A Few Thoughts on the Amtrak Auto Train

[Mpyankees]

Dear Group:

Before I left New York for Florida at the end of December I asked for some thoughts from the Group on the Amtrak Auto Train. I received some helpful comments, so I thought I would return the favor and share my views (to break the suspense, I would not do it again, although there were many people we met who take the Auto Train every year and seem happy with it):

First, the problem we had was the interminable waiting. You wait to check in your car. You wait to leave the station and then, if you don't have Priority Boarding (it was sold out on my train), you could wait hours to get your car after the train arrives. I think our vehicle was one of the last to roll off the train. I felt like I won the lottery when it finally appeared;

Second, the good news is the staff was great. Everyone we interacted with was friendly and helpful;

Third, we had a one bedroom, which was fine. However, I was on the top bunk and, at times, I felt like I was on a submarine (it was a little claustrophobic). There is a shower, but it's next to the toilet, so we were not inclined to use it. One observation: the "roomettes" we passed by were really tiny. I'm not sure how easy it is to get a good night sleep in them;

Fourth, we were able to sleep. It was not too noisy. The eye masks probably helped, but the ear plugs were of minimal use; and

Fifth: We were there for dinner and breakfast. The dinner was not bad and we did a "grab and go breakfast" (cereal and a banana).

Anyway, we will be driving back to New York from Florida (believe me, I'm dreading the drive. However, spending almost $2,000 on the Auto Train just does not seem worth it). Happy Travels to All!

 

[Talent312]

Thanks for the report.
On the one overnight Amtrak train I took, I gave up on sleeping and spent most of the night in the lounge.

 

[Brett]

Dear Group:

Before I left New York for Florida at the end of December I asked for some thoughts from the Group on the Amtrak Auto Train. I received some helpful comments, so I thought I would return the favor and share my views (to break the suspense, I would not do it again, although there were many people we met who take the Auto Train every year and seem happy with it):

First, the problem we had was the interminable waiting. You wait to check in your car. You wait to leave the station and then, if you don't have Priority Boarding (it was sold out on my train), you could wait hours to get your car after the train arrives. I think our vehicle was one of the last to roll off the train. I felt like I won the lottery when it finally appeared;

Second, the good news is the staff was great. Everyone we interacted with was friendly and helpful;

Third, we had a one bedroom, which was fine. However, I was on the top bunk and, at times, I felt like I was on a submarine (it was a little claustrophobic). There is a shower, but it's next to the toilet, so we were not inclined to use it. One observation: the "roomettes" we passed by were really tiny. I'm not sure how easy it is to get a good night sleep in them;

Fourth, we were able to sleep. It was not too noisy. The eye masks probably helped, but the ear plugs were of minimal use; and

Fifth: We were there for dinner and breakfast. The dinner was not bad and we did a "grab and go breakfast" (cereal and a banana).

Anyway, we will be driving back to New York from Florida (believe me, I'm dreading the drive. However, spending almost $2,000 on the Auto Train just does not seem worth it). Happy Travels to All!

My parents always took the Auto Train from Northern Virginia because they didn't like driving to Florida.
They also couldn't sleep on the train

 

[jp10558]

For $2000 one way, I would just drive too. Even 2 hotel nights plus gas is easily sub $1k. But if it's that much each way, that means $4k and I guess for many locations you can fly a cheap flight down in ~2.5 hours and rent a car and come out ahead too - at least till you're up to like over 6 weeks. But depending on where you decide to stay maybe you don't need a car for months and months?

IDK, if I have to have a car the whole time, I think driving still beats that by quite a bit sadly, and flying and rental would beat it for 3 or less people and 3 or less weeks IMO.

 

[BM243923]

You do not to spend $2.0. We have been taking the Auto Train for 20 years now. We go in coach seating and prefer that to the roomettes. We slept in a roomette one year when they had a sale. We could not sleep in those narrow beds and the top one was horrible. Your nose practically touched the ceiling. We folded up the beds and slept in the chairs.

Every Black Friday week they have a flash sale for $39.00 per person and the car remains at the price of $255.00. That is when we book and save $56.00 a person.

You can not drive for that price and you have your car to use while you are away.

