Best of the Lounge Lizards

[cpamtfan]

I agree with Mike Del Monte, I think the future is just like he described to bridge the gap between coach and sleeper. The only issue that having these cars would be making consists longer/changing the balance. I think anything more than 12 cars (excluding the LSL/EB) are really pushing it as far as platforming flexability, among other things.

 

[berkyo]

Ok, i have read half of these and have to chime in. At first I was totally ok with people sleeping in the lounge. As long as they realize that they do not have a RIGHT to that spot/s and that is the problem. As I am reading I am thinking so , anyone can sleep there, but what if everyone wants to sleep there? first come first served? If you are a night owl or early riser then you have the right to ask people to move if there is no seat available. It is a common area for use by the whole train. There are valid reasons for people to try to sleep there. Health, questionable seat mates etc. But they do not have the right to sleep there. Thinking this over, Amtrak should make a ruling and enforce no sleeping there. You have a seat that you paid for or a room and that's where you should be. But I have seen people sleeping there on the floor by the windows and I was not offended. I had morning coffee and watched the sunrise. When it began to be noisy they got up and left. But to avoid problems it should be be sleeping there.

 

[Sarah Kirschbaum]

Ok, i have read half of these and have to chime in. At first I was totally ok with people sleeping in the lounge. As long as they realize that they do not have a RIGHT to that spot/s and that is the problem. As I am reading I am thinking so , anyone can sleep there, but what if everyone wants to sleep there? first come first served? If you are a night owl or early riser then you have the right to ask people to move if there is no seat available. It is a common area for use by the whole train. There are valid reasons for people to try to sleep there. Health, questionable seat mates etc. But they do not have the right to sleep there. Thinking this over, Amtrak should make a ruling and enforce no sleeping there. You have a seat that you paid for or a room and that's where you should be. But I have seen people sleeping there on the floor by the windows and I was not offended. I had morning coffee and watched the sunrise. When it began to be noisy they got up and left. But to avoid problems it should be be sleeping there.

I have only been on Amtrak twice. On the most recent trip(22 hours), I made 4 trips to the SSL during the day. All 4 times, I was not able to find a seat, so I just kind of stood there. After a while, I got tired and went back to my room. The SSL was packed and had limited seating.... I noticed some people just sit there and read, talk on cell phones, or chat with each other. They were not using the SSL for sightseeing. Shouldn't there be a time limit on how long each passenger is allowed to sit there?

 

[roomette]

I noticed some people just sit there and read, talk on cell phones, or chat with each other.

OMG, really!! That's horrible! Did you see a doctor? I'm so sorry you had to endure that!

 

[rrdude]

Common courtesy is all we can ask for, and I often see one pax taking up two or three seats. That NEVER stops me from asking "Is that set taken....?"

 

[Ziv]

I agree with TE, Amtrak would be well served to figure out a way to add as inexpensively as possible, a midgrade sleeper option between coach price and roomette price. I would travel more but although coach seats are long they are a pain to sleep in. Lay flat at an angle would be best but maybe vertically staggered single passenger roomettes where there is an upper and lower level on both sides of the train. Didnt Via Rail used to have cars like that? But the problem, as always, is there is no money to do it.

And a rule that you cant use more than one seat in the SSL except between 11pm and 5 am or false dawn, whichever is later, would be nice as well.

Unrepenetent Lounge Lizard Ziv

You know what this shows? Not a bunch of a***es, instead it is the sad state of affairs at Amtrak. The lack of a sleeping accommodation that is more affordable to people. Not everyone is a retired rich couple on a land cruise with AGR earned sleeper bedroom. And get this, every human needs sleep. Nobody likes to sleep like this in lounge car on purpose, but when there is no better option, this is what happens. I must say on more than one occasion I have been tempted to sleep in the SSL when the coach was full and uncomfortable. Yes I know the self-righteous holier-than-thou bunch here will say "if you wanted to sleep you should have purchased a sleeper ticket". I wish life was so simple black and white. If the only accommodation option you provide costs half a dozen times as much as a coach seat for a single passenger, and you provide a lounge car that nowhere mentions sleeping is not allowed, I am going to use it to sleep. Deal with it.

 

[calwatch]

They had one, called the slumbercoach. It didn't do that well. One thing that would help is a drop down armrest in the middle of the two seats. The open arrangement is great if a couple wants to cuddle, but uncomfortable when sitting next to a stranger. Even airlines have armrests.

 

[SarahZ]

An armrest really doesn't mean much to me when it comes to sitting next to and sleeping next to a stranger. They're still just a few inches away from me.

 

[the_traveler]

This is being posted by one AU member to another. Can we please agree to disagree?

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

The thing is, the Amtrak Roomette is really pushing the sleeping capacity in a railcar. They have packed a double berth into the smallest space possible. Maybe a "discount Roomette" in an all-Roomette car with no meals provided would be a better alternative to triple-tier sleepers.

