Should I pay the $200+ per person available through www.raileurope.com,
or is there a way to get a better deal? This is for 2 people. We're only
interested in a double cabin. Thanks

---

Request for Question Clarification by joey-ga on 16 Aug 2004 16:55 PDT

A few questions:

  Do you carry an EU passport?

  Are you currently (this moment) in the EU?

  How old are you and your companion?

  What class of service do you want and are you looking for a couchette?

---

Clarification of Question by chicago1040-ga on 17 Aug 2004 06:34 PDT

EU Passport - No.
Currently in the EU - No, we're in the US.
Ages: 27 & 30.

We are looking for a private cabin for 2 people. The specific
class of service is not important, as long as there are no
additional people with us in the same room.

Thanks!

---

Clarification of Question by chicago1040-ga on 17 Aug 2004 06:38 PDT

Somehow the word "train" got dropped from the title of my question.
Thought I should mention it, just in case...

---

Clarification of Question by chicago1040-ga on 17 Aug 2004 10:23 PDT

I'm confused... raileurope.com is apparently cheaper than what you found.

You mention "first class double cabin" with shower EUR 490.
But the price on raileurope.com for a "Full Fare Adult Double Off Peak"
on First Class is US$ 200. That is US$ 400 for 2 people... cheaper than
what you found for 1st class... in fact it's the same price as the 2nd
class T2. Raileurope's site doesn't mention shower, so I'm wondering about
that.

Please note the specific date of travel (Oct 13) and one-way only.

BTW is the "EUR 120 first class" for the same type of (private)
accomodation?

BTW if you need additional time to research this, let me know if I need
to increase the price of the question.

Thanks!

---

Clarification of Question by chicago1040-ga on 17 Aug 2004 10:24 PDT

By the way I have relatives in England. I could use their
address if that gets a cheaper ticket.

---

Request for Question Clarification by politicalguru-ga on 17 Aug 2004 11:13 PDT

Found a flight for you, which could be much much cheaper. Would you
like it as an answer? (The flight availability might change, depending
on how soon you'll book it).

---

Clarification of Question by chicago1040-ga on 17 Aug 2004 14:25 PDT

No, thanks. We want an overnight sleeper train.

---

Clarification of Question by chicago1040-ga on 18 Aug 2004 07:45 PDT

Thanks, I did find the EUR 120 non-refundable "MINI C" ticket,
but through the sncf site, not trenitalia (trenitalia does not
display any prices to me).

I think you are correct on the ambiguity thing. On the sncf site it says:
  "Une fois validées, vos préférences seront prises en compte en
fonction des disponibilités."
which babelfish translates to "Once validated, your preferences will
be taken into account according to the availabilities."

So I guess raileurope.com is the best deal after all, if we want a guaranteed
reservation. That's assuming the same vagueness doesn't apply to their tickets...

---

Clarification of Question by chicago1040-ga on 18 Aug 2004 07:49 PDT

Weird! After picking "double with shower" from the pop-up dialog,
the price goes up:

490.00?   	
?  NORMAL ADULTE : Echangeable avant le départ. Remboursable: 100%
avant départ et 90% après départ.

RailEurope.com has a reputation for being expensive, and they only
offer standard fares, not special offers. However they have a
*monopoly* on European ticket sales to the USA. If you can use an
Italian address to receive tickets, you can book online and get
tickets sent to the Italian address.

You can check times, but they don't have fares for that route, at
www.bahn.de - there's a link to English on the left.

Venezia Mestre 13.10.04 dep 20:10
Paris-Bercy    14.10.04 arr 08:23

Train number 222.

You will need to use European date format, 24-hour clock and local
place names on most sites.

You should be able to buy your tickets and collect from the station
using either www.sncf.com or www.trenitalia.it (click on Union flag
for English version)

Using sncf and a second class T2 cabin ("You will travel together in
the same compartment exclusively reserved for you"), fares for a
single journey came up as EUR 320 (NORMAL ADULTE : Exchangeable before
departure. Refundable: 100% before departure and 90% after.) or in
first class double cabin with shower EUR 490.

EUR 320 is USD 394, but note this is the fare for TWO people
travelling. RailEurope are effectively charging you almost double the
going rate.

The system also offered a fare of EUR 120 first class (  MINI C : This
ticket cannot be exchanged or refunded).

Fares will vary according to when you book.

Trenitalia expects to post the tickets to an Italian address -
presumably you have a hotel or similar.

Owain

The EUR 120 first class fare wasn't completely clear about the
accommodation type but as far as I could understand it was for double
cabin. Possibly the ambiguity is that with that discount ticket type,
they don't allocate allocate exact accommodation.

Re raileurope, perhaps raileurope assume all cabins are first class?

The fares were correct at the time I commented, checked on the live
trenitalia website for 1-way travel on the date you gave, using the
train shown. They may have changed today.

Using a British address would probably be possible; might be advisable
to ask your relatives to use their credit card to book so that the
billing address and ticket address agree.

Owain

You might also want to use googlegroups search on
news:rec.travel.europe - there is at least one American living it
Italy who frequents the group and train travel gets discussed often.

Owain