We took one of the Florida trains to north Carolina years ago and I got my wife a roomette while I stayed with the three kids in coach. Two of them were about the age of yours in this video. It was a nice arrangement. In about a week my wife and I are taking a sleeper from New York to Orlando. I'm looking forward to it.
Your video came up on my recommended list, very nice. I've ridden Amtrak several times including between Florida and New York, though never the Auto Train. The type of car you were in was a Superliner which is mainly user in the west because the tunnels into New York can't handle the double hight cars. You had the family bedroom that spans the full width of the car but has no bathroom. The bedrooms on the upper level span about 2/3 the car and have their own bathroom with a shower nozzle. You mentioned Rockland County, I assume in New York State. I grew up in the Suffern area and went to Suffern High longer ago than I'm willing to admit.
What a different experience we had a few days ago. Our train to Sanford was delayed we don’t know why (on Dec 23rd, 2021) . We boarded the train about 2:30 am. We got into Sanford after 10:30 pm. We had priority off loading, but we still had a little wait. Then we had to drive down i95 to our house . It was now Christmas and no food stores were opened. We had planned on being in the house around lunch time on Christmas Eve and stocking up the house with food for our Children and grandchildren’s visit on Christmas night. We had no food for Christmas and the kindness of neighbors giving us eggs , milk , ham etc helped . The trip was a disaster and we never found out what caused the massive delay. We all sat waiting for the incoming train for about 12 hours . Children and babies were crying from about 11:00 pm on . They did bring in sandwiches to feed us all about 10:00 . We took the train one other Christmas in 1999 or 98 when my daughter was young and had a similar experience, but one of the trips delay was caused by an ice storm . As of last week , the bar car in the sleeper cars was closed, you had to go to coach for a drink . They served dinner in your rooms… not bad , but not the fun train experience… might be bc of not enough workers , and they no longer show movies like they did back in the 90s. Would l take this again .. well l had one good trip ( on the way home ) out of 4 . We are going to give it one more attempt this summer. We have a second home in FL and l am tired of the 95 drive. The train is great when it works properly with no delays and the food is better than first class food on United. But be wary and don’t expect on time performance, the record for delays seems pretty high, partly due to the fact that Amtrak does not own the tracks that the train travels on and when a freight train passes the auto train has to pull over.
Great video! If you enjoyed that you probably would enjoy the California Zephyr. the trip from Denver, westbound through the Rockies is amazing. taken it 3 times now in both summer and winter
You are lucky! I really want to take it, I've taken the Builder, Starlight, Chief, Sunset, and part of the Texas Eagle (Hopefully add another Chief and the rest of the Eagle trip in a few months).
Thanks for this vlog! We are taking the AT to Disney for the first time in two months and also have the family bedroom! This is the kind of Auto Train video I have been looking for! The outlet in the family bedroom - that appears to just be a two prong outlet, correct? Just figuring out what kind of extension cord we need to bring.
Phil Ticknor thank you for watching! I couldn’t find a good AT video at all, so next best thing was to make one ourselves! Glad you enjoyed the video and have a blast on your AT journey! Hope you vlog your experience as well!
So people know if you 3 or 1 person go to dinner/breakfast they can sit random people at your table. My family at dinner 3 of us and they sit one other person with us. And kinda weird but it’s was ok.
Good video. Your kids are cute. I was wondering how well was the sleeping in the family room. Did you take any video of the room converted with the beds set up. I was also wondering because I am claustrophobic if I should even get a room if I decide to take the train or just do a business class seat.
Pauline Potts thanks for watching! The sleeping arrangements were fantastic. The family room we got was very roomy and spacious. I would highly recommend booking this room! Unfortunately, I don’t have any additional pictures or footage of the room with the beds turned down. Would love to hear about your experience!
In January 2020,Amtrak fired all the dining car workers,there is no more dinner and breakfast served,just grab and go crap and there are food trucks at the station before you leave.My wife and I have taken the Auto Train many times since 2001 and we will never take it again because of the food situation.
I think the Auto Train and the western routes still have dining car service. It is just the long distance routes in the east that no longer offer full meal service except the AT.
The Auto Train is the ONLY train with the traditional dining still in place. No communal seating though It MAY come back on Western long distance routes. Unsure at this time
I just took the auto train over Christmas vacation 2021. The dining room was not opened for dining, but the same good quality hot meals were delivered to our rooms as well as a glass of wine. I had the chicken dinner with a glass of Kendell Jackson going and coming . You could eat in the lounge car , but you had to clean up after yourself , they had grab and go and a hot sandwich option. The dinner was actually better than the first class food on United Airlines.
Anyone travel with a baby in the sleeper car? We’re looking to take the Auto Train to Orlando in January and our little girl will be 9 months at the time. Trying to find information hasn’t produced anything productive.
suespony thank you! Not that bad at all actually. A little more rocky overnight because they go faster. But all and all pretty smooth. We will be back on this Spring and I’ll post another video! Thank you for watching!!