 

[billthebarn]

Meat Puppet,

I'm sorry I started a "Lounge Lizards" thread....i hadn't noticed yours.

I think the term "lounge lizard" is hilarious. So are the pictures and charactictures. The people who admit to being "a proud lizard"... well it doesn't get much funnier.

The "lizards" don't bother me as much as Amtrak not having a uniform way of dealing with them...A Lounge Lizard Policy. After all the discourse on the forum, we still don't know if the lizards are allowed in the SSL and, if they are, during which hours.

I'm going to talk to some people I know (My father once owned two railroads) about rigging up a freight car for the lizards. It could travel on the rear of LD trains. We're even considering adding a water tank so the lizards can be 'hosed down" (some of these people haven't showered for days. This could be the solution to the need for low cost sleepers.

 

[Shawn Ryu]

Ok, i have read half of these and have to chime in. At first I was totally ok with people sleeping in the lounge. As long as they realize that they do not have a RIGHT to that spot/s and that is the problem. As I am reading I am thinking so , anyone can sleep there, but what if everyone wants to sleep there? first come first served? If you are a night owl or early riser then you have the right to ask people to move if there is no seat available. It is a common area for use by the whole train. There are valid reasons for people to try to sleep there. Health, questionable seat mates etc. But they do not have the right to sleep there. Thinking this over, Amtrak should make a ruling and enforce no sleeping there. You have a seat that you paid for or a room and that's where you should be. But I have seen people sleeping there on the floor by the windows and I was not offended. I had morning coffee and watched the sunrise. When it began to be noisy they got up and left. But to avoid problems it should be be sleeping there.

That NEVER happens. Believe me. People most of them go back to their seats.

 

[bgiaquin]

Amtrak really needs more affordable sleeper accommodations.

Amen to that! Do not get me wrong, I love riding Amtrak and I do understand that they have to make money, but a lot of the prices just seem flat out ridiculous.

 

[gmushial]

I'm wondering if this isn't route specific... I was on the CZ #5 last week, and since I had things on my mind (mulling over a job offer), I didn't sleep well... and one of the things I did at 230am was to go wander... and I didn't find a single person sleeping in the SSL. There were people talking, there were people with tablets and laptops, there were people talking on their cellphones, but nobody horizontal. Maybe the crew didn't allow such to happen, or maybe the people riding the CZ weren't inclined to do such... don't know. But, just an observation.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

I'm wondering if this isn't route specific... I was on the CZ #5 last week, and since I had things on my mind (mulling over a job offer), I didn't sleep well... and one of the things I did at 230am was to go wander... and I didn't find a single person sleeping in the SSL. There were people talking, there were people with tablets and laptops, there were people talking on their cellphones, but nobody horizontal. Maybe the crew didn't allow such to happen, or maybe the people riding the CZ weren't inclined to do such... don't know. But, just an observation.

I have seen Lounge Lizards in the CZ Sightseer. It must have been this specific crew that did not allow it to happen. Still surprising to find people hanging out there at 2:30am without sleeping. They must be night-shifters or something like that.

 

[SarahZ]

It really just depends. On the SWC, I've seen 1-2 people sleeping on the floor (between the seats and the windows), and sometimes I don't see anyone, even at 3:00 AM or so.

 

[gmushial]

It really just depends. On the SWC, I've seen 1-2 people sleeping on the floor (between the seats and the windows), and sometimes I don't see anyone, even at 3:00 AM or so.

Makes for an interesting image - must have been hardcore/experienced travelers to think of such and to be comfortable doing such. ;-)

 

[getbent]

We were on the CZ last week and the lounge car attendant has to repeatedly announce that the "Amtrak Slumber Party was over" and if you'd like to continue sleeping, please go back to your seat. That didn't stop people from sleeping there all day.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

We were on the CZ last week and the lounge car attendant has to repeatedly announce that the "Amtrak Slumber Party was over" and if you'd like to continue sleeping, please go back to your seat. That didn't stop people from sleeping there all day.

That's when its time to turn it into a real party! :giggle: That way, if folks want to sleep, they will go back to their seat.

I was on #5 one time and this couple put a book on one of the double seats to 'reserve' it while they went to lunch - this after doing the same thing before breakfast in Denver. While they were at lunch I moved the book to the 'window trough' and sat there. They came back from lunch about the same time a member of the OBS was coming through the SSL. The OBS said to me "Oh, did someone forget a book when they left that seat?" I said "Yes, it was just sitting here." Without saying a word, the couple took a different, less prime seat, and then after a while, discretely picked up the book from the trough.

