My wife and I took the Lusitania from Madrid to Lisbon on 12th Sept. We booked Gran Clase to get a cabin with two bunks, wc, and shower at 122 euros each. The cabin was showing its age, with stained carpet; bumped, scratched, and stained plastics for the toilet/shower mouldings, and woodwork - but, it was a triumph of ingenuity for the way they had fitted all of this into a tiny space, not much bigger than our garden shed. There's even an ingenious folding ladder flush with the wall that folds out at 45deg, with proper steps, to allow access to the top bunk. Other reviewers have complained about having to put luggage into the shower, due to lack of space alongside the bunks, but our cabin had a space between the shower/wc compartment ceiling and the train roof big enough for three decent sized suitcases!
The ride was bumpy and noisy throughout the nearly 10-hour journey, so we didn't get much sleep, despite drinks in the bar car before retiring, and you get turfed off the train as soon as it arrives in Lisbon at 0720 next morning. However, despite being intially a bit let down by the condition of the cabin, when we considered what we had paid for the approx. 700km journey - it doesn't take the shortest, most direct route, but goes north west initially, via Avila and Salamanca, with no less than 15 stops meandering en route - we felt we had received the most amazing bargain. In fact, if you were prepared to spend the night in an ordinary train seat, the fare was an absolute giveaway at just 24.60 euros!!! We booked it just for the experience of travelling on a sleeper train, and our British sleeper trains don't have cabins with private shower/wc, plus they are phenomenally more expensive than the Spanish sleepers. However, we wouldn't rush to do it again. We would prefer to travel in the daytime, so we can view the scenery, but there isn't a direct daytime service between these two cities.