Dining Questions on the San Joaquin

[Rob_C]

Hi all,

FIRST PART

I'm taking the San Joaquin from Bakersfield to Sacramento in February to connect with the Coast Starlight.

I've heard conflicting things about food service. Back when it was a superliner consist it had a full diner from pictures I've seen. Now with new equipment they have a car (at least the blueprints) call a diner with tables upstairs. Is this still the case? Is it sit down service or Cafe style and find yourself a table? Do people just lounge in this car, or do they take their food back to their seats? What's downstairs in the "diner" btw?

SECOND PART

Overnight in Portland, then the Empire Bulder east. It's a sightseer with cafe, but is there anything different to try to make up for the lack of a full diner or just what you see is what you get? Sleeping Car pax get anything special?

Okay, THIRD PART unrelated tacked on in case anyone knows, it's not a huge deal...

Amtrak has a winter promotion code on the Surfliner/San Joaquin (H778 for 25% off) sponsored by California. I tried to use it for the San Joaquin but it came up with an error saying that section of my trip was already sold out. It's not because I booked just fine without the code. Is this because I booked it with a leg on a non-included train, or did they reserve a certain number of seats for the discount and they're all booked, or other issue/call Julie?

Thanks!

Rob

 

[Cascadia]

Amtrak has a winter promotion code on the Surfliner/San Joaquin (H778 for 25% off) sponsored by California. I tried to use it for the San Joaquin but it came up with an error saying that section of my trip was already sold out. It's not because I booked just fine without the code. Is this because I booked it with a leg on a non-included train, or did they reserve a certain number of seats for the discount and they're all booked, or other issue/call Julie?

I had the same problem last winter when there was a 20% off promotion on the Cascades, and I wanted to book a connection to the Empire Builder. I couldn't get the code to work, so I booked it without the discount, then went through a bunch of hassle to have it applied.

The sad part is that the customer service agents aren't really well informed sometimes. You ask one and get one discouraging answer, then you ask another and they grudgingly fix it for you.

However, to give them credit, it did get fixed. I wanted both legs on the same reservation to have the guaranteed connection, you know?

It's pretty screwy, yeah I am remembering the screwy answers they gave me that weren't accurate or helpful. Hope you can get it figured out, I did, eventually.

 

[the_traveler]

FIRST PART
I'm taking the San Joaquin from Bakersfield to Sacramento in February to connect with the Coast Starlight.

I've heard conflicting things about food service. Back when it was a superliner consist it had a full diner from pictures I've seen. Now with new equipment they have a car (at least the blueprints) call a diner with tables upstairs. Is this still the case? Is it sit down service or Cafe style and find yourself a table? Do people just lounge in this car, or do they take their food back to their seats? What's downstairs in the "diner" btw?

When I took it in October, it was cafe style. You could take it back to your seat, but I found it nice to eat the meal there. (I think that I was one of the few.) And the meals on the SJ are much better (and very different) than the "normal" Amfood of hot dogs and chips. What's downstairs - I really have no idea!

SECOND PART
Overnight in Portland, then the Empire Bulder east. It's a sightseer with cafe, but is there anything different to try to make up for the lack of a full diner or just what you see is what you get? Sleeping Car pax get anything special?

When I took it eastbound out of PDX a few years ago, I believe the only choice was the lounge's cafe. (Sleepers get cold meal service - sandwiches - on this segment.) You pick up the Diner in SPK!

Okay, THIRD PART unrelated tacked on in case anyone knows, it's not a huge deal...
Amtrak has a winter promotion code on the Surfliner/San Joaquin (H778 for 25% off) sponsored by California. I tried to use it for the San Joaquin but it came up with an error saying that section of my trip was already sold out. It's not because I booked just fine without the code. Is this because I booked it with a leg on a non-included train, or did they reserve a certain number of seats for the discount and they're all booked, or other issue/call Julie?

I don't know if this is the reason, but are you requesting an ADULT fare with that code? :huh: That error message sounds like the one you would get with a request for something like a AAA or NARP fare with thee code!

 

[Rob_C]

Okay, THIRD PART unrelated tacked on in case anyone knows, it's not a huge deal...
Amtrak has a winter promotion code on the Surfliner/San Joaquin (H778 for 25% off) sponsored by California. I tried to use it for the San Joaquin but it came up with an error saying that section of my trip was already sold out. It's not because I booked just fine without the code. Is this because I booked it with a leg on a non-included train, or did they reserve a certain number of seats for the discount and they're all booked, or other issue/call Julie?

I don't know if this is the reason, but are you requesting an ADULT fare with that code? :huh: That error message sounds like the one you would get with a request for something like a AAA or NARP fare with thee code!

Just for kicks I did try that with both AAA and just regular Adult fare and both turned up the error message. Further I tried the code with different trains including a basic LAX to SBA and lo and behold, it wasn't working for that route either.

Then I thought maybe it requires a round trip, but no. That didn't change anything. Can anybody get this code to work?

Rob