A more detailed review of last night...
Positives:
- The en-suite - far, far better than needing to traipse to the end of the coach (or in the case of my last trip, the next coach) to use the toilet; since I was heading home, I didn't bother with the shower
- Breakfast - a very enjoyable bacon roll
- Comfortable mattress and pillows
Negatives:
- Being in a berth over the bogies - never again. Even though I did seem to manage quite a reasonable amount of sleep, it took a while because every...single...jolt was felt. If I'd booked this myself I'd have probably chosen a middle berth, but there's no such luxury via my work travel agent. Maybe I could have swapped to a different berth at a ticket office?
- The noise from the toilet flushing
- Very stiff door - I thought it was locked when I boarded and went back outside to tell the steward (is that what they're called?) who gave it a fair shove to get it open
- One of the USB charging ports not working
- Someone managing to open my door despite the internal lock being turned
Despite the negatives outnumbering the positives, overall it was actually quite enjoyable. Once I got to sleep for the second time after the fire alarm incident, I didn't wake up again until the roar you get going through the Haymarket tunnels. I certainly can't remember Preston or Carlisle.
However, I did leave the train feeling like I'd just stepped off a 6-week cruise. Whether I'm susceptible to disembarkment syndrome (although it didn't effect me last time), or if being over the bogies made the ride significantly worse enough to bring it on, I don't know.
The last thing really is the arrival time. Having breakfast at 5.20am to be sure of finishing for a 6am arrival wasn't the most enjoyable thing. Sure, 8.30pm boarding means there's plenty time to sleep but there's then a knock-on effect to the next night, and so on.
Obviously I also got off at an intermediate stop which will always necessitate needing to leave earlier, but even 7.41 into Aberdeen seems a bit early. 8.30 there (so I'd have been ~7am in Dundee) seems a bit more respectable.
I'm not sure what the answer to that is, though, because the timings are necessary for Inverness and Fort William, and I guess hanging around in Edinburgh using up a platform isn't an option. A shunt into P0 at Haymarket for an hour?
Overall though I would do it again, preferably in a middle berth.