are you allowed to buy a bedroom for a single rider and not get hassled by the room attendee? If I'm willing to spend the $ i should be able too right?
Bedroom for 1?
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jis
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Yes. It is OK. Many of us do so. No problem.
Mystic River Dragon
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Yes, I’ve done it a couple of times. If anything, the attendants seemed happy that I was treating myself.
Absolutely. Most of my trips over the years have been in bedrooms.
crescent-zephyr
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Totally normal. While I usually travel in a roomette I’ll always upgrade to a bedroom if i can afford it!
Ryan
Court Jester
Adding to the chorus of "yes".
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I had a sleeping car attendant on the Zephyr tell me that there was a regular CZ rider who usually bought the bedroom suite (two bedrooms with the connecting door open) as a single passenger. He would have one room set up as a bedroom and the other as an office with computer and cell phone hotspot.
As a single in a bedroom, you can have the room converted for sleeping and still have a chair for sitting. It allows for middle of the night bathroom needs to be handled without having to stagger down the hall, and the cleanliness of the bathroom is entirely within your control.
As a single in a bedroom, you can have the room converted for sleeping and still have a chair for sitting. It allows for middle of the night bathroom needs to be handled without having to stagger down the hall, and the cleanliness of the bathroom is entirely within your control.
Sure. While it is no longer obvious on the booking site, sleeper fares consist of two components, rail fares for each passenger and a single accommodation charge for the room itself.
Okay cool.
Thanks for the fast response.
Thanks mod for making a better topic
lol.
Thanks for the fast response.
Thanks mod for making a better topic
lol.
Any future train trips will be bedrooms for me, myself, and I. Especially on the Viewliners. The roomette's bed is so ridiculously narrow, and gets narrower still down by the foot.
I, too, have always preferred and purchased a bedroom travelling as a single passenger. The only downside these days is the fare. Up until about the year 2020-2021 a bedroom fare was about 140% of the roomette fare. Nowadays it is well over double @ about 210%, i.e. my most frequent trip is ATN-WAS-ATN roomette = about $350.00; bedroom = about $770.00. Same seems to apply to two-night long distance trips like CHI-LAX--roomette just under $1000 while bedroom usually over $2000.
Passengers who have been riding the trains as long as me probably dream of the old heritage roomettes (the old 10/6 Pullman sleepers). Roomettes then were a fabulous sleeper space. Viewliners began to replace heritage in late 1990's--I think my last trip in a heritage sleeper may have been in the 1999.
IIRC, booking a “Bedroom Suite”, would be very expensive for one person, since you would have to pay two “transportation fares”, in addition to the two “accommodation charges”…I believe Amtrak still requires at least one rail fare for each accommodation purchased…
In September of 2021, I was upgraded by Amtrak from a roomette to a bedroom on 449. This was done a day or two before departure. It was a surprise, to say the least. Once onboard the train I saw extra Amtrak management employees riding. I believe I was upgraded to a bedroom so that the Amtrak employee could use my roomette.
I prefer the bed to be parallel to the window so I can sit up and look out;.
I prefer the bed to be parallel to the window so I can sit up and look out;.
I don't dream of them. I ride in them on VIA's Canadian.
Better do it pretty soon, though. The buffer car thing may be a sign the end is near. It looks as though there may be center sill issues on VIA's classic CP Budd fleet.
zephyr17: Thanks for that reply. Had almost forgot about my one and only VIA Rail trip. In the early 2000's my wife and I had the Drawing Room in the Park Car observation car on the Canadian Vancouver to Toronto. Yes, that too was a fabulous space.
As a matter of curiosity, why should one be concerned about "get hassled" by the SCA? You purchased the space. It's yours even if you are alone!!
Maglev
Conductor
I have read some comments that some feel it is improper to book a Family Bedroom for one person. Many trains only have one of these, and on the Sunset Limited it runs only three times a week.
I do not have kids, but my father taught me how to plan travel, and I think if I needed the Family Bedroom for a family, I would book it eleven months out (ie, as soon as it becomes available). Otherwise, I would be flexible and search multiple dates or book two Roomettes.
I enjoy having the Family Bedroom to myself, as it has a wide lower berth, windows on both sides, and plenty of space for storing luggage and maneuvering myself while the bed is down. It often costs substantially less than a Bedroom, although I prefer a regular Bedroom.
I do not have kids, but my father taught me how to plan travel, and I think if I needed the Family Bedroom for a family, I would book it eleven months out (ie, as soon as it becomes available). Otherwise, I would be flexible and search multiple dates or book two Roomettes.
I enjoy having the Family Bedroom to myself, as it has a wide lower berth, windows on both sides, and plenty of space for storing luggage and maneuvering myself while the bed is down. It often costs substantially less than a Bedroom, although I prefer a regular Bedroom.
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I can't say I've seen comments like that but, improper?? In what way is it improper? Why someone feels that way is their problem; if I want to have extra space, it's available, and I can afford it that's none of anyone else's business.
Exactly; me too. If you know something is popular, or in short supply, I would book it as far in advance as possible. Or, as you say, search multiple dates until I find it. It's like these people that buy cheap air tickets for their family of four, but won't pay for advance seating. Then they badger the employees, or other passengers to switch seats with them so the family can sit together. Because they didn't plan ahead.
Well, you know, sometimes you don't know 11 months out that you want or need to take a train trip. Like, maybe grandmom is on her death bed. Or your sister decided to get married in 3 months, or ..... I'm not saying you shouldn't book the family room, just saying your reasoning is a little off when you say people should plan 11 months out. The roomette is perfectly fine for my solo trips. I have no need for the extra space a bedroom or family room would give me.
I routinely travel alone in a bedroom in a Superliner. The ensuite restroom is the main reason. Now that many/most Viewliner roomettes no longer have toilets, I have been traveling in Viewliner bedrooms. However, I have not been traveling as much as I previously had because the cost of a viewliner bedroom is quite a bit more expensive than a viewliner roomette.
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Very true. I'm not saying one must plan super far in advance, only that you're more likely to get all your needs fulfilled if you do. Sometimes one can't, things happen, life happens, whatever. Just saying folks shouldn't be upset or combative when they can't have what they want because it's taken.
I've missed more than one family shindig over the years due to travel plans already in place. But yeah, I get it, 11 months out is a lot time for curve balls to happen.
Anybody ever try to buy out all the "available" roomettes and bedrooms on a single car just for themselves?
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