Auto Train Bedroom Suite - anyone with any input/thoughts/recommendations?

[ninafeliz]

We just booked a bedroom suite on the Autotrain in August, it will be me, DH, DS4, DS7 and our 6 month old twins. I was just wondering if anyone had information on this bedroom or has ridden in one? I can't find much info online, and I did try to look through the autotrain thread but a lot of that is years old and I didn't know what things might have changed or have time to read it all. Originally we were going to book a family bedroom but when I called to ask a few questions I also asked if there were any of bedroom suites on the autotrain and the agent said yes and gave us a price that was actually lower than the family bedroom price was online. i don't know what a good price would be, in fact I don't really understand the pricing. Do you pay something per each person and then pay an additional price for the bedroom? All I know is that my DH was not willing to attempt to fly with 2 infants and 2 other kids, and if we drove we would have had to stop to feed the babies frequently (which is a production in itself) and it would have taken forever to get there from NW PA, so we thought the autotrain was a great solution. Are the showers decent? Why are there 2 toilets for one small suite? How big it it actually - it sounds big from the description but I thought the roomettes sounded decent and from reading the autotrain thread I get the impression they are tiny! So any info, hints, suggestions, etc will be very helpful. I don't really know what to expect and am kind of nervous with all of the unknown, but I didn't want to miss out on Disney this year and this was the way we were able to make it work for us all. So as of now we are booked in the bedroom Suite each way with our SUV and priority unloading each way. I'm hoping it will be kind of fun and an adventure and feel like just a longer vacation instead of an annoyingly long way to get to Disney and back! Am I being overly hopeful?

 

[Pooh2]

I think the bedroom suite is two regular bedrooms with a door that opens between them.

The shower/bathroom is all in one. You close the toilet cover (don't forget to be sure the toilet paper is on a dry spot!) and shower with the handheld shower.

Since you have two bathrooms, you can use one for the bathroom, one for showering since it takes awhile for the shower/bathroom to dry out.

Amtrakunlimited is a great site for train information.
Youtube has lots of videos on the autotrain.

Another plus over flying is that you can pack your SUV to the hilt and not worry about how much luggage you bring along.

Just pack what you need for the one night on the train for everyone and leave everything else in the car.

Meals are included with the ticket price but bring along a few snacks as well and some extra baby supplies just in case the train is delayed along the way.

For us, train travel is a fun part of the adventure!

 

[MikeF;NJ]

On Amtrak's website, there is a virtual tour of the superliner sleeper car which shows one bedroom suite on the upper level. It says it is two superliner bedrooms with a shared door in between. As for pricing, the fare would break down as follows: passenger fare, room charge, auto berth charge and optional priority vehicle offloading fee. Prices quoted apparently include taxes because I don't see any separate taxes on the breakdown screen. The first screen where you choose which seat or room type you want combines all the passenger fares and the room charge into one number. The next screen will break those out into total adult fare, total child fare and room charge.

Dinner and continental breakfast are included in your fare. Dinner menu is available on Amtrak's website. I don't know if everyone tips the dining staff at dinner, but everyone at my table did during my last trip. Also, you will have a sleeping car attendant who will change your room over from seating to beds in the evening and back the next morning, and I've read that tipping them is customary. (I don't know exactly how this works because I rode business class my last solo trip, and before that, my family rode in coach.)

