All about the Autotrain

[lovin'fl]

We bid once and got it but it was that crappy corner bathroom bedroom which is tighter than others. So I won't bid anymore.

My daughter and I are doing auto train soon and so I got the roomette. She can sleep on top bunk being young and spry. We are top floor with only 1 shared bathroom for all the roomettes. Really hope that isn't a problem. Being an older gal, I need to pee a lot. And sometimes in a hurry. But top floor is less bumpy and better sleep.

 

[bdcp]

We took the auto train last month and we were both wiped out when we got off the train. We had a 1 bedroom and just couldn't sleep for more than a couple hours at a time.
I am in the 1 and done category.

We usually get about 5 hours total in the bedroom, all broken up into 1-2 hour segments, usually closer to an hour, but honestly, it's enough to function on for the drive to our next location. In FL, it's either to Port Canaveral or Lakeland (family) and return, we live 45 min from the AT station in Lorton. But, we also just stay up and go to bed by 930 or so the first night off the train and feel absolutely fine the next day. Few people actually sleep well on the AT, but it's only one night.

 

[Kim&Chris]

Just back from the Auto Train. Here's a brief summary of my experience for those who are looking to book:

Southbound: We had a bedroom, which I'd bid on and won. Plenty of space for the two of us. And it was so nice having our own bathroom. However, I tried to get a "mini-shower" in the early morning and I will never do that again, LOL. The water never got warm. Plus, those bathrooms are great if you weigh 100 pounds (I do not ). It was not a pretty sight. My husband was much smarter than I was....he used one of the regular showers on the first level and was very happy. We got some sleep (maybe 6 hours or so). Our room attendant was great. The train was about 3.5 hour late into Sanford, so people were grumpy. Apparently, some trees had fallen onto the tracks due to a storm, and it took a while to clear them. Overall, I'd do a bedroom again.

Northbound: Misery. We had a roomette and it was hot as heck. Both my husband and I woke up soaking wet with sweat several times. Thankfully I'd packed a USB fan so that helped to circulate the air some. The train ride was very bumpy up on the second level, and I wondered how the people on the first level were dealing with it. Our room steward was just OK. The train arrived in to Sanford about 20 minutes early, which was nice but seemed to upset the room attendants. Our attendant never came back to remove the bedding when we were at breakfast, so we did it ourselves. No big deal. The train was sold out (snow birds, I believe) and they ran out of some breakfast food. Next time, I will get a bedroom instead.

We used Priority Boarding on both legs of the trip, and it was worth it. Especially when we arrived in Lorton.

 

[lovin'fl]

My daughter-26 and I just took the AT from Lorton to Sanford Sat night. We had a roomette (first time) on 2nd level. It was train 5344, room 4, and it was HOT. At times it would blast some cold air but then go back to hot and we had the dial all the way to cold. It was a little bumpy at times but what bugged me most is the horn was constantly held in....like not a beep but a continual blast. Had no issue using the 1 bathroom on the 2nd level but also could easily go down to the other 3 bathrooms. There was zero storage in the roomette and the beds out are almost to the door, just a sliver of floor to stand. But I kind of liked the sleeping in the roomette better than a bedroom. Though I did take half a sleeping pill.

Now for the really ugly. We got notification in the morning that there was a delay and we now had to be there by 4:30 for a 6pm boarding. And it recommended we get there mid to late in the time period (think it was 11 to 4:30). So we planned on 3:45-4pm range. We arrived at 4 and the car line was to the main road and a worker was walking around. He came up to our window to tell us it would be another 2.5 hours in the car line. He recommended we drive up to parking lot to wait or to leave and go to the plaza. But said we needed to be back by 5pm. Um...here is where the math wasn't mathing. If 2.5 hours sitting in car line that puts us at 6:30 but be back by 5. What the fudge? Um, nope.

So we pulled into parking lot and I went inside to check in and get dinner ticket. Found out then that no dinner would be served. But lunch the following day. And I got slot 2 for lunch (out of 2). Also learned that we'd be leaving more like 10pm and they still hadn't gotten the cars off the train from the arrival train. There was some malfunction and those folks, who also arrived late, had to sit and wait 4+ hours for any cars to come off.

So we went over to the plaza to hang out. Had drinks at Glory Days and saw the train start to move (through the trees). My daughter got anxious to get back over so we went back and same long car line. So we drove to parking lot and sat a while watching cars come off. At some point we decided to run back over to the plaza to Panera for dinner. After that we just parked at end of car line. Oddly it never grew and we always were behind the same green car and last in the line.

After a while it actually started to move and we learned they had parked almost everyone in the rows to drop off or pick up and in left 2 rows empty for the folks who were leaving out (to pick up their cars) and once they were all out they then parked us, rest of car line, in those 2 rows. We went inside and they had free pizza but it was gone when we got in. We sat a while and stood outside watching them eventually load our cars. Good news for us is ours was last to go on before all the premium cars. So the next day we were quicker to get ours.

So we got on the train at 9:23 and was not in route until 10:23. No dinner, no free drinks. Bar car closed at midnight. Just off to bed. Then up next day to sit around all day. 1st lunch was at 11 and ours was like 12:40. We got in at 2:20 and off the train at 2:45 and in car at 3:15. We were moving the daughter to Tampa and her car was loaded to the gills. My husband drove our car that was also loaded to the gills. We had to get off train and drive over to Tampa and unload those cars into her new place. The whole train sitch made for a very taxing move. It was already bad enough. Oh, and we were given no sort of compensation. We didnt gripe but heard many many folks griping and even taking the free cancelation. I would have canceled and drove but her car was 15 years old and not reliable to drive the 15 hours. She actually traded it in yesterday for a reliable car with FL tags.

This was my 5th or 6th time and we have another booked for Dec. Rethinking that. For the 1k (ish) we pay, the stress and sleepless night plus possible delays just isn't worth it. And can't understand how they have no better way to communicate. It would have been far more comfortable to wait our time elsewhere. Like why tell us to come back from plaza at 5pm....why not say 8pm? Or even 7pm to be safe. Doing the math in how long to get all the cars off and then all our cars on is at least 3 hours....so at 4pm he could have safely said be back by 7. And they should have a countdown on their app...or continual updates. Frustrating.