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flying_babyb

Train Attendant
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Dec 13, 2015
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66
Location
wisconsin
ok odd situation: There are 5 of us going on a train trip from chicago to DC. Two adults that are 55, Me (31) and two teens (16,15). So when I try to book a family bedroom with all 5 of us it tells me there sold out. if I do 4 of us, then theres a room. We would need 3 viewliner bedrooms otherwise. The big issue is the teens dont want to share there own room (the youngest sleeps with her mom alot), and no one wants to sleep in a room alone. I would but my mom (the other 55 year old) needs someone to help her at night in new places. So what do we do to sleep 5 people with no one sleeping alone?
 
Fly? Seriously, I feel your pain. I love taking the train but they making it more difficult AND EXPENSIVE for larger groups to travel.
 
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Get a roomette for the "extra" person in addition to the family bedroom. That "extra" person could move into the family bedroom with the other four leaving the roomette empty. I know the roomette will add to the cost but overall probably less than the three bedrooms you mentioned. I don't know that the SCA would have a problem with that scheme or not.
 
Get a roomette for the "extra" person in addition to the family bedroom. That "extra" person could move into the family bedroom with the other four leaving the roomette empty. I know the roomette will add to the cost but overall probably less than the three bedrooms you mentioned. I don't know that the SCA would have a problem with that scheme or not.
Or put two people in the roomette and three in the family bedroom. Perhaps you and mom in the roomette and the other three in the FB - or split it how however else you see fit.
 
There are 2 full length adult beds, and 2 shorter child beds in the Family Room so a 5th is over the designated capacity for the computer, but sometimes if you talk to a competent Reservation Supervisor they can override the max limit. They did this for me when I needed to take two children 8 & 11 in the roomette, she did an over ride and I was fine. There are four Roomettes next to the Family Room, so if you took Room 11 or 12 you right next to the door to the Family Room.
 
The two smaller beds in a Family Bedroom are 4'9" and 4'7" long. These beds will be too short for most teenagers.

Have you traveled on Amtrak before? Having a roomette or Bedroom to yourself is quite different than having a hotel room to yourself - if you've never seen one before, Amtrak's accommodations are TINY. I still remember the overwhelming feeling of dread the first time I stepped into a Roomette - "We're going to spend two whole days in THAT?" You or your teenagers may very well find that the spaces feel too small rather than too large!

I suggest heading over to Youtube & watch some videos of the various accommodations. You & your traveling companions will probably get a pretty good idea of what's involved, & you may be able to work out a situation that's acceptable to everyone.
 
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The two smaller beds in a Family Bedroom are 4'9" and 4'7" long. These beds will be too short for most teenagers.
This is such an important point. I bet the 16 and 15 yo teens are near their adult size. You're not going to even fit 4 of the people in this family, let alone 5, into a Superliner Family Room at bed time.

One might be use to "squeezing" two family members into a single king-size hotel room bed, but you're not going to be able to do such with an Amtrak bed.
 
The family bedroom is absolutely impractical for that many people of adult size. I suggest two adjoining bedrooms, either B-C or D-E. This gives you two narrow upper berths and two wider lower berths. In this arrangement, one of the lower berths would be shared. The partition would be kept open during the daytime, but could be closed at night to separate the two rooms. There would be two restrooms and wash stands.

Tom
 
The family bedroom is absolutely impractical for that many people of adult size. I suggest two adjoining bedrooms, either B-C or D-E. This gives you two narrow upper berths and two wider lower berths. In this arrangement, one of the lower berths would be shared. The partition would be kept open during the daytime, but could be closed at night to separate the two rooms. There would be two restrooms and wash stands.

Tom
Definitely, the best suggestion for this group. Family Bedroom will not work for reasons mentioned above. If your dates are flexible, use Amsnag to find some low bucket bedrooms prices on the Cap Ltd 30 and 29. You want your trip to be enjoyable and thus, some space and two restrooms are the way to go. :)
 
Alternatively, try three roomettes, with two of them directly across the hall from each other. One person would have to sleep "alone," but would be right across a narrow hallway from the other roomette--with the doors open most of the time, it's much like sharing the same room. (I do this when traveling with my elderly father, and it works out well for us.) Also likely to be less expensive than two bedrooms.