 

[Mpyankees]

You do not to spend $2.0. We have been taking the Auto Train for 20 years now. We go in coach seating and prefer that to the roomettes. We slept in a roomette one year when they had a sale. We could not sleep in those narrow beds and the top one was horrible. Your nose practically touched the ceiling. We folded up the beds and slept in the chairs.

Every Black Friday week they have a flash sale for $39.00 per person and the car remains at the price of $255.00. That is when we book and save $56.00 a person.

You can not drive for that price and you have your car to use while you are away.

Interesting. Thanks for the information!

 

[moonstone]

You can not drive for that price and you have your car to use while you are away.

We drive from north of Barrie ON to St. Augustine Beach FL and have never spent anywhere near $300. US for our gas, one night in a motel and food along the way to get to our condo. We looked into the Auto Train a few years ago and the cost was double what we were spending at that time. We leave early one morning and are in our condo well before dinner the 2nd day. The drive time from our home to the Lorton VA train station is about 10 hours (as per Google Maps) and our drive time to our condo is 19 hours. I think we would be quite a few hours longer driving to Lorton VA, waiting to be loaded on the train, the time of the train journey, being unloaded, then the drive back to St. Augustine than what it takes for us to drive all the way.

Our DD's neighbour took the auto train the first year after retirement when they started going to the Fort Myers area. They didnt like all the wasted time waiting at either end or trying to sleep in the seats. Now they either get somebody (usually a family member) to drive their car, or if nobody is available, they use Toronto Driveaway or other auto shipping company.


~Diane

 

[davidvel]

So one poster says it costs about $2,000 for a couple and their car. Another poster says it costs about $500.

Makes sense.

 

[PigsDad]

So one poster says it costs about $2,000 for a couple and their car. Another poster says it costs about $500.

Makes sense.

The vast difference is the room size. The $2K was for a full 1 bedroom. Those are expensive.

Kurt

 

[TUGBrian]

for kicks i was curious about taking a trip out west to scottsdale with the kids...and oddly enough you can actually leave from jax and travel by amtrack all the way! (guess it goes thru chicago).

the cost for a single direction per person was something like 4500 dollars and the trip was more than 3 full days (like 80 hours).... this was just straight up baffling to me how that would ever be a realistic travel option for someone? maybe you have to REALLY love trains or something..but thats bonkers.

I did price it with a cabin/sleeper, vs just a single seat. but for those prices, you could fly first class and get there in a few hours.

 

[pedro47]

Your total cost would be close to $18,000 to $20,000 dollars or more.
One way. LOL

 

[Brett]

Your total cost would be close to $18,000 to $20,000 dollars or more.
One way. LOL

Passenger trains in the US are not like those in Europe, Japan, China, etc. Almost everyone in the US travels by car or plane but trains - not so much

 

[AnnaS]

It is not so much about the money when taking Amtrak or the Autotrain (took Autotrain once and Amtrak a few times). Of course there are many reasons for taking both but I think many people do not fly at all. I know a few.

One of my sons is one of them. He will drive to the Keys and yearly/every other year to Disney solo and the family (dil and three kids) flies with her parents or us (DH and me) now me. Can't get used to saying I/me. It costs him money. My dil refuses to go on the drive and he refuses to fly. She won't even take Amtrak. They did it once and had a room. I don't think it helped they had a toilet in the room.

The last time my son flew, he almost did not get on the plane. As soon as we landed, he took his seat belt off and said I am not flying back and booked Amtrak home before they reached the hotel. That was 14 years ago and he went skydiving a few years prior. There was an incident we believe at work that instilled the fear in him.

 

[silentg]

My parents took the Auto Train down one time to visit for the winter. It was easy for them to get off in Sanford and drive to our house. It was a hassle though to drive from Massachusetts to Virginia it was in the winter and icy conditions in fact the train was delayed a day due to weather. They had to stay in a hotel . My Dad said he could have drove the rest of the way south, since the roads were clear after Virginia. On the way back in the spring they drove back. No mention of Auto Train after that.

 

[jp10558]

So one poster says it costs about $2,000 for a couple and their car. Another poster says it costs about $500.

Makes sense.

