We needed to get between two cities served by Eurostar, and we bought Eurostar Premier class for some extra comfort but it left us wanting a little more.

View other posts in this series:

• Trip Introduction: Cheese and Chocolate in Western Europe
• United Club LAX: Better Than Your Average United Lounge
• A Great Stay Outside the City Center: The Thompson Chicago
• The Beautiful Air France Lounge ORD
• The Best Inflight Service: KLM 787-10 World Business Class ORD-AMS
• Andaz Amsterdam Prinsengracht: A Great Stay But Now Pricey
• Perfect Dutch Comfort Food at The Pantry Amsterdam
• Smelt It and Loved It: Restaurant Smelt Amsterdam
• Amsterdam with Kids: Plenty of History, Cheese, and Sweets
• Zaanse Schans: You Must See This Idyllic Spot Near Amsterdam
• NS Lounge Amsterdam Centraal: Sadly, Not Much Here
• Eurostar Premier: Better Than Economy But Still Pretty Basic (this post)
• Winter Wonders: The Wonderful Brussels Christmas Market

Booking Eurostar Premier class

We needed to get between Amsterdam and Brussels. While there are flights between the two cities, flying isn’t the most efficient–or the cheapest–option. Using miles might help a little, especially if you find a program that allows cheap booking of flights. But why burn through miles when traveling in Europe is best via train travel?

The route between Amsterdam and Brussels is operated by Eurostar, and trains typically continue on to either Paris or London. Of course, you don’t need to book the full route, which was the case for us. Eurostar operates several classes of service on its trains:

• Eurostar Standard
• Eurostar Plus
• Eurostar Premier

We booked Eurostar Premier directly at Eurostar.com. Aside from an elevated travel experience, having full refundability even after departure added a lot of flexibility in the event we found something else to get us to the destination. The cost of Eurostar Premier on this day and route was €139/person. In other classes of service, children under 12 can get a discount on fares, but it doesn’t apply for Eurostar Premier.

First impressions of Eurostar Premier

We arrived at Amsterdam Centraal train station after a quick Uber ride from the Andaz Amsterdam Prinsengracht.

The train station has plenty of stores, including some restaurants. There’s also a free ferry that can take you across the water if you wanted to take some time to explore a little. In our case, we wanted to pick up a few last-minute souvenirs, and we stopped by the I amsterdam store.

Amsterdam Centraal is divided up into an area for local trains and one for long-distance trains. After spending time in the NS Lounge in the long-distance train section, we headed up the escalator to our train platform.

As seen on the display below, our train to Brussels is delayed by a full 30 minutes. It can get a bit confusing figuring out the why times are displayed if you’re not used to train travel. The original departure time is always there to help you identify the train you’re expecting. Any delays are listed in minutes in yellow next to the original time. While it helps locate the right train, it can be a little nerve-wracking to show up at the station and wonder if you missed your train.

Fortunately for us, the train was sitting there. Amsterdam Centraal is the start of the line as it works its way to Paris Gare du Nord. And right at 11:40, we were let onto the train.

The Eurostar Premier seat

Eurostar Premier seats might remind you of a premium economy recliner seat you might have on your international flights. If you’re traveling as a couple, there are plenty of side-by-side seats. Some are facing forward and some are backward-facing.

If you’re solo, there are individual seats along one set of windows too. This also comes in handy if your group has an odd number of passengers.

Above the seats is ample storage space for your luggage. The heavier luggage should go into the space near the entrance to the cabin. In our case, others had already taken up the space by the entrance with smaller bags, so I tossed our larger checked bags up here. You’ll want to line up at the train 10-15 minutes early if you want access to those better luggage spots (we only showed up 5 minutes early).

In each car is a single four-seat arrangement where the backward- and forward-facing seats meet. These are first-come-first-served, so book your tickets early if you want them.

The table in the middle looks lumpy but that’s because it has a small extender that opens up once you get in your seat.

Along the wall next to the seats is a coat hanger. Just don’t forget them if you use it! Of course, with the weather as cool as it is in late November, it’s easy to remember the moment you step outside.

