THE NEW MENUS ARE HERE! THE NEW MENUS ARE HERE!

[OlympianHiawatha]

I cannot understand how the Powers to Be have figured out eliminating Macaroni and Cheese will save money. I can buy 3 boxes for a buck when it is on sale at Valu Foods and that would be enough to feed 6 average size portions. And I have seen mega-family size bags of Chicken Tenders for just a few dollars and again several meals can be slopped out of one of those.

I think this is a case where by-the-book Accounting has taken the place of real world common sense.

 

[Texan Eagle]

I cannot understand how the Powers to Be have figured out eliminating Macaroni and Cheese will save money. I can buy 3 boxes for a buck when it is on sale at Valu Foods and that would be enough to feed 6 average size portions. And I have seen mega-family size bags of Chicken Tenders for just a few dollars and again several meals can be slopped out of one of those.

Funny thing is, while Mac n Cheese is being eliminated from Auto Train, it is being kept for all the other trains.. and instead pizzas are being eliminated from children's menu in regular trains, while Auto Train will keep pizzas! Talk about consistency :wacko:

 

[neroden]

1. You object to the diner being closed from 10 am till 11:30 am, and from 3:00 pm till 5:00 pm. Just how many hours per day do you work, and how many hours per day do you expect the diner crew to work? They are up at 5 am to open the diner at 6, and they are often up till 11:00 pm, or whenever they can finish their cleanup. This means getting to bed at 11:30 on a good night. Then they get the privilege of getting up at 5 am the next day to do it all again. The hours of service law that protects Train and Engine (T&E) crews does not apply to onboard service employees. OBS crews are not guaranteed 8 hours' rest between shifts, and they are not guaranteed a maximum limit of 12 hours per shift as T&E crews are.

I know it is a pretty brutal shift. When there are lines of people waiting for food, however, I'm not sure what the best thing to do is other than open longer...
I have been told that a lot of time both before and after each meal is spent doing inventory and paperwork. If this can be eliminated, that would create more time to serve by replacing the inventory time with serving time. If I have incorrect information in this matter, I apologize.

 

[neroden]

it sure starts to look like intentional downgrades to drive away passengers as sp did with the sunset limited in the 60's

It does start to feel that way, doesn't it?
And heck, I could even sort of understand on some routes: the ones which cannot (without multibillion-dollar investments) be made fast enough to be competitive with driving. But the collateral damage is going to be enormous, across the whole system. If Amtrak really wants to drive people away, I'd honestly rather they just bit the bullet and cut an entire route, rather than degrading service on many routes at once.

I'd rather believe that this is just mindless, poorly thought out cutting, by people who don't understand how to restructure things to make more money -- the opposite sort of of people from the thoughtful people who wrote the PIPs.

 

[neroden]

On another topic, I splurged and can now nostalgically relive the Amtrak Corelle experience in my own home. (Since we use Corelle anyway, I figured...) ;-) Thanks for the link, I had no idea it had made it onto the private market.

 

[FormerOBS]

Minor correction: I said the A-Train's children's meal includes rice or beans. This was a mental hiccup. Should have said rice or mashed potatoes. And yes, there is a lot of paperwork to be done to account for every consumable or disposable item on the dining car.

 

[Ryan]

Interesting (to me) announcement on the #11 Coast Starlight this morning out of Seattle - the Parlour Car attendant let everyone know that Amtrak policy ends coffee & juice service in the sleeper cars at 10am every day, that this has long been the policy but that in "these times" Amtrak is cracking down and enforcing this policy. So after 10am sleeper car passengers can't get complimentary juice and coffee in their sleeper cars but may purchase (for money, he made clear) these items in the parlour car.

I'm just going to leave this here.

This is from Version 7. Perhaps it's changed in v8, but "has long been the policy" is BS.

 

[Eris]

On the other hand, the Parlour Car attendant ran a wine tasting in the afternoon, after noting that the tastings had been discontinued but he was offering it anyway.

 

[yarrow]

On the other hand, the Parlour Car attendant ran a wine tasting in the afternoon, after noting that the tastings had been discontinued but he was offering it anyway.

On the other hand, the Parlour Car attendant ran a wine tasting in the afternoon, after noting that the tastings had been discontinued but he was offering it anyway.

On the other hand, the Parlour Car attendant ran a wine tasting in the afternoon, after noting that the tastings had been discontinued but he was offering it anyway.

On the other hand, the Parlour Car attendant ran a wine tasting in the afternoon, after noting that the tastings had been discontinued but he was offering it anyway.

On the other hand, the Parlour Car attendant ran a wine tasting in the afternoon, after noting that the tastings had been discontinued but he was offering it anyway.

On the other hand, the Parlour Car attendant ran a wine tasting in the afternoon, after noting that the tastings had been discontinued but he was offering it anyway.

On the other hand, the Parlour Car attendant ran a wine tasting in the afternoon, after noting that the tastings had been discontinued but he was offering it anyway.

now that is really strange. both the wine tasting and how i managed to requote the post 7 times

 

[FormerOBS]

Ryan: In Manual 8, part g, Amenities and Amenities Station Set-Up, the wording is unchanged. It is exactly the same as the wording you cite. It appears on page 6-87.

