cpilgrim

Hi all,

I'm going to be in the UK in March of this year. I am planning to do a lot of train traveling so I decided to go ahead and purchase an 8 day consecutive Britrail pass. Now I am thinking of taking the Night Riviera to Cornwall on the 14th or 15th of March. At the time I purchased the rail pass I hadn't considered this option, now I'm wondering if it is a possibility. How does one go about reserving and paying for a berth before I go (2 person berth; my husband will be with me), and does my railpass "count" as my ticket, so will I only be paying for the additional berth and not the cost of the ticket itself? I tried to go through the process at firstgreatwestern.com but I'm really confused regarding terminology, but would want to go ahead and get this reserved as I am sure they go quickly. If you have any words of wisdom I would greatly appreciate it!

cpilgrim

Also, I purchased the passes through Rick Steves (no shipping charge btw!) if that matters.

GeoffHamer

With a railpass, you simply need to pay the sleeper supplement which, I believe, is £30 per person in a two-berth compartment. This includes morning coffee or tea.
I doubt whether you can book the sleeper supplement on-line, so you'd need to phone First Great Western or go back to the agency which sold you the pass. This train is very unlikely to be fully booked on a weekday in March, so you should be able to book it when you get to Britain. The busiest nights will be around weekends - Fridays and Sundays.
Much more information is on
www.seat61.com/Cornwall-sleeper.htm

cpilgrim

Thanks for the assistance GeoffHamer! I think you are correct; it does not appear that I can buy the supplement online, based on the options with which I am presented at the FGW website, so I may just buy the advance-- for both of us the supplement would be 30 pounds apiece, but right now you can get a double berth (one room, two bunks) advance ticket for 69 pounds all told, so only a difference of 9 pounds (astounding!). Almost as cheap as the BandBs we have been booking! Of course the sleep may not be quite as good, as we're not going all the way to the end of the line. I am sure, as you mentioned, that this train will not get booked up early, but of course I have an obsession with being overprepared so I may eat the additional charge for the luxury of knowing before we get there! I also read a rumor online somewhere (could not find anything substantiated by an official word on the subject)that FGW only allows a few railpass holders to reserve sleepers due to demand, but it doesn't appear that the demand for this ticket is too high to begin with.

Chris_Skelton

From what I understand the Night Riviera sleepers are not included with the pass. I believe it's the same with Caledonian Sleepers as well.

Here is a little more info on the Night Riviera sleepers I found by doing a google search.

https://www.britainontrack.com/sleepers

GeoffHamer

The fare is covered by the rail pass. A pass holder only has to pay the supplement for a sleeping berth (the extra charge for sleeping in a bed instead of sitting in a seat).
Britain on Track is a Canadian agency. It is much better to get information from the train companies actually running the trains rather than an agency 3000 miles away.

corinascot

We're hoping to take the Night Riviera in July when we are in England. I had the same question. You might be there right now. If you wouldn't mind, I'd appreciate hearing your report on the train.

Thanks!