I recently completed my second cross country trip on the California Zephyr. My previous trip was…read morefrom Denver, CO to Emeryville, CA (end of the line) in a roomette. This trip began in Chicago, Il and ended in Emeryville and we booked a family bedroom cabin. In total the trip is three days/two nights.
The bedroom cabin is designed for families traveling together. The lower bed that folds out from the seating area is closer to a double bed. Then another two beds fall down above. One is very small and will only fit a child. I was able to sleep in the other one. The family bedroom cabin does not have a bathroom. However, it takes up one end of the car, so there are windows on both sides. This is a bonus as the other sleeping cars that have bathrooms are on the upper floors and have an aisle along one side so you can only see out of one side. The family bedroom cabins are on the lower level, which is also where the showers are located for first class passengers. There are also shared toilets for the first class passengers.
Our steward, Aaron was very helpful and responsive. We were very tired on our first night and asked him to set up our beds while we were having dinner. Everything was nicely set up. Aaron also responded to our requests as quickly as he could, such as cups of ice, hot water for tea, etc.
I brought an my backpacking air mattress for my bed as the mattresses for the bunk beds are very hard and thin. This made quite a difference in comfort, but made it even more difficult to maneuver while up on the bed because there is very limited headspace. Sleeping is difficult due to the noise and movement, but it's part of the experience.
One reason the expense of a sleeping car is worth it is the food! The menu doesn't change from day to day (or train to train come to that) but it is very good! For dinner tried the steak (cooked to order) and roasted chicken. Both were delicious. For lunch we tried the patty melt and regular burger. The burger was delicious and the patty melt was very good. Our table mates had the chicken Caesar salad and told us that it was very good. The chicken portion was very generous. We stuck with eggs for breakfast, trying scrambled with cheese, the breakfast quesadilla, and the omelette. All were very good. There are no substitutions as a general rule due to prepackaging, but you might be able to make some slight changes on the last day of the route depending on what is left in the kitchen. For lunch dessert, we were given or packaged butter cake or brownies. One day they were cold and one day they were heated. The butter cake was very good. I didn't try the brownie. However, I will note that on the Coast Starlight those dessert were both served heated, on a plate, with drizzled toppings. Hmmm.
The dining car staff were hot and cold, to be honest - even somewhat rude at times. In their defense, they have to manage all guests - both first class and coach - while adhering to a schedule and making sure everyone was served. Still, they could be gruff and even snappy at times. There were several meals where our order was taken and half of the meal was delivered before we received our drinks. Any extra requests such as water in addition to our chosen beverage was met as if we were being difficult. We took to brining our own water with us to the dining car to make sure we had something to drink when our food was served. At one point the lead server made a comment to us about our tip, which we had planned to give at the end of the trip rather than at every meal, after which he became a little nicer. Note: dining room tip at every meal for dining car staff and tip steward at the end of the trip. That being said, the food was very good.
We spent a good amount of time in the observation car due to the beautiful views! This space is in high demand - particularly with Coach passengers. The conductors were good about going through the car and enforcing a two-hour limit to give as many passengers a turn as possible. There were many who took advantage of this communal space, but others who were observant of the rules. This is also a great opportunity to meet fellow travelers and we met people from several states and three different countries. It is a melting pot!
In short, there are pros and cons just as with any travel, but a train trip in a sleeper car is worth it if you can afford it!