I asked for tips for traveling Amtrak before we left (VWL 11/1 - 11/8) which I really appreciated. Many thanks to all. Here's how it worked for us:
The train was 1 hour late getting to Trenton. We hit a deer between Washington and Richmond - what fun!!! They powered the train down while they checked the hose connections underneath the train. Got to Orlando at 5 pm instead of 4 pm. Someone suggested getting seats in the middle of the train and someone else said to try to get away from the lounge car. I had no choice of seats. They told us where to sit while on the platform. It was reserved coach. It was the similar on the way back. In Orlando, they loaded the largest parties first, followed by the smallest. We were a party of 9 so we were loaded early. They still told us what seats to sit in. We were at least 1 car away from the lounge car.
Another suggestion was to bring Lysol for the bathrooms. I had 3 trial size cans from doctor's office giveaways - perfect size. I really didn't need them. The bathrooms weren't too bad. We may have been traveling with considerate people. Amtrak also provided seat covers for the toilet seat.
When it got dark out, they came through and handed out pillows with disposable covers. They also had blanket for a price. We brought our own pillows, so the extras were nice to have.
We bought a DVD player. It was quite handy. The car we went down in had outlets at every seat. Going back, only the lounge car had outlets. CD players were also handy.
The ride was long and I'm not sure if we'll do it again. It wasn't terrible, just long. We did decide that the train did beat driving. Much more relaxing for DH and I. I'm going to keep a close eye on airfares. We spent $615 for 6 of us RT with a AAA discount. We decided if we can keep airfare under $1000 for all us, we're going to do that.
The train was 1 hour late getting to Trenton. We hit a deer between Washington and Richmond - what fun!!! They powered the train down while they checked the hose connections underneath the train. Got to Orlando at 5 pm instead of 4 pm. Someone suggested getting seats in the middle of the train and someone else said to try to get away from the lounge car. I had no choice of seats. They told us where to sit while on the platform. It was reserved coach. It was the similar on the way back. In Orlando, they loaded the largest parties first, followed by the smallest. We were a party of 9 so we were loaded early. They still told us what seats to sit in. We were at least 1 car away from the lounge car.
Another suggestion was to bring Lysol for the bathrooms. I had 3 trial size cans from doctor's office giveaways - perfect size. I really didn't need them. The bathrooms weren't too bad. We may have been traveling with considerate people. Amtrak also provided seat covers for the toilet seat.
When it got dark out, they came through and handed out pillows with disposable covers. They also had blanket for a price. We brought our own pillows, so the extras were nice to have.
We bought a DVD player. It was quite handy. The car we went down in had outlets at every seat. Going back, only the lounge car had outlets. CD players were also handy.
The ride was long and I'm not sure if we'll do it again. It wasn't terrible, just long. We did decide that the train did beat driving. Much more relaxing for DH and I. I'm going to keep a close eye on airfares. We spent $615 for 6 of us RT with a AAA discount. We decided if we can keep airfare under $1000 for all us, we're going to do that.
