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Hello, I have lurked on here awhile and appreciate all the help.
My family and I have booked a trip on the Southwest Chief and have two bedrooms set up to be suited.
We are leaving from Chicago.
Do we need to make a dinner reservation before we leave Chicago or do we do that on the train? If we do it before, where do we do so?
What is the protocol for tipping both at dinner and for the sleeper attendant?
If our destination stop is early in the morning but the train is late, can we arrange a wake-up for a certain amount of time before the actual arrival time or do they usually wake you at a certain time no matter whether the train is running late?
Thanks in advance for all replies.
irish1 Member # 222
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i will give this a shot.
they will take your dinner reservation on the train. they usually offer like 3 different times.
tiping at dinner is the same as a restaurant. your meals will be free as you are in a sleeper so you will have to glance at the prices as you order your meals.
your attendant or the conductor should know your destination and wake you accordingly. if i am wromg on any of these someone will correct me. have a good trip.
irish1 Member # 222
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i did not answer your ? about the sleeper attendant. i may be behind the times on this one but i think 5 bucks a night per room should be ok. provided they actually do something for you.
smitty195 Member # 5102
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Here's my best shot at your questions:
1) Dinner leaving Chicago......Your train leaves Chicago at 3:15PM, so no, they will not take your dinner reservations in the station. They do this for the Southwest Chief that leaves Los Angeles, but that's only because that train departs LAX at dinner time and they do a fast dinner service leaving Los Angeles. But leaving Chicago, it's way too early for them to take dinner reservations before you even get on the train. So they will make an announcement on your train, and someone will come through and get your reservation once you are under way on your trip.
2) Tipping is whatever you would like it to be. Amtrak employees are paid very well (salary and benefits), and they are not dependent to survive on tips as regular restaurant staff often are. But a general rule of thumb is to tip the usual 15% on your meal check (or more, or less, depending on the type of service you receive). As noted, since you do not receive a bill for your meal since it is included in the price of your sleeping car fare, you will need to look at the menu when you order and take a mental note of the price of your meal---and base your tip upon that price.
3) Tipping in the sleepers is unique to everybody. A general guideline that some people go on is $5 per person, per day. So if there are two of you in a room for 2 days, that would be a grand total of $20. Some people tip less, and some people tip more. Some people do not tip at all. Others tip at the beginning, hoping this will give them better service. However, I would NEVER do this on Amtrak as their employees are so hit-and-miss. If you have a lazy attendant who disappears and doesn't want to be "bothered" by doing his job, you could tip him $1,000 at the beginning and it would not change anything. So tip at the end, and base it upon how well they assisted you during your trip. Did they offer to help with your luggage? Were they around to put your beds down at night, and put them up in the morning without waiting for 2 hours after ringing your call button? Did they keep the restrooms clean during the trip? Did the showers have towels and soap? This all determines whether or not they get a tip. They are getting paid VERY well to do their job, so don't give a tip just because you think you have to do it. Do it because you WANT to do it based upon how they treated you.
4) My advice is to rely upon yourself for a wake-up call. If it's the middle of the night, your attendant will be asleep and they will NOT wake up to give you a wake up call. The attendants generally go down for the night around 10PM or so, and get up around 5AM or so (it varies by train, and by individual). So the wake up call duties fall to the Conductor. If the Conductor is busy (or forgets), then you are OUT OF LUCK! Bring a travel alarm, and handle this task yourself.
I hope this helps a little bit. Sounds like a fun trip, especially having a suite in the sleeping car!
Markr Member # 3032
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Thanks for the replies. I'm clear now on the dinner reservation and tips.
Just wondering more about the wake-up time. If the train is going to be late, we would rather sleep a little longer. If we set our own alarm before we go to sleep, we wouldn't really know if we could to that.
