The Venice Simplon-Orient Express Just Got More Luxurious—Here's What It's Like Inside the New Luxury Suites

23.10.2023 - 20:09 / cntraveler.com / Express

A little before 10:30 a.m., a royal blue train hummed into Platform 4 at Venice’s Santa Lucia station, coming to a halt with a hiss. More than a few passengers had expected a steam engine, surprised—if not a little disappointed—to see the modern locomotive pulling along 16 carriages almost a third of a mile. “This train is far too heavy for a steam engine; it’s been years since they used one,” said the attendant greeting guests. With bags and suit carriers already handed over to stewards, passengers walked the length of the train searching for their carriages as red carpets rolled out of the doorways like tongues cooling off.

I was here to board the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, which has recently added new carriages to its existing fleet, allowing passengers to travel in luxury suites featuring double beds with private bathrooms, each themed on the journey’s lakes, mountains and forests. While its historic carriages are fitted with couchettes made up into bunk beds at night—with no more than a sink in the compartment—the new suites allow for a dining area for afternoon tea and breakfast, along with a concealed bathroom hiding a wooden toilet, a glass sink and a mosaic-tiled shower cubicle with both handheld and rainfall showerheads.

To toast the 11 a.m. departure, our personal butler, Lino, popped open a chilled bottle of Veuve Cliquot and laid out triangle blinis with fresh cream and a tin of Petrossian caviar on ice, pinhead black beads gleaming in the sunshine as we rolled out of Venice, lagoon waters twinkling in the light. It was a fitting beginning to a journey largely centered on food. Shoes off and VSOE-embossed slippers on my feet, I foraged around the compartment. I found a boxed Dyson hairdryer with all the attachments, large bottles of Guerlain products, and a row of Evian and Perrier bottles clinking merrily as the train drummed through Padua. At the bedside were USB and lightning charging ports, along with two sockets—already a huge improvement on my last journey on board in 2016. Lino reappeared to demonstrate another perk, pulling open magnetic doors in the mother-of-pearl marquetry that revealed a large window onto the corridor, which now gave me views from both sides of the train.

As harvested fields and farms whipped by, the dining car manager and the maître d’ rapped at the door to offer a choice of two sittings for lunch (noon or 2.30 p.m.), and opting for the former I picked my way down the carriages towards the first of three dining cars, following the smell of cooking and the growing buzz of voices. During the journey, passengers are rotated around for meal times to make sure they experience the different décor and artistry of the three dining cars: L’Oriental, Côte d’Azur,