European Rail Travel - Sleeping berths- odd man out

Long time flyer now starting to become a German Train Junkie.

Nine of us are taking the City Night Light train from Mannheim via Frankfurt to Copenhagen. Looking at our sleeping options we have 2 grandparents who want a deluxe 2 person sleeper (middle of the night bathroom runs), 2 more grandparents who want a 4 person berth and will let us put some of our family in the other 2 beds, and that leaves us with 3 people.

My question is this... can we "buy" the last berth in the compartment so as to have the privacy? Do we just book it as a person? Do I just book it as a seat reservation without a ticket for that last extra seat and we are good? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

If you think there are better choices for this group please share. We want to be fairly rested since we are heading to a cruise but really want to experience Europe as we go.

Isn't it cheaper to buy a single cabin for one of the people rather than do that?

Neil

Nine of us are taking the City Night Light train from Mannheim via Frankfurt to Copenhagen. Looking at our sleeping options we have 2 grandparents who want a deluxe 2 person sleeper (middle of the night bathroom runs), 2 more grandparents who want a 4 person berth and will let us put some of our family in the other 2 beds, and that leaves us with 3 people.


It seems that the sleeper carriage on the Basel-(Mannheim-Frankfurt)-Copenhagen route is a double-decker - see here (http://www.citynightline.de/citynightline/view/en/service/komfortklassen/schlafwagen/doppelstock_en.shtml).

These double-decker carriages have the following compartment options:
- 2-berth deluxe sleeper: these are great, being upstairs (= good view, during day-time), and much more spacious than other sleeper compartments, so well worth the additional cost, IMHO. (Meanwhile, on the single-deck Comfortline carriages, the deluxe is pretty much the same as an economy compartment, just plus a very compact shower/WC).

- 4-berth economy sleeper: there is only one of these per double-deck carriage. So, unless there are 2 sleeper carriages on that train (there might be, but I'm not sure), then you'll only be able to get one 4-berth sleeper compartment anyway (and even that may not be available, if someone else has booked it first).

- 2-berth economy sleeper: these are sold as 1-berth or 2-berth. (On the Comfortline carriages, the economy compartments can be configured with 1, 2 or 3-berths (so no problem for a group of 3 people), and have inter-connecting doors, which gives options for a 4 or 6 berth configuration. However, the compartments on the double-deckers are only fitted with 2 berths, and I'm fairly sure that none of the compartments interconnect, so these additional options don't exist).

So, your best option for the 3 remaining people will probably be to get one 2-berth compartment, and one single-berth compartment.

(I assume that by "4 person berth", you're referring to a 4-berth sleeper compartment. There are also 4-berth couchette compartments, but these are always sold 'per berth', and there's no way of blocking the additional berth.)


My question is this... can we "buy" the last berth in the compartment so as to have the privacy? Do we just book it as a person? Do I just book it as a seat reservation without a ticket for that last extra seat and we are good?


I don't think this would work. If you wanted to block the additional berth, I strongly suspect that DB would expect to see a sleeper reservation and a ticket. And, as pacer142 has pointed, two 2-berth sleeper tickets will be more expensive than one single-berth sleeper ticket (eg: a starting price of 2x €99, rather than 1x €139).

In theory you could book all of this on bahn.de (http://bahn.de), although I think you'd have to do it as 2, if not 3, separate bookings. For a large and complicated booking like this, you're probably better off phoning DB (for a journey within Germany, a party of 9 should be eligible for a group discount - but I'm not sure about an international journey).

First I am flattered that you think my German is strong enough to handle a phone conversation with DB.

Would booking a "extra" 5 year old (who doesn't exist) but has a paid seat/ berth in our 4 berth compartment cause problems with immigration since there could not be a passport for said child as we cross into Denmark.

Using tonight's pricing the difference of adding "extra child" makes the entire compartment cost 159 EUR but having 3 people in an economy double is 219 EUR
The savings of 60 EUR is a fair amount of good German beer, but not enough that I want to have problems at 2 am with the immigration officials.

Thoughts on "extra children" and passports.

The savings of 60 EUR is a fair amount of good German beer, but not enough that I want to have problems at 2 am with the immigration officials.

What Immigration officials??

While the previous Danish government did, briefly, reintroduce border controls all returned to normal when the current government came to power last year.

First I am flattered that you think my German is strong enough to handle a phone conversation with DB.

Would booking a "extra" 5 year old (who doesn't exist) but has a paid seat/ berth in our 4 berth compartment cause problems with immigration since there could not be a passport for said child as we cross into Denmark.

Using tonight's pricing the difference of adding "extra child" makes the entire compartment cost 159 EUR but having 3 people in an economy double is 219 EUR
The savings of 60 EUR is a fair amount of good German beer, but not enough that I want to have problems at 2 am with the immigration officials.

Thoughts on "extra children" and passports.
As Germany & Denmark are both Schengen countries there should be no border control

As Germany & Denmark are both Schengen countries there should be no border control

The previous Danish government reintroduced border controls last July. They lost the General Election, and the current government has now abolished border controls again.

It was all big news in Germany (especially the reintroduction of border controls at the height of the summer holiday season when thousands and thousands of Germans were flocking to the beaches on the Jutland coast), maybe that's where the OP got the idea.

First I am flattered that you think my German is strong enough to handle a phone conversation with DB.

They will speak English, and if the first one you speak to doesn't speak it well enough, they will certainly be able to find someone who can.

Or try:
http://www.bahn.com/i/view/GBR/en/home/contact/contact-in-the-uk.shtml
(never used that one myself though)

Neil

Would booking a "extra" 5 year old (who doesn't exist) but has a paid seat/ berth in our 4 berth compartment cause problems with immigration since there could not be a passport for said child as we cross into Denmark.

I can't help but wonder if there's a chance that once they discover the berth is unoccupied they might flog it to someone else.

Neil