3 people in a roomette?

[Eris]

The lower bunk of a roomette is plenty big enough for a small-to-medium-large sized adult to sleep with a two year old. I've done it (five year old slept up top).

It does sound like Amtrak is in a stickler phase with the room numbers, which is unfortunate for me since with the Family Bedroom lowest bucket price increase I've seen, the roomette is probably my only chance to take the train (as an adult with two small kids). It's looking like our summer trip to Los Angeles will be by air.

 

[Tony]

The lower bunk of a roomette is plenty big enough for a small-to-medium-large sized adult to sleep with a two year old. I've done it (five year old slept up top).

At least on the Viewliner, the top and bottom bed/bunk in the roomette are the exact same size. They both use the exact same size mattress.

I am not that big, but I can't imagine sharing a bed that is narrower than a cot from summer camp.

 

[AlanB]

The lower bunk of a roomette is plenty big enough for a small-to-medium-large sized adult to sleep with a two year old. I've done it (five year old slept up top).

At least on the Viewliner, the top and bottom bed/bunk in the roomette are the exact same size. They both use the exact same size mattress.

I am not that big, but I can't imagine sharing a bed that is narrower than a cot from summer camp.

They are the same width, but they are not the same length. The lower bed is 4 inches longer than the upper bunk.

 

[AlanB]

It does sound like Amtrak is in a stickler phase with the room numbers, which is unfortunate for me since with the Family Bedroom lowest bucket price increase I've seen, the roomette is probably my only chance to take the train (as an adult with two small kids). It's looking like our summer trip to Los Angeles will be by air.

Amtrak has gone round and round a few times recently on the maximum occupancy rules. But AFAIK there have been no recent changes. That therefore means that an experienced agent or a supervisor can still put three people into a roomette, provided that at least one is a child. They are supposed to warn you that Amtrak does not recommend this, and that things will be tight both in terms of sitting and sleeping. But as long as you understand that and agree that you are willing to deal with those issues, they will book three into a roomette.

Now if you get a new inexperienced agent, or a lazy one, then you may well get told that you can't put three into a roomette like the OP was told.

 

[Radparker]

There is still plenty of headroom for two adults to sit comfortably in the seats...

Assuming neither of them is very tall...

If I remember right, I think there is still around 5' of head room under the bunk in the Viewliner roomette. That is more headroom than one finds even in an SUV, and tall people seem to fit, seated, in an SUV.

I am 6'1" tall and it was perfectly possible to sit in the chairs while the upper bunk was down. Girlfriend wanted to take a nap during the day, so we pulled it down. I stayed in my seat underneath, and even went to the snack car and back. Sitting underneath the bunk wasn't really a problem. (Except for the attendant, who was loudly irritated about having to remake the bed. I tipped a bit extra to smooth that over.)

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Children are to be (rarely) seen and preferably not heard. If your tray-table slamming toddler were sitting next to my girlfriend, he'd find himself flying down the NEC without the enclosing train, probably before I could stop her and calm her down.

Child control sickens me these days. Parents either don't seem to care, or attach them with those inhumane dog-leash type harnesses. It is perfectly possible for a child to sit down and be quiet. It involves something known as "reward and punishment". But parents don't seem to know that, these days.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

I guess you could go up to the parents, introduce yourself as a taxidermist and say that several of the other passengers had suggested that the child was in need of your professional services.........

 

[PRR 60]

Children are to be (rarely) seen and preferably not heard. If your tray-table slamming toddler were sitting next to my girlfriend, he'd find himself flying down the NEC without the enclosing train, probably before I could stop her and calm her down.
Child control sickens me these days. Parents either don't seem to care, or attach them with those inhumane dog-leash type harnesses. It is perfectly possible for a child to sit down and be quiet. It involves something known as "reward and punishment". But parents don't seem to know that, these days.

These days? Why do you think it has changed over the last 100 years. And I assume you were always a perfect child?

