We are a family of three. I've been on the AOL transportation forums for awhile but thought I would post here. My husband and I and our nine year old kiddo are going from New Orleans to San Antonio on the Sunset and back around Easter, staying for a week for vacation. We have a family bedroom reserved on the trip there and two roomettes on the trip back. I'm also aware of the new timetable for the Sunset as well as its propensity to be late. This forum has been great for information and I've learned a lot but I have a few more questions. 1) We did a "practice" coach trip from Jax to Orlando a couple weeks ago. It was nice going down (other than a very grumpy breakfast server) but at night on the way back wasn't so great. My husband was begged for food (and felt horrible for the person) while walking from car to car on the train and although the train didn't get into Jax until 11 or so, kids ran constantly back and forth through thc coach car screaming. It was sort of miserable. I'm hoping things will be better with the sleepers? 2) About how far ahead of time should we get to the New Orleans station? I think that for now the Sunset is originating in New Orleans so I'm assuming it will leave on time. 3) It's my understanding that there is a Hertz rental car place right at the San Antonio station and it seems to be staffed 24/7. Given our very early time of arrival I'm hoping we can rent a car as our first hotel is actually not near the station. Would anyone know? 4) Are two roomettes fine for a family of three? Everything I've read seems to indicate this but I thought I would double check. The FB was sold out on the return and the other bedroom was almost $500 which we really didn't want to do for just 15 hours or so. 5) Any other tips or advice? I really want this to work because we are seriously considering going to Disneyland next Christmas via the Sunset. I don't like to fly. But I need my husband and daughter to be happy and comfortable. I love the train and took it a lot in college. I should mention that our daughter is a special needs kiddo with Asperger's. We travel frequently and she loves it but I do need to be aware of her needs basically at all times.
Posts: 9 | Registered: Feb 2005
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We are a family of three. I've been on the AOL transportation forums for awhile but thought I would post here. My husband and I and our nine year old kiddo are going from New Orleans to San Antonio on the Sunset and back around Easter, staying for a week for vacation. We have a family bedroom reserved on the trip there and two roomettes on the trip back. I have a few more questions. 1) at night on the way back wasn't so great. My husband was begged for food (and felt horrible for the person) while walking from car to car on the train and although the train didn't get into Jax until 11 or so, kids ran constantly back and forth through thc coach car screaming. It was sort of miserable. I'm hoping things will be better with the sleepers? 2) About how far ahead of time should we get to the New Orleans station? I think that for now the Sunset is originating in New Orleans so I'm assuming it will leave on time. 3) It's my understanding that there is a Hertz rental car place right at the San Antonio station and it seems to be staffed 24/7. Given our very early time of arrival I'm hoping we can rent a car as our first hotel is actually not near the station. Would anyone know? 4) Are two roomettes fine for a family of three? Everything I've read seems to indicate this but I thought I would double check. 5) Any other tips or advice? I really want this to work because we are seriously considering going to Disneyland next Christmas via the Sunset. I don't like to fly. But I need my husband and daughter to be happy and comfortable. I love the train and took it a lot in college. I should mention that our daughter is a special needs kiddo with Asperger's. We travel frequently and she loves it but I do need to be aware of her needs basically at all times.
Question #1: There may be some excited kid noise on a train trip in the sleepers but it won't be anything to the degree of kids running and screaming. The train crews realize that those in the sleepers have paid a premium price for a bit of privacy and generally keep things well under control. Coach passengers are not permitted to 'explore' the sleepers and, best of all, you do have the door to your room which you can close at night or any other time the rest of the passengers start to get to you!
#2: Getting to the station 45 - 60 minutes ahead of your scheduled departure from New Orleans would be plenty of time if you plan to check luggage.....20 - 25 minutes would be fine if you're not checking baggage. An on-time departure from the originating station can't always be assumed though. A problem with one of the cars on the train or an extremely late inbound train the night before could cause delays in your departure. It's always a good idea to call 'Julie' at the toll free number or even the New Orleans station itself a couple of hours before to see if an on-time departure is expected.
#3 You might want to speak to someone at Hertz or even the San Antonio Amtrak agent on the phone to confirm. I was in the San Antonio station briefly at about 1:00am in 2003 and don't recall seeing a Hertz agent there.........but I wasn't looking for a Hertz agent either......I was looking for a vending machine with a diet pepsi cheaper than what the on-board lounge had to offer. I've had past experience arriving at train stations where the Hertz website indicated a rental location only to step off the train and discover that I needed to go to the airport to pick up a car. Once in Milwaukee it turned out that the Hertz booth in the train station had closed down just the week before.
#4: Two roomettes for a family of three should be OK.......especially since you're not going to be on the train more than 24 hours.
#5: Have a wonderful trip. I hope it's a good travel experience.
David Pressley
Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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David is exactly right. Sorry to inform that there isn't a rental car presence of any kind at the San Antonio station. About the only thing available is a taxi, which you would take you to the airport Hertz location 15-20 minutes away. By all means call now and confirm with Hertz how this will work, etc. and to be sure the counter is truly open early in case of an on-time Sunset arrival. The station is quite small and just east of downtown in a pretty "lonely" (but not especially bad) area at that time of the morning.
If you have checked luggage be prepared for a little wait to retrieve it in San Antonio. They will bring it around to the parking lot side of the station on a wagon about 15 minutes after you get off. Not quite as speedy or high-tech as the airlines! If you can travel light and abide by the two carry-on rule, (full size suitcases can be carried on) then it will save you some time at each end.
