posted
There's one family room for every 5 deluxe sleepers. I don't think they're specifically reserved for families and the average train has just 1-3 family bedrooms, so they're in short supply. Book early is the only way!
Geoff M.
Posts: 2426 | From: Apple Valley, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
The family bedroom may be considerably cheaper than 2 deluxe, and you have windows out both sides of the train (on the lower level). Each deluxe (upper level) has its own toilet and shower. Family br occupants share the bathrooms and shower (1) on the lower level used by standard bedroom occupants. These are right outside the door, which sometimes means you have the noise of people going in and out. The smaller beds in the family br are very short. Check out amtrak.com for bedroom tours and bed dimensions (also in Amtrak's travel planner brochure if they still print it).
Posts: 1572 | From: St. Paul, MN | Registered: Dec 2002
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posted
Deluxe Rooms are quite nice especially if you have two. Going back to the point of having windows on each side of a Family bedroom, with a deluxe room if you open the door to the hallway there is a window right there. Although it takes away privacy its not that bad.
Posts: 547 | From: St. Louis, MO, USA | Registered: Nov 2002
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posted
The kid bunks in the family room are big enough for a 3 and 5 year old, but personally, I'd prefer the deluxe and think you have made the right choice. While the family room does have windows on both sides, they are smaller than the one in the deluxe and tend to get dirty quicker than those on the upper level. The lower level restrooms are NOT immediately outside the family room door, they are across the vestibule, immediately outside room "H" at the other end.
As mentioned, the bunks for kids in the family room are sized for children. That means the kind of children who can still get into the movies for kid's prices. On a recent trip, a grandmother brought three "children", one fit into the bunk, the other two were teenagers and didn't; a boy was over 6' tall! Oops. She said she had questioned the reservation clerk about this potential problem and been told "if the kids didn't fit, someone would make up a bed for them on the floor". HEH!! I don't think so. When the adult beds are down, there is about 6", if that, of empty floor space between the bottom bunk and the wall.
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