Bedroom Meal Question

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roadman3313

OBS Chief
AU Supporting Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2012
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754
Location
SF Bay Area
I never really thought about this before so I wanted to ask to see if my assumptions are reasonable.

I am traveling with a party of 3 (myself plus 2) and an infant in a Bedroom for a daytime trip on the Coast Starlight. As we are traveling with the infant, someone would need to be watching him at all times. Is it possible to make a meal reservation for 2 and a separate meal reservation for 1 at a different time? I would assume that it would be, however I've only ever had 2 people total in a Bedroom and we always had the meals in our room or made a reservation and ate at the same time.

I just wanted to run it by everyone to see if anyone has had a similar experience. I know some have had issues with 3 people receiving meals on a reservation, however all the phone agents mentioned 3 people should without my asking (actually it as more like be sure to get the 3 meals per meal period as you are paying for them in the price of the ticket!). I'm less concerned with that as if there is a problem in that regard I'm fine just paying for the meals for 1 and contacting customer relations with the information if there is any dispute about it.

My main concern would be having the ability to have two separate reservations for Lunch and Dinner or having two people eat in the Dining/Parlour car and the third having an in-room meal.
 
I can't think of any reason this would be a problem other than the vagueries of time slot availability.
 
As said, I don't see a problem. Especially if dining in the PPC and there's slots available. You get meals for 3 people.

Just think of 2 people at breakfast. There's a good chance they will not both eat breakfast at the same time. When traveling with another AU member, most times we eat breakfast at different times!
 
I've encountered far fewer misbehaving infants in the dining car than colicy adults.
 
WhoozOn1st said:
amamba said:
Can't you bring the infant to the dining car?
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Bad idea, potentially grossly unfair to other passengers and dining car staff.
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I never really considered that possibility as he would take up another seat and people would tend to be bothered by it. Granted it would be nice to be able to get out of the room and walk around with him on the train a bit and through the PPC to get a snack without getting funny looks but it is usually easier just to shelter ourselves in the room for the duration of the trip.
 
I don't think anyone would give you a funny look if you walked around the train with him. Babies need stimulation too. :)
 
I see and have seen plenty of parents bring their infant into the dining car for meals. Honestly if you expect children to become socialized you can't just leave them in the room all the time.

When and if a child become disruptive to the surrounding passengers then by all means a parent should remove the child back to the room. Bring a car seat that will fit into the diner booths and bring your infant to the dining car with you.

Be sure to make the reservation for four as the baby and car seat do count. I've actually had people fail to tell me this when they made their reservation and then the LSA ends up one seat short for the seating. It is community seating remember.
 
fairviewroad said:
WhoozOn1st said:
amamba said:
Can't you bring the infant to the dining car?
Click to expand...
Bad idea, potentially grossly unfair to other passengers and dining car staff.
Click to expand...
An infant has just much right to be on the train as anyone else, and thus has just

as much right to be in the dining car. How in the world would that be "grossly unfair" to other

passengers and to staff?
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I concur. On my last trip on Coast Starlight, I was seated in Dining Car opposite a young mom with her tiny infant (probably 1-1.5 year old). Yes, the toddler played with the silverware and made some noise with it, and cried for a bit while the food was brought, but the mother tried everything in her capacity to make sure the infant does not inconvenience me. The mother made some small talk with me too, to make sure I was not irritated by the baby. I appreciate that. Handling little babies is not easy, and the mother took care of matters as much as possible.

Having meal with the baby tablemate was actually more pleasant than the next meal with a grumpy Asian senior citizen couple who did not speak one word throughout the meal, and yelled at the dining car staff for refusing to serve an entree that they had run out.
 
I agree it would be nice to bring him around. I'm thinking maybe sometime sitting in the PPC as he likes to look out the window at the passing sights. If he gets bored or starts to get a little upset then that is close enough to the room to easily bring him back and forth. I'll see how he likes that first and then if that works out we might bring him to dine. Depends on how we all feel but it's nice to know that some are supportive and understanding of the idea. The trip by train is actually a bit nicer than the car as well as he can move around a bit and we can play with him in the room instead of having him bundled up in a car seat most of the time. Plus he seems to enjoy it as well. He's only about 9 months old but he has been on the CS (this will be his 3rd time), CZ, and the Empire Builder. He generally has been very well behaved too on all the trips and has slept through the night.

Some may think it's a bit young for him to have that train time but it has really been amazing in terms of traveling to visit relatives and what not vs. taking a car trip with all of his stuff. We are not big fans of airplanes so it provides a great alternative.
 
I don't think he's too young at all. As you mentioned, it'll be much better than a car trip since he can sit on the floor and play, and there's lots of room for him to nap as well. Since you have a room, you can always close the door if he starts to fuss. On an airplane, you don't get that kind of privacy.

Honestly, if we had young children, we'd definitely take the train instead of flying. I see kids playing board games in the SSL all the time, and I've seen mothers walking up and down the aisle in Coach to keep their little one settled. I've never sat with a baby in the dining car, but I wouldn't mind. If anything, it would make conversation really easy. Parents love to talk about their kids. ;)
 
Or we could all consider that Mom is starting this new Foamer at a very early age. (Wish my folks had done the same.....LOL)
 
Add 1 to the "take the baby to the diner" club.

Took my son there as soon as we started on the train with him (he was 5, and always behaved reasonably). Will take my daughter there whenever she rides with us.
 
Wow I didn't realize I would get so many responses to what I thought was an innocent suggestion.

How old is the baby? If its an infant, the baby will probably sleep through the meal. Bring him/her in the carrier and sit him on the booth next to you. :)

If the baby starts to fuss, then someone should take the baby from the diner, but I don't see how a well behaved infant/baby takes away from anyone else in the diner. I don't even like kids - I am CF by choice - but I love seeing babies out and about. I just want to snuggle all of them.
 
roadman3313 said:
Some may think it's a bit young for him to have that train time but it has really been amazing in terms of traveling to visit relatives and what not vs. taking a car trip with all of his stuff. We are not big fans of airplanes so it provides a great alternative.
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Most of us here here may be jealous of him getting such an early start. You seem to be good parents.

Aloha
 
EB_OBS said:
I see and have seen plenty of parents bring their infant into the dining car for meals. Honestly if you expect children to become socialized you can't just leave them in the room all the time.

When and if a child become disruptive to the surrounding passengers then by all means a parent should remove the child back to the room. Bring a car seat that will fit into the diner booths and bring your infant to the dining car with you.

Be sure to make the reservation for four as the baby and car seat do count. I've actually had people fail to tell me this when they made their reservation and then the LSA ends up one seat short for the seating. It is community seating remember.
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Good to hear this practical advice from an OBS person. In my experience on LD trains, infants and toddlers are not much trouble, in the diner or in the coach. When the little ones do act up - which is seldom - it is the parent's responsibility to deal with the situation. A little bit of mild support from tablemates or people in nearby coach seats -- like "oh he's fussy - take him for a walk if you need to - I'll save your place - and the LSA is not likely to lose your dessert" kind of thing.

Many X infants ARE well behaved in public.

It's only when not, and the parent doesn't DO anything about it, that it's "unfair"
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Exactly. And most parents, given a wee bit of friendly support, or a small push in a good direction, will DO something about a flipped out child.
 
Back to the OP...as far as splitting the group into 2 adults for one seating, and one adult and the baby at another, if anything, that would HELP the LSA and dining car staff, and probably get you a better seating. Groups of 3 or 4 (or more) can be very challenging to seat together on a busy train, wheras it's much easier to squeeze one or two into the "preferred" time slots.
 
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