Arriving in Winnipeg

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Some cloud but clearing. Up at 5:30 for breakfast at 6:30.

The less-than-dazzling crew continues to underwhelm

Unlike the dining car staff on the trip east, this group seems completely disorganized. Yesterday, people seated after us had their food before we even got our first cup of coffee. When Glenn's egg dish arrived, he had to wait some time for the toast to appear. This morning when we arrived for breakfast we were told to go into the games car and put our names on a list. We still don't know why. That car was full of people, some apparently unaware a list existed. We finally located it and added our names. After a while, an attendant appeared and announced that breakfast was on. Everyone herded into the dining car and the list was ignored.

Rule #1 - just serve the coffee!

This morning at our table was a couple who worked for different railway companies. The man was in upper management with Via Rail. The restaurant staff obviously didn't know this or our table might have received better service. His wife was immediately unimpressed that we had to wait so long to be served a cup of coffee. She had asked for milk for it rather than cream but went ahead with the cream before the coffee went cold. By the time the milk did appear her cup was nearly empty. She had wanted oatmeal but they were out (?) so she ordered two eggs and toast and that was all - no meat or hashbrowns. Like me, she likes to have the toast with the eggs but they were getting cold waiting for the toast. By the time she inquired for the third time, she was getting pretty irritated. The waitress said there was a problem with the toaster, which didn't explain why I still didn't have the muffin I'd ordered. Also, I had asked for ketchup for my sausages but ate half of them before it arrived.

We booked a 2 to 2½ hour tour of Winnipeg starting at 8:30 am. The train would arrive in Winnipeg at about 8:00. At the stop in Winnipeg you take an escalator down into the station. When we got to the bottom we saw a cluster of people and soon learned that one bus was already full and the tour company had not received the fax letting them know more had reserved. Or perhaps the fax had gone to the wrong place. In any case, they were uncertain they could accommodate the extra people but, amazingly, they managed to put together a bus, driver and tour guide within 15 minutes or so. The manager of the bus company happened to be in the office doing payroll so he started driving the bus until another driver could meet up and take over.