adrienne

<< I have never heard the 4- or 6-person compartments were difference sizes >>

According to seat61, the couchette compartments are the same size:

"the 4-berth couchette compartments are the same size as the 6-berth rooms, just with fewer passengers per room"

I've never seen a compartment train where the compartments were varying sizes.

spaarne

<i>adrienne on Aug 7, 14 at 7:46pm
I've never seen a compartment train where the compartments were varying sizes.</i>

The one or two bed first class sleepers I have been on are smaller, and include a full bath.

PalenQ

spaarne - I and adrienne are talking about couchette wagon compartment not those in the sleeper car. Specifically 4- and 6-person compartments being the exact same size - thus they can easily convert a 4-person one to a 6-person one just by putting up the extra bed in the middle that is left down to make a 4-person compartment - thus 4-person couchette compartments have more head room between the lower and upper berths but the compartments are the same size.

ckwmn

JimG, thanks for your post. I touched base with Byron at budget Europe travel as spaarne suggested and he noted that DB does accept reservations over the phone and take American credit cards manually.. I tried at 90 days, 60 days and now we are about 40 days out... I will try once more and then just plan to call.

Christina

Are you sure it wasn't your credit card refusing the charge? They often do that with foreign charges if you haven't notified them to expect it. At least a couple of my cards do. If so, you can try all you want and it will never work.

oscarandpenelope

I was able to reserve online for CNL Munich to Amsterdam last year with my American credit card without any problem. However earlier this week, when I tried to book Basel to Copenhagen, using the same bahn.de account and the same credit card, I got the same error webpage as you did. According to seat61.com, the Basel to Copenhagen line are being scrapped later this year, as well as the Paris-Munich one (and a few others).

ckwmn

Christina, fair point - yes, I am sure. I called the credit card and made sure there wasn't a hold. Since then, I've tried the transaction at least 4 times. I called DBahn directly today via Skype and after 20 minutes on hold, I spoke with a woman who said that the web for the CNL train is down and to try back later this week.

O&P, I did a google search for more info on the closing of some CNL routes and did find confirmation for what you mentioned. It looks like DB is stopping night service on most routes in December. From what I read, it doesn't seem like it should be affecting my early October booking, but it may have something to do with the downed web page, whilst they figure out booking/programming up to that point. Too bad - but makes obvious sense from a business standpoint.

PalenQ

It looks like DB is stopping night service on most routes in December>

Well on international routes that seems to be the case but not domestically I think as several internal night trains have been running OK for years. CityNightLiner is of course part of DB but has its own autonomy in a way and must support itself.

PalenQ

High-speed trains no doubt take their toll on night trains - like Munich to Paris - used to be an all-day travail but now can be done in several hours - maybe one reason the long running Munich to Paris night train will probably be scrubbed in ensuing months.