 

[MrFSS]

Children are to be (rarely) seen and preferably not heard. If your tray-table slamming toddler were sitting next to my girlfriend, he'd find himself flying down the NEC without the enclosing train, probably before I could stop her and calm her down.
Child control sickens me these days. Parents either don't seem to care, or attach them with those inhumane dog-leash type harnesses. It is perfectly possible for a child to sit down and be quiet. It involves something known as "reward and punishment". But parents don't seem to know that, these days.

I guess you could go up to the parents, introduce yourself as a taxidermist and say that several of the other passengers had suggested that the child was in need of your professional services.........

These days? Why do you think it has changed over the last 100 years. And I assume you were always a perfect child?

Moderator Hat Off

Sir - you have no clue about children and shouldn't be making the type of statement you make. I'm a father and also have 5 grandchildren. At 67 I don't come close to knowing all about them and how to control them in different situations. I'm sure you, and other childless folks of your young age range think you know it all, but you don't and I think I speak for many on this board, as evidenced by the type of comments above, who are upset about these type comments you continually make. Stop it! I'm sure others will add to this.

Moderator Hat Back On

 

[had8ley]

It does sound like Amtrak is in a stickler phase with the room numbers, which is unfortunate for me since with the Family Bedroom lowest bucket price increase I've seen, the roomette is probably my only chance to take the train (as an adult with two small kids). It's looking like our summer trip to Los Angeles will be by air.

Amtrak has gone round and round a few times recently on the maximum occupancy rules. But AFAIK there have been no recent changes. That therefore means that an experienced agent or a supervisor can still put three people into a roomette, provided that at least one is a child. They are supposed to warn you that Amtrak does not recommend this, and that things will be tight both in terms of sitting and sleeping. But as long as you understand that and agree that you are willing to deal with those issues, they will book three into a roomette.

Now if you get a new inexperienced agent, or a lazy one, then you may well get told that you can't put three into a roomette like the OP was told.

Alan;

Let's go one step further..what is the meal allowance for a three person roomette?

 

[guest]

"If your tray-table slamming toddler were sitting next to my girlfriend, he'd find himself flying down the NEC without the enclosing train, probably before I could stop her and calm her down."

I find this comment to be extremely offensive. How does threatening a small child with violence positively contribute to this discussion or message board? This is not the first time that this poster has made a similar content. Moderators, please remove it and lets get back to talking about Amtrak!

 

[the_traveler]

Children are to be (rarely) seen and preferably not heard. If your tray-table slamming toddler were sitting next to my girlfriend, he'd find himself flying down the NEC without the enclosing train, probably before I could stop her and calm her down.
Child control sickens me these days. Parents either don't seem to care, or attach them with those inhumane dog-leash type harnesses. It is perfectly possible for a child to sit down and be quiet. It involves something known as "reward and punishment". But parents don't seem to know that, these days.

I too like for it to be quiet, but I also find these types of comments highly offensive. I am as bothered (if not more) by the guy talking loudly on his cell phone at 1 AM, the drunk (but not sloshed) person a few rows up (who only had 2 beers), the college group going to spring break or the person snoring in the car than I am by the kid going on his 1st train trip.

Who knows - that "bad" kid may post to AU in a few years!

 

[p&sr]

...he'd find himself flying down the NEC without the enclosing train...

That pretty well catches MY feelings about so-called "adults" who perpetually spout Nonsense, respect Nobody else, and refuse to calm down when properly warned.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

(1) - Tom - the taxidermist comment was a joke, for pete's sake. Chill a little.

(2) - There IS more than a little truth to the idea that today's kids are NOT as well disciplined as we were back in "the day". I am absolutely sure that if I, as a child traveling with my parents, had been on a train and had been repeatedly smacking the tray table up and down, etc., harassing my fellow passengers, especially the person sitting in the seat attached to that tray table, I'd have been told to knock it off and behave, and if I hadn't, I would have got my bottom smacked smartly and THAT would have stopped the tray-table nonsense. That behavior would have been an acute embarrassment to my parents.

