Maybe it depends on the number of expected people for that meal? I know that both sit-down lunches were first-come-first-serve (that was announced on the PA); equally, both dinners were by reservations only; but there was an announcement the 2nd morning saying that given the number of passengers, breakfast would be by reservations only, but then around 915 there was a PA call saying that anyone that wanted breakfast and didn't have reservations, breakfast was now being served on a first-come-first-served basis.Al, are sure they were not just putting people on a waiting list? Since breakfast is first come first serve, it is quite usual for the crew to start a waiting list after it first fills up.Our last trip on the CZ leading up to Memorial Day weekend we needed to have reservations for breakfast as well. We were going from LNK-DEN and didn't know that. We detrain at 7am or so and we walked into the dining car and it was empty but noticed them "taking reservations" for the later seatings.
My impression is that the staff isn't being malicious, but simply trying to maintain some sense of order in what might be a really chaotic situation... and it seemed to work... or at least I was impressed with the number of people that were served, in such a short time, and got everything right.