Amtrak-coach, superliner roomette, or bedroom

[goofyme]

my wife and daughter are going to chicago for a girl's weekend and taking the train. it is only about a 8 hour ride but it is in the middle of the night. we can't decide on coach, the superliner roomette($50 more for both), or a bedroom($85+). from your experience any recommedations?

 

[BavarianPrincess]

I have taken longer trips, but I've always felt safer at night with the bedroom.

 

[cuterlt]

DH and I took a trip earlier this month from albuquerque to Disneyland! We took the train to Fullerton. The train trip was about 14 hours long. On the trip there, we did coach. It was very difficult to sleep. I felt pretty safe though - just had to move if we didn't like who was near us. It was not very crowded so that made it easier. Because it was difficult to sleep, we decided on a roommette on the way back. One of my colleagues strongly suggested it and DH insisted on it. It was an additional $139. The roommette was itty bitty.
With the beds unmade, it was two chairs facing each other. The chairs were NOT as comfortable as a coach chair. When the beds were made, that was the entire room. There was about 6 inches clearance to the door. The door is a sliding glass door that does latch, and there was a curtain.

The roomette consists of a lower berth - a bit smaller than a twin. The upper birth is smaller than that and has a net kind of thing to keep you in. Length was fine, but very small bed. Not much storage space - we had two backpacks (small) and a laptop and barely fit that stuff in the car.

Now, I did like the roomette for the privacy. In our car, we had our own private bathrooms and plenty of them. The bathrooms are tiny. You can barely stand up in them, so I ended up searching the train for a handicap accessible bathroom. The roomette area also has a shower, although we didn't use it.

I had trouble sleeping in the roomette because we were on the first level and I could feel the train tracks. I am a fairly light sleeper and had a horrible time. I slept better in coach.
That said, with the roomette, our meals were free. With coach, they cost. So it might be worth it.
I didn't have any experience with the other level of rooms.

By the way, if you haven't purchased your tickets for the train, there are lots of coupons out there. let me know if you need help finding one. We were both able to travel here and back for $116 total (not including the upgrade to the roomette).

If you need any other info on the trains, please feel free to PM me. I did lots of research beforehand.
Would I do it again? yes. very cheap way to travel. But I'd probably do coach.
By the way, it was just DH and I, no kids, but we saw a lot of kids traveling with parents, and it really did seem safe.

 

[aprilgail2]

Personally I would fly...but if that is not possible then I would get a bedroom...those seats are not that comfortable to sleep all night long in.
The train that left Orlando a few days ago is finally "unstuck"...they were stuck for 20 hours in one place in the middle of the Georgia woodswith no food and no toilet paper...can you imagine the stink on that train???? I would have been thankful for a bedroom on that trip!

 

[Beth76]

The train that left Orlando a few days ago is finally "unstuck"...they were stuck for 20 hours in one place in the middle of the Georgia woodswith no food and no toilet paper...can you imagine the stink on that train???? I would have been thankful for a bedroom on that trip!

WHAT?! They left them on the train for 20 hours? Why didn't they send busses or something to pick up the passengers?

 

[floridafam]

I took the train from Chicago to Orlando with my son when he was little.


We had 2 different types of sleeping cars. A roomette from Chi to Wash, D.C. and a bedroom with a toilet and tv from Wash to Orlando.

They were both fine and both included dining.

If they want to be well rested to start the day in Chicago, then I would get a sleeping car. I'm sure a roomette would be just fine.

 

[mrsv98]

We like to take the train and always get a room. It is more expensive, but you are a first-class passenger and meals are included. Having the privacy is wonderful and so is not having to share the bathrooms with quite so many people.

The train gets into Union Station and your DW and DD can grab a cab right there and be off on their adventure! I am sure they wil have a wonderful time, Chicago is a great city, just keep them away from the American Girl store or you will have to take out a 2nd mortgage!

 

[aprilgail2]

WHAT?! They left them on the train for 20 hours? Why didn't they send busses or something to pick up the passengers?

I guess they were no where wher ebuses could go...it said they were in the woods! Here is the article.


Amtrak Train Moves After Day in Ga. Woods


© 2005 The Associated Press

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Exasperated passengers were stuck on an Amtrak train for close to 20 hours while engineers waited for a derailed freight train to be removed.

Amtrak Train 98 started to move again Friday around 1:30 p.m., with the hopes of reaching New York by Saturday. Two passenger trains behind it were delayed for less time.

The train had left Orlando, Fla., on Thursday around 1 p.m., but was delayed in Jacksonville for roughly 12 hours because of the derailment. It started moving again about 4 a.m., but stopped again in a patch of forest outside Savannah about two hours later.

"We're stuck in the woods," passenger Eleanor Meyer said in a cell-phone interview. "People have ran out of money buying food. This is unbelievable. You have to run to different cars because cars have run out of toilet paper."

Meyer was trying to return to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., after taking her 19-year-old triplets on their first trip to Orlando, Fla.

"I took this train because I'm afraid of flying," she said. "Right now flying is the only way to go."

Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black said the CSX freight train's derailment came at a "choke point" in the north-south lines that gave trains no chance to pass.

Amtrak arranged to provide free lunches on the New York-bound train and two other trains stuck south of Savannah _ the Silver Star and a train carrying automobiles and passengers.

Meyer said young children on the train were cranky and scared, and older people were concerned about running out of their medication.

Peter Nicholson of Newtown, Pa., returning with his wife from a visit to Orlando's theme parks, said he was glad he brought books to read during the delay: The mammoth "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

But he worries how long the passengers can hold out.

"You wonder how long you have to try to spread out your money and where your food is coming from," he said. "There's nowhere to go if you needed something. If anybody got sick, I don't know what they would do."

 

[clh2]

On the times we've taken Amtrak on shorter trips, i.e. MIlwaukee to Minneapolis, I have preferred having some sort of accomodation vs. being in coach.

I would think this would be more important, since you are primarily traveling at night.

Sometimes, the coach areas get downright "gamey" smelling, particularly if there are a lot of tiny tots (i.e. read still in diapers).

The downside of travelling in the sleeper cars - don't know if this has changed or not since we last travelled in sleepers (Chicago to San Francisco 6 years ago) - if you had a sleeper, you were allowed to smoke in it. Even if their door is closed - that smokey smell does travel a bit. I hope they have changed this policy - which is why I mentioned that it was 6 years ago that we last experienced this.