Pack em in fellas

November 8, 2007 7:22 AM

I hope to take my family to upstate NY for thanksgiving via the 48 Lake Shore Limited Amtrak Train. There will be four of us going. My wife, myself, and our two children (both over 2, under 5). With money being a bit tight, I would like to purchase 2 normal seats, and upgrade the other two seats to a Viewliner Roomette (suggested occupancy of 2, but with my kids being small, and having traveled in one before I know we could all fit). Will there be any issues just leaving the two seats unused, and all of us piling into the room? Will they ask two of us to go back to our seats? I can't afford two of the viewliners, both ways of the trip, and cannot afford to upgrade to the full room. But I know I can budget an extra 400 to get the viewliner for both ways for one set of us.

We both really liked the privacy of the roomettes, and it keeps our kids in one area, so we can sleep and not have to worry about one getting up and unbuckling and running around.

posted by Jonsnews to travel & transportation (6 comments total)

Couldn't you call and ask?
posted by zeoslap at 8:30 AM on November 8, 2007

I was afraid if I called and asked I would get the official "line" that the website gives me if I try to do it with four people and one roomette. I didn't know if the actual people on the train were more flexible.
posted by Jonsnews at 8:49 AM on November 8, 2007

What you might want to do is buy the tickets so that one parent and one child is in each location to start out, and sit there long enough for the conductor to punch your tickets, then move up to the Viewliner.

In my experience, the Amtrak train staff are pretty kid-friendly (provided said kids aren't being obnoxious). I don't think they're really going to keep them from sitting on your lap and enjoying the view, as long as by cramming them into the room they don't get bored/destructive/noisy and cause your neighbors to complain.

So, provided you have well-behaved, basically quiet kids, I don't think it'll be a problem. It's if they get noisy and people around you start complaining, then you may get told to stuff them back in Coach.

But you're going to want to be in your seats when the conductor comes through to punch your tickets, and that probably means having one parent / one kid in each place.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:11 AM on November 8, 2007

They're not likely to bother you, as long as your kids aren't making noise/trouble. They oversell these trains, so don't expect to keep your extra seats if no one's sitting in them, though. Make sure you have all your ticket stubs with you, as well as the paper markers the conductors mark the seats with. You'll be paying for 4 seats, but you'll only be getting 2. Be prepared to be okay with that, because even on a "reserved" train, there's no guarantee of a coach seat (and Thanksgiving is a busy time). But the ride to upstate NY is not so far. Sounds like fun!
posted by rikschell at 9:16 AM on November 8, 2007

even on a "reserved" train, there's no guarantee of a coach seat

They do stop selling seats on particular trains after a certain number have been bought.
posted by oaf at 7:32 AM on November 9, 2007

I hate to break this to you, but there is pretty much no way that four people could fit in a viewliner roomette if even all four were very tiny children. I just crossed the country in one of those with my four-year-old, and we really were cramped, especially sharing a bed at night. Just the two of us. We actually upgraded on the return route because it was so small. You say you've traveled in one before and know you could fit, but I'd guess that your memory is tainted by hope. (I do that all the time.)

Perhaps more to your point, I think the car steward would not allow it. They are very aware of who has paid for a room and what their names are, and the steward will know that four people have not paid for a roomette. The stewards I've had, even the especially nice and helpful ones, have always been real sticklers for the rules. It's pretty clear that they are required to enforce the rules by Amtrak, for safety and other reasons. Certainly doubling up on a room would be one of those rules that they would take very seriously.

That said, get the roomette and the two seats, and just move around a lot. On the trip up, Mom and the child most likely to walk around sleeps in the roomette. On the trip down, Dad and the nighttime wanderer sleep there. Go to the view car, the diner, the snack bar. Train travel is really the best way to go with kids, and your plan will work as long as you don't give up the two seats and don't try to spend the whole trip in that tiny room.
posted by Capri at 10:34 PM on November 9, 2007