Autotrain... Thoughts?

My wife and I are considering taking the auto-train down to Florida this year. Can anyone share their experiences?

Enjoyed each trip I've been on. Food is good, service is great, if you have the time, and want to save money on a rental car, it works out best. I also had no problem sleeping on the coach seat, if that is the type of reservation you were thinking of.

I doubt this'll be your experience, but do you remember Bill Murray's Saturday night live skit?

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/78/78knick.phtml

Mr Gilbert B Norman has taken more than a few Auto Train voyages. I'm sure he can answer every possible question and and address most concerns. However, he's not online at this moment.

So, read a few of his trip reports until he is available for comment!

Trip 18

Trip 19

Trip 20

Coach on the Autotrain is 10x better than coach on any other train.

First off, the train is non stop (there is a service stop in the middle of the night, but people aren't getting on/off like other trains). Second, your meal is included with the ticket (unlike regular amtrak trains). Third, there are 2 lounges on the train, which makes snagging a table for a late night game of cards easy (often it's tough to get a table on a long distance train).

I would do it and I would pay the extra dollars to have your car unloaded early (glad they are offering this now).

Patrick Boylan wrote:I doubt this'll be your experience, but do you remember Bill Murray's Saturday night live skit?

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/78/78knick.phtml

That skit was the first time I had ever heard of the Auto Train, and years later after I joined this board I was dismayed to hear that it no longer offered live entertainment (at least, that's the impression I've gotten).

Regarding Markhb's immediate comment, Auto Train does not offer on-board live entertainment. Such was offered by the private AT
(that was my "Voyage #1" during Dec 1972) as well as the early Amtrak varietals.

I highly doubt if the Sleeping Car demographic "misses" live entertainment - I know I don't. Now if they could just get rid of the movies....

I did not have an AT voyage this year, so #20 made NB Jan '12 is my most recent. My Florida travels this year were limited to a "one night stand" in Miami over St Paddy's weekend using air transportation. Here is material posted to another Forum related to that trip:

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 7&t=140143

I *love* the Auto-Train. I've gone down several times since the 1990s - the last time being 2009 - and each trip has been stellar. The food is good, the service excellent... Twice I did the trip in coach seats and they weren't bad either. I've had old (pre-Superliner) rooms, Superliner rooms and even once did the Superliner Family Bedroom.

I can't say enough positive about the A/T - yes, I'm a big fan and, whenever it's practical, that's my preferred method of getting to Florida. It's not *always* practical (JetBlue is usually the best/cheapest option for me - but the longer the trip, the more I'll save on rental cars and airfares have been going up) but it IS always good.

Why is Auto Train the only LD overnight to offer complementary diner meals to both coach and sleepers? This seems to go against the policy on all other routes.

R36 Combine Coach wrote:Why is Auto Train the only LD overnight to offer complementary diner meals to both coach and sleepers? This seems to go against the policy on all other routes.

Because it is the Auto Train. Everyone riding it is going the entire way. Everyone gets hungry. Check the coach fares for the Auto Train vs the Silver trains, you might be surprised how much they differ.

While there are coach riders on other Amtrak LD trains that ride the entire way, most don't. Some only ride them for 100 miles, an hour or two. They don't necessarily want to eat aboard the train.

electricron wrote:Check the coach fares for the Auto Train vs the Silver trains, you might be surprised how much they differ.

For a random Monday in June (June 24 to be precise) the Auto Train was $100 (not including the $175 vehicle charge). On the same day, the Sliver Star is $119 and the Meteor is $156. Although the slivers appear more expensive when analyzing ticket prices, the vehicle charge on the auto train makes it more expensive for most parties.

Bottom line, the $175 vehicle charge more than pays for diner... and makes it easier for amtrak revenue wise rather than having cash/credit sales on board.

Hard as may be to believe, and in view of that there is in Sleeper all the wine available at first the "wine tasting" and with Dinner that one can responsibly drink, there is a Snack Bar in the regularly assigned 3350X Lounges that sells the standard Amtrak menu items.

While I was once kicked out of the Coach Diner ("sir, you have your own Diner and Lounge") on a "recon mission", it appears that their menu is casseroles such as lasagna. To what extent wine is "comped" (up there on 53, back there on 52), I know not.

Gilbert B Norman wrote:Hard as may be to believe, and in view of that there is in Sleeper all the wine available at first the "wine tasting" and with Dinner that one can responsibly drink, there is a Snack Bar in the regularly assigned 3350X Lounges that sells the standard Amtrak menu items.

While I was once kicked out of the Coach Diner ("sir, you have your own Diner and Lounge") on a "recon mission", it appears that their menu is casseroles such as lasagna. To what extent wine is "comped" (up there on 53, back there on 52), I know not.

I knew the meals included with the sleepers were different from the coach meals. However, I assumed you could order off the coach menu if you so desired. It seems as though this isn't the case.

Perhaps you can order from the coach menu, but must sit in the sleeper dining car so you don't take space from coach passengers.

Can you please clarify, Mr Gilbert B. Norman?

hi55us wrote:

electricron wrote:Check the coach fares for the Auto Train vs the Silver trains, you might be surprised how much they differ.

For a random Monday in June (June 24 to be precise) the Auto Train was $100 (not including the $175 vehicle charge). On the same day, the Sliver Star is $119 and the Meteor is $156. Although the slivers appear more expensive when analyzing ticket prices, the vehicle charge on the auto train makes it more expensive for most parties. Bottom line, the $175 vehicle charge more than pays for diner... and makes it easier for amtrak revenue wise rather than having cash/credit sales on board.

Those are the same fares I saw for June using Alexandria and Winter Park as baseline comparsions.

And yes, Auto Train has seperate menus:
Coach menu
Sleepers menu
Note calorie information is now posted.

Mr. Third Rail, I was simply on a "reconnaissance mission" after my first seating was done and had no intention of wanting the Coach casseroles over the Sleeper prepared to order Beef Tournedos.

Regarding Mr. R36's immediate, I could care less about the calories; I'm on vacation. Hopefully anyone around here who knows me face to face can affirm that my weight is "not all that out of line".