Long Distance Train Comfort Opinions

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CSXfoamer1997

OBS Chief
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Dec 23, 2015
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For any of you on this website, which would you find more comfortable to travel on Amtrak?

1. Coach Seat?

2. Roomette?

3. Bedroom?
 
On Viewliner trains none of those. Room H all the way. In reality any PV on the back suits me well. Especially if I'm working and getting a check
 
Two roomettes- cheaper than a bedroom, both get lower bunks and view from both sides. Toilette and shower in bedroom are too small and messy and difficult to use. Lower level roomettes are right next to bathrooms and showers.
 
I have been put in both the handicapped and the family bedrooms. They are quite nice as well, except you have to sit on the pot to look out that side of the train.
 
H when available, roomette otherwise. I cannot sleep in a seat, otherwise I'd do coach for LD trips. I'll be in H on the Cardinal and LSL in August.
 
you don't specify how many travelers, and for how long. alone in a viewliner roomette with toilet is comfortable, bedroom has way more room and its own shower. H is probably best, it is not on your list of choices.... got a bedroom on the CL for less than a roomette on the LSL last year, that would kill the 2 roomette plan.
 
It all depends on how you define "long distance" and how many are traveling. My wife and myself are late middle age folks and if we are making a 5-7 hour trip, a seat in coach or business class is fine.It doesn't bother some but are unable to sleep reclined in a chair in coach. When we are traveling one or two overnights then we book a bedroom. The bedroom fares are getting very expensive of late but they do offer the highest level of accommodations. The shower is tiny and cramped but my wife and myself can cope with that. If you are a bigger person they may not be comfortable for you. Roomettes are also good and the beds are oriented in a more comfortable sleeping position in line with the train and not across it as in a bedroom. Privacy and plenty of room for solo travel and just enough for two at a far lower price than a bedroom. .
 
When I travel by train I almost always traveling by myself.

Comfort wise I alternate nights - between a coach seat and a roomette.

I don't mind sleeping in a coach seat. At home I often sleep in the recliner in my living room. Sometimes it's reclined when I sleep, sometimes it's not.

Whether I have a roomette or a coach seat I don't spend all that much time in either.

I sit in the SSL car or the Dining car, stand at the rail fan window if I'm allowed in the last car of the consist, sit in some other vacant coach seat next to a window, look out the windows in the boarding vestibule doors, look out the windows in the hall outside the bedrooms, or the staircase, etc.

IMO, it all boils down to one's attitude.

But back in the day I did a lot of backpacking and climbing and slept in places and in conditions most people would find untenable.
 
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For me personally (and aside from bathrooms, views, cost etc.), for flat-out seat comfort the roomette is by far the best. It's very wide, it reclines well, and you always have several pillows to help prop you in any position. Aside from my couch at home, a roomette seat is the most comfortable seat I've ever sat in.
 
I love a bedroom when I can afford one. Otherwise it's a roomette for me.

(Post coming from Acela First Class, which really is fantastic.)
 
When traveling by myself, I find the roomette very comfortable, private, and easy to work in. I have paid for a bedroom when I have traveled with one of my grandchildren, though they have been great in the Roomettes as well. Don't use the shower in the bedroom, instead used the Public one downstairs.
 
I'm with those who prefer the H Room on Viewliners,then a Viewliner Roomette and on Superliners Bedroom E.

In all honesty the best Bed I've ever slept in on a LD Train was a Lower Section on the Canadian. ( Superliner Rooomettes are better than a Cabin for one on this train IMO!)
 
Over the past 40 years I have traveled mostly by coach, but by roomette the past year or two, and I much prefer roomette. I doubt I'll ever ride coach again long distance.
 
Cho Cho Charlie said:
I would feel pretty guilty, taking the room for the Handicapped.

For LD travel, I like a roomette. The right balance of cost vs. comfort.
Click to expand...
I believe Amtrak puts the handicap rooms up for sell to the general public 2 weeks before travel date only IF all the bedrooms are sold out.
 
If I was one of those people who could sleep in a chair, I'd probably take coach for any trip that runs overnight. Probably one of the reason why I can never EVER sleep on a plane or in a car for more than 15 minutes without waking up. Roomettes and Bedrooms offer me the ability to lie down flat, and add in the gentle rocking back and forth or side to side in those, and that makes for an amazing snore-fest on my part. Well worth the extra money just for the actual sleep, let alone the meals. One of these days, I'll try flying Business/First class on a plane with lie flat seats and see if the pattern is the same. But until then.....always get a roomette or bedroom for overnight trains. Oh and one BIG comfort tip....BRING YOUR OWN PILLOW!! You'll thank yourself later.
 
I was put in the handicapped room because they had over sold the others and there were no handicapped to occupy it
 
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