Probably the most asked question by friends and family about my past few days on The Ghan Expedition has been how the in-room toilet facilities were.
Last time, when I rode the Indian Pacific, I had a single sleeper room, where showers and toilets were communal at the end of the hall. I quickly realized how much of a pain this was when I had to use the bathroom at 3am…
So, this time for The Ghan, I booked a double sleeper room, which is equipped with an in-room bathroom. The bathroom features a sink, toilet and shower in a small closet-sized room off of the bedroom. As my dad mentioned to me when I FaceTime-ed him the room, you could effectively use the bathroom, wash your hands and take a shower all at the same time. 🙂
When taking a shower, there was a movable curtain that you would slide around covering the sink and toilet so they wouldn’t get wet. This essentially left you with a very small patch of area to stand still as the water sprayed from above.
Here’s what I will say – the water temperature was perfect. I was worried that the temperature would be cold, and/or there would be a time limit on the water, but neither were of concern. You could use as much water as you liked, but the Hospitality Attendant just advised to use good judgement.
Inside the bathroom was a small cabinet with 2 towels and a bath mat, so before showering, I’d take the bath mat out and place it in the bedroom itself, and then also remove the towels, just to prevent any residual water from leaking on them when the faucet was turned on.
It wasn’t a terrible experience, and I was surprised how easy it was. That said, if you had two people in the room, you’d really want the second person to leave while you showered, because you have no choice but to step out into the bedroom when finished as there’s no room inside the bathroom to get changed.
Jamie Larounis is an avid traveler, blogger and miles/points educator. Traveling well over 100,000 miles a year and staying in hotels for over 100 nights, he leverages miles, points and other deals to fly in first class cabins, and stay in 5-star hotels. The Forward Cabin shares his experiences, musings, reviews, tips, tricks, resources and industry news with you, the fellow traveler.
“… if you had two people in the room, you’d really want the second person to leave while you showered, because you have no choice but to step out into the bedroom when finished”.
Sometimes seeing your half naked travelling companion stepping into the bedroom is a good thing. I’m just sayin’.
My wife and I are planning to take the Indian Pacific in a year or two and would be interested in your opinion of that versus the Ghan.
In general, the Indian Pacific has more time on the train whereas the Ghan (Expedition) is more off-time train time. Both differ greatly as far as sightseeing, so I recommend both. 🙂
Thanks, that’s the answer I was hoping for and will use it in selling two more trips to Australia to my wife. She professes to love train travel but so far I’ve only managed to get her on the Glacier Express across southern Switzerland.