IDM79

So what "[I]really[I] good service" are you speaking of? Not sure what an attendant could do for me beyond the minimum required. Actually, except maybe for meal and arriving alerts, I might even tip more for not being bothered at all for the length of a LD train trip.

GoAmtrak

You'd be surprised, a proactive tip definitely influences SCAs to go the extra mile. Twice I've received op-ups from roomette to bedroom due to weak a/c on the roomette end of the car without even asking to be moved. (Obviously that's not the norm.)

User Name

I had the leftovers from the wine tasting brought to my Roomette on the EB!

CMK10

Proactively checking to see what time we'll want our room changed, bringing us buckets of ice instead of us having to go get our own, alerting me to sights I'll want to see on the other side of the car so I can be sure I photograph them or just checking up on us extra to make sure we're doing alright to name a few.

Lyrebird

An Aussie traveller................I had 3 journeys, not all in a row but pretty much back to back. Tipping was confusing, but, the last journey from Settle to L.A, I was literally stalked by people wanting to sit next to me for meals, I was solo and am female, and middle aged so it was not a comfortable experience. People were follwoing the Dining Car attendant down the Sleeper Car to find out when I was going to eat. After they did this a few times, he would just pass my room and hold up a piece of paper with a time on it, and wow, was I ever grateful. He was well tipped. That to me is reading a situation and addressing it with good service. I appreciated it no end. The Room Attendant we had from L.A. to Chicago was totally awesome, and he was tipped well. I also tipped after each meal, depending on the service of course. I have to say there is good and bad, and you do appreciate the good, some people just cannot do the morning with a smile. Loved my Amtrak trips and I am doing a couple more next year.

zgscl

I usually tip 3-5 in the dining car each meal (I always travel on my own) and am always very friendly with the staff and try to make some conversation. I have always had great service from both the dining car and SCA. I have always tipped the SCA at the end of the trip usually between 5 and 20 depending on how many nights and service.

I get the sense that at least some crews in the dining car share notes with the SCA and other servers about who tips and who doesn't. I noticed a couple I sat with who did not tip the dining car did not always get the same level of friendly and proactive service that I got throughout the trip including the dining car staff remembering your preferences. This has held up across multiple trips.

I don't really believe you should have to tip to get good service, but the US and railroad culture dictates the standard. As others have pointed out, these are union jobs which have fair wages. At the same time most crew do work very hard, long hours and now on some trains there is only one dining car server who must also do the cooking. At one point I interviewed with Amtrak and learned many junior members go on furlough for several months out of the year during the slow season so you have to save up when you are working and then go on unemployment if you cannot pick up trips through the reserve board.

dhammer53

I read this thread last year; and now with my upcoming DEN/PDX trip, anyone care to offer any other tips (pun not intended) not yet discussed?

Thanks.

There are a few seats left on the Brooklyn Reality Tour (see link below).

Dan

dhammer53

Report

Breakfast $2.
Lunch $2.
Dinner $3.

Considering all the server does is bring you a drink and a couple of plates, this seemed fair (based on what others were doing).

It was interesting to see all those singles and 5's on the table when people got up. Just once did I see a couple not leave a tip. They were at my table. I'd say they were mid - 40's. Since they got up first, they had no lead to follow. They boarded in San Jose the night before, and didn't leave anything for the server. I spoke to the server later in the day, and he told me more people than you'd expect don't tip.

As for the car attendant... I didn't tip when I boarded. I didn't see the logic to it. For my Den / Sacramento trip (30 hours), Nathan really went the extra mile for his passengers. Late morning, he put out some cookies and candy in the rear of the car. He also had a selection of books available to borrow.
First thing in the morning, he had a coffee urn in the back. I only saw that in one other car. For this overnight trip, I tipped $15. On the Sacramento / Portland leg (boarded at 0100), a 15 hour segment, Julio seemed to do his job, but I was already spoiled by the niceties of Nathan. I tipped him $10, but I could have gotten away with a five -er.

I'll post a report when I have some free time. Thanks for all your help and suggestions.

Dan

ND76

I just got done traveling WAS-SOB and return in a roomette on the Capitol Limited.

Westbound, we had a compartment in the former Transition Sleeper, which actually had nicer toilet/shower facilities than on regular Superliner sleeper cars. The only service we got was from an Amtrak employee in a shirt and tie who brought us a bucket of ice. We brought our own beverages on board; the only beverages that Amtrak provides in the sleepers anymore are single bottles of "Roxane" water at each seat plus a coffee pot at the top of the stairs in the middle of the car. No more ice, soft drinks, juices or water.

When we detrained at SOB, only the conductor helped us off, so I wasn't faced with a tipping situation.

In the dining car, the service was not very enthusiastic, and somewhat forgetful; I asked for a second can of diet Pepsi at dinner which never materialized. I tipped $3.00 per meal.

On the way back, I had a really good sleeping car attendant named Lou. I tipped him $20.00.

SCEflyer

Slightly OT, but one of my long term bucket lists is to ride every Amtrak route, while it is still in business. ( I am about 2/3 there.) I have found that customer service on long distance trains, where the crews are based on the Pacific coast of the US, are superior in every respect to those based in CHI, NOL and the east coast. I tip accordingly.

serpens

While I agree the showers are slightly nicer, I would characterize them more as different and more importantly, more numerous.

Why did you refer to the car as the "former" transition sleeper? It is a transition sleeper because it has a high level access at one end and a low level access at the other (thus transitioning between levels), and I'm having trouble figuring out in what sense it would be former.

SCEflyer

Just in case ND76 doesn't respond on his own behalf, I will try to put this into some perspective for you.

Through at least the late 90's, the former NYP-CHI Three Rivers and the Capital Limited were combined west of Pittsburgh. The Three Rivers carried single level Amfleet II cars along with either Viewliner or Heritage sleepers, while the Capital at that time was primarily equipped with Superliner II cars. The transition sleepers permitted crew and pax to access virtually the entire train, regardless of where their seat or sleeping accommodations were located. (I can't recall any other long distance train carrying a combination of Amfleet and Superliner equipment.)

Once the now-discontinued Three Rivers began to carry the also discontinued express trailers, it no longer combined with the Capital, negating the need for the transition sleepers, other than possibly for the purpose of providing access to a baggage car.

serpens

Thanks for the explanation.

ND76

I was always under the impression that these cars were off limits to revenue passengers. This was the first time that I have been booked into one of the compartments on board. I was told by staff that they have been selling rooms in these cars WAS-CHI for the past few months.

I would be interested in getting another room in one of these cars for another reason. On the lower level there were two "booths" like in the sightseer lounge. The conductor let me sit down there, and in fact we spent the last two hours of the trip (after breakfast), TOL-SOB, down there and really enjoyed the ride and the relative privacy. I often take work on these trips, and being able to set up at one of the booths in that open space with no foot traffic going past looked really appealing to me.

serpens

The transition sleeper offers relative privacy upstairs, too, both from other passengers and from the attendant. If one is relatively self-sufficient, so services from an attendant are not needed, the transition sleeper can be really nice.

As an example of not needing services from an attendant, on one trip, I needed to prepare the room for sleeping. I don't mean lower the upper berth and move the mattress to the lower berth, I mean find a mattress from another roomette and put the sheets on it! (The attendant did provide the sheets and would have made the bed. However, the transition sleeper attendant also services the adjacent sleeper and was happy to leave me to it.)