I am personally convinced that it is the "enlightened" parenting "never hit the child" etc., without an effective and efficacious substitute being applied, that results in what we are seeing and some of what has been complained of. There is a difference between acting like a child and physically harassing a fellow traveler - essentially becoming a public nuisance, and I think I can guarantee that my parents would NOT have allowed the latter to continue.

As somebody who has spent a considerable number of hours as a professional working in the juvenile court system, I have seen, up close and personal, what is a very very serious evaporation of the parenting and appropriate disciplining abilities (indeed, almost ANY disciplining abilities, or even an awareness that the NEED for it exists in their children) of a frightening percentage of parents, and, worse, I have seen the results, in the increasing numbers of children committing adult crimes and becoming career criminals as teenagers, or even earlier. We are sacrificing their very lives on the altar of "don't you dare discipline that child by smacking his/her bottom when he/she desperately needs it". I see the results of that in the court system.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

I think Postel's law of "be conservative in what you do, be liberal in what you accept from others" might have some application to being in coach on Amtrak.

 

[D.P. Roberts]

"If your tray-table slamming toddler were sitting next to my girlfriend, he'd find himself flying down the NEC without the enclosing train, probably before I could stop her and calm her down."
I find this comment to be extremely offensive. How does threatening a small child with violence positively contribute to this discussion or message board? This is not the first time that this poster has made a similar content. Moderators, please remove it and lets get back to talking about Amtrak!

I agree completely. This thread was going along nicely, and then GML had to butt in with his personal views on a non-Amtrak related subject, offending half of the people here.

Green Maned Lion, would you please refrain from these off-tangent social rants? This is a forum about AMTRAK. If you really feel it necessary to post your views about parenting, the government, or whatever else, I'm sure there's another forum out there for them. These comments only serve to incense the people who disagree with you and take the threads off in useless directions!

Moderators - in the last few years I've been on this board, I've found the level of conversations on this forum to be some of the best anywhere. However, I now find it extremely frustrating to see so many threads veering off topic. I try to check up on this forum at least once or twice per day, & generally I only read the threads about subjects, routes, etc. that interest me. I usually re-read the last page or two to catch up with how the conversation is going, & eagerly look forward to reading the replies on subjects I'd like to learn more about. It's frequently turning into a waste of my time, as there's now no reason to assume that the current posts are discussing the thread's main topic, or even Amtrak itself. It's really beginning to detract from the quality & usefulness of this board.

 

[Gingee]

I work with two year olds and I have had three of my own children. How long are you going to be on the train? It is pretty squishy for three people but if your child is a small two year old, one of you may be able to sleep in one of the beds with the child and the other one gets to sleep by themselves.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

You fail to notice the nature of my comment in that I wasn't suggesting that I'd throw the child out of a moving train. I am, first and foremost, a verbal person. I'd give the child a verbal chewing out (and more pointedly, their parent) for allowing and committing such nonsense, and if it continued, I'd tell the conductor. My girlfriend has issues that involve children, and anything else that annoys her.

I have never raised a child, and I doubt I ever will. Why? Raising a child is an incredible responsibility, and a full time job. A family where two parents work or only one parent exists and works, but can not afford full-time, personal, devoted, and caring help, can not afford to have a child. I am not being sexist- I'm not sexist at all. It can just as easily be the father as the mother. A child needs strong parental - or parental adult- guidance to grow up well, just as I have had- despite the fact that my parents encountered financial hardship at times providing it. Realizing that she'd have to go back to work was a heart wrenching decision for my mother, when I was about 9 years old. Even so, she hired an exceptionally caring and devoted woman (almost a second mother to me) to care for me and my sister.

