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The particulars - We are a family of three, mom and dad in their 30's and our nine year old. Our nine year has Asperger's which is essentially like having high functioning autism. We're frequent travelers but this was our first family Amtrak trip other than a couple of short trips. We had a family bedroom going over and a week later two roomettes for the trip back.
The bottom line - We loved it! In New Orleans - The Magnolia lounge is incredible. Unless you've been in the New Orleans station you won't understand how nice it was. I grew up going to that station taking buses and trains to boarding school and college. It's not the nicest place. But then you open the door to the Magnolia lounge and you feel like you're in a different world. Wonderful perk.
On the train - Our rooms were clean and our attendants were great. My nine year old actually preferred the two roomettes but I liked the family bedroom a little better. We always had plenty of bottled water. We loved having the sleepers. We would alternate between our room(s) and the sightseer lounge and had a great time.
The food - Wonderful. Just wonderful. My only one thing is the sharing of tables which we did know about ahead of time. Ordinarily we'd be okay with that but because my nine year old is autistic it made it hard. She's not keen on strangers anyway so when they would sit someone with us, she wasn't the happiest. We don't put up with her being rude or anything but it just didn't make her happy. Meals where it was just us three were better. But the food was tasty and they even would pack up desserts for us to take back to the room.
On time - pretty much. I think both trips were within a couple of hours which wasn't too bad. The schedule change has helped.
San Antonio station - nothing great. It was really crowded but we would stand outside which worked well as it was a pretty night when we left.
Bottom line - We've been back a week and another trip is already booked - to Memphis this time. We loved not having the long drives we're used to. We spent so much more time together as a family because he wasn't focused on driving. A great trip (and San Antonio was great too).
I will say this though - I would never not do a sleeper. It made all the difference for us. From the Magnolia Lounge to the way we were treated to the included meals, it was an entirely different experience from when we took coach. That's my opinion (please no flames) and it is probably greatly influenced by the fact my child is special needs. Having enough room to spread out and some privacy was essential. We won't travel Amtrak without it (and in fact we'll have sleepers for the short eight hour ride to and from Memphis.
RRRICH Member # 1418
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MB - Glad you had a good trip!! We look forward to hearing about your next one. I don't know if I would give as high an acclaim to the Magnolia Lounge as you did, but I am glad you enjoyed it. It's better than sitting in the waiting room of the half AMTRAK-half Greyhound NOL station!! (especially with your child) Keep riding the rails!!!!!
notelvis Member # 3071
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Nice trip report. Thanks for sharing it with us.
When you're in Memphis give the streetcars a try. They stop right outside the Amtrak station (although you won't want to do that immediately upon your arrival from New Orleans!)
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