Group travel in sleeper

[Tracktwentynine]

A group of my friends and I are planning a trip this summer. It's still in the early stages, so the exact details haven't been worked out. However, we will be traveling as a group from Minneapolis on Amtrak. There are 8 of us that will be traveling, and we'll actually going to different locations.

Of the 8 of us, 5 will be going to Washington, DC. The other 3 will be continuing to Atlanta. The idea is to start on the Empire Builder and ride to Chicago in coach. At Chicago, we'll catch the Capitol Limited to Washington, and all 8 of us want to be in sleeping accommodations. The 3 continuing to Atlanta will do so on the Crescent. They'll probably want to be in sleeper for that portion as well.

So, I have a few questions about logistics:

1. What about buckets? If we purchase each roomette separately (in groups of 2), we could end up raising the price for the group members who book last. Is that correct? Is there a way around that?
2. What about availability? Is there a risk that there are only 3 roomettes available when we start, and then discover that the last pair of travelers can't get a room?
3. If booking as a group of 8 (as opposed to 4 pairs of 2 as indicated in question #1), do the different destinations WAS v. ATL make a problem for the reservation?
4. Could we book as a group of 8 - as in question #3 - and have individuals within the group use AGR points while others pay for their rooms? (Like, we buy 2 rooms and use AGR for 2 rooms).
5. Getting rooms near each other would be ideal, but not necessary. We can hang out together in the Sightseer lounge if we have to. But how hard is it to get roomettes close together?

Is there anything else I should be thinking to ask?

Thanks for your input!

 

[the_traveler]

Your best bet would be to call Amtrak, and not book online - especially if you want rooms near each other. The computer just assigns the next room in that bucket. So you may get Rooms 4 and 13 in one car and Rooms 7 and 11 in the other car.

 

[AlanB]

First, by simply choosing 8 and doing a test booking, you can determine if there are enough roomettes left before you start booking anything.

If you want to be together in the same car, then you're going to have to either visit with an agent or make the reservations by phone. Otherwise you'll almost certainly end up in different cars. Additionally, it will not be possible to book one continuous reservation for the 3 going to ATL online in conjunction with the others. And not booking a continuous reservation would result in a higher price for those 3. An agent however should be able to handle that for you.

If indeed you're going to mix things with AGR & paid reservations, book the paid one first, then immediately call AGR and do the other reservations. If you do AGR first, you could accidentally kick the buckets for the paid rooms.

Finally, if you're going to kick a bucket, it won't matter how you do the reservation. Even if you're all together on one reservation, if the first 2 rooms kick the bucket, then the second 2 will get the higher price.

 

[Tumbleweed]

Get a few more to go with you and get a private car......

 

[Guest]

You might consider asking for all four of the roomettes on the lower level.

Additionally, consider booking roomettes from MSP to CHI -- at least get the price. Coach tends to be full in that market and roomettes, bedrooms and family rooms are often priced nicely in that market. Factor in that you'll get breakfast and lunch included with the accommodations.

 

[coachseats]

I would really encourage you to start looking at dates and availability as soon as you can- many trains, especially the sleeping accomodations sell out early in the summers (especially on that WAS-ATL segment), so finding availability on all of your trains might be a challenge. Sounds like a lot of fun and it is certainly doable, but you may need to be flexible on dates and prices.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

Of the 8 of us, 5 will be going to Washington, DC. The other 3 will be continuing to Atlanta.

You seem to need 2 roomettes to Washington, and 1 roomette to Atlanta, but I am unsure how (and even if) one books a single roomette if one person is going to Washington and the other to Atlanta. I would guess both would need to book/pay to Atlanta. Any thoughts?

 

[Tracktwentynine]

So, I have a few questions about logistics:

1. What about buckets? If we purchase each roomette separately (in groups of 2), we could end up raising the price for the group members who book last. Is that correct? Is there a way around that?
2. What about availability? Is there a risk that there are only 3 roomettes available when we start, and then discover that the last pair of travelers can't get a room?
3. If booking as a group of 8 (as opposed to 4 pairs of 2 as indicated in question #1), do the different destinations WAS v. ATL make a problem for the reservation?
4. Could we book as a group of 8 - as in question #3 - and have individuals within the group use AGR points while others pay for their rooms? (Like, we buy 2 rooms and use AGR for 2 rooms).
5. Getting rooms near each other would be ideal, but not necessary. We can hang out together in the Sightseer lounge if we have to. But how hard is it to get roomettes close together?

I just wanted to update everyone on this. We booked our tickets yesterday, and everything went well.

1. We booked each roomette separately, and we had no issues with the bucket pricing. They were all in the same bucket, so the costs were the same.
2. I did as was suggested and tried to plan a trip for 8, since that was possible, I knew that we could all get on the same train.
3. We had a slight change in lineup, and only 2 people were continuing to Atlanta. It was simple for them to ride together, and the other 6 booked together for MSP-WAS.
4. None of us elected to use AGR points, so this didn't come up.
5. As it turned out, we were able to get 3 adjacent roomettes in one car. The only other available roomettes in the same car were on the lower level, so one pair of our group is downstairs, but the rest of us are together.

We're all super excited about the trip. Now the only worry is the connection from the EB to the CL at Chicago!

 

[tallguy]

what day does your CL leg leave for WAS?

 

[Shanghai]

Have a fun trip!!