What's the best route .. Norwich to Cambridge

My wife and I will be travelling from Norwich to Cambridge in a couple of months and I am wondering which route would be best (best = getting a seat for two seniors)

Travel day : Tuesday

Travel time : late morning

Options seem to be

(NRW) 10:52 > 11:42 (ELY) 11:51 > 12:11 (CBG) : EMR (2nd) then Great Northern (1st) about £22

(NRW) 11:27 > 12:45 (CBG) : Great Anglia (2nd) about £33

(NRW) 11:52 > 12:42 (ELY) 12:48 > 13:03 : EMR & XCountry about £15

Both non-direct services have a change in Ely and time to change trains is maybe tight .. unless trains are on the same platform

It depends how much you value the £7-18 between each option.

The most comfortable option is the GA service all the way - 1 seat journey, plus an overall high quality train.

EMR to Ely then Great Northern is a perfectly fine option too. Still guaranteed a seat to Ely, and if you get a refurbished EMR train then it's fairly comfortable too. It's an easy cross-platform change at Ely to Great Northern. If the £11 saving is worth the additional change, then this is the best option. I wouldn't recommend paying for 1st on Great Northern - it's identical to Standard and there'll definitely be available seats in 2nd from Ely southbound.

If you want a seat, avoid CrossCountry between Ely and Cambridge. Fairly unlikely to get 2 adjacent seats at any time of day on that service.

Not sure if it's more expensive (I usually just purchase an Anglia Plus ranger) but taking the 11:00 London service to Stowmarket, then changing for the Cambridge service from there (7 min transfer, although the lifts are currently being rebuilt) arriving at 12:40 is a fairly pleasant option. Two comfortable trains (can go in 1st class between Norwich and Stowmarket if you want) and plenty of available seats in my experience.

Farigiraf said:

It depends how much you value the £7-18 between each option.

The most comfortable option is the GA service all the way - 1 seat journey, plus an overall high quality train.

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Thank you

I think my wife would prefer a direct train, so we'll pick this option

Farigiraf said:

EMR to Ely then Great Northern is a perfectly fine option too. Still guaranteed a seat to Ely, and if you get a refurbished EMR train then it's fairly comfortable too. It's an easy cross-platform change at Ely to Great Northern. If the £11 saving is worth the additional change, then this is the best option. I wouldn't recommend paying for 1st on Great Northern - it's identical to Standard and there'll definitely be available seats in 2nd from Ely southbound.

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That is only the case when its a class 387, if its a class 379 I find the seating in first class is very good in a 2+1 layout.