Having children means devoting about ten years of one parents life to absolutely nothing else besides maintaining home and child. And another ten years to extensively devoting yourself to little else. And the rest of your life to being there for your child. I don't have the patience, the time, the devotion, or the inclination to raise a child, so I'm not going to have one. I find too many people in todays day and age who have children, but fail to bother being the child's parent. If you need a bloody leash to keep your child on, you shouldn't have one. If you can't manage to control your child from certain levels of unruliness, you shouldn't have one. Period, end of discussion. I wasn't an easy child. My mother made sure, however, that I behaved myself in public, regardless of whether I wanted to or not.

I'm not talking about babies crying here. Babies cry. They can't easily be controlled. It is considerate to do what you can to stop the crying child and minimize the impact on those around you, but the actual crying is not expected to be stopped easily. I'm talking about the child who annoys the stuffing out of someone, but the parent can't even be bothered to take the child's hand and lead them back to their seat. The ones that do simplify their lives by simply pulling on the child's leash. No need to get up out of their seat or something so hard of that nature.

Unruly children bother me. The parent who can't be bothered to spend time keeping their child appropriately reared and teaching them how to behave in public (this is, of course, the JOB of said parent just as much as safe operation of a train is the JOB of a conductor!) pisses me off to no end. I'd be more likely to toss the parent out of the train than the child. Look around you, parent or not. Look at how much attention parents pay to their children. How much they try. How much they really seem to even CARE.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

"If your tray-table slamming toddler were sitting next to my girlfriend, he'd find himself flying down the NEC without the enclosing train, probably before I could stop her and calm her down."
I find this comment to be extremely offensive. How does threatening a small child with violence positively contribute to this discussion or message board? This is not the first time that this poster has made a similar content. Moderators, please remove it and lets get back to talking about Amtrak!

I agree completely. This thread was going along nicely, and then GML had to butt in with his personal views on a non-Amtrak related subject, offending half of the people here.

Green Maned Lion, would you please refrain from these off-tangent social rants? This is a forum about AMTRAK. If you really feel it necessary to post your views about parenting, the government, or whatever else, I'm sure there's another forum out there for them. These comments only serve to incense the people who disagree with you and take the threads off in useless directions!

Moderators - in the last few years I've been on this board, I've found the level of conversations on this forum to be some of the best anywhere. However, I now find it extremely frustrating to see so many threads veering off topic. I try to check up on this forum at least once or twice per day, & generally I only read the threads about subjects, routes, etc. that interest me. I usually re-read the last page or two to catch up with how the conversation is going, & eagerly look forward to reading the replies on subjects I'd like to learn more about. It's frequently turning into a waste of my time, as there's now no reason to assume that the current posts are discussing the thread's main topic, or even Amtrak itself. It's really beginning to detract from the quality & usefulness of this board.

I was replying with regard to distinct posts earlier in the thread, if you care to read them.

But whatever, it seems more people then not would rather I not post around here. If that's the case, maybe I shouldn't.

 

[D.P. Roberts]

I was replying with regard to distinct posts earlier in the thread, if you care to read them.
But whatever, it seems more people then not would rather I not post around here. If that's the case, maybe I shouldn't.

No, you were NOT replying to a distinct post. The bulk of the thread dealt with small children in a roomette, & how to keep them safe and occupied. Looking at the situation from the other point of view- the passengers who are getting annoyed by unruly small children - could be considered a valid part of that topic.

You then stepped in and mentioned THROWING CHILDREN OFF THE MOVING TRAIN. This is not a valid strategy for dealing with unruly children, from the point of view of the passenger or the parent. It is, in fact, a felony. If something you or your companions want to do is a felony, don't bother posting it.

Amtrak is funded and overseen by the federal government. As such, some threads about the government are to be expected. Obviously, posters on this board come from a variety of political leanings, & are going to have different views about the government & its functions. It would behoove you (and everyone else) to keep your views to yourself in areas that don't involve Amtrak.

No one is asking you to leave. As a very wise person once said, politics and religion are not discussed in polite company. And with good reason - if any threads in this forum are going to stay on topic and keep from offending people, we should stick to Amtrak-related topics ONLY. Is that so hard?

