posted
First time poster, long time lurker...I'm considering taking the Crescent from Washington, DC to Gainesville, GA or Atlanta in September and wanted to get an idea of what would be served for dinner and breakfast, but can't seem to find a sample menu on the Amtrak website or even through a Google search. Any other ideas? Thanks!
Posts: 76 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by abefroman329: First time poster, long time lurker...I'm considering taking the Crescent from Washington, DC to Gainesville, GA or Atlanta in September and wanted to get an idea of what would be served for dinner and breakfast, but can't seem to find a sample menu on the Amtrak website or even through a Google search. Any other ideas? Thanks!
I'm sure someone can point you to a place where some sample menus are available. Here is what I observed having nine Amtrak meals on a trip last week;
Amtrak has four or five different menu 'cycles' which rotate periodically. While I can't say for certain what you would find when you travel, I cangive you some general ideas.....
Dinner entrees will generally range in price from $11.00 to $21.00 each.......unless you travel in the sleeper in which case your meals (but not alcohol or gratuities) are included with your accomodation (room) charge.
You can count on finding
1) a beef entree (prime rib, strip steak, or twin medallions.....a pair of 4-5 oz. cuts of beef for instance)
2) a chicken entree
3) a fish entree
4) a meatless entree.......such as vegetable lasagna
5) a special which could be anything from Chicken Cordon Bleau to Country Fried Steak. The special is usually $12.50 and I would hope that they would get the Country Fried Steak on the Crescent......it would be a hit there.
All dinner entrees are served with a roll, salad, and vegetables on the side. Usually there is only one vegetable offering that comes standard with each entree.
For breakfast the prices are going to be more in the $7.00 to $11.00 range. You'll find a cereal offering, some type of egg offering, standard breakfast meat and toast, hash browns, and of course, french toast. I always have the french toast because........well.......because I never have french toast except when I'm on the train.
I hope that this gives you a place to start and let us know how your trip went once you return.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
Here's a link to the menus from an April 2003 Amtrak press release. Specific lunch and dinner offerings have changed, but this menu's still representative of what you'll find. Prices have also increased a bit.
posted
Oh yes, breakfast usually starts at 6:00 am and is first-come first served, so you should have time to eat. Dinner is served in several timed seatings. 5:30 pm is typically the first seating.
Posts: 103 | From: St. Louis, MO USA | Registered: Oct 2002
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posted
Breakfast on many trains I've traveled lately starts at 6:30. (Coffee, juice, and water will often available in sleepers before breakfast begins, although on some trains on which I've traveled, the coffee pot in one sleeper wasn't working--but you could go into the other to get it.) If breakfast is indeed starting at 6:30, and if your train is running on time, having breakfast might be too rushed, but perhaps you could speak with the person in charge of the diner and tell him or her your situation and arrange something (like rushing you your meal a little early, or getting some of the Continental breakfast (like the yogurt, biscuit, and juice) as takeout. Although the Crescent has a better track record than many other trains--my train to Atlanta was right on time when I went NYC to Atlanta last fall--it still often runs somewhat late--my return trip was about an hour late. So if your train is not running on time, and you are able to sit down for a regular breakfast, I would strongly recommend the railroad French toast!
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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By the way, since I gather you don't have a lot of previous experience riding on Amtrak's "National Network" trains, I'd suggest, just for the sake of your getting off to a terminological good start, that you're best off using the simple term "sleeping car room" for the type of accommodation you're planning to travel in, rather than the railroady-sounding but arguably inaccurate term "sleeper compartment". The word "compartment" is more a British than an American railroading term, and it's best reserved to describe certain kinds of accommodations that are found on British and European passenger trains. The only times I'm aware of that the word "compartment" has been used by American railroad companies to officially describe an accommodation they offer are when it was used in the pre-Amtrak era to describe a certain, somewhat uncommon type of sleeping car room, and when Amtrak briefly and unwisely used it in the second half of the 1990's to designate what were later known as the Standard Bedrooms on its Viewliner sleeping cars (and which are now known by the arguably unwise term Roomettes--unwise because that word has already been used in the past to designate a very different type of sleeping car room).
