Water Rationing & Ice Monitoring On Long Distance Sleeping Cars???

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UnknLegend

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Rode the Sunset Limited 05/28 from Chicago to LA. Sleeping car attendant Peggy advised us she was under orders to sequester the ice (we were told we would have to ring for her and request a cup of ice every time we needed some) and limit access to bottled water.

I've ridden Amtrak long distance trains (as recently as Nov. 2013) over 13,000 miles now (over the past 3 years) and I have never EVER had this occur. Was it just a case of having a 'control freak tip seeker' as a room attendant or has anyone else encountered such a thing recently?

This wasn't the only problem I had with this dreadful woman. I'll give you details if you wish, but meanwhile I'd like to hear your thoughts, please & thanks!
 
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I am on Silver Meteor now. No ice or water rationing here.
 
Rode the Sunset Limited 05/28 from Chicago to LA. Sleeping car attendant Peggy advised us she was under orders to sequester the ice (we were told we would have to ring for her and request a cup of ice every time we needed some) and limit access to bottled water.

I've ridden Amtrak long distance trains (as recently as Nov. 2013) over 13,000 miles now (over the past 3 years) and I have never EVER had this occur. Was it just a case of having a 'control freak tip seeker' as a room attendant or has anyone else encountered such a thing recently?

This wasn't the only problem I had with this dreadful woman. I'll give you details if you wish, but meanwhile I'd like to hear your thoughts, please & thanks!
Sounds more like you got a bad one. Seeing that you started from Chicago, you were on the Texas Eagle portion not the Sunset correct? When I was on the Sunset Limited, Darlean our SCA always made sure that we had plenty of bottled water and always checked on the ice chest and cleaned up around the area.
 
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She is correct about the ice. They are not suppose to leave it out for passengers to get their own. Though, many do. I believe it is a cleanliness issue.

As for water rationing, no idea.
 
Well, rationing is weird, unless there is little ice on the train for some reason.

As to "sequestering the ice", Amtrak policy and FDA regulations prohibit the ice from just being left out for all to scoop at their leisure. It is supposed to be kept out of public areas and the attendant is supposed to be the only one utilizing sanitary procedures to store and scoop and then deliver the ice to you. Unfortunately this is very rarely the case and inconsistently enforced.
 
I've heard of ice rationing before but never water rationing.

All of the ice used on the train needs to be loaded on in bags as there is no onboard ice making machine. If they start to run low I've seen the dining car ask people if they want ice with their drink instead of giving it automatically. I also had a SCA ask if I could wait until after our next stop to have my ice bucket refilled, because they were running low on ice. Sure enough at our next stop they were loading bags of ice onto the train.

The only reason why I could see them rationing out the little bottles of water is that not enough were loaded onto the train. I've also had SCA's keep the bottles in their room but were happy to drop off several bottles whenever I asked.
 
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I've covered about 54k miles over the last 5 years & only once did I have an issue with getting ice. On the EB, the SCA insisted on delivering ice, one cup at a time! I like to have a few cocktails in the evenings & it turned out to be a pain when the SCA was no where to be found!
 
There are other AU threads where it is explained that ice is against federal law. But it was being flouted on the CoNO as recently as May 2014. While I admire sleeping car attendants who go out of their way to help passengers, I wouldn't condemn them for following rules, however silly.

As far as rationing bottled water, I hope it isn't part of the recent strategy of trying to drive away LD customers, especially sleeping car passengers.
 
Technically, the ice should have always been "away from the public areas" but usually was not. However with the cuts, this is much more likely to happen. The same with the bottled water. And coffee used to be available all day, however reports say it was stopped mid morning.

Like much on Amtrak, YMMV!
 
As to "sequestering the ice", Amtrak policy and FDA regulations prohibit the ice from just being left out for all to scoop at their leisure. It is supposed to be kept out of public areas and the attendant is supposed to be the only one utilizing sanitary procedures to store and scoop and then deliver the ice to you. Unfortunately this is very rarely the case and inconsistently enforced.
You say "unfortunately", but as a passenger, I MUCH prefer getting it myself when I want it. I am willing to roll the dice on the cleanliness of it. I think the risk is very low.
 
