Thanks. I suppose $20 per hour for that kind of comfort ain't bad.
Amtrak "flex" meals yet,making the choice of Coach more sensible. The Crescent is usually less crowded South of Atlanta,so the chance of a seatmate is less.
Yes, those were the days. My wife and I travelled ATN-NOL-ATN several years each labor day in a bedroom over the last 22 years. Not recently and, based on current very high ridiculous bedroom prices, maybe not again in the near future.
Just to be clear, are Flex meals available to coach pax? On a pay basis? Thanks. And if so, do you have to eat them at your seat?
No. You have to buy food in the cafe car. You aren't missing anything by not having flex meals.
Please be aware the roomette point redemption value ATL-NOL is 8,627 points, not 3,627. I would book that in a second if that was the value. I believe the $39 and $243 are the lowest fares. Generally I would agree that paying for a room in the daytime is not worth the value, especially since it's $39 for coach. Unless you are unable to spend the cash for coach, I wouldn't redeem those 2.9k points for $39 in coach. Since the lowest redemption value is 800 points, the scale is slightly skewed. 2,911 points for $39 equates to 1.34 cents per point, while 8,627 for $243 is 2.82 cents per point. I would say save those for a longer stint in a roomette. CHI-EMY can be had for just shy of 20k. Coach and Acela redemptions cost more per point. Previous posters are correct that the Crescent is much less busy south of Atlanta, and there would be a much higher chance of having no seatmate.
What @Sidney meant was that, given that the "meals" you get for all that extra money in a roomette, it makes buying one much less of a value. Now had Amtrak still had to traditional meals and the traditional times, you could have a steak dinner, delicious breakfast, good burger lunch and an abbreviated chicken dinner before arrival in NOL. All those subtract from the cost of the room in terms of its value.
You are right about the point redemption value. My mistake. However, having decided I want a roomette, I did a different calculation to decide whether to pay cash or use points for the roomette. It cost $245 to buy roughly 8600 points during Amtrak's promotion that ends tonight (12/31). So, it being a wash, I paid cash rather than spend the points. By doing so, I will actually increase my points balance a small amount.
