We leave for Europe June 14th. That said...
1.) Is it too late to make train reservations from here? If not, who should I use?
2.) If it is too late, can I make reservations for all segments/countries of our trip when I land in Dublin? If so, where do I do this at? The Eurail Aid office? A train station?
In which countries will you be taking trains? You can't make reservations for trains outside of Ireland at Irish train stations.
As long as you are just talking about simple seat reservations, not supplemental charges for premium trains or reservation of accommodations on night trains, you should be able to make reserations almost anywhere up until train time. If you want to go to the ticket counter at the train station in Dublin when you arrive, that should be fine.
You really should tell us what kind of reservations (night train, premium train, or seats) and in what country.
The reservations I'd like to make are for overnight trains:
June 21: Rome to Bern (I'm going to Gimmelwald)
June 23: Bern to Florence
June 30: Venice to Salzburg
July 6: Somewhere in Germany to Paris
Also, I just looked up raileurope's shipping policy - they say 2-3 days standard and overnight for an extra fee.
What are your thoughts?
RailEurope is rather expensive, I think. I types in my dates and got the following prices (for 2 people each):
1.) Rome-Bern (couchette T4) $104
2.) Bern-Florence (couchette T6) $74
3.) Venice-Salzburg (couchette T6) $134
Would I be getting ripped off if I booked with RailEurope or is this the going rate?
Call the US office for Euraide. For one $50 fee you can get as many seat reservations and sleeping accommodation supplements you wish for as many people as you wish at in-Europe prices.
One of the best kept, dirty-little-secrets of European travel is that rail passes are no long the great deal they once were. As long as you stick to the run-of-the-mill trains, you're ok, but don't try to use one of the special trains.
In Italy, the passholder surcharge for using a EuroStar, and on many lines that is about all there is except very slow regional trains, is almost half of the full fare.
Similarly, try to get a reservation for a night train. Sorry Charlie. None of the national rail companies sell the "reservations" online any longer. Of course you can always wait until you get to Europe and try to reserve sleeping accommodations then, but they will probably all be gobbled up by the Europeans by then.
For a single night train reservation, RailEurope might be your best source. More than one - you're probably better off with Euraide. Still, you're paying a lot extra over the cost that Europeans pay.
There are a lot of special fares out there on national rail company websites for non-railpass holders. CityNightLine, a German Rail subsidiary, offers great Europa-Spezial fares, rail and accommodations, often for not much more than the passholder fare.
