Guides · Where You Sleep
After about six hours in a train seat, I'm up every 30 to 45 minutes. That's one reason anything cross-country gets a roomette. Privacy and access are the bigger ones, more than the included meals.
When I take the train across the country, I book a sleeper. For Roxan and me, that's a roomette. Two reasons, and only one of them is comfort.
A train seat is good, until it isn't
Train seats are worlds more comfortable than airline or bus seats. For a few hours, a seat is all you need. On VIA Rail's three-hour legs this fall, coach would have been fine. We booked business class for the seating: two single seats facing each other across a table, instead of side by side.
A long day can work, too. When we got back on the Southwest Chief after an unplanned medical stop in Galesburg, we rode nine hours in seats and did fine.
But I know where my limit is. Even in a lower-level seat, after about six hours I had to get up every 30 to 45 minutes because I was getting sore. A cross-country train runs a lot longer than six hours.
My "elevated" may not be yours
Comfort isn't the main thing, though. A sleeper is sold as an elevated experience, and elevated is in the eye of the beholder. Meals are included, and that's a nice perk, but it isn't what elevates the trip for me. Privacy and access do.
Privacy is a roomette with a door that closes: our own space, for as long as we're aboard.
Access starts before we board. In Chicago, sleeper passengers wait in the Metropolitan Lounge instead of the main concourse. We can't walk a mile to the train, so we pair the lounge with Red Cap service to get to the platform. Between the two, it's as close to door-to-door as you get anywhere.
Where I draw the line
A short hop gets a seat. A long day can get a seat, as long as I'm ready to get up and walk. Anything cross-country gets the room.
Smoother is what I'm paying for.
You might also like
Choosing the ShipWhat I Watch for When I Walk a Ship
An inspection gives me a few hours on a ship between one sailing and the next, sharing every stateroom with 20 other advisors. In that time I watch the crew, the boarding-day lines, the main dining room most guests skip, and the seats nobody's using.
Where You SleepThe Glacier Comes to the Whole Ship
Alaska’s most repeated advice says to book the correct side of the ship or miss the glacier. At the glacier the ship turns so both sides get the view, so choose your stateroom for the trip you want.
Getting StartedWhat First-Time Cruisers Wish They’d Known Before Booking
First-time cruisers often find that small early decisions shape the whole trip: what the fare leaves out, why stateroom location matters, how itineraries differ, what a package covers, and why port days run short.
← Back to GuidesNot ready yet? Keep exploring, I'm ready when you are.