Number of roomettes available is so helpful on Amtrak site

[NETrainfan]

Today I had the pleasure of booking roomettes on our round trip Amtrak trip Boston to Orlando in March. So glad Amtrak listed the number of roomettes left at a certain price on the Silver Meteor (maybe they do this for all LD trains?) Wow. There were 4 roomettes left at a good price and just after I booked I looked at the website to see that only 3 were left. Whew.

How early do you book roomettes?

(Excited about our Amtrak trip in March and looking forward to a quick bus/train trip to Mystic CT soon.)

 

[me_little_me]

Booking early is not as important as checking back to see if the price has gone down and you can rebook at a better deal. Used to be that prices started low and moved up. Now they start high, go down if demand is low and go up as rooms become scarce.

 

[zephyr17]

I usually wind up booking sleeper trips about 6 months in advance. The actual timing depends on Amsnag data.

For Christmas travel, which I've done the last couple of years, I book about 9 months in advance.

 

[NETrainfan]

We weren't sure if the number of roomettes listed at a certain price was a kind of advertising or simply factual. When I booked the roomettes and then saw only 3 left- it was indeed factual.

We usually book 6-9 months in advance for our cross-country trips and have never had a problem booking a sleeper.

However, now we know to book at least 6 months in advance for the Silver Meteor.

When demand is high, can they add another sleeper car?

 

[AlanB]

When demand is high, can they add another sleeper car?

Generally, no. Amtrak doesn't have much in the way of extra equipment.

During a huge peak like Thanksgiving, Amtrak tries to hold off any shopping of cars for inspections so as to get anything that can safely move out of the shop and in service. But that's a surge that lasts less than 1 week and about all they can sustain.

 

[Nathanael]

Amtrak is particularly short of single-level long-distance equipment. There's a couple of extra bilevel sleepers and a few extra bilevel coaches which can be pressed into service if needed, and a small number of extra single-level *short-distance* coaches, but the single-level coaches and sleepers are basically run flat out all the time. To the point where, when there are maintenance problems, trains can be short of the advertised number of sleepers.

There's a reason Amtrak is ordering new single-level sleepers, expected in 2015.

 

[MiniMax]

Relax. I called Amtrak to verify that only one room was left on the train I am going to take six months from now. They confirmed that there were plenty of rooms available on that train, but only one AT THAT PRICE.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

What about the "extra" Sunset Limited set which was no longer needed after the schedule change?

Does it provide any additional breathing room, and if not where did it go?

 

[NorthCoastHiawatha]

When demand is high, can they add another sleeper car?

Generally, no. Amtrak doesn't have much in the way of extra equipment.

During a huge peak like Thanksgiving, Amtrak tries to hold off any shopping of cars for inspections so as to get anything that can safely move out of the shop and in service. But that's a surge that lasts less than 1 week and about all they can sustain.

To bad Amtrak can't barrow a few VIA Rail sleepers for peak holiday travel on east coast trains. VIA certainly isn't using them all.

 

[Bob Dylan]

When demand is high, can they add another sleeper car?

Generally, no. Amtrak doesn't have much in the way of extra equipment.

During a huge peak like Thanksgiving, Amtrak tries to hold off any shopping of cars for inspections so as to get anything that can safely move out of the shop and in service. But that's a surge that lasts less than 1 week and about all they can sustain.

To bad Amtrak can't barrow a few VIA Rail sleepers for peak holiday travel on east coast trains. VIA certainly isn't using them all.

True this! This has Actually Happened Before but not sure How Many tTmes?? Perhaps Amtrak's Crack Negotiation Team can Work out a Deal with VIA to Lease or Even Buy! some of the Sleepers and even a few Dome and Park Cars that Arent Used During the Canadian Winter when the Cruise trains only Run Twice a Week with Shorter Consists!!!!

 

[Nathanael]

What about the "extra" Sunset Limited set which was no longer needed after the schedule change?

Does it provide any additional breathing room, and if not where did it go?

It does. But then Amtrak has also assembled an entire extra Empire Builder set in recent years during severe delays, and I believe that was before the Sunset Limited schedule change (correct me if I'm wrong). So there

*are* some extra Superliners of all types which are pressed into service when needed. As I said, the real crunch is on single-level long-distance cars.

Amtrak borrowed VIA cars after Sandy. I suspect Amtrak doesn't really want to run VIA's Heritage equipment, but given the decline and fall of VIA, it may be too tempting to resist.