bennos

Any comments on Thalys Comfort 1 meal service? Difference between 2 and 1 is < €10 at the moment (Paris to Brussels), and I could take a train labelled "snack" or "dinner". It looks like vegetarian options are available?

stimpy

I'm on the Thalys right now (free internet in 1st class) and yes they have veg. Free drinks of all kinds too. It's definitely worth paying €10 extra!

shaggy_mutt

I'm going to agree partially with Stimpy here. Food is expensive there, and if the difference is only 10 euros, you probably get at least that much in food. When I rode Thalys Comfort-1 last year the dinner was salmon and some sort of vegetable (served cold, if I remember). To be honest I didn't find the food or the service to be up to the Eurostar's standard. But hey, if the difference is that small, why not?

stimpy

Heck, I drank 4 bottles of Chenin Blanc on my last trip, and I'm again on the Thalys right now on my 1st bottle. That's worth a lot more than 10 bucks!

It seems that half my trips have the new 1st class and have still have the old. I'm sure they are working hard on upgrading the whole line.

stimpy

Oh, and yes Eurostar 1st class is definitely better than Thalys 1st class. And that difference is reflected in the price of the ticket!

mosburger

Isn' the Eurostar 1st divied into a sort of premium economy and proper 1st?

stimpy

I think it is more a economy, business and 1st class, but 1st class really isn't that much better than business class. I haven't kept up with all the changes, but in any case, the "middle" class pricing on the Eurostar is still more expensive that 1st class on the Thalys as far as I can tell.

SFO777

Perhaps more like 1st and "1st Light" although the 2-1 seats are identical. My recollection from our trip last year was that BP was something like triple the price of LS. The only perk we missed in LS was Lounge access and priority check-in.

Business Premier (the highest class of service):
- 10 minute fast-track check-in through passport control
- Exclusive lounge access (and for Carte Blanche card holders)
- At-seat meal/drinks service and new express breakfast option
- Power sockets at-seat (UK and Continental sockets)
- Newspapers/magazines on-board
- Optional chauffeur service, at additional cost, to and from station in each direction (up to 4 journeys)

Leisure Select:
- 30 minute check-in
- Larger seat pitch for extra comfort
- At-seat meal/drinks service
- Power sockets at-seat (UK and Continental sockets)
- Newspapers/magazines on-board

More info...
http://www.eurostar.com/UK/uk/leisur...5/31_05_05.jsp

docklander

...alternatively buy a Eurostar 59 quid return ticket and buy your beer and tucker at the M&S on the concourse at St Pancras

layz

It's not just beer, it's M&S beer

I like M&S food, but their own branded beer looks like cheap imitations of main brands (I remember something looking like Stella). Is M&S beer decent quality?

hugolover

Resurrecting an old thread...Thalys have various meal times but the website doesn't state which services qualify for each menu. Would a 12:01 weekday departure from Gare du Nord be considered, lunch or between mealtimes hence sandwiches only?

EDIT: I found the timetable page with the menu offerings d'oh!

Mike Jacoubowsky

Just did Paris-Brussels on Thalys Comfort 1 last Monday morning. Breakfast. Um, don't get too excited over it. Your choice of "sweet" or "savory." One way you get an unfilled croissant, the other some sort of purple-colored sweet bread thing out of a mini bundt pad. Glass of orange juice. Unimpressive to say the least, but maybe lunch and dinner offerings are nicer? Ticket price was low (55 euros each) so can't complain too much.

Koby

On a late afternoon (I think 17.30) departure from Paris a few weeks ago I got the choice between a ridiculously small super-mini-sandwich and a equally ridiculously small super-mini-cake-like-thingy.

Maybe the small price differences they sometimes have between classes take this into account. But for me the difference was indeed also about 10€, and I more than made up for it in wine.

hugolover

In the end I ended up with a lunch service. There was a small salad of cold mushrooms which was actually quite nice. Cold dab fish with rice and a lemon tart. Not too bad. Add a few Hoegaarden's and it was a nice journey. I did see the micro-sandwiches, they weren't very impressive!

For the extra €10 it was good value!

alesfo

In my last experience the meal services on Paris -Rotterdam (dinner and lunch) are quite good, and worth payng some 10~15 euros more for the trip (especally if you want to use the internet, which is a bit unrealiable however). The breakfast, last time, was ery disappointing. The croissants seemed old, and the rest of the breakfast was ok at most (grapes, yogurt, jam). Also, they did not serve any snack (they used to come for more coffe and snacks after Anvers).