NY to Florida by train

Hi,

I will be visiting NY in early April and would like to travel to
Florida (and back) by train. I would like to get an overnight train
with sleeping facilities.
What's the cheapest way of getting Amtrak tickets?. Is the Rail Pass
the best option?.

Thanks for any ideas/suggestions.

Lasitha
London, UK

Lasitha wrote:
I will be visiting NY in early April and would like to travel to
Florida (and back) by train. I would like to get an overnight train
with sleeping facilities.
What's the cheapest way of getting Amtrak tickets?

Monitor this page and pounce when your trip is on sale:

http://tickets.amtrak.com/Amtrak/railsale

miguel
--
Hundreds of travel photos from around the world: http://travel.u.nu/

Miguel Cruz schrieb:

I will be visiting NY in early April and would like to travel to
Florida (and back) by train. I would like to get an overnight train
with sleeping facilities.
What's the cheapest way of getting Amtrak tickets?


Monitor this page and pounce when your trip is on sale:

http://tickets.amtrak.com/Amtrak/railsale


if it doesnt show up there-.--- as I have noticed the prices for coach
(reserved/unreserved seat) usually double about a week before the travel
date. It seems to me that this is not the case if you book sleeper
accomodation last minute - is that true.
anyway, my aunt is thinking about taking a sleeper to Florida soon and I
wonder if she can take an economy - as she is 320 pounds - or if it is
too narrow... and she would better be off taking the first class sleeper.

Miguel Cruz schrieb:

Lasitha wrote:

I will be visiting NY in early April and would like to travel to
Florida (and back) by train. I would like to get an overnight train
with sleeping facilities.
What's the cheapest way of getting Amtrak tickets?


Monitor this page and pounce when your trip is on sale:

http://tickets.amtrak.com/Amtrak/railsale


and www.ebay.com where amtrak sometimes sells tickets for a cheap price

In article ,
(Lasitha) wrote:

Hi,

I will be visiting NY in early April and would like to travel to
Florida (and back) by train. I would like to get an overnight train
with sleeping facilities.
What's the cheapest way of getting Amtrak tickets?. Is the Rail Pass
the best option?.

If you want the least expensive option, its probably not rail travel.
Look into flying. You'll also save a lot of time. A typical flight
from the NYC area to desinations in Florida will be under two hours.
For info about rail travel, see http://www.amtrak.com

Michael Thiele wrote:

anyway, my aunt is thinking about taking a sleeper to Florida soon and I
wonder if she can take an economy - as she is 320 pounds - or if it is
too narrow... and she would better be off taking the first class sleeper.

All sleeping accommodations are first class - some are just more First
Class than others.

It depends on how her weight is distributed, but she'd probably be
happier with a deluxe, family, or handicapped bedroom than with an
economy bedroom. Handicapped bedrooms are on the ground floor, so there
are no stairs to climb (and the stairways aren't wide either), but
someone would have to bring her food.


--
Jack Hamilton



If men are to wait for liberty until they become wise and good in slavery,
they may indeed wait for ever.
- Lord MacCaulay

Best to ut aunt in steerage!
"Michael Thiele" wrote in message
...
Miguel Cruz schrieb:

I will be visiting NY in early April and would like to travel to
Florida (and back) by train. I would like to get an overnight train
with sleeping facilities.
What's the cheapest way of getting Amtrak tickets?


Monitor this page and pounce when your trip is on sale:

http://tickets.amtrak.com/Amtrak/railsale


if it doesnt show up there-.--- as I have noticed the prices for coach
(reserved/unreserved seat) usually double about a week before the travel
date. It seems to me that this is not the case if you book sleeper
accomodation last minute - is that true.
anyway, my aunt is thinking about taking a sleeper to Florida soon and I
wonder if she can take an economy - as she is 320 pounds - or if it is
too narrow... and she would better be off taking the first class sleeper.

"Me" wrote in message
...
In article ,
(Lasitha) wrote:

Hi,

I will be visiting NY in early April and would like to travel to
Florida (and back) by train. I would like to get an overnight train
with sleeping facilities.
What's the cheapest way of getting Amtrak tickets?. Is the Rail Pass
the best option?.