Yea, the extreme variance and confusion when we checked for "regular prices", not to mention driving 6ish hours to basically DC anyway makes us debate the autotrain. Part of the other issue is it's probably great from DC to FL but like this last trip we wanted to stop in Atlanta to see the Portland Leather store. Next trip I'll be wanting to go to HHI on the way back. The other kicker on the train (or planes) is just a car is basically a fixed rate, and a hotel is generally fixed for up to 4 people (what I'd fit in a car too) but you're obviously charged per person on the train or plane. Then once you figure in the hassle of having to be to loading at a specific time, the waiting on both ends, and needing to drive on both ends it hasn't really worked out for us so far.

While we don't do 14 hour driving days anymore if we can help it, currently I'm set up so that for me the 2 days down and back isn't that big a deal time wise.

Heck, I still want to somehow sometime drive across the country the other way to CA someday.

 

[moonstone]

for kicks i was curious about taking a trip out west to scottsdale with the kids...and oddly enough you can actually leave from jax and travel by amtrack all the way! (guess it goes thru chicago).

the cost for a single direction per person was something like 4500 dollars and the trip was more than 3 full days (like 80 hours).... this was just straight up baffling to me how that would ever be a realistic travel option for someone? maybe you have to REALLY love trains or something..but thats bonkers.

I did price it with a cabin/sleeper, vs just a single seat. but for those prices, you could fly first class and get there in a few hours.

That is a crazy high price! Then I guess you have some meal costs on top of that?

Last year when we were at our DS's near Tampa and looking for a 1 way, 1 day car rental to get ourselves to St. Augustine when DS was unexpectantly needed at an out of state job site, we also looked at taking the Amtrak. The train only goes to Palatka, about 30 miles from our condo, not right into St. Augustine, but the travel time was comparable to driving (under 4 hours) and no changing trains. The (seniors) fare for us was $16. each! We were so surprised, as we couldn't even put gas in a rental car for $32. to do the trip, let alone adding in the cost of the car. We were able to find a taxi driver in Palatka who would come to the station when the train arrived (she watched it's journey on the app so knew it's precise arrival time) and drive us to our condo for $40. The train ride was very enjoyable and the seats were comfortable. Our DiL had packed us a couple of sandwiches, snacks, cans of pop and a frozen water bottle to keep them cool in my backpack. We will probably do it again if I cant get a cheaper rental car. They always seem much more expensive to book Tampa to St. Augustine rather than going in the other direction.

I don't know that I would do a multi-day trip by train.


~Diane

 

[jp10558]

for kicks i was curious about taking a trip out west to scottsdale with the kids...and oddly enough you can actually leave from jax and travel by amtrack all the way! (guess it goes thru chicago).

the cost for a single direction per person was something like 4500 dollars and the trip was more than 3 full days (like 80 hours).... this was just straight up baffling to me how that would ever be a realistic travel option for someone? maybe you have to REALLY love trains or something..but thats bonkers.

I did price it with a cabin/sleeper, vs just a single seat. but for those prices, you could fly first class and get there in a few hours.

I think there may have been a couple "special event in themselves" sort of trains in that trip. At least when my sister, who likes trains, was looking up some train journeys from like Chicago west there were special ones - silver zepher maybe? And those were stupid expensive. IDK, I'm not sure I would pay anywhere near the prices for the "special train", but I also think trains would need to have some benefit over flying - being cheaper would be the obvious one. Alternatively I guess they could give you more space and comfort for the money. I still think the added time though would make it hard and this is why we don't really have passenger trains anymore. Or at least a huge problem on the demand side. The government doesn't subsidize them enough and the actual costs are higher than people are interested in for long trips.

 

[n42]

You can rent a Tesla for $900/month. Economy cars are even cheaper.

