Be Careful When Doing Your Own Excursions and Local Travel

[Sthrngary]

Those that read my post know, I do excessive research prior to purchasing almost anything.  Even with that, mistakes can be made. I am taking my Adult Daughter to Europe end of April 2024.  We are no cruising.  I thought because our recent Oceania Riviera Mediterranean Cruise went so well, I was somewhat of an expert on doing your own excursions.  I was wrong.  So I will share an experience I just had with you and maybe it will avoid what happened to me.

 

The last thing I had to book was a High Speed Bullet train from Rome to Venice.  I did my normal Google search and found a site called HighSpeedTrains.com also part of Rail Ninja.  The website looked and worked normally.  I booked the train, realized a day later that the train was 260 Euros or $265 US, with a $120 service fee.  I could have just booked with the train brand for the $265.  I attempted to cancel and the service fee was non-refundable.  

 

This was my fault, I got lazy.  My advise is don't get lazy.  It is not a lot of money but I feel silly.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

[Tranquility Base]

5 minutes ago, Sthrngary said:

I could have just booked with the train brand for the $265. 

Thank you for you honesty in your post.

What was the website you should have used please ?

[MEFIowa]

A key lesson there is that for local PUBLIC transportation, try to find the official website for the actual public body. We had no problem taking the train from Venice to Trieste on 10/30/23 or using the Venice Pass for public transportation in and around Venice (Vaporetto and bus from Marco Polo Intl to Venice). That train ride cost us just E15.50 PP one way. On time. On schedule.

 

Now we're doing the same in London, Copenhagen and Stockholm for our 22-night Baltic cruise in 2024.

 

We had a blast during our 4 days in Istanbul last November off Riviera using their public transportation card. Just load it up at the kiosk and use. 15 TL or about 54 cents at the time to take the bus or metro. There is a metro station just outside of Galata Port. Took the #38 bus out 4 miles to see the old walls of Constantinople and mostly walk back. Talked to a man who paid $100 by taxi to do it. We paid 60 TL total to get out and back, a bit over $2 total for us both.

[Sthrngary]

4 minutes ago, Tranquility Base said:

Thank you for you honesty in your post.

What was the website you should have used please ?

@Tranquility Base I should have used Italo, italian high-speed train | Book no service fee | italotreno.it .  My mistake.  I am humbled.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[daydreamer62]

I used trenitalia https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html for all Italian train bookings. Direct with the supplier rather than with any booking service though many will suggest Trainline as being a good option, I found booking direct also means you get advanced notice of strikes (of which there have been entry year  we have been there)

Edited February 26 by daydreamer62

[Langoustine]

The other option is trenitalia.com; there is an English option.

[alserrod]

There's another option

 

thetrainline.com compares different prices in railway in Europe (in several countries). AFAIK, price is the same than in official webs.

[cruisemom42]

This is one of those things that is frequently advised here on the Italy ports of call forum, where your post was moved. IMO, not enough people take advantage of these forums on CC. The Italy one has a handful of dedicated people who have a lot of collective travel experience in Italy. I'm sure other forums do as well.

 

Always book with the carrier. Italo and Trenitalia are the two train systems and both have high speed trains. Its always good to check both as sometimes there are special fares. As with many things, it's cheaper if you book in advance but you need to be sure of your time and routing as most times the tickets are not refundable or transferable to a different train/time.

 

[chipmaster]

Good advice, we recently completed a 15 day viking and booked many attraction tickets directly.  When you do a search what comes up at the top is ALWAYS commercial sites that cost more.   

 

As noted all companies and attractions have their own site and they are always cheapest.   

 

We did find we had to use a reseller a few times for show tickets, museum as the time we wanted were sold out.  We worried a bit about if they were selling counterfeit but in our case was all good, YMMV.   

[Sthrngary]

Conclusion of this situation for those still reading.  The company in question name is HighSpeedTrains.com also part of Rail Ninja.  I put in a dispute with my Chase Visa.  I spoke to a Chase Visa dispute expert and was told I have no case.  The fees show on the website to be non-refundable.  I missed this and it ended up being a $88.00 lesson which is more or an embarrassment then financial loss.  

 

Be careful when you book train/excursions online.  Read the fine print before you buy.  Use a credit care that really protects you like an American Express Platinum card.  I should have know it was an issue when the site did not take AMX.  

 

I am not in anyway upset with HighSpeedTrains.com also part of Rail Ninja.  I should send them a thank you note for educating me.  Best $88.00 I ever spent on education.  Learn from my mistake.  If I thought I was wronged instead of realizing I was lazy not to read carefully, I would have fought to the end.  In this case, I was WRONG.  Humbling but true.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[swixpat]

There is a website run by a British man known as "The man in Seat 61" with train information and updated links to train companies worldwide. It's an excellent starting point for any train journey you want to make. I have used his information in South Korea and in different European countries. www.seat61.com

[cruisemom42]

11 minutes ago, swixpat said:

There is a website run by a British man known as "The man in Seat 61" with train information and updated links to train companies worldwide. It's an excellent starting point for any train journey you want to make. I have used his information in South Korea and in different European countries. www.seat61.com

 

This site is one of the best sites for train info around the world, I agree. But still would recommend buying directly from the individual vendors "in country".

 

[swixpat]

49 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

This site is one of the best sites for train info around the world, I agree. But still would recommend buying directly from the individual vendors "in country".

 

He links you to the train service providers directly. And importantly for many, to the English pages where they exist

[karatemom2]

Thank you for sharing this. This is an excellent warning in general. The way internet searches work these days, often sponsored sites will come up first at the top of the list. Many of these sites look like and portray that they are the actual site of the vendor for which you are searching. It is a common bait and switch tactic and unfortunately specifically designed to confuse people.

 

We fell for one of these when pre-purchasing our tickets for Sagrada Familia and then had a very difficult time getting them to send the accepted entry ticket - they sent only a pdf file which was not accepted at the entrance. It took me calling from the location and demanding the correct ticket be sent ASAP as we were about to lose our booked entry window. There were three other people there who had purchased through the same "vendor" similarly struggling and I don't know if they ever got in. It was stressful and not at all the way I wanted to go into a much anticipated attraction - plus I realized we had paid much more than we should have.

 

Lesson learned!! Always scroll down and make sure you are going to the actual real vendor or attraction.

[euro cruiser]

The folks who post here and on Trip Advisor are generally very helpful and knowledgeable, so if you're in doubt about the actual service provider, just make a post and ask.  Someone will send you to the official site.