Euraide

Nick, We've gone through most of this already. The price (€300+) you're looking at is the "Global" price, which includes both the rail part (which is already covered by your pass) and the accommodations for the night. You want just the accommodations part, which is often referred to as a (pass holder) reservation. The pass holder reservation for a 3 person cabin on that train is €135. €135 is the counter price of the reservation in Germany. Euraide would buy it over there for that price and send it to you for a $50 handling fee). For some reason, because that train starts outside of Germany (Amsterdam) and ends outside of Germany (Prague) German Rail can't (or won't) sell reservaions for it online, but I'm sure that compartment is yours for the duration of the train. Book the accommodations from Amsterdam to Bad Schandau. When you get to Amsterdam, tell them you want to stay in the compartment to Prague. Show them that you have a rail pass so you are good to Prague. I don't think they will deny you; they can't rerent the sleeper from Bad Schandau to Prague. If they won't let you, you are legal to Bad Schandau, anyhow. Get off the train there at 7:30 and take the next train to Prague in an hour. Remember, by the 7 PM rule, your rail pass is validated for the second day, so you can use the train to Prague at no extra cost. If this scheme really makes you nervous, book the compartment from Emmerick to Prague (same price) and get pass holder reservations for seats from Amsterdam to Bad Schandau (€27, 3 x €9). You can sit in the seat from Amsterdam to Emmerick then move to your compartment. €27 is $38, still cheaper than $50.

Nick, it looks like you have to buy either into, or out of, Germany to purchase passholder res. online - just not pasing through Germany as your CNL train does. Lee's been talking about doing an Amsterdam-Dresden route, then tacking on the Dresden-Prague part. Somehow. FYI, this train arrives in Dresden at 6:55AM. The other choice that you have is to buy a reservation from Amsterdam to Emmerlich, then one from Emmerlich to Prague. The Emmerlich to Prague is the one you can buy online from bahn.com for €135 (as Lee said, the same as buying Ams.-Dresden) - when you click on "Check Availablilty", that page will give you several options; look at the very bottom where it says "Book S e l e c t e d Offer" in a bright orange box. NEXT to that it says "Book Only Extra Charge" - THAT'S what you want to click on! Then, your third choice is "Pass Offer"; choose that. First and Second Class are the same price; QUICKLY choose First Class before they sell out!!! The other choices have, as you can see. This is the international train website for The Netherlands. (cont.)

(cont.) This particular option would allow you to be sure of being OK to Prague...but it's ugly getting to Emmerich. **Your CNL train leaves Emmerich at 20:50 - you'd have to be Very Sure of being there in time!!! I don't have a lot of time right now to look into all of the options, but maybe you'll see something without 4 changes of trains b/n Ams. and Emmerich! And you could book that in Ams. Again, be sure you are in Emmerich in time to catch your CNL train!!! Or, give EurAide $50 :-( Whatever you do, DON'T wait until you get there to make res.! I'd get them ASAP, however you do it. FYI - It's $50 total; if you have other res. to make, they can do those, also. They're definitely legit; RS has used them, and I've used them several times in their Munich Hbf office. No problems. Good luck!

"Lee's been talking about doing an Amsterdam-Dresden route," Actually, I only mentioned Dresden in my first post because it was "off the top of my head", and I knew that that train stopped in Dresden. Then I looked at the detailed routing and saw that it also stops in Bad Schandau, a small town in the Sachsen Schweiz, closer to the Czech border, at ~7:30. I also see that the CNL train drops cars in Berlin. The cars for Prague are combined with 2nd class coaches to form a Schnellzug, D 60457. If they would not let him stay in the compartment, since his rail pass will be valid for the 17th, he should be able to move into one of the 2nd class coaches just before or at Bad Schandau.

It's a moot point now - reservations all made!

YES! Sorry Lee. I meant to post earlier that we actually called Rail Europe's US phone number and got everything booked, reserved and paid for. Only charge (other than the reservations) was an $18 S&H fee but that's fair since we got three overnights and a day trip between Prague and Vienna. Thanks to both you and Eileen for all of your help. Best wishes and safe travels!

I'm frugal, but I think that was $18 well spent! Sometimes you've just gotta spend some $$$...and save some headaches/time/trouble...

The $18 was pretty well spent, at least compared to going to Euraide (but not the Bahn). But the real question is this. The Bahn charges €135 ($195) for everyone in a deluxe compartment (wash basin, WC, shower). As near as I can see, the price through Rail Europe was $418, and that for an econo double compartment (w/o WC/shower). Is that what you spent?