posted
The sleeper prices just don't add up! I can get a room at the Best Western and a few coffee shop meals for less than half what Amtrak is charging for a night in sleeper. Can anyone in here honestly say that the roomettes are nicer than what you might get at a Best Western or Howard Johnsons??? And the dining car meals are glorified Denny's meals...in fact I've had equally satisfying meals at Denny's.
Posts: 387 | From: Bakersfield, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
Even though, Mr. Maniac, you identify a 'bargain basement" and a "crapshoot" (BW - a very "loose" franchise: some properties are quite upscale; others,well.....) hotel brand (neither of which I no longer personally stay at), I cannot state an Amtrak Roomette is nicer than either. But then sacrifices must be made if you are rolling towards your destination while you sleep.
I respect you're young, and in a profession where "doing things on the cheap" is part of the culture, but how about a little respect flowing the other way?
Nothing in this discussion has sunk to the real-life level I was witness to during June 1962 when, in the Super's Dome Lounge, I heard some Hollywood type sounding off when we (#1-18) were held out of Albuquerque until the El Cap (#2-18) had departed. This 'gentleman", in a voice for all the world to hear, let go with "how did they let the PEONS in Coach get ahead of us?"
Posts: 9977 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
Actually, anything beats sitting in coach for an extended period. True, there is something austere about the roommettes but they are private and you get to lay on your back, flat.
The thing that made me respond to your posting (after not having posted for a long, long time) is the way you are romantizing about a situation which is clearly not romantic.
OK, bring you own food if you like (I used to cook up dehydrated food in the now-defunct smoking lounge). Or romanticize about seats that lost their cush 30 years ago. Or complain about the price of food in the dining car and extoll the virtues of the cafe car. But please don't try to sell this to newbies because, to be totally frank, it kinda s u c k s .
Personally, I'm glad you posted because you definitely brought back some not-so-fond memories of travelling in coach.
And thanks to you, I plan to take a sleeper from LA to Chicago and guess what! It won't cost me a penny coz I'm gonna cash in on 20,000 Amtrak points I just happen to have lying around (from my Amtrak Credit Card).
In the meantime, enjoy your coach accommodations. Amtrak definitely needs more people around with your fortitude.
-------------------- Please visit "Chucksville" at http://www.chucksville.com and sign my guestbook! Posts: 324 | From: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
You folks don't know what "coach" means. Amtrak coach is first class compared to other and older forms of transportation. Back in the late '50's early '60's when I was in love with flying, I took an 049 Constellation from New York to San Francisco...via Pittsburgh, Chichago, Kansas City, Wichita, Albuquerque,Phoenix, Los Angeles, Fresno and Oakland. I left New York around eight at night and arrived in San Francisco late the next afternoon. The only thing I really didn't like about the flight...I loved the landings and take offs...was the awful shape the cabin was in after a couple of stops. The stewardesses (cabin attendants) did little or no pick up and the passengers themselves were pretty much slobs, tossing newspapers, magazines and boxed lunch cartons around the cabin. I was reminded of that flight when, a couple of years ago I boarded one of Amtrak's nonsleeper intermediate distance trains, mid trip. Even in business class the cabin looked like "hogans alley" to use a phrase my mother used to describe my bedroom when I was a boy. If the Amtrak personnel, with the help of the passengers could keep the cabin relatively neat, it would go a long way to making long distance (read multistop) travel in coach not only bearalble but enjoyable...it already is comfortable.
Posts: 112 | From: Merrimac, MA | Registered: Nov 2007
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quote:Originally posted by HillsideStation: You folks don't know what "coach" means. Amtrak coach is first class compared to other and older forms of transportation.
...or that of passenger trains in 3rd World countries, if you really want to compare. I have ridden the passenger rails in India, where after your trip is done you HAVE to take a shower from all ther dust that comes in from the open windows. And their idea of ventilation (other than an open window) was a 4-blade fan mounted in the ceiling corner. I had bought a 30-day Indrail Pass and it was one of the MOST adventourous vacations I have ever taken! I have also ridden passenger trains in Egypt, Indonesia, Europe (I had bought two of the 30 day Eurail passes over a two year period), Japan, England, Brazil, Korea, among others and the differences in Coach Class are like night and day. And at the 'ripe old age of 50' my adventures in riding coach on AMTRAK are just another notch on my walking stick of life. ------------------------------ The best part of life is the journey, not the destination.