 

[Guest]

GML,

Post on. These boards have individuals of every age group and background which is healthy. I always take your age into consideration when reading your posts and recall what I was like at the same age. Age changes perceptions. I agree in principal with your belief that out of control children are generally a product of poor parenting and my **** would have been whupped by my parents with a tree branch of my choosing. But parents are afraid to do that now. It is probably not wise to suggest that they be winged off of the train and it is not easy to read. Your girlfriend would be in trouble up to her eyeballs if she ever acted on that thought, so it's probably best not to entertain the thoughts, lest actions follow. Do consider that if a potential rider happened upon this board and saw a diatribe against children they might think the whole group felt that way when, in fact, most here probably welcome a new generation being introduced to train travel.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

To be quite honest with you, Mr. Roberts, for me it is quite hard. I find it very hard to discuss subjects without bringing in relevant adjacent aspects of that subject. It is preposterous in my mind to limit my discussion of politics strictly and completely to one aspect because it eliminates far too much of my perspective and thus requires my contribution to be taken fully out of context. Since far too many people already quote what I say and respond out of context to my in-context statement, I really don't care to allow them for a double-out of contextation of my points of view. Everybody is entitled to their own point of view. I'll tell you why I disagree with it if you mention it, and I'll debate with you if you counterpoint, but I will never deny you the right to hold it, or suggest that you don't have such a right.

Secondly, for the purpose of adding a tiny bit of humour to serious comments, I tend to exaggerate certain aspects to the point of absurdity. I would NEVER throw a child off a train. Heck, not even a child. I don't throw anyone off trains who isn't under 26 years old, man! <--- if you can't see this as an example of humour in a serious comment, I suggest you convince yourself it is- because it is!

Life is too short to rush, I often say. It is also too short to spend time being diplomatic, and I don't. And it is definitely too short not to add humour to everything.

Take me and accept me for what I am, for that is all I am ever going to be. But in order to do that, you have to recognize that I see the world from a very different point of view than most people I know. I sometimes express my deeper inner thoughts, the ones the "sanity control" section of my brain toss out 5 microseconds after generation, because I find them amusing. I also ramble. I'm not sorry for it, but I am sorry that it seems to upset you. Upsetting this board as a group is not something I desire to do, and if it is the main accomplisment of my nearly 1550 posts here, I'm not sure I want to continue doing it.

 

[Walt]

Gosh, I didn't find GML any more offensive than p&sr, if "offensive" is even the right word. They both expressed an opinion that I felt were very opposite extremes. But it is still their opinion, and honestly, probably a good example of the extremes one might find with other passengers onboard a train.

Yes, I use to expect my kid to act well in public. I now expect my grandkids to do the same. However, the reality is, even the best kid can't do it constantly. The longer the "outing" (ie, train journey), the more likely they will do something that will bother others. From slamming the tray, to kicking the seat in front of them (either on purpose or accidentally), to whining about something.

Amtrak has those "quiet" coaches on some trains. Maybe Amtrak needs a "family only" coach were the kids can run wild and free, and if anything, only bother other kids and parents. However, I don't think Amtrak has such, yet.

That is why I suggest, from my own years of experience, for someone with a young kid to strongly consider a roomette over coach for long overnight journeys.

 

[guest]

Moderators- Hello? Anyone out there? Please lock this thread for the good of the discussion board and lets get back to talking about what we all love- Amtrak!

 

[AlanB]

Moderators- Hello? Anyone out there? Please lock this thread for the good of the discussion board and lets get back to talking about what we all love- Amtrak!

No, I'm not going to lock the thread just in case the OP comes back with further questions or an update to his issue. However, what will happen going forward from this point is that any post about throwing kids and GML, both for and against, will be deleted without comment or fanfare by either myself or one of the other moderators; who are hereby instructed to do just that.

And now I return you to your regularly scheduled program, putting three people into a roomette.