Newlyweds tell of ‘ruined’ Disneyland Paris plans as Eurostar services cancelled

Eurostar chaos has left travellers bound for the continent on the verge of tears as they told of “cancelled” New Year’s plans in Paris, “ruined” trips to Disneyland and skiing trips in jeopardy.

The railway company, which runs services from London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, has cancelled all of its Saturday services because of a flooded tunnel in Kent.

A thronging London St Pancras International on Saturday morning saw crestfallen travellers sitting on suitcases in the concourse, as people could be heard frantically trying to find alternative routes to their destinations.

A man, presumed to be a taxi driver, was also seen wondering around the station clutching an iPad which said “taxi to Paris”.

Among them were newlyweds Nicole Carrera, 29, and her husband Christopher, 31, who said their plans to spend New Year’s Eve at Disneyland Paris are “ruined” due to the travel disruption.

The holidaying New Yorkers were due to catch a train from London St Pancras International to Paris on Saturday morning but it was cancelled.

They have had to rebook for a 2.30pm outbound train on Sunday, scuppering their plans to spend New Year’s Eve at the theme park and leaving them out of pocket for a non-refundable hotel booked in Paris for Saturday evening.

Ms Carrera, who works for cosmetics firm L’Oreal, told the PA news agency: “We actually got married in October and we had this trip planned before we got engaged… we planned this trip because we’ve always wanted to come to London/Paris. We were going to Paris, for like, around the holiday season because the cities are nice during the holidays and we had never been, it was on our list of places to travel and we just wanted to come visit.

“So we’ve been in London since Wednesday and we wanted to leave today because we were actually supposed to go to Disney Paris tomorrow for New Year’s Eve.

“So obviously those plans our ruined because now we won’t get into Paris tomorrow until about 6pm. So we’re just going to walk around the city (Paris) tomorrow when we get there and finally get to our hotel. It’s just one of those things.”

She added: “We go to Disney in the States all the time in Florida so we were like, we might as well go while we’re there, what a better way to celebrate New Year’s, there’s so many things to do.”

Luana Andrade, 36, her husband Rondi Oroujo, 32, and their three-year-old son, who live in Dublin, were also marooned at St Pancras International along with six visiting relatives from Brazil, including his 13-year-old niece and nephew, seven.

They had planned to spend New Year’s Eve and day in Paris before heading to the theme park on Tuesday, but their outbound train was cancelled and they said there is no availability to reschedule for Sunday, leaving them trying to book an “expensive” flight and with nowhere to stay in London on Saturday.

Ms Andrade said they are “trying not to be homeless with children in the cold London night”, adding: “Our problem is to get a night to sleep because London is really expensive and we don’t have an Airbnb to stay at tonight.”

Mr Oroujo added: “We going to have to rearrange everything. I don’t think we are going to be able to spend New Year’s Eve (in Paris) because even if we get a flight for tomorrow, even if we get a very expensive one, we’re going to get there at like 10pm/11pm.”

“It’s not a trip, it’s a dream trip,” Ms Andrade said.

“It’s a big deal for our family because we are from Brazil, so it’s expensive.

“We planned for months, almost a year, and now probably we don’t get it.”

Sitting on the floor elsewhere in the international terminus were Christina David, 25, and Georgina Benyamin, 26, from Sydney, Australia.

They have been travelling in Europe for almost a month and the final stop in their trip is Paris, where they hoped to spend New Year’s Eve before flying home on January 7.

The pair told how they have “travelled Europe on a budget” before splashing out on an “expensive hotel with an Eiffel Tower view” for the final leg of their trip.

Ms Benyamin added: “We travelled Europe on a budget and then like once we hit New Year’s we’re going to go hard, watch Paris light up, I don’t think that’s going to happen… I’m going to cry.”

She said she felt “frustrated, angry, sad.”

Ms David added: “There were lots of people crying… we don’t know where to go, we have nowhere to stay.”

Ms Benyamin said their “New Year’s plans are cancelled”.

“We booked another train for tomorrow, we’re just hoping that one doesn’t get cancelled as well because otherwise we’re actually f*****, we don’t know what to do,” Ms David said.

Ms Benyamin said: “Now we have to book a hotel to stay for the night here”, as Ms David added: “We’ve got nowhere to stay.”

Simon Shaw, 36, and his wife Heather, 37, from Derbyshire, are travelling in a party of eight, comprised of their wider family and their son, eight, and daughter, five, hoping to reach the French Alps for a skiing holiday.

Mr Shaw said: “We just arrived and saw everything was cancelled this morning, got here at 7am and it was chaos so we don’t know what’s happening. We will get there one way or another.”