We just got back from our roundtrip auto train journey a few days ago. This was our first time in coach. We've travelled the auto train 10+ times with our 3 kids (now 15, 12 & 9) but this trip we took 3 extra 15 year olds as part of DD15's birthday present. We took advantage of the $19 sale that was offered for coach both north and southbound. Both trains were 100% full.
We checked in at 12:30, parked at the station and got our seat assignments. We then headed over to the Museum of the US Army a few minutes down the road. The kids really liked the interactive exhibits.
We left the museum around 2. We mobile ordered sandwiches from the Jersey Mike's across the street from the station around 9am to be picked up at 2:15. We have done this before as we always bring food on board for DD12 as she has an intolerance to gluten and dairy (they cause eczema flareups) and we want to make sure she has something she can eat. This will be the last time we order from that location. The sandwiches were not ready at 2:15. At 2:30 they realized they had not labeled any of the sandwiches that they made for the order and they only had 6 even though we ordered 8. They had to unwrap all of the sandwiches and go through them to see which ones they had already made. By 2:50 they somehow still only had 7 sandwiches made and we had to go because we were afraid we would miss the 3pm cutoff. When we arrived at the station, we realized they only put 6 sandwiches in the bags and of course, DD's gluten and dairy free sandwich (which DH watched them make) did not make it into the bag. I called the next morning and got refunded for the order. This is the 2nd time this location messed up an order and we will not give them a 3rd opportunity to do so.
We bought replacement sandwiches in the shop at the station for $12 each (DD had lunchmeat from the inside of the sandwich and some snacks we brought for dinner) and we started boarding at 3:30pm.
We arrived around 9:15am, got off the train around 9:45 and with priority offloading we were on our way by 10:30.
For the northbound trip, we arrived around 9:30, and were in the station shortly after. They started calling priority around 10:15. We did not pay for priority this time but we only had to wait until about 11 to have our car called which wasn't too bad.
The only issue we had on the train (both north and southbound) was that our seat trays were dirty- there were crumbs and remnants from breakfast on most of our trays. One of the attendants sprayed and wiped them down for us.
We were upper level southbound and lower level northbound. We all agreed we preferred the experience on the upper level, even though with our group of 8 we only had 4 additional people with us on the lower level. On the upper level you do have more people traveling through the car in the middle of the night which is a drawback. We were seated away from any doors in the upper level so the noise from doors wasn't an issue. In the lower level, every time someone got up to use the restroom the door slammed open and close. We also had several people (maybe 4 or 5?) who were not seated in our car come in during the night. They were all elderly and I think they were confused about where their seat was after they used the restroom but it was additional opening and closing of the door. They would come in and stand in the middle of the car, staring at us. I hope it was people who were lost, otherwise there are a lot of middle-of-the-night creepers on the train. In the upper level, the lights are dimmed at night. In the lower level the lights are dimmed as well but there are bright lights just outside the door for the restrooms that bothered some of us. The noise from the tracks is also way louder on the lower level.
The bathrooms were all well maintained during both trips. We did have an issue when we were getting ready for bed. There's no lock on the 'lounge', the small area with 2 sinks and stools near the restrooms. I was in there with DS9 and DD12 brushing our teeth and another family opened the door and came in. They seemed annoyed that 3 people were using both sinks and asked if there was room for them to join us. The idea of me and my 2 kids crowded around 1 small sink brushing our teeth on a moving train meant someone was going to accidentally spit toothpaste on someone else lol. That didn't sound like a fun way to start the evening so I told the other family we would be finished in a few minutes and they weren't happy.
For breakfast on both trips we had complimentary coffee cake, cereal, juice and bananas. The hot breakfast sandwiches had to be purchased separately. There also was no milk available for the cereal. While I enjoy the coffee cake on each trip, I have to wonder why they chose quite possibly the messiest breakfast food for people to eat at their seats. The crumbs from the coffee cake goes everywhere, no matter how hard you try to be neat about eating it.
For $19 per person I might travel coach again, especially if bringing additional people. However, we are usually able to pay for roundtrip roomettes and bedrooms with Amtrak points earned from our credit card so I don't think we'll do coach very often in the future.
