What makes a 45-square-foot room feel like a luxury suite? A 20-square-foot room with no shower.
I’m not talking about hotel rooms — I’m talking about private cabins on overnight Amtrak trains.
In 2021, I took my first overnight Amtrak journeys from NYC to Miami and back. For each 30-hour trip, I booked a private room in a sleeper car.
The ticket to Miami cost about $500 for a Viewliner roomette, and the ticket back to New York cost about $1,000 for a bedroom.
Read on to see how the two overnight train cabins compared — and which was more worth the price.
On my way to Miami, I booked a roomette for $500.
A step up from sitting in coach, where you get a seat among other passengers, a roomette is a private space with a door and blinds covering the windows. Inside, I found two beds, two chairs, a table, and a toilet.
According to Amtrak’s website, roomettes are around 22.75 square feet, which, for reference, is slightly larger than a standard twin-size bed. The roomette sleeps up to two adults.
I booked a bedroom for the ride home, which was double the price for twice the amount of space.
Bedrooms are around 45.5 square feet, which, for reference, is a little bigger than a standard king-size bed. Like the roomette, they sleep a maximum of two adults with two bunks.
The bedroom had a couch, an additional chair, a shower, and an enclosed bathroom.
Both rooms offered complete privacy, included complimentary meals, and featured smart storage hacks reminiscent of a tiny home.
Having a private space was the most important thing to me on this long train journey, and both rooms offered that.
Both rooms also had some clever storage hacks, like a table that pulled out between the chairs.
I think I woke up feeling more rested on my way home in the bedroom simply because I chose the bottom bunk, where I felt less swaying and bumping from the train.
You could select this option in either room. So, if you’re bothered by the train’s bumpiness during the day, as I was, I recommend sleeping on the bottom bunk in either accommodation.
While I was impressed with the roomette’s use of space, I felt far more comfortable in the bedroom thanks to the extra 20 square feet.
As someone who deals with travel anxiety, 30 hours on a train was overwhelming for me.
But staying in a bedroom made me feel more comfortable than staying in a roomette. The bedroom offered ample space to stretch out and move about, which made all the difference to me.
I could get my body moving in the bedroom by dancing around, but in the roomette, I felt too cramped to move much.
Frankly, I don’t feel comfortable sitting for 30 hours.
To pass the time, get moving, and feel more at home, I took frequent dance breaks in my bedroom, where I closed the curtains and blasted music in my earbuds.
This felt freeing and satisfying, and if I wanted to, I think I could have even done some yoga poses, body-weight exercises, or practiced my karate moves.
It was also nice to have a big sofa in the bedroom to stretch out and put my feet up, whereas the roomette only had two single seats.
Having room to lounge in the bedroom made me feel more relaxed throughout my journey.
All bedrooms have a three-mirror vanity, a shower, and a toilet behind a locking door. Some roomettes have a toilet with a folding sink and a single mirror above it.
After staying in a roomette with a toilet for the first half of my trip to Miami, I was moved to another room without one due to the availability of roomettes when I booked my ticket. I had access to a bathroom at the end of the sleeper car for the remainder of my trip.
While traveling home in a bedroom, I appreciated that the toilet was separated from the rest of the room by a door.
I also thought the bedroom had a nicer vanity with three mirrors facing each other, which made it easier to wash my face in the morning.
The private toilet in the bedroom is a great amenity if you’re traveling with others.
However, with two seats and no privacy curtain around the toilet in the roomette, I was grateful to be a solo traveler.
While you may feel sticker shock at the $500 price difference, the extra space was worth every penny to me.
The bedroom upgraded my 30-hour journey from anxiety-inducing to comfy and homey.
The bedroom is especially worth the splurge for those traveling with a buddy since there’s more room to stretch out.
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