"Great alternative for flying! I expected a modern train but this…"

I expected a modern train but this old-fashioned train was really cool! The compartments were rather small to sit there with 6 people + luggage, but it was big fun in the dining room were you can meet new people.
I could not really sleep because of the movements of the train but anyway, I think this is a great way of travelling as an alternative to airplanes!

"Improving all the time."

The carriages are improved since the first time we travelled (Dec 2023). However, Oct 2024, on the way out I found the wagon manager to be very curt and forgot to give us a ladder. On return, there was no wagon manager to buy drinks from and the train was delayed by 60 mins. Also, there is never enough toilet roll or water to wash with.

"Truly a disappointing experience"

Truly a disappointing experience. About 4 days before the trip they told me they had no sleeper car and I was rebooked in to a 5 person couchette. Then 2 days before they told me the train was leaving an hour earlier causing me to rebook my Eurostar service. They have refused any reimbursement of the rebooking cost and just EUR50 for the downgrade.
The food in the dining car was poor and it was full of drunk passengers shouting. My carriage had two middle aged British families getting more and more drunk and more and more loud.

"Opérateur ferroviaire privé sans scrupule honte à eux "

Le Sleeping-Car a été supprimé à la dernière minute pour une couchette tres sale nous n'avons eu aucune lettre d'excuses des raisons peut valable et croyable nous n'avons toujours pas été remboursé ...
50 euro de remboursement ce n'est pas assez vu le tarif que nous avons payé et ce n'est pas acceptable pour la législation Européenne vos excuses sont vraiment bidons et irrespectueuse les influenceurs de Hourail et simply railway disent beaucoup de mensonges ils ne faut pas les écouter
Nous avons voyager le 23 septembre
Aurelien et Claudine

"Unavailability of sleeping car"

Due to unavailability of sleeping car, I was downgraded to a couchette car and promised a 50€ compensation which I am still waiting for.

Water availability in washing cabinets remains erratic.

Board staff should be more customer-centric and provide more regular assistance or information rounds.

Departure and arrival on time.

It is slowly time to upgrade the offer with up-to-date fleet as the enthousiasm and lowered acceptance criterias from the "start-up" phase will decrease with the time

"+Prague-Utrecht"

+
easy check-in/booking
direct/no change Prague-NL
bike storage
-
very limited availability of food/beverage
poor cleanliness of train/facilities

"Downgraded from sleeper"

The accommodation was downgraded from a sleeper to a couchette on the day of departure, which was a huge step down of the experience. The bed in the couchette was very narrow and crowded. The cabin attendant meant to make the beds/ lower the bed for the passengers, but when I requested it, she simply said I could do it myself. The company should be careful about how they advertise the products, which failed to meet the expectations of what they promised. However, the train arrived in Berlin on time, which was the only positive thing out of the journey.

"Great that there's a rail option for those of us who don't want to fly! But....."

Great that there's an option for those of us who don't want to fly..... but....

First - positives. Our train left on time from Prague and arrived on time in Antwerp. It's what you hope for! The staff member on board was nice and helpful. Luckily the person we shared most of the journey with was also super nice!

I have zero problem with older rail stock being used, but if you're going to try convince people to support you then you need to at least invest in some basic upgrades and improvements, especially in the bathrooms. The water pressure was minimal for washing hands / brushing teeth.
In the couchette, the A/C wasn't consistent. Same with the sockets. We had to share 1 between 3 of us (if more people joined in Prague, this could have been an issue for anyone relying on these).
Regarding snacks/drinks - I honestly don't think people would grumble paying €4-€5 for a good cup of coffee. But asking people to pay €3 for instant is just bad. Where you lack in creature comforts because of the available rail stock, invest in your menu/extras. Honestly - drip bags and eco friendly coffee pods are available from good coffee roasters throughout the cities you travel through.... wholesale beans and an investment in a grinder - they are easy solutions which can go a long way to distract from some of the startup teething issues. Good quality sandwiches are another option. Ask people to pre-order 48-72 hours in advance so your costs are more or less covered.

"I recently travelled with European…"

I recently travelled with European Sleeper for the fourth time, as part of a long journey from Warsaw to London. Unfortunately, my experience on this occasion was quite disappointing.

The train was delayed by over 90 minutes, which caused significant inconvenience. I was informed that an email about the delay had been sent a couple of weeks prior, but I never received it. Regardless, this would not have been very helpful as I had already booked my connecting Eurostar from Brussels well in advance to avoid high prices.

I was also quite dissatisfied with the facilities on board. While I understand that the trains are adapted from older models, the cleanliness was far below acceptable standards. The toilets were dirty, and there was a leak in one of the small washrooms, with no soap available.

To make matters worse, one of the crew members, Kasper, was extremely rude when I tried to explain that I hadn’t received any communication about the delay. He kept interrupting me, and when I politely asked him to stop, he rolled his eyes. The rest of the crew standing nearby laughed and made comments about me, which was incredibly unprofessional. For the price paid for these tickets, I would expect the staff to be polite and understanding, at the very least.

I hope this feedback is taken seriously, as it’s not what I’ve come to expect from European Sleeper, and it’s certainly not what any customer should have to experience.

"No information about Position of carriage in the train before the start"

We didn't know where our carriage would be in the order of train so we had to run down the platform when the train arrived.
The travel itself was absolutely OK although we were informed only some days before start that we will arrive in Bruxelles more than two hours later than originally planned. That seemed to be because of reasons European sleepers was not responsible for.