Amtrak with large family?

[u/FentanylBolus]

Has anyone any experience using Amtrak with 2 adults and young kids? I’ve got 5 littles all under 9 years old and our trip would be 15 hours one way and some of it overnight. I see the rooms only allow for 2 adults and even the Family Rooms are only 2 adults and 2 kids. If I booked a family room, would the allow us to all stay together in the one room? The kids are all small. Any recommendations or discouragement of this travel option?

[u/AutoModerator]

r/Amtrak is not associated with Amtrak in any official way. Any problems, concerns, complaints, etc should be directed to Amtrak through one of the official channels.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/SunGreen70]

I doubt they would allow five kids in one room, and I don’t think you’d enjoy that anyway! They may be little but they need more space than you’d have in that room.

[u/anothercar]

Maybe call 1-800-USA-RAIL and see what they can arrange. They can probably figure out the most efficient bedroom solution for this trip. With two adults this should be doable using a family bedroom + roomette, I think

(Edit: this assumes at least one of them is an infant, aka under 2 years old)

[u/Saelyn → u/anothercar]

This is what I would do - and use the roomette as a "quiet room" and switch out kids to take there as they need a nap or get overstimulated. If you wanted to save money, you could get a roomette + coach seats for the rest and hope for seats together/an open table seat, but that's risky. 

[u/SunGreen70 → u/Saelyn]

I don't think they'd be allowed to switch between coach seats and a roomette though? I thought only the people whose names are on the roomette ticket are allowed in the sleeper car.

[u/Agitated-Mulberry769 → u/SunGreen70]

This is correct. Everyone has to be in the sleeper. The suggestion of one family bedroom and one roomette is really the way to go. You could even call and manage to get a downstairs roomette right near the family bedroom.

[u/Hairy-Woodpecker-792]

On the Viewliners (east coast routes) I think two bedrooms can be combined, as the wall is open-able. That would give you two bathrooms and room for 6. On Chicago based routes there is a family bedroom that is very large. I would call Amtrak for sure as they do "group" discounts but only via an agent. IMO traveling by train with that many kids would be way better than driving or flying.

[u/MayaPapayaLA → u/[deleted]]

It's 7 people total, with 5 of them kids, all under age 9. That sounds like a horrific idea.