At your seat is an electrical outlet and a USB charger.

The food in Eurostar Premier class

I should point out that I potentially committed a sin on this train ride: I didn’t check to see if I could order a kids meal in advance. It didn’t dawn on me until we got on board, and by that time it was too late. Whoops! This isn’t the first time I forgot to order a kids meal and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

The menu

Shortly after departure, an attendant came through the aisle to check our tickets and to distribute menus.

There are only two options for food:

• Roast beef, peppered sweet potato salad, sweet and sour cabbage, leek and horseradish cream
• Roasted carrots and turnips, radicchio and cauliflower salad, broccoli cream

Meal service

To start service, we received a refreshing towel. It’s not the same when it comes in a package.

The food and drinks come on a single cart. This cart has both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drink options. But drinkers should know that there’s no hard alcohol; it’s just beer and wine only.

We all ordered the roast beef option and I asked for the red wine. Right off the bat, everything on the tray is cold, which is a bit of a shame. Not only that, but everything is served on the same plate, including the amuse bouche, the main, a cheese course, and dessert. The flavors on the plate have depth, like the peppered sweet potato salad. But while the depth of the flavor was good, it did just taste like it was removed out of the refrigerator.

The red wine is… basic. It’s a syrah and paired well enough with the roast beef, but it doesn’t have much depth of flavor to it.

As the attendant came to clean up the trays, she also offered a cup of hot water, tea, or coffee. Once she disappeared, that’s it. Don’t expect another round of drinks across the journey.

Wi-Fi and Entertainment

As you’ll see advertised throughout the car, Wi-Fi is free for all customers on Eurostar.

To connect, just join the EurostarTrainsWiFi network. A splash screen should appear once you connect. Thankfully, there is no rewards program you need to join, but there’s a total of 500 MB of data you get. So don’t use this as an opportunity to stream movies.

Our train had a significant delay

We had a 30-minute delay at the start of the journey, but that was just when doors opened. Between time spent on the tracks and slower speeds, we ended up 90 minutes delayed by the time we arrived in Brussels. There’s a simple reason for it: a national strike that affected all public transportation for three days, and our arrival was on the third day of that strike. At least our train was running! Some trains ended up canceled.

We’ll talk about this separately, but if your Eurostar train is delayed by more than an hour, you might be able to get a partial refund. And indeed, we ended up getting a 25% refund back to my credit card for all four of us.

Arrival to Brussels

Sure enough, we eventually arrived in Brussels–just happy to be here. It would be our first time in the city, but with the national strike going on, we had some difficulty finding metro trains that were operational–and the trains that were running (with 20 minutes between trains) were packed. As you might expect, Uber was very expensive.

That pushed us to just walk from Brussels Midi / Zuid to Brussels Central. It’s just shy of a 30 minute walk, and parts of it aren’t the best with luggage, but it’s a safe walk during the day. Not an ideal way to get around but it felt good to stretch our legs after being on the train for so long.

Recommendation: Maybe, but not on this route

I’m a bit torn on my recommendation for this one. There are really two things that I’m considering: the price paid and the overall comfort level on the journey. First, the price–especially after considering the cash rebate we received–wasn’t all that bad. It’s favorable compared to flying and the experience was better than what we would pay in economy if flying. So, from that perspective, it’s good.

But, yes, compared to other Eurostar classes of service, this is more expensive. So, how does that compare? Not too favorably. The fresh-from-the-fridge food wasn’t all that appealing with no extra service than you might get in other cabins. And the lounge before our journey was one of the most disappointing we’ve been to. Where it might be more of an experience is if we were in a proper Eurostar lounge, which means starting in London, Paris, or Brussels. Unless we’re departing from one of those cities, I think next time we’ll take a cheaper class.

What are your thoughts on Eurostar Premier class?

Suggested reading:

• Taking the Train in Germany with Kids
• Secret Trip Transit – Zermatt, Switzerland to Zurich, Switzerland
• How to Handle Last Minute Flight Problems