 

[Ryan]

Thanks!

 

[jimhudson]

As I posted in my Texas Eagle Re-Route Trip Report the Excellent SCA on #22 told me that he used to get Three Bags of Coffee for each Eagle trip and now is getting only One Bag and when it was gone, that was it! (Usually Before 10AM when the Sleepers were fuul!)As for bottled water, each room is to onlyvreceive Two Bottles and the water is to be kept in the SCAs room available only upon request! ( I never asked for more since the bottles are So Big!)

Also he was instructed to only pit out One Box of Orange and Apple Juice @ a time and that Ice was now to be kept only in the Diner and Cafe Car and that the SCA had to get it for the passengers upon request, we weren't allowed to get it for ourselves!

Ryan's posting of the Amenities and Amenities setup page is still the standard per Former OBS so what's next

 

[Ryan]

Call Amtrak and complain if you're not getting what's promised.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

Also he was instructed to only pit out One Box of Orange and Apple Juice @ a time and

I can live with this PROVIDED he/she regularly checks and resupplies as needed. This does reduce the chances of pilferage. And it doesn't bother me too much ice is being kept under cover as open unattended ice is a health disaster waiting to happen. But again it shouldn't turn into a hide-and-seek game for the ice.

 

[PerRock]

3. The ingredients of meals can be looked up in a book kept by the chefs in the kitchen. It's a rare trip when I haven't had to check on some ingredient for at least one passenger. This requires me, as the waiter, to interrupt the taking of orders, and it adds a few minutes to the taking of orders for that passenger and everybody who orders after him/her. But the passenger is entitled to have the information.

If it's just in a book (which I don't know why I haven't thought of this before) why not just FOIA a copy of it & make it avalable online for people to look up the ingerdients?

peter

 

[FormerOBS]

Putting it on line would probably be a good idea, but I suspect there are lots of folks who wouldn't think ahead and look it up in advance. We would still have to look these things up at the time for most situations. I have never minded this; it's just a part of service delivery. I just felt that the slow-down effect should be mentioned. Implementing the solution is not in my pay grade.

 

[Eris]

One last Coast Starlight update- they were out of the kid's mac'n'cheese by the first (11:30am) seating of lunch the second day of the trip, leaving my 9 year old with a choice of... a hot dog. The server groused about the newly limited menu in general, and kids menu in particular, especially with summer starting (lots more kids on board soon), and my daughter kind of cried (her second choice, in her head, was the grilled cheese... she KNOWS they run out of stuff so was prepared! But I had utterly failed to warn her about the reduced choices).

We did our best to be reasonable, agreeing that the reductions kinda sucked, and my kid and I ended up splitting an Angus burger and she was supplied with her own serving of potato chips at no additional charge.

 

[amamba]

As always, thank you to RYAN for providing the quote from the blue book on the coffee service in the service.

 

[hessjm]

Citation provided! :giggle:

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

One last Coast Starlight update- they were out of the kid's mac'n'cheese by the first (11:30am) seating of lunch the second day of the trip, leaving my 9 year old with a choice of... a hot dog. The server groused about the newly limited menu in general, and kids menu in particular, especially with summer starting (lots more kids on board soon), and my daughter kind of cried (her second choice, in her head, was the grilled cheese... she KNOWS they run out of stuff so was prepared! But I had utterly failed to warn her about the reduced choices).

We did our best to be reasonable, agreeing that the reductions kinda sucked, and my kid and I ended up splitting an Angus burger and she was supplied with her own serving of potato chips at no additional charge.

This is especially inexcusable on a Flagship train such as the Starlight or Builder.

 

[boxcarsyix]

Just finished my yearly trip. 6(26) had the old menu and options. I think 3(29) still had the old menu (I had the salmon). 14(31) had the new menu but the selections were announced when the LSA started taking reservations. I was still able to get my bunt cake a la mode. Was off of 14 before breakfast so I don't know what changes there.

 

[boxcarsyix]

Don't know why that went through as guest

 

[SarahZ]

Brent reports that 4(29) had the new menu. The server told them what the items were without any prompting and briefly explained each item when asked if it had sauce and things like that.

He was a bit bummed that the ribs were removed from the SWC menu, but he really loves the steak, and he said he would have ordered chicken if they were out of steak. I forgot to ask him what was served at each meal, so he didn't write anything down, but he said one of the seafood offerings was crab cakes. He wasn't up for breakfast, so I have no idea if the Chief serves pancakes or french toast (or if it varies by trip).

He didn't even notice the flowers were gone. ^_^

 

[Ryan]

Citation provided! :giggle:

Ohh, pretty!!!

Share?

 

[D.P. Roberts]

This is especially inexcusable on a Flagship train such as the Starlight or Builder.

With the exception of the PPC, I really see no reason to consider the EB or the CS a "flagship" anymore - all the amenities and services that made them "flagships" are now gone. They're now "flagships" to the same extent that they're "ships".

14(31) had the new menu but the selections were announced when the LSA started taking reservations. I was still able to get my bunt cake a la mode.

I'm excited to hear that the bundt cake a la mode is still available. The new menu just says "featured chocolate dessert", and it seems like the parfait has been a lot more common lately.