different - on my last meteor trip I did speak to some people from Europe who were riding to see what train travel was like in the US. But it doesn’t surprise me that a higher proportion of passengers eat in the diner on the California Zephyr than on the Star and Meteor.

 

[jis]

Also, the Western trains have had a head start on the Silvers in slowly regaining pre-Covid behaviors. As time passes and also as Dining is opened up to Coach passengers on the Silvers, which might happen as early as the first half of 2024, things might change too. But on the whole I think that the proportion of passengers traveling by the Silvers for primarily getting from one place to another and less for just the experience will continue to be higher. Afterall it is in the most traveled long distance corridor overall in the US.

 

[Sunrobber]

After reading all the negative comments about flex dining, I’m thinking as we have started traveling by train in retirement that we’ll stick to routes with traditional dining. We’re leaving on the Sunset Limited this Wednesday and have a trip following that on the Coast Starlight.

My personal opinion is the Amtrak is shooting itself in the foot by not bringing traditional dining back on their other long routes. There are most likely many like us who will avoid flex meal trains whenever possible.

 

[west point]

My personal opinion is the Amtrak is shooting itself in the foot by not bringing traditional dining back on their other long routes. There are most likely many like us who will avoid flex meal trains whenever possible.

Maybe a short sighted view by management that it is selling out most available seats why operate a somewhat loosing diner and lounge service?

 

[Eric in East County]

After reading all the negative comments about flex dining, I’m thinking as we have started traveling by train in retirement that we’ll stick to routes with traditional dining. We’re leaving on the Sunset Limited this Wednesday and have a trip following that on the Coast Starlight.

My personal opinion is the Amtrak is shooting itself in the foot by not bringing traditional dining back on their other long routes. There are most likely many like us who will avoid flex meal trains whenever possible.

We don't travel long distance by train for the food or for the fun of riding the train. Fortunately, the one long distance train we use most often is the Southwest Chief which does offer traditional dining. If, for some reason, it should return to flex dining, we would continue to travel on the SWC since it is the most practical means for us to travel between LA and Chicago and the connecting trains which will eventually take us to our final destinations. If the SWC would eliminate sleeping cars with bedrooms, however, we would not take it.

 

[railiner]

I have noticed differences in the passenger market and reasons for taking the train on the Silvers and Western trains in my diner conversations. In my conversations with people on the Silvers it’s usually people whose trip purpose is getting somewhere and using the train because they either prefer the less stressful experience or don’t like flying (or in one case one who could not fly for medical reasons.) Out west on the few times I’ve traveled the western trains my conversations have been commonly about the train itself and the views and I have sat with a number of people who usually fly but who were taking the train for the experience of doing it and for the views. While obviously I am not implying that everyone who rides out west is an “experiential rider” or that no one rides the Silvers for that reason every route is different - on my last meteor trip I did speak to some people from Europe who were riding to see what train travel was like in the US. But it doesn’t surprise me that a higher proportion of passengers eat in the diner on the California Zephyr than on the Star and Meteor.

Also, the Western trains have had a head start on the Silvers in slowly regaining pre-Covid behaviors. As time passes and also as Dining is opened up to Coach passengers on the Silvers, which might happen as early as the first half of 2024, things might change too. But on the whole I think that the proportion of passengers traveling by the Silvers for primarily getting from one place to another and less for just the experience will continue to be higher. Afterall it is in the most traveled long distance corridor overall in the US.

Could also be that spending three days and two nights aboard one train as compared to two days and one night on the other makes a difference. People may want a “change of scene” from their room or seat…

 

[lordsigma]

Could also be that spending three days and two nights aboard one train as compared to two days and one night on the other makes a difference. People may want a “change of scene” from their room or seat…

For end to end riders maybe but remember that not everyone rides end to end.

 

[Sauve850]

On my September trip on the Star from Was to Wpb I was told to expect to sit with others. Seated alone is nice but most of my LD trips have been seated with others. When I arrived at 6pm I was the only one in the dining car the whole time. LSA and I chatted a bunch. She was nice. At breakfast there were only a few people as I ate alone and lunch I was only one in the diner again. Everyone was eating in their room it seemed.

 

[cassie225]

Wow- a big part of riding the train for me was the interaction in the diner among everyone. I loved that.

 

[Asher]

Wow- a big part of riding the train for me was the interaction in the diner among everyone. I loved that.

I thought and feel the same way. Not only that I hate to eat alone.