Posts: 497 | From: Clarksburg, West Virginia | Registered: Oct 2003
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Haven't made India, but have a few others: Taiwan, China, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia. Open windows for some of the travel in Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia. (China was in Sleeper) 120 km/h (75 mph) in the last open window coach on meter gauge track in Thailand is a fantastic way to see the place. Putting my 53 year old 5'-11" 220 lb self in upper berth of a section sleeper built for meter gauge track and an average passenger size more like 5'-5" and 130 lbs was also an adventure. Would I do more of it? Absolutely.
Posts: 2810 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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I have yet to travel by Sleeper, but am very excited to try this in the future!
I definitely like the "big family" feel of Coach, but I must admit that once my ticket is taken, I really don't spend time in my seat. I spend almost all day in either the Sightseer Lounge or the Dining Car. I usually end up sleeping in there too! I have nothing against my Coach seat, but the view and excitement in the lounge is magical.
Jarrod
Posts: 82 | From: San Lorenzo, CA | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
I have taken coach on portions of some of my trips reported here and certainly don't look down on my fellow passengers taking it! I do prefer sleepers when I can afford them, but that's simply because they are more comfortable.
I also think one reason you get a lot of sleeper passenger reports here is that people here take a lot of trains and accumulate a lot of Guest Reward points and use them for sleepers on the long-distance reports they tend to report here.
I agree with the person above who said they'd especially prefer sleepers on the single-level (Viewliner) trains. I love having my own toilet! On the double-level, you don't; also, you have the nice observation car so you don't spend as much time in the sleeper (at least, I don't) whereas in the single-level trains the lounges are no great shakes so it's nice to have a sleeper. OTOH, the single-level train sleepers are the most expensive per night, I find!!! I was thinking the reason for the higher prices on those trains was because the single-level trains go into NYC and since hotels etc in NYC are more expensive,Amtrak can get the higher prices . . . but I was told recently by an Amtrak person on the phone that the reason for the higher prices for the roomettes is because those trains have the commodes!
Also, the sleepers on the double-level trains (Superliners)have poor lighting, by and large. It's hard to read in them after it gets dark. So being in coach can be better on that score. Also, one other thing I like about coach in general--if people near you don't close their curtains during daylight hours, you get to see out of both sides. In the roomettes you don't, and that can be irritating if a lot of good stuff is on the "other side," and people opposite almost never keep their curtains open when you want them to!!! (those sleeper snobs . . . hahaha just kidding)
One thing I hate about coach is the noise. Esp babies. Bring earplugs!
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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Actually, Mr Norman, if your implying I'm being disrespectful, that would not be fair. I'm mearly criticizing a product that I feel is overpriced and overrated. I don't mean anything more personal than questioning someones taste in automobiles.
In terms of the claim that I'm 'romanticizing' coach travel, some of my opening comments for the thread were sarcasm, but some obviously took them to be more serious than intended.
This was not a subject that I meant to get personal with those that make more than I may. Something that's unreasonably priced is unreasonably priced no matter whether you make 30k a yr or 300k per year. I just feel as though Sleepers are not worth $300 dollars per night (whether they are rolling you to your destination or not). If I have personally offended anyone, it was not intended.
-------------------- Patrick Posts: 387 | From: Bakersfield, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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I'm prepared to accept that you originated this topic "in good faith" and simply wanted to address why, considering that the usual five "revenue" car LD train has some 240 Coach seats yet only 80 berths, most of the "trip report" discussion here relates to Sleeper travel.
You further related that while your present income level precludes Sleeper travel and limits your Food & Beverage purchases to what is sold at the Cafe', you also question, regardless of income level, how a relatively more comfortable night of sleep could be worth the steep surcharges Amtrak commands for Sleeper space.
These are perfectly relevant points, but somehow the presentation of such got "garbled'. As a result, Mr. Chatter, the first to respond and who has been around these various railforums for as long as have I, interpreted your material as some kind of a Socialist "rant" against "the Bourgeois'.