If you want the least expensive option, its probably not rail travel.
Look into flying. You'll also save a lot of time. A typical flight
from the NYC area to desinations in Florida will be under two hours.
For info about rail travel, see http://www.amtrak.com

The original poster asked for the cheapest way of getting *Amtrak* tickets.
Not the cheapest method of travel. I was actually about to write a somewhat
snippier reply but then realized you *might* be writing from the
rec.travel.usa-canada group - this was also posted to the
misc.transport.rail.americas group, and I'm sure there was a reason for
that.

To answer the original question, don't fool around with waiting for sales or
looking around for cheap tickets. Amtrak generally sells out their sleeping
cars months in advance. You *might* get lucky and get a train with a few
last-minute cancellations and be able to take advantage of those, but don't
count on it. More likely you'll be stuck taking coach both ways, cursing
yourself for waiting just to try to save a few bucks. (I say this from
experience.)

This is different than how it used to be, so you may get some different
advice from those who haven't traveled Amtrak recently. Ridership is at
record highs and sleeping cars (especially on the east coast) are in
perpetually short supply since the forced retiring of the Heritage equipment
a few years ago.

The cheapest regular rates are just on Amtrak's web site. They purposely
make it a few bucks cheaper than making reservations in person or over the
phone, in order to encourage the site's use (less work for them means fewer
employees).

Experiment on the web site. I just checked out an April trip on trains 91
and 92 and it came out to $816 total for two people including a Viewliner
standard bedroom. I don't think this is too bad. $400 per person including
probably three meals, free soda and coffee and a bedroom does not seem
unreasonable. But the price fluctuates depending on the specific dates, so
try some different dates and see how it affects the price. It may be
significantly more or less if you can just move your trip by a couple of
days.

"Jeff Williams" wrote in message hlink.net...
"Me" wrote in message
...
In article ,
(Lasitha) wrote:

Hi,

I will be visiting NY in early April and would like to travel to
Florida (and back) by train. I would like to get an overnight train
with sleeping facilities.
What's the cheapest way of getting Amtrak tickets?. Is the Rail Pass
the best option?.

If you want the least expensive option, its probably not rail travel.
Look into flying. You'll also save a lot of time. A typical flight
from the NYC area to desinations in Florida will be under two hours.
For info about rail travel, see http://www.amtrak.com

The original poster asked for the cheapest way of getting *Amtrak* tickets.
Not the cheapest method of travel. I was actually about to write a somewhat
snippier reply but then realized you *might* be writing from the
rec.travel.usa-canada group - this was also posted to the
misc.transport.rail.americas group, and I'm sure there was a reason for
that.

To answer the original question, don't fool around with waiting for sales or
looking around for cheap tickets. Amtrak generally sells out their sleeping
cars months in advance. You *might* get lucky and get a train with a few
last-minute cancellations and be able to take advantage of those, but don't
count on it. More likely you'll be stuck taking coach both ways, cursing
yourself for waiting just to try to save a few bucks. (I say this from
experience.)

This is different than how it used to be, so you may get some different
advice from those who haven't traveled Amtrak recently. Ridership is at
record highs and sleeping cars (especially on the east coast) are in
perpetually short supply since the forced retiring of the Heritage equipment
a few years ago.

The cheapest regular rates are just on Amtrak's web site. They purposely
make it a few bucks cheaper than making reservations in person or over the
phone, in order to encourage the site's use (less work for them means fewer
employees).

Experiment on the web site. I just checked out an April trip on trains 91
and 92 and it came out to $816 total for two people including a Viewliner
standard bedroom. I don't think this is too bad. $400 per person including
probably three meals, free soda and coffee and a bedroom does not seem
unreasonable. But the price fluctuates depending on the specific dates, so
try some different dates and see how it affects the price. It may be
significantly more or less if you can just move your trip by a couple of
days.

Jeff and others,

Thanks very much for the useful info. Is there any way to get a
promotional code so that I can get a discount on the tickets?. I've
tried a few (taken from other web sites), but none of them worked.

Lasitha

Lasitha schrieb:
Jeff and others,

Thanks very much for the useful info. Is there any way to get a
promotional code so that I can get a discount on the tickets?. I've
tried a few (taken from other web sites), but none of them worked.

sign up with aaa?
does the discount apply only for the basic fare or do you get 10 % off
the sleeper, too? it might be worth it though... or does amtrak accept
international automobile club members? aaa and the german adac do
cooperate in some ways (like free maps, etc)