 

[jenmck]

Yes, the superliner bedroom suite is made up of two Superliner Bedrooms opened up and combined together, thus the two bathrooms. We booked this suite setup 3.5 years ago on the AutoTrain with a 3.5 yr old and a 6 year old. This is a much better setup than the family bedroom. Your family size wouldn't even fit comfortably in the family bedroom. I recommend not even using that shower in your room. Instead, on the lower lever of the train in your car, there will be a much bigger shower, just about the same size you would find in a house. There is a good thread here on the disboards with more autotrain info, but yes it is old. You pay per person based on class fare. Think of it as coach vs first class on an airplane. The babies travel for free. Your car and priority unloading are also separate line items. t

It will be important for you to get to to the Autotrain to check in on the earlier side to book your dining reservation of choice. (There is a McDonalds & some other restaurants somewhat nearby for lunch.) You really don't want kids to be eating at the last seating at ~9pm, unless that is your family's style. Another tip is to check for price changes when you check in. Not sure if this is still available, but if the price is lower when you check in, they will honor it and you get $ back. Also, there is a 10% AAA discount for the fare, but not for the car price. So if you have AAA and the discount was not applied, I would call back for a price adjustment.

 

[ninafeliz]

Thanks everyone for the info. On my confirmation email it does look like we have 2 rooms booked, which does fit with it being 2 bedrooms put together. i was worried because it doesn't say bedroom suite anywhere, but the lady who did the booking seemed very helpful and to know what she was doing, but sometime someone seems knowledgeable and you find out differently later after it turns out they are all wrong! I couldn't get the virtual tour on the amtrak site to work, I'll have to try again. Maybe it was my computer or wifi or something. It sounds like this is the best room for our entire family, I' glad I called with questions instead of just booking the family bedroom online! I'm glad to get details from people who have actually seen the room, it sounds like it will be big enough for us. We don't need huge, and I assume nothing on the train will ever be that, but I also was hoping for room to have the babies sit in their carseats instead of holding them on my lap the entire time. In addition, reading the thread a lot of people said they never shower, but since I figure out disney room won't be ready for quite a while after we get there I kind of wanted to shower and feel lceaned up for the day. Plus my DH is one to shower no matter what, even if his plans for the day include working outside in dirt and mudd all day! I agree jenmck, we don't want dinner at 9 PM!

Can they do anything for a gluten free diet on the train? My DH and one son are Gf, and I was afraid they might not be able to eat. If that's the case it will be hard to take the 4 yr old to dinner, and I'm wondering if my 7 yr old and I should eat alone or just none of us eat and take a lot of snacks, etc if the 4 yr old can't eat.

 

[MikeF;NJ]

No firsthand knowledge here, but according to Amtrak's website,

Amtrak does not offer meals specifically designated as low fat, low cholesterol, low sodium, gluten free, wheat free or peanut free. Most dinner entrees are not prepared on the dining car. The fat, cholesterol, sodium, gluten, wheat and peanut content may vary, and cannot be controlled or modified by the chef.

Certain menu items are inherently low in fat, cholesterol and/or sodium and may be ordered from the regular menu. The dining car waiter or lead service attendant can provide guidance.

 

[ninafeliz]

No firsthand knowledge here, but according to Amtrak's website,

Thanks! I did not see that on the website, I appreciate you finding it for me! I guess we'll just have to figure it out, but at least we know up front.

 

[ninafeliz]

No firsthand knowledge here, but according to Amtrak's website,

double post

 

[bdcp]

We've done the AT in a bedroom and are doing one again this fall. To me, it's the best way to travel on the AT. Otherwise, we do a roomette now, but it's just DH and I. We do not use the shower. I don't care to bring my flip flops and hair dryer onboard. We shower later. And flip flops/shower shoes are a must if you want to avoid being exposed to athletes foot. I do love having the bathroom so I don't have to trudge down to the shared ones (some people are real slobs ).

And, the meals are heated onboard, but not prepared so as the website says, they can't guarantee it. You can ask the dietary question on the Auto Train thread here on the transportation board. Lots of people on that have used the AT, some multiple times, like me and some with dietary restrictions. I'm pretty sure all the kids items contain gluten-chicken nuggets, mac and cheese are two that come to mind. The menus are posted on the Amtrak website on the AT section. And breakfast is muffins (corn, but prob have wheat flower in them) bagels, cereal (frosted flakes, special K, raisin bran), milk, coffee and OJ. Can't remember if they still serve bananas. They had made some changes a couple of years ago and bananas were removed, not sure if they brought them back.

