MaureenB

Kane, you're right about Budget Europe being nice. I just talked with Bob there. He was helpful pricing passes and tickets for me. After spending several minutes on the phone with me, he suggested I wait till I'm in Italy to buy our simple tickets, since it's cheaper there and won't be very busy yet.

cruiseluv

I am kane or Maureen,

Do you know if Budget Europa offers the 29/ 39 Euros promotion(1st class)on Eurostar trains (if you are taking any Eurostar service)?

Thanks

MaureenB

Cruiseluv, I'm sorry I don't know. But it's easy to call BudgetEuropeTravel.com, at 1 800 441 9413 or 1 800 441 2387.

i_am_kane

cruiseluv,

I agree with MaureenB. Call Budget Europe - they are very helpful.

They will tell you which Trenitalia "products" they are allowed to sell according to their contract with them.

cruiseluv

Thanks, I will do that.

My trip is not until August so I can't buy the tickets yet. I was just curious in case this promotion applied to you and you knew the answer.

IdyllicItaly

I haven't used this feature of the Trenitalia website but I think it is designed to address the problem of only being able to buy 5 tickets at a time yet having more than 5 people sit together.

When you buy your tickets online, you are prompted to click on your preferred locations of the seats. When the transaction is completed, you receive a confirmation with the seat and carriage numbers.

There is also a prompt for entering the carriage and seat number of the person you want to sit next to. The prompt says, "Seat near to. Enter the carriage and seat number beside which you wish to travel herequot; You use that if you already hold a reservation, or friends do, and you want to sit next to them when you book more seat reservations.

So, if you buy up to 5 tickets, you will receive seat numbers and the carriage number for that reservation. Then, when you buy the next set of tickets, you can specify the seat number and carriage number of one of the tickets you already purchased. In that way, your seats should be very close together, all in the same carriage.

Suzy Kane

guanciale

It's great to read all this info about Trenitalia, as I've been having a hard time trying to buy tickets for my family of 4 for June (Rome to Venice). Can anyone tell me how long it takes for them to e-mail my "User ID" after I register, so that I can complete the purchase? Thanks!

i_am_kane

Suzy, Okay, so we have two Kane's on this board (I've noticed your name before).

You have given me a nudge to book these 10 tickets on line with your explanation of the procedure for purchasing multiple seats.

BTW both Budget Europe and Rail Europe have been unable to book our tickets because the trains aren't loaded into their systems (I've been told.) We about 48 days prior to our first train date.

I have a sneaky suspicion that it would be possible to book the tickets on the Trenitalia web site, if I could just get the courage up to click the "Buy" button! I would save myself over $600 big ones.

ira

Hi G,

>Can anyone tell me how long it takes for them to e-mail my "User ID" after I register, <

If you have aol.com, probably forever.

If you don't get a response in about 48 hr, open an account at www.yahoo.com or www.hotmail.com and try again.

guanciale

Ira, thanks...you are a wealth of knowledge. I don't have aol.com, but comcast.net. I'll wait until tomorrow to see if I get a response, before calling a travel agent. When I tried to start over to buy tickets, the system told me in Italian that my e-mail address is already in use...so it's in there, they are just not giving me the user ID I need to complete the purchase! Guess this is why travel agents stay in business. Thanks again!

romers

Hi, I'm having trouble with the trenitalia website and seat selection. With the picture displayed, I can't tell which side is the window side. It's a first class Intercity train from rome to manarola (cinqe terre) and there's 3 seats facing another 3 seats. Is the left side or the right side next to the window?

Thanks!

angelthepep

Left side is the window side. When you put your mouse over the seat it says "Finestrino". The right says is "Corridoio" or passage way

kswl

Much sympathy here, Kane. The same problem happened with us in 2004 and we ended up buying much more expensive tickets from RailEurope. Good luck!

i_am_kane

kswl,

I didn't let the Trenitalia web site get the best of me...I conquered it and (hopefully) saved some money.

Trip's over and now it's time to pay the piper.

kswl

Oh Kane, when will I ever learn to look at the date of the original post????

Good for you, though, successfully navigating that site. It seemed to give us different options every time we logged on.

Paying for the trips isn't nearly as fun as going on them. I guess that's why I don't mind priceline, because you've paid in advance. Hope your trip was wonderful!