 

[TUGBrian]

I think there may have been a couple "special event in themselves" sort of trains in that trip. At least when my sister, who likes trains, was looking up some train journeys from like Chicago west there were special ones - silver zepher maybe? And those were stupid expensive. IDK, I'm not sure I would pay anywhere near the prices for the "special train", but I also think trains would need to have some benefit over flying - being cheaper would be the obvious one. Alternatively I guess they could give you more space and comfort for the money. I still think the added time though would make it hard and this is why we don't really have passenger trains anymore. Or at least a huge problem on the demand side. The government doesn't subsidize them enough and the actual costs are higher than people are interested in for long trips.

yea that could be true, i was simply just looking up the trip thru the amtrack website and it didnt indicate anything "not normal" when booking.

but 3 days on a train to get there at nearly 10,000 bucks.... i dont really care what special event they have going on

 

[mentalbreak]

Part of the other issue is it's probably great from DC to FL but like this last trip we wanted to stop in Atlanta to see the Portland Leather store.

I’m a fan of PLG - his would be a great stop.

 

[davidvel]

yea that could be true, i was simply just looking up the trip thru the amtrack website and it didnt indicate anything "not normal" when booking.

but 3 days on a train to get there at nearly 10,000 bucks.... i dont really care what special event they have going on

Yeah, it would have to be really, really "special."

 

[elaine]

We lived 5 miles from Autotrain-starting 20 years ago, we had our Friday before spring break autotrain ride every year. We got 6 seats for 5 of us, plus car for under $500 one way. We sat in lower level, put 2 younger kids in sleeping bags on the floor (lower level is very spacious) and had double seats for each of us and older child. Not a good night sleep-but all “kids” (now in their 20s) have many fond memories. Would I do it now for $500 for 2 seniors? Nope.
I have to say, our Austrian private 4 person couchette sleeper from Verona to Salzburg was not much better: AC was awful, so had to keep windows cracked, which was very noisy, train delayed more than 2 hours, with it trying to couple to another engine-we all arrived sweaty and sleepy. We’ll not do another sleeper in Europe either.

 

[sponger76]

for kicks i was curious about taking a trip out west to scottsdale with the kids...and oddly enough you can actually leave from jax and travel by amtrack all the way! (guess it goes thru chicago).

the cost for a single direction per person was something like 4500 dollars and the trip was more than 3 full days (like 80 hours).... this was just straight up baffling to me how that would ever be a realistic travel option for someone? maybe you have to REALLY love trains or something..but thats bonkers.

I did price it with a cabin/sleeper, vs just a single seat. but for those prices, you could fly first class and get there in a few hours.

Yeah, that kind of pricing is why it's so hard to get people to take the train vs flying for long-distance travel in our country. Rail might be better for the environment, but unless it gets drastically both cheaper and faster, it's just not going to get enough traction to become anything more than the shorter commutes or niche mode of travel for long-distance that it is used for currently. I would like to do a long-distance train journey (probably the Rocky Mountaineer, both the US and Canadian versions), but that's for the experience itself and not to get from point A to point B. And the reason I haven't done it yet is that I'm still trying to convince myself it's worth the cost.

 

[elaine]

Train travel works very well along the NE corridor (mid-Atlantic up to Boston), where large cities are relatively close (similar to Europe). Not so much in other areas. I also looked into a train across USA trip--comparing comfort, time, and cost, it just doesn't work out.

 

[nomoretslt]

Our DD will not fly either ( however, was willing to get on a plane when we thought DH was not going to make it). Her and her DH have driven to Disney from NJ (with an overnight at our place). Or she will Amtrak and he will fly and meet her. Last year after a cruise, she was Amtraking and we were meeting her at the station (not really convenient, but she was staying with us a few days then we were all driving north together). It took her DH 30 plus hours to fly home….it was when some kind of computer outage grounded flights. They will be taking the auto train this summer for the first time. She uses points from her Amtrak charge card and they were having a ridiculously cheap Black Friday sale. He will probably fly home and she will drive here and stay for a bit. I know from past experience the drive to Disney from NJ is a horror.

I will report back after they’ve done their trip. Our drive to Disney is only 8 hours now (on a good day). Not having to deal with the major cities on I 95 makes it so much easier. Jacksonville is the only one, but we are usually between rush hours so not an issue. We no longer take I-4 all the way to Disney. We get off at Sanford and take the long way on 417, stop at Publix in Celebration, and then on to our resort.
Our neighbors in NJ would take the auto train every year after Christmas. They had a second home in Florida, they would stay there until it got too hot, then they would return to NJ. Not sure if they took the auto train back. I do know they loved it though.

Thanks for your report.