 

[ninafeliz]

Those are good points, I hadn't thought about needing the hair dryer and flip flops, plus everything I would need to get ready after a shower. But since I don't know when our room at Disney will be ready and I don't really feel like I'm ready for a real day and not just a day at home when I don't shower, I guess I'll just have to take that stuff. A least we can pack a decent amount since we'll have our Expedition. Unfortunately since we now have 6 people and infants require a LOT of stuff (and we can't take our rooftop carrier) we won't have as much room as I would like but I'll just have to make it work.

I can understand why they can't really accommodate food allergies given the food isn't cooked on board, so we'll just have to make it work and probably take more onboard than most people. I'll have to be careful, with 6 people including 2 babies and the food situation we might have trouble fitting into our room! Good thing we got the bedroom suite!

 

[monorailsilver]

I took a shower on the AT in both directions.....I need that am shower to feel fresh too!

The way down, I took one in the room, I wanted to try it and thought it would be neat to take a shower in my room. Well it was a tight fit, water came out of the shower and into the room so the floor was damp but we were getting off so it didn't matter much.

The return we had a family bedroom so I used the shared shower on the lower level which was HUGe! If I ever took the AT again, I would use that shower. And I wore flip flops onto the train so I just wore those same ones in the shower, they dry quick enough.

 

[jetskigrl]

We had a bedroom suite on a different route in 2014 and loved it. Definitely the way to go It will have a larger area vs. the family bedroom. Your rooms should be either B & C or D & E (those are the two combinations that connect). The door might still be closed when you arrive but a quick reminder to the car attendant and he/she will open the door between the rooms for you.

I definitely prefer the shower downstairs as I found it difficult to even turn around in the ones inside the bedrooms. But it is still nice having that bathroom there, especially at night.

 

[ninafeliz]

We had a bedroom suite on a different route in 2014 and loved it. Definitely the way to go It will have a larger area vs. the family bedroom. Your rooms should be either B & C or D & E (those are the two combinations that connect). The door might still be closed when you arrive but a quick reminder to the car attendant and he/she will open the door between the rooms for you.

I definitely prefer the shower downstairs as I found it difficult to even turn around in the ones inside the bedrooms. But it is still nice having that bathroom there, especially at night.

I just saw this, for some reason I'm not getting notifications when there are replies even though I opted in for them Anyway, I just looked at my reservation and we are L and M on the way down and D and E on the way back. I think I also noticed earlier that the L and M didn't match what I saw elsewhere. I have to call and pay, when I booked they said I had until June 12 to pay and since my DH wasn't home I didn't want to pay until we talked it over and made sure of our plans. So when I call to pay tomorrow I will make sure we are in the bedroom suite both ways. I hope so, now I'm getting kind of excited about it!

 

[ninafeliz]

We had a bedroom suite on a different route in 2014 and loved it. Definitely the way to go It will have a larger area vs. the family bedroom. Your rooms should be either B & C or D & E (those are the two combinations that connect). The door might still be closed when you arrive but a quick reminder to the car attendant and he/she will open the door between the rooms for you.

I definitely prefer the shower downstairs as I found it difficult to even turn around in the ones inside the bedrooms. But it is still nice having that bathroom there, especially at night.

Interesting. I had assumed that since we had a shower that would be the way to go. I don't mind it being small, we have an Airstream and I shower in that with one of my kids to wash them and that is tiny! But I don't want the room wet, so it is something to think about. i just don't like to have to wait in line to shower, so I though having our own would be perfect. I'll likely play it by ear. I thought that I read that they provide towels, correct? I don't really want to have to bring those.

 

[monorailsilver]

Interesting. I had assumed that since we had a shower that would be the way to go. I don't mind it being small, we have an Airstream and I shower in that with one of my kids to wash them and that is tiny! But I don't want the room wet, so it is something to think about. i just don't like to have to wait in line to shower, so I though having our own would be perfect. I'll likely play it by ear. I thought that I read that they provide towels, correct? I don't really want to have to bring those.