You later posted that you were being sarcastic, but this is written communication whereby an author cannot measure by facial reaction how his readers are reacting to a particular comment. My rule of thumb from now nine years of participation at these forums (as well as 67 years of life) is simply to avoid sarcasm, lest it 'come out wrong'.
Just my thoughts, and so far as I'm concerned, "let's move on".
GBN
Posts: 9977 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Awsome. No hard feelings towards anyone here then. Movingrightalong....LOL
Here's a valid question though...what is Amtrak's 'measuring stick' for how it determines price? It isn't exactly market driven, since, well, Amtrak has a monopoly on the market in the US. Does anyone know what sleeper travel in Europe or Asia go for? is it comparable to the cost in the US?
Posts: 387 | From: Bakersfield, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
Right on Patrick; and in the spirit of moving on, Amtrak fares, both Coach and Sleeper, are definitely market driven. Amtrak has developed a demand pricing model much the same as any airline. Fares and Accommodation Charges go up during peak periods; down during the slack.
Overseas, there are quite a number of "econosnoozes' marketed, but rest assured, they are very spartan, i.e. one the Continental European roads call Couchettes that can have four, and even six, 'strangers' (same gender, absent a "slip up") snoozin' n' snorin' in the same Compartment. I once got "stuck' Madrid to Sevilla during 1990 when my Wagon Lit (First Class) Single Bedroom simply "wasn't'. I survived, and even though the three other fellows turned out to be "OK guys" (a Dutchman "terped" for me with the two Spaniards) and we all parted Sevilla with warm handshakes, it is "not exactly" an experience I'll be seeking out again in this life.
While I already know others here will disagree, I do not think Amtrak has much if any market for "Econosnooze" sleepers. Many roads pre-Amtrak had them, and save one, the Budd Slumbercoach, they all flopped. Besides, Amtrak already has an Economy Sleeper product - double occupancy of a Roomette, which IMO, is a single person accommodation that happens (wisely) to have two beds. But where Amtrak is remiss, I think, is that they sell the Roomette to the unwary just as if it was OK for two persons. I have met "never agains" on Auto Train (he a Cardiologist, she Chief of Nursing) who got "sold' (which to me was "conned") by an Amtrak reservationist with nary a word about Bedrooms. To have listened to them the night before (no BR's available for on-board upgrade) and at Sanford awaiting our autos, I think their S-Class Bennie had a better time of it than they.
Regretably, I must acknowledge the "flop of flops" was on my MILW (employed 1970-81) with their Touralux cars that were built new for Economy service. Most other roads assigned cars, that otherwise would have been withdrawn from revenue service.
Posts: 9977 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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My kids are now 11,11,13. We always had sleepers and we are trying coach for the first time this summer Aug 2008. DO you think we will have any difficulty in getting seats together? We are going from Philly to Miami.. Thanks for your comments..
Posts: 14 | Registered: Jul 2007
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Since you are getting on the Silver Star or Meteor early in the run, I should not think that obtaining seats together would be difficult.
Posts: 255 | Registered: Nov 2001
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Assuming this is a reserved seat train, you shouldn't have a problem. My coach experience is that (especially early in the run) the attendants assign seats and seem to do a pretty good job at filling them in a way were families can be seated together. I notice they will bunch single passengers together so that there are plenty of open seats together...at least that's the case out west.
Posts: 387 | From: Bakersfield, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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quote:Originally posted by amtraxmaniac: I notice they will bunch single passengers together...
How about having a car where they did this intentionally...an introduction service, where you rode with one person for say, an hour, and then another person. Or a dinner train with formal introductions where all the passengers were single in the social sense. Perhaps there already is something similar.
Posts: 144 | Registered: Sep 2005
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I prefer NOT having the commode in my roomette which is why I prefer to use my Guest Reward Points for travel on Superliner-equipped trains.
It's a space issue rather than an odor issue. I sleep better 'feet to the engine' and on my last trip aboard the Crescent the sleeper was positioned such that sleeping head to rear would have left my head in the narrower space between wall and toilet. Not very comfortable.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Gilbert B Norman: AmtrakHarmony.Com
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
"Hi! I like ponies and I could teach you to play the bagpipes"
heeheehee
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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my adventures in riding coach on AMTRAK are just another notch on my walking stick of life.
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