I'd second the advice given above about looking online (see here; the Cardinal is a Viewliner, the Capitol Ltd is a Superliner) to see how the train's bedrooms and roomettes are actually configured, and the sizes of the beds. Please note how narrow the "wider" lower bunk is in the bedroom--3'4".
 
My suggestion was based on the assumption that you are taking the Capitol Limited, which has a family room and 5 bedrooms per sleeping car. The Cardinal uses Viewliners, which do not have the same accommodations.

Tom
 
What train?

Besides, isn't the maximum capacity for a family bedroom 4 unless there's an infant? It's kind of confusing since you're talking about Viewliner bedrooms and family bedrooms, but I thought they were mutually exclusive.
 
The family bedroom sleeps 4 if two of them resemble Tatoo from Fantasy Island or Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones. If you did a bedroom and a roomette, you would get 4 full lenght berths, the lower in the bedroom might be wide enough for the 2 that sleep together if they are skinny and don't roll over much while sleeping. There is no family bedroom on a viewliner, if you are on the Cardinal, that is out of the picture. The Cap Limited, the more likely choice CHI to DC uses superliner cars, they have a family bedroom, but it may not be the best choice.
 
2-3 Suitcases
AdultAdultChildChildSuitcaseSuitcaseSuitcase

Is anyone in your party 4'9" or shorter? If not, they won't be comfortable in the family bedroom based on the length of two of the beds.
raises hand! Me!! Im 4'9
Really? It would be a tight fit and the beds are narrow so it's not exactly easy to curl up. You certainly can't book a family bedroom online for more than 2 adults. I suppose it's not programmed that way. An agent might be able to book a family bedroom and a roomette together for 5 "adults".

I started looking at it, and if you're trying to reserve online, it will only give you multiples of the same room type. So it's probably saying it's sold out because there aren't three family bedrooms available. It doesn't account for size of an "adult". It's only able to process that you have five adults and that only two can fit in each family bedroom according to their rules. Also - I think 3 family bedrooms would be pretty expensive.

Again - try calling an agent.

1-800-USA-RAIL
 
There is only one Family Bedroom per car, opposite end of the lower level from the accessible. But 3 bedrooms, or deluxe bedroom as sometimes called would likely be very expensive. On the other hand, on my last trip to AZ, due to a convergence of factors, I had a bedroom on the CL for way less than a roomette on the LSL coming back East.
 
You bring up an interesting point. The reservation system would count any person age 13 and up, as an adult. So, I don't think you could book 3, 4, or 5 adults into a family bedroom. It would limit it to two adult fares and two child fares. No?
 
Two room ette s across from one another is a comfortable arrangement and cheaper too.
 
ok odd situation: There are 5 of us going on a train trip from chicago to DC. Two adults that are 55, Me (31) and two teens (16,15). So when I try to book a family bedroom with all 5 of us it tells me there sold out. if I do 4 of us, then theres a room. We would need 3 viewliner bedrooms otherwise. The big issue is the teens dont want to share there own room (the youngest sleeps with her mom alot), and no one wants to sleep in a room alone. I would but my mom (the other 55 year old) needs someone to help her at night in new places. So what do we do to sleep 5 people with no one sleeping alone?
Why are adults taking instructions on sleeping arrangements from children? Are the teenagers paying for the trip? Sleeping with mom at the age of fifteen is not an explanation so much as an even more confusing question. No matter how many times I reread this it looks silly and ridiculous to me. Call Amtrak, find out which room are available and next to each other. Then book those rooms and worry about who sleeps where when it comes time to go to sleep. There's really no need to over complicate it with arbitrary logic puzzles.
 
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Two room ette s across from one another is a comfortable arrangement and cheaper too.
Perhaps cheaper. Depends on the day of travel. There are 7 dates within the next month where a Family Room is less expensive than two Roomettes - sometimes by as much as $218. Use Amsnag to see which dates provide the most economical travel.

Oops! Forgot there were five adults - so kindly disregard all the above. But do use Amsnag to easily find the lowest cost/day of travel for whatever accommodations you select. Using Amsnag is much easier than making repetitive queries on the Amtrak website because Amsnag will give you all the various rates over a 30 day period of time - all on one "sheet".
 
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