I took a shower between 6-7am am and there was no line. I don't think everyone wants to shower before getting off the train. We still had a 4 hr drive so DH and I wanted to shower

 

[bdcp]

I just saw this, for some reason I'm not getting notifications when there are replies even though I opted in for them Anyway, I just looked at my reservation and we are L and M on the way down and D and E on the way back. I think I also noticed earlier that the L and M didn't match what I saw elsewhere. I have to call and pay, when I booked they said I had until June 12 to pay and since my DH wasn't home I didn't want to pay until we talked it over and made sure of our plans. So when I call to pay tomorrow I will make sure we are in the bedroom suite both ways. I hope so, now I'm getting kind of excited about it!

There are superliner sleeper cars that made up entirely of bedrooms on the upper level which is where L&M would come into play. Usually the superliners have both bedrooms and roomettes on the upper level, but as I said, there are ones that have only bedrooms. It's called a deluxe sleeper and is only on the AT from what I can find. Hit the link below and scroll down on the page and you can see it.

http://www.craigmashburn.com/amtrakcardiagrams.html

 

[bdcp]

Interesting. I had assumed that since we had a shower that would be the way to go. I don't mind it being small, we have an Airstream and I shower in that with one of my kids to wash them and that is tiny! But I don't want the room wet, so it is something to think about. i just don't like to have to wait in line to shower, so I though having our own would be perfect. I'll likely play it by ear. I thought that I read that they provide towels, correct? I don't really want to have to bring those.

Yes, they provide towels, washcloths and soap. We just like having a toilet in the room.

 

[jeneric997]

We are big fans of Amtrak and used to take the autotrain all the time. FYI- on our first trip we had only a single bedroom and we were able to get a pack n play open for our DD. The bottom bed wasn't open all the way, and it blocked the bathroom door- but I preferred that to having her in the bed with me! With the two rooms a pack n play should fit well with the "wall" open if you want to bring it for the twins. The single chair in the room rotates and the bottom folds up to make more room and that bottom bed is big is pretty big- my DD and her friend have shared it and they are teenagers!
I don't know if it will still work, but we used to call the day of to reserve our dining time.

 

[bdcp]

We are big fans of Amtrak and used to take the autotrain all the time. FYI- on our first trip we had only a single bedroom and we were able to get a pack n play open for our DD. The bottom bed wasn't open all the way, and it blocked the bathroom door- but I preferred that to having her in the bed with me! With the two rooms a pack n play should fit well with the "wall" open if you want to bring it for the twins. The single chair in the room rotates and the bottom folds up to make more room and that bottom bed is big is pretty big- my DD and her friend have shared it and they are teenagers!
I don't know if it will still work, but we used to call the day of to reserve our dining time.

Haven't ever heard you can call and reserve dining time and we've been taking it every couple of years since 2005. We always get there early enough to get the most popular time (7 pm). There are normally three dining times (5, 7 and 9) unless the train isn't full and then they don't have the 9. Sometimes they have three times in coach but not in sleepers (or the reverse). There have been a lot of changes over the last 3-4 years.

 

[RedSox68]

Haven't ever heard you can call and reserve dining time and we've been taking it every couple of years since 2005. We always get there early enough to get the most popular time (7 pm). There are normally three dining times (5, 7 and 9) unless the train isn't full and then they don't have the 9. Sometimes they have three times in coach but not in sleepers (or the reverse). There have been a lot of changes over the last 3-4 years.

When I spoke to the Amtrak rep to reserve our roomette on a regular Amtrak train to Florida, she said dining times were determined when you boarded and your room steward would come around and get your preferred times. Nothing was said about being able to reserve ahead of time. I know I sure wouldn't want 9 p.m. I thought I had read that you could opt to have your meal brought to your room