We take at least one long trip on Amtrak to Colorado every year and it is definitely the way to go. Yes, the cabin is worth it, if you can swing it. (Or you could really go in style.) You have to figure that Amtrak does give you all your food (and it is quite good actually), water, juice, etc. plus lodging. So you can kind of rationalize to a point. You also get first class treatment if you are in a cabin because, well, it is first class. So you get your choice of dinner times, don't have to wait in lines, that kind of thing. You can bring in alcohol to your cabin, so we usually take a bottle of wine or a growler of something for a nightcap or two. If you are willing to chance it, one tip which I have never tried but I know several people who have, is to ask about cabins when you get on. If they do have a cabin available, you get it at the lowest price (as if you had reserved months in advance). The cabins increase dramatically in price as the travel date approaches so there can be several hundred dollars between the high and low price. Worth a shot anyway.

On our last trip back from Colorado, we were eight hours late to Chicago (derailment in Nebraska which slowed down the freights, which slowed down our train) and being in the cabin was, well, a lot nicer than being in coach. So even if you take coach out, I recommend doing a sleeper back because coming east seems to be more likely to be delayed. But Amtrak was great, they gave us a voucher for dinner in Denver before the train, dessert on the train, an extra dinner on the train the next day, an overnight stay in Chicago in a nice hotel, breakfast money, cab money, and effusive apologies. Plus we had a lovely ride on the train, didn't have to submit to any searching or silly rules, and met a lot of nice people. So even with being late, it was far better than flying would have been.

The Guest Rewards program is good. I signed up online no problem. Then I sent them an e-mail asking if I could apply my previously scheduled (but not yet taken) trip. They said "no problem" and set it all up, then called me to make sure I knew everything was set and told me about a change in the train schedule.