Many people who aren't familiar with American passenger trains, especially journalists, are attracted to using the word "compartment" in connection with American trains simply because it sounds to them like genuine railroad lingo, so that they think it confers an impression of authoritativeness on whatever it is they're trying to say. Sometimes they don't even get the conventional wrong meaning of the word right, so that they'll use "compartment" to mean one of the cars of a passenger train (as in, "I walked down the aisle and through the sliding doors to the next compartment of the train"), or to mean some sort of subdivision of a coach or other non-sleeping car (as in, "I stepped out of the bathroom and back into the passenger compartment of the coach"). You'll rarely hear truly railroad-knowledgeable people use "compartment" in connection with modern American passenger trains, however, because it simply isn't the correct term. The names of the sleeping car rooms currently used by Amtrak are the Roomette (formerly known as the Standard Bedroom), the Bedroom (formerly known as the Deluxe Bedroom), the Family Bedroom, and the Accessible Bedroom (formerly known as the Handicapped Bedroom). Generically, these can be called "sleeping car rooms", or just "rooms".
And incidentally, the beds in one of these rooms can simply be called beds, or, if you must, bunks. Calling them "berths" is rather silly, another example of phonily-expert-sounding pseudo-terminology. The term "berth" is best reserved to describe one of the two enclosed-bed-with-curtain units (one upper, one lower) that together make up what is known as an "open section". Open-section berths were formerly the most common type of sleeping car accommodation on North American trains (you've probably seen them in various old movies and television episodes); while they've never been used by Amtrak, they can still be experienced on the trains of VIA Rail Canada.
Best wishes on your upcoming trip.
Posts: 86 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
Good gracious, ds555, you seem to be quite pedantic about the terms "compartment" and "berth." This generic terminology is understood around the world wherever English is spoken. My dictionary makes a reference to trains when defining both terms. Both Amtrak and VIA Rail have recently changed the titles given their rooms, but everyone knows what a compartment or a berth is no matter what they are "officially" called this week.
Interestingly, although VIA Rail now calls roomettes "single bedrooms" and drawing rooms "triple bedrooms" everyone at VIA, both on the phone and on the trains, still recognises the traditional terminology and uses it when they know I am a frequent traveller. I have never once been corrected. Double bedrooms are still double bedrooms.
I have recently heard and read some pretentious journalists referring to sleeping car rooms as "cabins" and "staterooms." I much prefer the word compartment.
Posts: 216 | From: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada | Registered: Jul 2000
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posted
David is quite correct. There is nothing wrong with referring to a room in a sleeping car as a compartment. That word has often been used in both Canada and the U.S., and as for berth, that is still a traditional term for the beds in a sleeping car. It doesn't matter if a berth is in an open section or in an enclosed bedroom--it is still a berth and it is not pseudo-terminology.
Posts: 524 | From: Toronto Ont. Canada | Registered: Mar 2001
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quote:Originally posted by ds555: To abefroman329:
By the way, since I gather you don't have a lot of previous experience riding on Amtrak's "National Network" trains, I'd suggest, just for the sake of your getting off to a terminological good start, that you're best off using the simple term "sleeping car room" for the type of accommodation you're planning to travel in, rather than the railroady-sounding but arguably inaccurate term "sleeper compartment". The word "compartment" is more a British than an American railroading term, and it's best reserved to describe certain kinds of accommodations that are found on British and European passenger trains. The only times I'm aware of that the word "compartment" has been used by American railroad companies to officially describe an accommodation they offer are when it was used in the pre-Amtrak era to describe a certain, somewhat uncommon type of sleeping car room, and when Amtrak briefly and unwisely used it in the second half of the 1990's to designate what were later known as the Standard Bedrooms on its Viewliner sleeping cars (and which are now known by the arguably unwise term Roomettes--unwise because that word has already been used in the past to designate a very different type of sleeping car room).
Many people who aren't familiar with American passenger trains, especially journalists, are attracted to using the word "compartment" in connection with American trains simply because it sounds to them like genuine railroad lingo, so that they think it confers an impression of authoritativeness on whatever it is they're trying to say. Sometimes they don't even get the conventional wrong meaning of the word right, so that they'll use "compartment" to mean one of the cars of a passenger train (as in, "I walked down the aisle and through the sliding doors to the next compartment of the train"), or to mean some sort of subdivision of a coach or other non-sleeping car (as in, "I stepped out of the bathroom and back into the passenger compartment of the coach"). You'll rarely hear truly railroad-knowledgeable people use "compartment" in connection with modern American passenger trains, however, because it simply isn't the correct term. The names of the sleeping car rooms currently used by Amtrak are the Roomette (formerly known as the Standard Bedroom), the Bedroom (formerly known as the Deluxe Bedroom), the Family Bedroom, and the Accessible Bedroom (formerly known as the Handicapped Bedroom). Generically, these can be called "sleeping car rooms", or just "rooms".
