Number of available Bedrooms & Roomettes on trains

[Clive Simpson]

Hello to you all, I hope you can help me!

We are planning to take `The Crescent` NYC to New Orleans on Monday 8 May 2016. I have just looked at the room options/pricing on the Amtrak website and it says there is only `1 Roomette available at this price` - yet the travel date is 7 months away. Should I take this information to be correct and therefore book now, to ensure we get a room, or do Amtrak release additional rooms for booking nearer the travel date ?

Many thanks

Clive Simpson (United Kingdom)

 

[KmH]

Yes. Take the info as correct at this time. Book now.

Amtrak can't release more rooms because there is a fixed number of them, but some of the people that have already booked rooms will cancel their booking because their plans change.

Keep checking back and if more rooms become available and the price goes lower, you can call Amtrak and modify your reservation and probably also change to a more desirable room that has become available.

Roomettes in the middle of the sleeper car are generally preferred for having the best ride and the least noise from the car trucks (wheels).

 

[BCL]

At that price may just mean that if you attempt to book later, the price may change (likely more).

 

[me_little_me]

Amtrak has X rooms available. As they start selling, the price may go up so they are telling you that anymore rooms will be higher. I ran into this in the past when trying to get two rooms. The price for the first was cheap but if I asked for two, it jumped for both. I would order one then watch for the system to detect that enough were available to lower the price back down. Then I'd buy the second at the original lower price, then call Amtrak to have them move me to two adjacent or opposite rooms.

When you select a room then start the process, Amtrak puts a hold on it so it won't simultaneously be sold to someone else. Then if you properly cancel, it i returned to available. However, if you just close your browser, it takes a number of minutes before the system realizes you don't want the room and returns it to the available list. Given that there are many others simultaneously asking for rooms, you should, if you see a good price, grab it then watch once a week or so to see if price has gone down so you can rebook at a lower price.

Of course, you should always use amsnag.net to find the lowest priced day if you have any flexibility at all. Remember, that Amtrak bundles one person with each room while amsnag shows separate prices for room and the first person.

Note that if coach seat prices are high, roomette and bedroom prices reflect the minimum "flexible fare" price for the passengers no matter how high the coach price has gone. This is because you are not occupying a coach seat.

Also note that roomettes, bedrooms and business class seats, when available, have no relationship to coach prices or each other so you may find bedrooms as cheap as roomettes (grab it!) as well as roomettes as cheap as coach and, like my tip next month, business class cheaper than flexible fare coach ($87 for BC vs $154 for flexible coach in my case).

 

[Asher]

I'm sure it just means there is one at that price. If its a low price why wait.

 

[Carolyn S.]

I am interested in the price of a roomette for my grandson on the Cardinal 50 from Dyer In to Wilmington DE. I can not find it?

 

[pennyk]

I am interested in the price of a roomette for my grandson on the Cardinal 50 from Dyer In to Wilmington DE. I can not find it?

The cardinal does not run every day. Did you try a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday? I just tried with random dates and the adult coach fare was $100.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I am interested in the price of a roomette for my grandson on the Cardinal 50 from Dyer In to Wilmington DE. I can not find it?

I am interested in the price of a roomette for my grandson on the Cardinal 50 from Dyer In to Wilmington DE. I can not find it?

The cardinal does not run every day. Did you try a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday? I just tried with random dates and the adult coach fare was $100.

An alternative if he can't leave on a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday is to take the Hoosier State (851) to Chicago then catch the Capital Limited (30).

How old is your grandson?

 

[PaulM]

Note that if coach seat prices are high, roomette and bedroom prices reflect the minimum "flexible fare" price for the passengers no matter how high the coach price has gone. This is because you are not occupying a coach seat.

I believe it is the lowest "value" fare. The best I can figure, the 3 types of coach fares are:

Saver: once in a while special discounts - sleeping car passengers don't get this.

Value: "regular" coach fares - sleeping car passengers pay lowest bucket

Flexible: just as the name suggests - advantageous if you need to make a last minute change or cancellation. To complicate matters, if all but high bucket coach fares (or maybe two highest buckets) have sold out, value becomes sold out and what's left is called flexible.