Eurostar

Paris (Gare du Nord) to London (St. Pancras) via Eurostar
The next part of our trip was quick 2:15 trip from Gare du Nord to St. Pancras, on the way to LHR. A far cry from newer St. Pancras, Gare du Nord is pretty old and run down, with a 20 minute queue passport control, UK immigration, and security. Boarding with a few hundred new friends was a little crowded and chaotic as the GA opened the doors and the masses crowded the door from multiple directions. I think the secret here is to simply board later.

The seats are still the same reasonably comfortable ones that I recall from two years ago. And fortunately, our car was the least full of the cars I saw. But what's the deal with no wifi?
Thalys has had wifi for at least a couple of years now.

As others have noted, a noticeable decline in premium service. Although friendly and hard working, cabin staff was hard pressed to serve 5 or 6 cars in the allotted time. In car 10, service began about 90 minutes after departure, or as we entered the tunnel. Prior to that, I found the bar car and bought some snacks.

Gone is a full meal, replaced by a "light snack". Stuffed conchiglie pasta with parmesan cream, marinated green and black olives with olive oil oil and herbs, Lyon salami with rushed walnuts... all reasonably tasty.

In contrast to Gare du Nord, St. Pancras is bright, clean and nice way to arrive in London.

Seems like Eurostar's strategy is to cut back on service in Standard Premier (the old Leisure Select), making more of a distinction between Business and Standard with the goal of up-selling the Business cabin.