And incidentally, the beds in one of these rooms can simply be called beds, or, if you must, bunks. Calling them "berths" is rather silly, another example of phonily-expert-sounding pseudo-terminology. The term "berth" is best reserved to describe one of the two enclosed-bed-with-curtain units (one upper, one lower) that together make up what is known as an "open section". Open-section berths were formerly the most common type of sleeping car accommodation on North American trains (you've probably seen them in various old movies and television episodes); while they've never been used by Amtrak, they can still be experienced on the trains of VIA Rail Canada.
Best wishes on your upcoming trip.
Get a grip, man.
Posts: 76 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by ds555: To abefroman329:
By the way, since I gather you don't have a lot of previous experience riding on Amtrak's "National Network" trains, I'd suggest, just for the sake of your getting off to a terminological good start, that you're best off using the simple term "sleeping car room" for the type of accommodation you're planning to travel in, rather than the railroady-sounding but arguably inaccurate term "sleeper compartment". The word "compartment" is more a British than an American railroading term, and it's best reserved to describe certain kinds of accommodations that are found on British and European passenger trains. The only times I'm aware of that the word "compartment" has been used by American railroad companies to officially describe an accommodation they offer are when it was used in the pre-Amtrak era to describe a certain, somewhat uncommon type of sleeping car room, and when Amtrak briefly and unwisely used it in the second half of the 1990's to designate what were later known as the Standard Bedrooms on its Viewliner sleeping cars (and which are now known by the arguably unwise term Roomettes--unwise because that word has already been used in the past to designate a very different type of sleeping car room).
Many people who aren't familiar with American passenger trains, especially journalists, are attracted to using the word "compartment" in connection with American trains simply because it sounds to them like genuine railroad lingo, so that they think it confers an impression of authoritativeness on whatever it is they're trying to say. Sometimes they don't even get the conventional wrong meaning of the word right, so that they'll use "compartment" to mean one of the cars of a passenger train (as in, "I walked down the aisle and through the sliding doors to the next compartment of the train"), or to mean some sort of subdivision of a coach or other non-sleeping car (as in, "I stepped out of the bathroom and back into the passenger compartment of the coach"). You'll rarely hear truly railroad-knowledgeable people use "compartment" in connection with modern American passenger trains, however, because it simply isn't the correct term. The names of the sleeping car rooms currently used by Amtrak are the Roomette (formerly known as the Standard Bedroom), the Bedroom (formerly known as the Deluxe Bedroom), the Family Bedroom, and the Accessible Bedroom (formerly known as the Handicapped Bedroom). Generically, these can be called "sleeping car rooms", or just "rooms".
And incidentally, the beds in one of these rooms can simply be called beds, or, if you must, bunks. Calling them "berths" is rather silly, another example of phonily-expert-sounding pseudo-terminology. The term "berth" is best reserved to describe one of the two enclosed-bed-with-curtain units (one upper, one lower) that together make up what is known as an "open section". Open-section berths were formerly the most common type of sleeping car accommodation on North American trains (you've probably seen them in various old movies and television episodes); while they've never been used by Amtrak, they can still be experienced on the trains of VIA Rail Canada.
Best wishes on your upcoming trip.
Wow. Way to turn off a new poster with a legitimate question.
Not sure I'd come back here with a question again after this.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
Yeah, you kinda killed a fly with a sledgehammer there, guy.
Anyway...the train is scheduled to depart Washington at 6:40 pm, so how do they handle seatings for dinner? Will I be offered one when I get on the train, or before I get on in Club Acela, or...?
Posts: 76 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
When you board the train in Wash. DC your sleeper attendant will be able to provide you wwith the info as to when the next seating is and or what meal times are still available
Posts: 332 | From: Long Island, NY USA | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
Going to pick up my ticket after work...I was allowed to make a reservation good till Friday over the phone, but does Amtrak have the same "fares not guaranteed until ticketing" policy as the airlines?
Posts: 76 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Amtrak gives you one week to pay for your ticket which can be done over the phone( credit card) or at the station or travel agent. The price holds for that week. After that you lose your reservation and have to start over. As to meals, we went out to Denver in May and found that the menus had not changed much over the past few years. One big change was rack of lamb on the trip from D>C. to Chi.You still have a choice of 2 kinds of potatoes or rice and one of 2 veggies(roasted corn is still one and it is excellent)plus a salad and roll. This year for the first time in several years they put the fruit back on the dessert menu.There is really an excellent choice of meals unless they run out of what you want, which does happen on occasion. The last seating for dinner is usually around 8 but your car attendent can tell you about that. Enjoy! We always do
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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