 

[calwatch]

If you have a loud conversation on the CZ, then that will drive away the sleepers. On the CONO the conductor ejected a bratty kid and his mom to the lounge car. He was acting like a brat there, which is fine since we were all awake and chatting away, and not bothering people trying to sleep.

 

[roomette]

We were on the CZ last week and the lounge car attendant has to repeatedly announce that the "Amtrak Slumber Party was over" and if you'd like to continue sleeping, please go back to your seat. That didn't stop people from sleeping there all day.

That's when its time to turn it into a real party! :giggle: That way, if folks want to sleep, they will go back to their seat.

I was on #5 one time and this couple put a book on one of the double seats to 'reserve' it while they went to lunch - this after doing the same thing before breakfast in Denver. While they were at lunch I moved the book to the 'window trough' and sat there. They came back from lunch about the same time a member of the OBS was coming through the SSL. The OBS said to me "Oh, did someone forget a book when they left that seat?" I said "Yes, it was just sitting here." Without saying a word, the couple took a different, less prime seat, and then after a while, discretely picked up the book from the trough.

Just curious, would you do the same thing with a purse or electronic device?

 

[The Davy Crockett]

We were on the CZ last week and the lounge car attendant has to repeatedly announce that the "Amtrak Slumber Party was over" and if you'd like to continue sleeping, please go back to your seat. That didn't stop people from sleeping there all day.

That's when its time to turn it into a real party! :giggle: That way, if folks want to sleep, they will go back to their seat.

I was on #5 one time and this couple put a book on one of the double seats to 'reserve' it while they went to lunch - this after doing the same thing before breakfast in Denver. While they were at lunch I moved the book to the 'window trough' and sat there. They came back from lunch about the same time a member of the OBS was coming through the SSL. The OBS said to me "Oh, did someone forget a book when they left that seat?" I said "Yes, it was just sitting here." Without saying a word, the couple took a different, less prime seat, and then after a while, discretely picked up the book from the trough.

Just curious, would you do the same thing with a purse or electronic device?

No, definately not. :excl:

I'd give/notify a crew member about those. :mellow:

 

[mjaynes288]

I just had my worst Amtrak experience ever. I got on the CS at MTZ and went to the SSL. I could not sleep so I started a conversation with the guy in the booth across from me. He knew a lot about trains. A woman sleeping on one of the 3 combo seats tells us to keep it down. I tell her this is the car designated for conversations and if she wants quiet to go to another car. She grumbled and my conversation partner decided to leave.

Later two other passengers were talking at a booth. At one point they asked me what I was doing. I said, "Sudoku" and held up the book. 5 minutes later the complainer starts ranting about how we are yelling across the car. I pointed out the two people who were talking were sitting in the same booth and I was quietly completing my puzzle. She continued to scream that we were the rudest people on earth, couldn't we see people were trying to sleep. I informed her the SSL is for conversation at night, if she wanted quiet she should sleep in a quiet car which is any car on the train but the SSL. I refused to be bullied into silence. The other passengers sleeping there started to yell "shut up" and "If you don't shut up I will come over there and beat you." One of the people who was talking left and thing went quiet.

My first conversation partner returned. I asked him to sit with me so we could talk. He did but he also whispered so I could not hear him over the train noise. He kept glancing nervously at the complainer and after he figured out there was no way to have a quiet conversation he left again.

An hour after the outburst an Amtrak employee walked through I complained. He quietly announced, "The SSL is for convesation," and walked away. This was the same employee that the first time I slept in the SSL woke everyone up when he came on and 20 minutes before each stop to ask their destination.

The threat of assault triggered my PTSD. I find this situation totally unacceptable. Something needs to be done!

 

[Peggy]

Well crap.

I dunno how to label myself.

A holier than thou sleeper person or a lowly coacher..... :unsure:

My first LD trip is in a couple of weeks and I have a sleeper for the two 24 hours legs and am coaching it on the two 16 hour ones.

As a lowly bookseller, I've saved up to afford the sleepers partly for privacy and partly for some rest.

For the coach part, I plan on bringing my eye mask and ear plugs.

I guess I can pretend to be Elizabeth Taylor from Fort worth to Chicago and Elly Mae Clampett from Chicago to Albany.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Well crap. I dunno how to label myself.

A holier than thou sleeper person or a lowly coacher..... :unsure:

My first LD trip is in a couple of weeks and I have a sleeper for the two 24 hours legs and am coaching it on the two 16 hour ones.

As a lowly bookseller, I've saved up to afford the sleepers partly for privacy and partly for some rest.

For the coach part, I plan on bringing my eye mask and ear plugs.

I guess I can pretend to be Elizabeth Taylor from Fort worth to Chicago and Elly Mae Clampett from Chicago to Albany.

:giggle:

I'll tell you what you'll be. An Amtrak passenger who has paid (with $ or points) to ride the train, just like everyone else on the train (excluding the crew).