Don’t book first class on Spain’s Renfe or RailEurope
Posted by lilyionamackenzie on July 26, 2010
We recently returned from a five week trip to London, Portugal, Spain, and Morocco. We were particularly looking forward to riding on Spain’s AVE fast train, anticipating excellent trains and wonderful service in first class. From everything I read online, I assumed we would be served a hot, elegant meal.
First disappointment: First class is a joke. Yes, really. Why?
Before leaving on our trip, we purchased a three-day first class Spain Eurorail pass, and booked one-way seats from Seville to Madrid, Granada to Cordoba, and Seville to Barcelona from RailEurope, anticipating excellent trains and good service. From the RailEurope website (and what little I could glean from the Renfe site), I understood that first-class (premier) tickets included a meal (from the RailEurope website: “Enjoy an a la carte menu served right at your seat.”) What we found was complete inconsistency in service and rules.
On the train from Seville to Madrid, we were given a skimpy snack. We also had to remind the staff to ask other riders not to use their cell phones in the car, though a sign clearly stated that cell phone users were to take their calls in the section between trains. This was far from the “warm and distinguished atmosphere” and “dedicated service” advertised on RailEurope. It was only on our train from Granada to Cordoba where a hot breakfast was served, a meal that we enjoyed.
On the trip from Sevilla to Barcelona, 4:00 PM to 9:30 PM, there weren’t any signs asking passengers to refrain from using their phones, so there was a a cacophony of ringing and loud talking that made that trip even more unpleasant. I also assumed that on a long trip we would get a hot meal. One of the Renfe agents at the information center in Seville told me a hot meal would be served, so I didn’t purchase something to eat on the trip. But all we were given were tiny rolls and cheese and a little ham. To make matters worse, the train ended up stalling 45 minutes outside of Barcelona. Only one announcement was made, in Spanish. Nothing in English. And we were kept in the dark, figuratively and literally, for two hours before another train arrived to rescue us, not knowing what was going to happen.
Surely we could have been informed more frequently of what was going on. It also would have been good public relations if someone had thanked us for our patience over the public address system and acknowledged the inconvenience we had all experienced (there were a lot of elderly people on this train, and they had no help in lugging their bags over to the train that rescued them).
In the future, I will book flights rather take trains, especially in Spain, since first class doesn’t live up to the hype and our experience with Renfe and RailEurope has not been a good one.