I wonder if all these germophobes ever bother to watch the ice being loaded as it sits in thin scuffed plastic bags on the ground, on baggage carts, or on the floor of the kitchen before being placed in the freezer. If you want perfectly sanitary ice then maybe you should consider making and bringing your own with you.
 
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It's worth mentioning that the SCA I talked about in the previous post followed the cleanliness rules and didn't have a public chest of ice. Instead he gave out little paper ice buckets that he was happy to refill for passengers.

I found it just as easy as having a public ice chest and it gave the SCA the opportunity to provide some more personalized service each time he refilled it.

Actually when I boarded he noticed I brought along a few bottles of beer so he helped me MacGyver a little cooler using the bucket and a plastic trash can liner bag. Worked great and he earned a big tip for all his service.
 
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Risk might be low, but the issues can be a life threading event. There is a reason behind this policy.

What we need is a ice machine that drops the ice down into our cups. Does not need to make it just dispense it. Like the older fill the hopper kind, would work fine.
 
Thanks, all, for your swift and thoughtful replies. I truly wanted to know if policy had changed or if this lady was speaking out of turn / a 'tip seeker'. Shortly after boarding I asked for an ice bucket and was told there weren't any, which I later discovered wasn't true. I believe I had a lemon for a sleeping car attendant, long story short, which is too bad. I absolutely L-O-V-E long distance train travel (only discovered it 3 years ago); to have such a bad experience is traumatizing, to say the least. I have a medical condition which precludes me from getting dehydrated / overheated. When, right out of the chute, your SCA tells you water is in short supply and you'll have to ring for her to get ice - cup at a time - can be upsetting, to say the least. She was never available - never made 'rounds' to check on the needs of passengers (at least on the upper level, where I was, and had my door open 24/7 and curtain closed only a few hours each night, so I know whereof I speak) I believe I should take my problems with Ms. Peggy up with Customer Relations, as her attitude and approach were not befitting one whose job is to ensure passenger comfort and safety. Again, thanks for your input ... very much appreciated!
 
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Ice isn't even regulated as food. You can use non potable water to make ice. The inconsistent bovine fecal matter used for regulating food safety I'm this country is comedic. It's mostly used as a tool to help large chains and drive smaller better independents out of business.
 
I've seen SCAs 'ration' the water when it starts running low towards the end of a run, but one might want to consider bringing bottled water on board if one wants to make sure they have enough and don't want to pay for it in the Cafe.

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I drink my water and my scotch straight so I've never had the need for ice.

Maybe I should start bringing a plastic pitcher from home and make some iced coffee with what the SCA has been instructed to toss at 9:30 in the AM.

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And yeah, does that make sense - I can see the memo now;

In the name of cost cutting, SCA's will now toss out full urns of coffee at 9:30 AM as this will encourage sleeping car passengers to spend money in the Cafe which will bost sales and help cover the cost of paper cups, sugar packets, creamers, lids, stirrers, napkins, etc.
 
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There are scattered reports of coffee being "rationed" as well as the juice and the little bottles of water in the sleeper (ie, instead of being left out that you have to ask for them). Some people are indicating that they aren't receiving the same stock from the commissary (or whatever) that they used to.

I cannot personally comment as I haven't been on a train in a few weeks.
 
I've not seen water rationed and have taken as much as I needed. I actually didn't realize that ice was available upon request.
 
Actually, ice is regulated as food by the FDA and by most health depts.

When the Health Dept. inspector comes into a restaurant their checklists include inspecting the ice making, storage and handling procedures. They look for a consistent record of cleaning and sanitizing ice making machines and storage bins, utensil & scoop sanitizing and safe employee practices.

It's been 10 or 12 years since I had one but I believe that ice sanitation is in the same column as cooking meat to the correct temps. Ice is considered food and I've never heard of being allowed to use non-potable water to make ice.
 
Oops! I meant the problems I just experienced were when riding the Southwest Chief! (I rode the Sunset Limited last summer - always get those 2 confused!) Sorry!
 
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