Alan, I wouldn't dispute what you've said, but figures I got from Amtrak were exactly what I posted. Perhaps if one could afford to keep checking or trying different dates or routes, the price could come down, but even $320 a night is a lot more than I've ever spent for hotels including conventions as I indicated in my OP.Well if you can get low bucket, the entire trip can be had for $1,920 not including rail fare. That's only $320 per night.OK, I ran a sample run on the Amtrak site for sometime in August 09, round trip in a bedroom from New York to LA and I came up with a cost of $3338 as the accommodation fare (excluding rail rare) for the bedroom. At 6 nights that comes out to $556 a night.
Now, if you asked me if I thought $320 per night for an Amtrak bedroom was a decent price, my answer would be yes! Why? Because, along with other factors, Amtrak gives me something that no Hotel could ever give... a scenic view of our country that can never be enjoyed elsewhere! :wub:
I priced the round trip New York to Los Angeles with connection in Chicago (NYP-CHI-LAX) departing on the Lake Shore Limited (#49) Tuesday August 18th and returning on the Southwest Chief (#4) Tuesday August 25th. The roomette accommodation cost for the entire trip was $1328.00 or $221.33 for each of the 6 nights which encompass the trip.
Since you can book 2 people into a roomette and the meals are included I decided to calculate the meal cost that the accommodation charge represents. So, assuming a per-meal average cost of $12.00 and roughly 16 meals served during the trip the price per night for meals would be $32.00.
Removing the $32.00 of meals from the room cost of $221.33 leaves a per night "room-without-meals" cost of $189.33.
I had fun doing the calculations and I admit that travel during weekdays is priced lower on long distance overnight routes than on weekends. However, I am in full agreement that having the "scenic view of our country that can never be enjoyed elsewhere" combined with the comfort and privacy of a room is, to me, worth the added expense.