 

[jis]

I thought and feel the same way. Not only that I hate to eat alone.

I don't think we are talking of eating alone necessarily. For example many couples prefer to have a table on their own without having one or two other random people joining them. So they are not eating alone.

For another example we have had groups of three who were talking about a technical problem (afterall many of us are techy nerds) , and the conversation is interrupted when a fourth person gets thrown in who has zero knowledge of the area that we were talking about. The choices at that point are, carry on regardless in which case the fourth person for all practical purposes is eating alone, or change the conversation to something that would make sense to the new addition which may be utterly boring for those that were having a fine conversation. My tendency would be to go with the latter and then possibly participate only cursorily if the subject becomes one that does no excite me. Issues like that. And then there are the younger generation (subset of them) who join a table and immediately bury their face in their Smartphone, no conversation is ever going to come out of those.

Again, clearly when the Diner is heavily used of course tables have to be shared to the utmost to accommodate as many as possible. But when the Diner is half empty such table packing does not make sense from the customer's point of view IMHO.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

As Americans become increasingly suspicious and distrustful of strangers Amtrak's communal dining feels like an outdated concept from a bygone era. Communal dining can be fun when you're paired with sociable seatmates from other cultures and walks of life, or it can be tedious and uncomfortable when you're paired with a diva or device zombie. If Amtrak had the means and wherewithal this could be resolved by asking people if they mind sitting with strangers during the booking or reservation phase and explaining what that means since it still seems to catch people off guard when they arrive to be seated.

 

[Eric in East County]

For our last few long distance trips, we have opted to have all our meals delivered to us in our bedroom and this arrangement has worked out fine for us. This appears to be a popular option for many other long distance travelers as well as our bedroom already had a copy of the menu, and our SCAs had the same forms that the dining car servers use to take orders.

 

[niemi24s]

As Americans become increasingly suspicious and distrustful of strangers

We are? Really and truly?? Gosh, I didn't know that was happening.

 

[Rasputin]

Perhaps the thing to do is for the LSA to get some idea of passengers' preferences (at least for dinner and also for lunch when lunch reservations are required) when they take the meal reservations. They could note the preferences on their reservation sheets under at least three categories such as:

Roomies (who prefer to eat in their room)
Recluses (who prefer their own table in the dining room - no strangers)
Party Animals (who prefer to dine with others, including strangers)

The LSA can then determine how to space the reservations. For example, if there are 20 Recluses who all want to dine at 6 p.m., the LSA will realize that they cannot all be accommodated at the same time and will have to assign different times to some. If a Recluse occupies a table for more than an adequate time to dine, the LSA can assign another Recluse or some Party Animals to join the first Recluse which may spur the first Recluse to finish and leave.

Passengers could also be distributed colored badges depending on their preference. So if the LSA sees a passenger enter the dining room wearing a red badge, the LSA will realize instantly that that person is a Recluse and should not be seated with others. If they are wearing a blue badge, the LSA will recognize that person as a Party Animal and will seat them with other Party Animals but not with a Recluse. And if they are wearing a green badge the LSA will realize that that person is a Roomie who doesn't want to eat in the dining room at all.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

A benefit I have found to eating in my room is that I can take my time and not feel rushed to hurry up and eat to clear space for the next seating.

I used to love communal dining, but I don’t seem to have the energy for it any more. I just want to relax quietly by myself and look out the window while I eat.

An exception might be breakfast—I’m wide awake and full of energy at 7:00, so I’d consider the dining car then.

 

[Asher]

As Americans become increasingly suspicious and distrustful of strangers Amtrak's communal dining feels like an outdated concept from a bygone era. Communal dining can be fun when you're paired with sociable seatmates from other cultures and walks of life, or it can be tedious and uncomfortable when you're paired with a diva or device zombie. If Amtrak had the means and wherewithal this could be resolved by asking people if they mind sitting with strangers during the booking or reservation phase and explaining what that means since it still seems to catch people off guard when they arrive to be seated.

I guess with all the conspiracy minded folk that are suspicious of interacting with unknown individuals it does create an uncomfortable situation. It’s unfortunate. I think I’m losing my desire to travel by train.

 

[Sunrobber]

Comunnal dining is usually fun—even with sometimes “difficult” people. I try to find out why. Taking a late seating to avoid feeling rushed is my preference. It is relaxing and if the “difficult” person chooses to leave, then the table becomes ours for a bit of quieter time.