It sounds like if you don't get yourself up you can miss your stop?
smitty195 Member # 5102
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Well, there's no exact science as to when you should wake up or set your alarm. Because train travel and arrival times can be so varied with each trip, it's best that you sorta figure it out on your own just to be safe. You could gamble and leave it up to an Amtrak employee to wake you up on-time, but in my own personal experience, I will never do this. It's not that you will miss your stop (although, theoretically, sure you could!), because the Conductor has paperwork that shows who is getting on and who is getting off at every station stop. When you arrive at your station, the Conductor might be waiting on the platform for you to exit your car. When you don't exit, he'll go to your room and knock on the door to say, "Come on---let's go---we're here!". Then everything from there is kinda crazy, as you might imagine. In a perfect Amtrak world, the Conductor would have woken you up in time to get ready before your station stop. But Amtrak is far from perfect! It really is a coin toss as to whether or not this will work or not. Before you go to bed, figure out if your train is running late, early, or on-time. Then ask your attendant or Conductor what time they expect to arrive at your destination. Trains can always lose time (or make up time, but they usually lose time) or it can be on-time. You never know until the wheels stop and you're at your destination. There are times where trains stop short of a platform by 1/2 a mile and sit for 3 hours waiting for a new crew because your crew "died" on the federal hours of service law.
I'm probably making something simple sound more confusing than it actually is. I see what you're asking, but I can't give the answer that you are probably looking for. Your best bet is to do your best to figure out what your arrival time will be before you go to bed, set your own alarm for a wake-up time that suits your needs, and go from there. If you wake up and find out that your train is several hours late, than you can go back to bed. If it's on-time, than you can rest assured that you'll be up and ready to go in time to get off the train without a mad last-minute rush.
PullmanCo Member # 1138
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Train 3 leaves Chicago at 315PM, if "on the advertised." That means either your sleeper attendant or the dining car lead waiter will come through and ask for dinner seatings.
For tipping in the diner, when I'm travelling sleeper, I leave a dollar on the table. Remember, Amtrak staff are receiving not waitstaff wages, but full wages.
For Sleeper attendants, I start at $10 a night, and scale it up/down on friendliness, promptness, and how much work I end up doing. If I make my bed down, his/her tip goes South in hurry.
royaltrain Member # 622
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Regarding your suite. I have seen it happen a few times that when you board the train your bedrooms are not made up en-suite, meaning the sliding wall between rooms B-C or D-E (the only bedrooms where this is possible) has not been opened. Some years ago on the SW Chief I overheard the attendant telling some very annoyed passengers that he didn't have the correct tool to open up the suite, so perhaps before the train departs Chicago make sure the wall is open or they have the proper tool to open it.
HopefulRailUser Member # 4513
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In reference to a wake up call, I agree you must make sure you are up by your own methods, alarm, etc. We recently took the SWC to Williams, scheduled arrival at 5:30 am. Our room attendant told us he would be sure we were up at least 30 minutes before arrival and he had three others in the car exiting there. We were up on our own, he was already up, coffee made at 5:00 and the train arrived on time at 5:30 am. I trust the attendant but have my own backup plan as well.
RRRICH Member # 1418
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Now and then, when I was scheduled to get off the train at an early AM stop, I have had good sleeper car attendants come by and knock on the door 10 or 15 minutes before the station stop, even without asking them to do so ahead of time.
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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When I see reference to "en-suite", I'm reminded of the "ultimate decadence' I once observed aboard Auto Train - a party of two booking two Bedrooms en-suite.
I wonder if they had an entire auto carrier reserved for their Lexus LX-470 (their biggest SUV)?
In all honesty, I did chat with them briefly; there were "health issues' necessitating the en-suite - and actually they were very nice people from "Main Line' Phila (St David's).
But then I once learned of the "ultimate of ultimate" decadency during my "Love Tub" days (I had a now deceased GF who "loved 'em') where I (we) met a couple that 'always did the World Cruise' (HAL). They would book a second Stateroom, albeit an Inside, solely to store their luggage!!!!
palmland Member # 4344
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On a trip with an early morning arrival, my internal alarm goes off long before the attendant knocks on the door. I suspect you will find the same happening. You will know to adjust your 'alarm' by finding out if you are significantly late at bed time. If you lose time during the night, at least you'll be sure to get an early breakfast!
Or, if your attendant seems especially attentive, you can tell him to give you a wake up call on departure from an earlier stop that will give you sufficient time. Such as, if you are getting off in Fullerton, CA at 6:34am, you can tell him to wake you on departure from San Bernardino (scheduled at 5:32am). This will give you maximum sleep time and give the attendant a specific location to wake you rather than 'an hour before arrival'. This has worked well for me in the past.
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