Originally posted by JudithM
Don't forget Autotrain costs more for a van than an automobile. I don't know how much more though because we always had a car. Northbound in September should be less expensive than southbound. Have you called Amtrak? Do you belong to AAA?
If you have a car, you can cut your cost by about $140.
A van or suv is usually a little more than double the cost for a car, since they take up more space on the Autotrain. Cars are triple stacked, vans and suvs can only be double stacked. We always use our car rather than the suv because of this price differential.
Also, fares will only go up the closer you get to your travel date - the fare you were quoted is actually pretty good.
We're going in August - both ways (depart on a Sat, return on a weekday). In March I booked our trip (5 months out) and our AAA fare for 3 Adults and 1 child with a car is $930.60. I checked the fare today (at
www.amtrak.com), 3 months later, and the car fare has stayed the same, but the passenger fare has increased 26% - $179 more!
It's actually less expensive for us to take the Autotrain rather than fly and rent a car for the 14 days we're away. Driving the entire way is not an option for us, but if it were, we'd have to figure in gas, wear and tear on the car and overnight hotel and food expenses in addition to extreme driver stress and passenger crankyness!! Dinner and breakfast is included in the autotrain fare.
Hope you have a great trip, no matter how you travel!
Grace