In 2002, my wife and I were to take the Sunset Limited from Orlando to Los Angeles. I called Amtrak the day before our departure for something, only to be told that it had been annulled, due to a freight derailment in Texas. We had reserved a bedroom six months before, and this was a major trip for us. I had also used Amtrak Vacations to arrange for our hotel and sightseeing, so this was a big deal. I did essentially what everyone here was telling the OP to do; I called Amtrak immediately and asked what the plan would be. They said they were willing to work with me on it. Knowing the Amtrak route system, I asked if there were sleepers available on the Silver Meteor to DC, the Capital Limited to Chicago, and the southwest Chief to LA. One train at a time, the agent checked and found a bedroom, two of which were handicapped. As she checked each one, she made the reservation immediately, so no one else could snag it. We would be two days late into LA, but we would still have five of our planned seven days there. We accepted that, and the agent stayed on the line and got Amtrak Vacations on for me. Before leaving, she said that it had been a good idea to proactively call Amtrak, and avoid the mess that would be at the station the next day. Granted, this was a day early, but Amtrak had only just started to call people, and they weren’t likely to reach everyone. Amtrak Vacations called the hotel with me on the line, and changed our rezzie to two days later. The sightseeing portions were vouchers, so we could still use them anytime during the trip. We decided to go to the station that day, and pick up the tickets, to avoid the mess the next day. Everything worked out well.
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