Northern Belle Question

[williamn]

Hi all,
I've never done a Railtour before and am considering booking the Northern Belle Christmas lunch from London Victoria. My question is...there are three of us. There is a supplement to pay to secure exclusive use of a bay of 4, but I am wondering if this is really needed? What are the chances there would be a lone diner seated with us?

Any experience people have of similar tours would be interesting to hear!

Thanks

 

[norbitonflyer]

Presumably depends how busy it is and how likely it is that someone would be travelling solo - I would guess not very for the latter, but you mighht find yourselves sharing with someone from another party with an odd number (maybe a group of five? - or three if the seating is 2+1).

 

[peteb]

The supplement guarantees your group of three won't have to share with a fourth person and, in some ways, compensates the tour operator for leaving the seat empty.

Usually, unless the train is very fully booked, it'd be unlikely that the booking team would sit a single extra person with a group of three, but as tables for two often sell out first, it is a risk you'd have to consider.

Christmas lunch might well be very busy, plus there might be groups with odd passenger numbers placed together eg: 3+3 across a 4+2 seat bay.