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.
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.
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Joey Hadden is a travel reporter and photojournalist at Business Insider based in NYC. She covers transportation modes, alternative lifestyles, and luxury travel. Many of Joey's stories are visual features that give readers a front-row seat to her personal experiences at home and around the world.Joey graduated from St. Edward's University in May 2019 with a BA in Photocommunications. Since joining BI in 2019, Joey has traveled by train in seven different countries, from day trips to overnight rides as long as 30 hours. She's ridden on many different train lines, including Amtrak, Via Rail, and the iconic Orient Express of the 21st century, among others. During her travels, she's slept in countless accommodations — five-star hotels, unique tiny homes, and private train cabins, to name a few.When traveling in North America, Joey takes readers inside the continent's wealthiest enclaves where billionaires hide away, from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to Medina, Washington. She spends her free time singing and playing drums for the indie-rock band Blanket Approval. You can follow Joey on Instagram or send her an email at [email protected].Popular ArticlesI spent $1,000 to have a room to myself on a 30-hour Amtrak ride. It was the best experience I've had on an overnight train in the US.I booked basic economy flights with Delta and United. They felt like 2 completely different classes.I went on an adults-only cruise for the first time, and 8 things surprised meI spent 2 nights in a 2-story, 100-square-foot tiny home in Germany that was smaller than any I've seen in the USStep inside the richest city in Arizona, where wealthy Californians are flocking for private mountainside estates