Don't forget that in New Orleans you will be able to wait in the "Magnolia Room", the first class passenger lounge. It's small and nothing fancy, but nicer than the main waiting room by far. It's across the room from the Amtrak counter and sort of off in the corner. The agents there are pretty good about coming to the lounge and letting you know late train status, when to board, etc.
As long as you don't expect perfection, Amtrak travel can be an adventure, and often fun too. Enjoy your trip, and come back to let us know how it was!
Posts: 9 | Registered: Feb 2004
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During a pinch a couple of years ago, my family of six had to settle for 2 "roomettes." It worked out just fine.
During that same trip, the six of us had to ride coach from LA to Houston... what a nightmare! From that day forward, I swore never to ride coach overnight again. We had rock n rollers, people throwing up on us (really!) and yes, a couple of panhandlers...
Call Hertz... be real clear on operating hours... Also, if you have to drop the car off when Hertz is not attended, I suggest you do what you can to get a copy of the gas receipt... Twice, I have done that and both times Hertz tried to stick me for gas... hertz was good enough to make good, but no one needs the hastle.
Have a great trip!
Posts: 43 | From: Cape Coral, FL | Registered: May 2003
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You will find, Ms. MB, that your objections, namely uncontrolled kids and the "panhandler' (a "never happen" to me with some 250K lifetime rail miles to my name, or at least away from Asia) will be satisfactorily addressed by holding Sleeper accomodations.
Your decision to travel Sleeper was indeed wise; "don't even THINK about Coach'. If in the future there should be a "low dough' situation, stay at home.
Possibly, to fortify your wise decision, you may wish to review this material from another topic at this Forum. The topic thread was originated by a lady who intended to travel with her family in part on the Sunset Kalamazoo to Benson, AZ and return in Coach. Despite many warnings she received to 'think twice", she apparently went ahead awyway.
We've never heard any 'feedback' from her, and likely we never will..
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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I hate to fly too. We are taking a trip from Iowa to Anaheim in April. I spent days discussing Amtrak options with these fine people on this forum. I have six children. Some people have done coach successfully, some warn strongly against it like Mr. Norman. After reading countless trip reports on the Internet, we decided to fly, primarily because of the report one man had of an encounter in the lounge with a drunk man,(however, we've encounter drunks on the plane too, and I'm sure this was an isolated experience), and also because my husband couldn't justify 33 hours on the rails costing more than five hours navigating airports and flying. With a family my size we just can't take risks of missing sleep, or having other people throw up on us, or running into people who don't know their bounds. It would not be pretty. I tried to convince dh that being on the train would be part of the vacation, and a sleeper would be a lifetime experience and worth the cost, but comparing it with time we could spend on the beach if we flew, he wasn't convinced. Hey, that's okay. At least we're blessed to be able to take vacations.
I enjoyed learning about trains and have become somewhat of a railfan, even though my train experience may be years in the future, when the kids are bigger. So I still pop in on the forum to keep learning about trains.
The main reason I am writing though, is my experience with Hertz, which we always use as our rental car service. When I was drafting my presentation for my husband to take the Southwest Chief to Southern California, I called all of the Hertz offices in my destination area, being Anaheim, to learn more about their service at the train stations I was considering, I found one of the offices to be permenantly closed although Hertz reported it as open on their web site and was scheduling reservations. The other station had a very limited selection of cars. We need an Expedition and all they had were mini-vans.
I suggest that you go on to the yellow pages feature on Yahoo. Click on the link "change location" and then type in the complete address for the San Antonio Amtrak Station, and then type Hertz in the Yellow Pages search engine. It should bring up all of the Hertz offices near your station as well as the direct phone numbers which will be a long distance call not an 800 number.
I have had quite a bit of experience working with Hertz's 800 number. The reservation clerks give the service they are paid for, which must not be much, and are not very helpful or informed when you need specific information, but in all cases I have had tremendous help talking to the offices directly.
This exercise will not only confirm whether there is an office at the Amtrak station but will help you to know what options are available. You might have to call the next nearest office and get advice from them if there is no office within walking distance of the station. You'll probably learn that Hertz will not be an option.
Hertz does not do pick up, but for an extra price Enterprise will. So if you don't want to take a taxi (we can't fit in one), you can look up Enterprise on the Yellow Pages using the same method I described above, and call the nearest Enterprise car rental office. They will most likely pick you up if you need it. But this may be more than taking a taxi to your nearest Hertz. For us, Enterprise was going to be $40 more per day.
If you can't afford Enterprise, maybe rent the car for a day from Enterprise and rent from Hertz the next day when you can get to an office at a convenient location. You'll need two drivers to do this.
On our trip in California we are renting a 12 passenger van from Budget so we can cart relatives around Oceanside with us for a few days, but we don't want to pay for the $115 rental fee our whole trip so we'll trade it in for an Expedition at $75 per day the rest of the trip.
However, a taxi may be your best option if you can all fit in one.
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Hertz "Local Edition" DOES offer pick-up & drop-off service, at no extra cost. I have used it. "Local Edition" locations are usually downtown locations. Call the location to make your arrangements. Check the website for locations. (I used it last year in conjunction with 2 train trips, just to keep this on-topic.) Chris
Posts: 46 | Registered: Dec 2000
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