How to get the "Reservation" costs for the night trains?

Your best bet is to contact one of RailEurope's agents in Hong Kong as to reservations/accommodations bookings. You can find a list at http://www.raileurope.fr/murphy/murphy2/where_to_buy-REG.php?country=6

If you have a Eurail pass, one of the best sites to make your night train reservations is www.raileurope.com. They specialize in railpasses and reservations. They have a small box on the tickets page to check if you have a railpass. Raileurope is a ticket broker and you will pay a higher price. However, for night trains, you really should book as soon as possible as they do fill up. I don't think that www.trenitalia.com has any provisions on their website for railpass reservations. The German website, www.bahn.de, seems to have one but the journey you describe is not in Germany.

Unfortunately, Larry, Vini can't use the raileurope.com website from Hong Kong...they won't send her the reservations.

Thanks Norm. I didn't know that.

Another option might be to call the German rail network to see if they will make reservations-only for you. They sell non-German tickets over the phone, but I don't know about railpass reservations on non-German trains. Maybe Tim or Andreas could chime in on this. Their number is 001-49-1805-996633. If you call during Germany's daytime, you'll have better luck getting an English agent. If you can, this will certainly be cheaper than going through RailEurope or its agents.

If you only want to know (for planning purposes) what the actually cost would be for reservations as purchased in Europe, Euraide has this information online at www.euraide.com. Euraide will also buy them for US residents and send them over here for a $50 per order fee. I don't know if they will do that for people outside the U.S., but you could contact them.

Other than that, you have discovered the dirty little secret about rail passes- none of the European national railroads really want to accommodate you. No one, of whom I am aware, sells passholder night train "reservations" online. You can definitely get reservations for German related night trains at the Bahn number cited by Norm, and possible for others in Europe as well.

Thank you all.. I think I am just going to skip the railcard altogether, it just seems to be too much of a hassle, as I would need reservations for a lot of my itinerary..
It seems that buying p2p tickets from the different websites may be a better idea.
Of course, I am assuming that if u buy a ticket from trenitalia.com, you are getting the best possible price..

Thanks for all the info!

With or without a railpass, you need to reserve accommodations on a night train as soon as you can commit. You should be able to do it on the Italian Rail website.

Vini...some have reported problems purchasing tickets at trenitalia.com. One suggestion that seems to work is to register first....not during the actual booking process....then wait until the confirming e-mail with a password comes through. Get back on line immediately, sign in and change your password to something you can remember. Then you should be OK to go through with purchases. And yes, you will get the best prices there. Look for Amica fares, which are 20% off standard. But make sure you check the conditions for refunds and/or changes.

Thank You.. Lee and Norm.. have looked at the trenitalia website..and will keep your suggestions in mind..
:-)