KC,
I’ll start with the cost first and then try to work through the rest of your questions. I think that there are several things that came into play here. First you are traveling with 6 people, which helps to up the cost. Next you are indeed traveling during Amtrak’s peak times and it sound like you just booked this trip. As the train fills up, the rates go up just like any hotel or airplane. Next you mention that you’ve got a package that not only includes the rail, but a hotel and a tour of the city. This also helped to run up the bill.
Since you didn’t post the amount that they are charging you, it is hard for me to tell you one way or the other if you could have/should have done better. However with all of those factors that I mentioned above in play here, I don’t think that you can properly compare what you are being billed to other reviews and comments. Just as a bit of an example, I just recently took a trip on Amtrak’s Auto Train with some of my family. We had 4 adults and two children, plus you must also pay for the car. In our case we had a van so that added $300 to the price tag and knowing the size of the rooms, I got us two deluxe bedrooms. All of that cost $1,600 and change.
So based upon my recent experience and my general Amtrak knowledge, I would expect that you should have paid at least $2,200 for your trip. Obviously depending on what class of hotel you received it could easily go higher, plus I don’t know if they booked you one hotel room or two. You also didn’t mention if you were traveling on the weekend or midweek, this too could affect the price.
Now moving along, I definitely recommend considering a second room. As Amtrakadirondack mentioned, there are two adult sized beds in the family room and two child sized beds. They really are child-sized beds, as they are only four feet 9 inches long. Now the lower adult bed could possibly accommodate two medium sized adults, but let me tell you it’s going to be a tight squeeze. That would also leave you needing to put the baby in the upper adult bed along with one of the adults. Again this is possible, but I’m not sure just how comfortable you would be.
When I went down to Florida on my recent trip, I had two of my nieces along with me, but one less adult at that point. We got a family bedroom and a standard bedroom. So we were traveling with three adults, two children, and one baby. While we could all fit comfortably into the family room during the day, I’m glad that we didn’t try to sleep in that one room.
I would highly suggest asking for one standard bedroom and unless the senior has mobility problems, then I would ask for a standard room on the lower level in the same car. This way you would all be very close at night even with the second room, yet you could easily share the family room and it’s large couch during the day. Let me also recommend that you check out some pictures and measurements on Amtrak’s website. The first link that I’ll give you will show you the dimensions of the family room and the sizes of the beds. Click
here and then roll about halfway down the page when it opens up.
The second link will give you a virtual tour of the room, a 360 degree look around the room as it were. You can click
here for that. Note there are two views to look at a daytime configuration and the nighttime view of the room. Hopefully this will give you a better idea of what this room looks like and why I’m suggesting that you may want to add a second room. Frankly I’m kind of surprised that they would even let you book that many people into one room.
Technically you cannot occupy another bedroom without paying for it. However, if you meet up with a really nice attendant they might not complain if one of the adults were to go sit in an open room during the daytime. However, don’t expect them to allow you to sleep in that room, although I have heard a few stories where a really nice attendant did allow that to happen. I certainly wouldn’t want you to bet on that happening though.
Next space is indeed limited within the rooms, especially at night when the beds are put down. They will take up most of the available floor space. What you want to try to do is have each of the kids carry a backpack with their favorite toys, books, and whatnot. Then pack a few overnight bags with PJ’s, the next day’s clothes, and toiletries. Then you can leave your big suitcases in the luggage rack in the center of the car. This rack is also downstairs like the family room, so it wouldn’t be too big of a deal to walk down the hall and take out something that you forgot to put in your overnight bags. Of course you do also have the option to check your larger bags too, but just like on a plane you can’t get to those bags while you are on-board.
Now for tipping, if you do indeed squeeze into one room, then I would suggest at least 15 – 20 dollars for the attendant. If the attendant really goes out of their way, you may wish to give more. Of course the reverse is true too, if you can never find the attendant when you need them, well you might want to cut back some on the tip. If you add a second bedroom, then I would probably up that total by another 5 to 10 bucks.
In the dining car, for breakfast and lunch it’s customary to leave a buck per person. For dinner most people leave 2 dollars per person, although the baby doesn’t really count here. Again if the attendant goes out of their way for you, then you may wish to add a little more. One note, if you do put one person in coach their meals would not be included and they would have to pay to eat with the rest of the family. That’s it for the tipping other than if you use a redcap to help carry your luggage at the station. One does not tip the conductors on the train.
Finally you might wish to check out
this page from On Track On Line. It’s chocked full of hints and tips, along with some idea of what to expect from your first train ride on Amtrak.
Please don’t hesitate to come back and ask us more questions as you think of them.
Have a great trip!
