"I loved it !"

I loved it !! I chose the "bed" option and it was definitly worth it.
One of my first experience and if I have the opportunity I will take it once more.

"The European Sleeper Experience "

Notified of a downgrade to a couchette, two days before leaving, which appears to be common. The train has poor facilities and broke down twice, overall more than 3 hours late into Prague with little effort to make up list time. Staff appear accustomed to the delays and have an air of jaded inevitability.
Not a terrible experience but the delays messed up my plans in Prague.
PS An apology would have been good.

"Wat een ellende!"

Update:
De ellende wordt nog groter. En de service van dit bedrijf slechter en slechter. Uiteindelijk was de vertraging ruim 5 uur.
N.a.v. deze review plaatste European Sleeper een reactie met het verzoek of dat ik contact op wilde nemen.
Gedaan! Om vervolgens een e-mail terug te krijgen van een Yolanda dat de vertraging idd heel fors was, maar dat de 50% die je terug zou krijgen bij een vertraging van meer dan 120 minuten niet geldt voor pakketreizen. En dat ik het daar maar moest proberen. Begreep van een mede treinreiziger dat daar tegen hem werd gezegd dat hij rechtstreeks contact moest opnemen met European Sleeper. En zo wordt je als consument van kastje naar de muur gestuurd.

Oh my God! As I type, zit ik in die trein. Met mijn zoon. Ik dacht leuk… cadeautje voor zijn slagen. Maar wat een drama is dit zeg! Dit is echt oude meuk. Het stinkt ontzettend in de trein (naar sigarettenrook). De wc’s, wasgelegenheden zijn oud en vies.En we moeten nu al voor de 2e keer de trein verlaten omdat de locomotief eerst opnieuw opgestart en nu zelfs vervangen moet worden. Iets met een ander elektriciteitssysteem in Duitsland en Tsjechië. Dat weet je van tevoren toch ook al. We stoppen om de haverklap op de meest vreemde plekken en staan dan minimaal een minuut of 10 tja… stil. Het personeel kreunt en steunt en wordt steeds chagrijniger. Nu al dik 3 uur vertraging, maar vermoed dat dit verder gaat oplopen. Boek je 4 dagen Praag, ben je daarvan effectief nog geen hele dag in Praag. Voor de rest zit je in de trein te koekeloeren. Nooit meer! Echt nooit meer! De compensatie mag echt wel wat groter zijn dan een armzalig kartonnetje water.

Niet te geloven! Terwijl ik dit plaats… een grote rookpluim. We zijn weer gestrand. Drie kwartier vertraging komt erbij, want er moet iets vervangen worden. Dit is een treinreis uit de hel. En we moeten morgen ook nog terug met dit vehikel. Ik houd mijn hart vast!

Inmiddels 4,5 uur vertraging. En we zijn er nog niet. In een bloedhete trein. Nog geen medewerkster gezien die even komt vragen of het gaat of dat je iets nodig hebt. Helemaal niets!

Van Praag blijft nu nog 23 uur over. Waarvan je er toch 8 moet slapen.
Schandalig!!!!!

"Very old train..."

Very old train...

"Train was very dirty and carts were…"

Train was very dirty and carts were very old. No AC, so during the day it was very hot. On two carts we had only one toilet working normally (one had no power another one was jammed). We also took breakfest: that box definately shouldn't cost 14 euro.

"Bait and switch scam"

I paid €498 for 2 tickets in a sleeper from Brussels to Berlin in February. In August, less than 12 hours before departure, and 2 hours after I had left home in England to meet the train, they emailed me to tell me we had been downgraded to a couchette. As I was already travelling I did not even see this email until I was standing on the platform trying to find my carriage.

They offered me €50 "goodwill" for each ticket. That left me paying €199 each for a couchette, which normally costs €149. They claim I accepted this when I declined their offer to cancel... standing on the platform 5 minutes before departure with a child, needing to be in Germany the next day.

The couchette was not what I had been looking forward to. In particular, the bed was as hard as a board and I did not get a good night's sleep. I'd also warn that I'm practise they did not offer the wake-up service they advertised.

