What I Liked
- The Standard Premier Cabin is small and classy
- Complimentary food and tea/coffee
- Large seats
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Free Wi-Fi for all passengers
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Eurostar Standard Premier is something completely different! There’s nothing like it on any other train or plane. Standard Premier is something of a sweet spot. The price is often just £10 more than a standard ticket. For the extra £10, you get a business premier seat and a complimentary meal. In this article, I’ll explain exactly what to expect, with Standard Premier. I’ll also review my recent trip, from London to Paris. On this occasion, I travelled with my family.
Eurostar operate trains from London to destinations in Europe. These destinations include Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. You travel from the centre of one city to another, on a high speed train. If I go to Paris, I’ll always take the train.
Eurostar offer 3 classes on their trains. Standard, Standard Premier and Business Premier. It’s always worth checking the price of Standard Premier. Below is a quick summary of the Standard Premier Service:
I’ve taken Standard Premier many times. In my view, they’ve definitely devalued the service over the years. The meals used to be better.
Eurostar have a 3 class service. Standard, Standard Premier and Business Premier. The Standard Premier offering is frankly weird. The seat is exactly the same as Business Premier, but everything else is inferior. You get an inferior meal. You don’t get lounge access or dedicated check-in desks.
However, the pricing can be very attractive – often only £10 more than a Standard ticket. I paid £629 for 3 tickets, from St Pancras to Paris. Given that it was a UK public holiday, it was the cheapest way for me to travel. It’s also the fastest way. Central London to Central Paris in 2 hours.
Business Premier is the highest class of service with Eurostar. You get the same seat as Standard Premier, an upgraded meal, lounge access and dedicated checkin desks. The tickets start at £500 for a return to Paris (1 person). I really don’t view this as good value. There are other ways to get access to the Eurostar Lounges (details below).
The check-in process at London St Pancras is easier than taking a plane. You keep your luggage with you, so that makes the process much faster. With Standard Premier, there are no special check-in desks.
The train departed at 11am. St Pancras was absolutely rammed! View the photos above. Fortunately, the queue moved fast. Also, an agent took pity on my family and took us through staff security.
As I’ve gotten older, business class checkin is something I’ve come to appreciate. I travel in business class, 70% of the time. I really notice when I use economy checkin desks! The queues are often massive, with wait times of up to an hour.
The Standard Premier Cabin is the same as Business Premier. The cabin is nice, with spacious seats. I sat on 4 large seats and a big table, with my family. It’s worth pointing out that family tables are available on standard seats too. However, they are not as large.
There were power ports, with both UK and European power sockets. Eurostar offer free wi-fi for all guests, which is a nice touch. I was able to use my laptop to get some work done (i.e. write this review!).
The cabin doesn’t offer seat back entertainment. Train seats haven’t had the same level of innovation as airplane seats! Eurostar do offer entertainment, through your own devices. I didn’t check out their entertainment offerings. It seemed like too much hassle for a 2 hour train ride!
You get a complimentary meal in Standard Premier. However, this has been devalued, compared to previous years. The Eurostar Standard Premier breakfast had the following
I had a bite of the Pan au chocolat and it wasn’t the best, so I didn’t finish it. I didn’t fancy anything else from the breakfast. So I had a small cup of tea, but nothing else. The food was little more than a snack.
In days gone by, I found the meal to be more substantial. I remember getting a decent sized meal on a tray. A cold pie, some sides and a small bottle of wine.
You don’t get access to Eurostar’s lounges with a Standard Premier Ticket. You’ll need to sit in the main Terminal at St Pancras. The terminal has a Pret A Manger and other outlets. On this trip, the queue was pretty small.
The Eurostar Lounges in London and Paris are pretty good. My review of the London one is here. My review of the Paris one is here. Both lounges have a manned cocktail bar. The Paris bar looks like something out of a Bond Film! That being said, the food in both lounges is pretty slim.
Most importantly, you don’t need a Business Premier Ticket to get access. If you have a UK Issued Amex Platinum Card, then you get access. My wife has a free supplementary card, so she also has access to the Eurostar Lounges. If you apply through this link, then you get a higher sign up bonus (65,000, compared to the ordinary 30,000). The link defaults to the Business Platinum Card. If you want the personal platinum card, go to “View all Cards with a Referral offer” on the top left of the screen. You get loads of other benefits with the Amex platinum card too.
Another cool offer is from Marriott Timeshare. You can earn 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points. By sitting through a ‘virtual presentation’. The Wellesley Knightsbridge charges around £1,000 per night to stay there. You can use 80,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points to book the room instead.
The presentation will take place over zoom. There is no obligation to buy anything. You don’t need to turn your camera on, if you don’t want to!
If you want to do a virtual presentation, then please email me. Give me your name, email, phone number (including country code) and the city you live in.
I have some reviews of Marriott Timeshare Properties. Full disclosure: I’m a happy owner. Crystal Shores is an EPIC resort on the Gulf Coast of Florida. I had a top floor apartment, with STUNNING sea view. Waikoloa Ocean Club is a beachfront resort in Big Island, Hawaii. There are three swimming pools and four hot tubs.
