Auto Train to Florida

[pmdeve]

We are considering taking the Auto Train to Florida this summer, there will be five of us travelling. Has anyone used the Auto Train recently? Are the seats comfortable enough to sleep on? Is it worth the extra money to upgrade to a sleeper? I appreciate any comments and suggestions to help us make our decision.

 

[Pooh2]

The seats are decent, much bigger than an airline seat and have foot rests. If you do a google search, there are lots of photos and videos of the autotrain.

We did coach once on the autotrain and slept on and off through the night, maybe 4-5 hours total. Depends on on quiet the other passengers in the car are.

We do prefer getting a sleeper compartment. Coach passengers do not have access to showers, all sleeper passengers do. Since the train gets in about 9:30am and hotel rooms are not ready until 3 or later, it is nice to get off the train fresh and ready to go.

For a family of five, check out the family bedroom.

 

[Sundowner2]

I was curious about this too. I did a quick check, using our June dates, and it was like $400 for our vehicle, and then about $450 each way for cheapest possible for our 2 adults, 2 kids. That puts it at about 1300. Unless I'm looking at it wrong. I think we could fly for less. But, we have driven the other two times we've gone. We are in VA. I'm just thinking ahead in 2 years, I know our car will be too old to drive down there, (2004 Honda, doing great now, but don't want to drive such a long trip in that old a vehicle!) so trying to think now about alternatives.

 

[Pooh2]

I was curious about this too. I did a quick check, using our June dates, and it was like $400 for our vehicle, and then about $450 each way for cheapest possible for our 2 adults, 2 kids. That puts it at about 1300. Unless I'm looking at it wrong. I think we could fly for less. But, we have driven the other two times we've gone. We are in VA. I'm just thinking ahead in 2 years, I know our car will be too old to drive down there, (2004 Honda, doing great now, but don't want to drive such a long trip in that old a vehicle!) so trying to think now about alternatives.

You may also want to price out going on the regular train and renting a car when you arrive in Florida. We have done that several times and found it cheaper (from Boston) than the autotrain but usually still more expensive than flying.

 

[richmo]

From a price standpoint, Autotrain makes the most sense the longer you're in Florida. Of course it depends upon airfares, car rental rates and family size, but I would think the break even point would be somewhere around 2 weeks

 

[SingingMom]

We took the AutoTrain August 2015 to bring DD's car with us for her internship - we had a bedroom for three of us - we opted not to use the shower, since it was much too tight (had to sit on the toilet to use it. lol) but we did really like the private bathroom. Didn't sleep well because the top bunk was right on top of the air conditioning and it blocked the bottom bunk from any air circulating! If you only need the double bed on the bottom it is a perfect. I ended up sitting up most of the night in the extra seat.

 

[dsnycrzy]

I take the auto train every year. The seats are ok, I lean the back as far as it can go and life the foot rest up as far as that can go, and I sleep that way. Ive never upgraded to a sleeper bc thats a big price jump (example seats for me and 2 kids one way is $190 but for the family sleeper its $985). That $700 can be spent on an extra resort WEEK. My train cost is $780 but I also stay in Florida for over 3 weeks like RICHMO said so its cost efficient for me to just take my car(an SUV) rather then rent a tiny car for 3 weeks. I love the train because I catch up on my movies, my reading (although the running around preparing for vacation and the movement of the train always puts me to sleep) and sleep as I just said.

 

[bdcp]

We take the AT every couple of years and will be going again this fall. We used to do coach until we took a roomette the first time (we prefer sleepers when we have enough Amtrak points cause they're expensive). The seats are wide and pretty comfy, but they do not lay flat. Our first couple of trips, we probably got 4 total hours of broken sleep. Our last time in coach was our last time because of the noise and we got little sleep. Not sure why people think that others want to hear their conversations at 1 am. Or listen to them wake a family member every couple of hours for medical reasons (they should have had a room). And, we were not in the family car. We much prefer our own room. Our upcoming trip is costing us just under $500 and that's for the car. The rooms are free on points. We have the Bank of America Amtrak rewards MC and charge all our vacations and Christmas, plus random stuff (cruise twice a year and go to NYC every 18 months or so) so the points add up. We had enough points for a bedroom down and roomette back for DH and I. This trip will be our 7th round trip so it'll be trip 13 and 14 since 2005.

 

[disneymom06]

We took the AutoTrain August 2015 to bring DD's car with us for her internship - we had a bedroom for three of us - we opted not to use the shower, since it was much too tight (had to sit on the toilet to use it. lol) but we did really like the private bathroom. Didn't sleep well because the top bunk was right on top of the air conditioning and it blocked the bottom bunk from any air circulating! If you only need the double bed on the bottom it is a perfect. I ended up sitting up most of the night in the extra seat.

My thoughts exactly. This time we are going coach because I just didn't think that the additional monies were worth it (over $500). I will miss the privacy but enjoy the $500 in my pocket.