I was bitterly disappointed with the service I received, and disgusted by the bait-and-switch scam treatment I got from their customer services. I hope a proper rail company picks up this route before I have to make this journey again.

Edit: The 'please email us' response below is incredibly disingenuous. I have emailed you. Your response is reflected in my disappointment above.

"Only outside of summer and for the experience, not gonna repeat unless train is renovated"

Took the Prague-Amsterdam route in a sleeper cabin for 6. For the price, better to take a plane. Only consider travelling outside of summer and for the experience, not gonna repeat unless train is renovated.
Pros: beautiful scenery, clean linen, beds okaish, staff is really nice.
Cons: very dated train, avoid in the summer at all costs, no air-co so all needs to be open and is very noisy/light, especially at stations, compartment for 6 too small, free water was boiling due to heat, no restaurant car, only snacks and sells stop at 11pm, toilets are old and some not working.

"Got a few hours sleep but no AC"

The carriages were fairly old. The airconditioning did not work on our journey so we were forced to leave the window slightly open. This resulted in a lot of noise throughout the journey and it got too cold in the middle of the night.

"We got there and back which is about all you can say positively"

24 hours before travelling with ES from Belgium to Prague, after driving all the way from Wales to Belgium, and whilst in the middle of our dinner we get notification from ES. Title is "Welcome to European Sleeper". Quite upbeat. Then upon reading the content it told again in an upbeat manner that we are being downgraded to a shared couchette from a private one. My wife has COPD which is one of the reasons we booked this and not a shared cabin nor took a plane (i.e. health risks re COVID). The food didn't go down well after that. I then spent the next 12 waking hours on WhatsApp and then onto email (as finally advised by the agent) trying to get someone to understand the health risks and to honor what we had booked. They gave us two options. Don't travel and get a refund or £25 compensation and 20% off next time (like there would be a next time). I was told there is "nothing we can do" as there was "no availability". Upon boarding the train we met the Carriage Steward. She told us we were in a shared cabin that would be occupied by others later in the journey. We again said that we had booked private. She looked at her tablet and said "Oh yes I can see that. That's wrong. Don't worry. I'll fix it". and did. If she could fix it why couldn't the agents who had the train occupancy plan and why did they put us through so much grief worry and stress. And why were we only offered £25 refund when the cost of a private couchette was way more than the £50 compensation?

On the way back it was private without argument despite our anxiety it would not be so but at around 11:30PM the fire alarm went off and the train stopped. To say it was loud was an understatement. The stewards were running back and forth saying they didn't know what was wrong for around 30 minutes with the alarm going off before it was finally turned sorted. The cause was someone spraying deodorant apparently. The only other problem was the couchette was boiling when we first got on but turned ice cold when the train started up and the aircon came on. There was no way of turning it off or down which was also confirmed by the steward so we froze for 12 hours with ES's standard offering of one thin sheet and one blanket per passenger.

ES saying in their literature that "If you are looking for a stress free way to get to the heart of cities.. you're in the right place" and "to travel by night train is relaxed, romantic and efficient" I beg to differ

"Our experience"

We travelled from Prague to Amsterdam with two bicycles and one bicycle trailer. The space and hooks for the bicycles were super, and enough space to handle. Our three person sleeping cabin was terrible. This sleeping compartment was from the middle ages. There was a terrible sewage smell in the first three cabins and ours was first... Also a high tone loud beep was sounding in the first three hours of the journey an was finally fixed by the crew after repeating complains. Luckily the first class compartment in front of ours was nearly empty, so we could escape the noise and smell when we were not sleeping.
Further there are no charging plugs, no wifi and nothing to order to eat. Everyone receives 0,5l water at the start of the journey, which I think is not enough for twelve hours. Getting more can be difficult, as the crew is not always easy to find. And we expected the possibility to buy a bit of food at a night train this size, so didn't bring our one...
All together I don't know if I will choose this option next time, and for sure will not recommend without warning!