Reservations Berlin - Gdansk. Advice?

For Berlin - Gdansk it´s better to reserve via phone of German Rail (with pick up at a German Ticket machine or Ticket office) or reserve it at a station (DB Reisezentrum [Just the reservation 4€] or NS International[Reservation fee + service fee])

For your second question yes in very rare cases on very busy days :)
If reservation is not compulsory you still can stand on the train. However a train have a limit he can carry and if the train is to full the Trainstaff force Passengers without Reservation and passengers without a seat to leave the train. These cases are very rare.

More likely is that they have not yet decided if that train (there is just 1 through -more with connect in Poznan) will run or not on that day so far away. Corona-workers sick-less demand-etc.

But In PL trains tend to be quite short and if a big group has made some REServation (the local sports group or catholic ladies club) it may mean that there are not many seats left. can happen, is rare.

About ALL IC/ICE trains IN Germany=DB are with voluntary REServation, so you can reserve if you want and are too anxious to maybe have to stand till next stop. Seats are always (nah jah, if the systems work) marked above or on the side for what sector it is reserved-or not. DB is also notorious for late running and missed connections, so many people in the end have to use other trains as REServed for!

But IN PL and also to/fro PL all IC trains must be reserved-free IN PL on stations, brush up your polski-or learn an antique habit: use pen+paper.

Hi Karin,

Did you manage to sort a reservation for Berlin to Gdansk, and if so, how? 

I'm trying to reserve seats for Berlin - Gdansk for end of July (in 5 weeks) and finding the same issues. No reservations possible at the moment.

This is the only leg of my trip I'm having problems with.

Hope you can reassure me!

Thanks,

Helen.

You can call DB. They'll either send it via mail or if that's not possible, you can collect it from a DB ticket machine. Or call NS (no service fee because it's not bookable on the NS website) and have it sent to you via e-mail.

So I've just got back and I can confirm that Berlin to Gdansk was a pain to book. 

Couldn't do online for reasons mentioned above so thought I'd be OK to get from DB machine on arrival in Germany. No tickets left and no answer on the DB phone line.  Stayed in Berlin for 3 nights rather than just the planned 1 - enjoyed our stay but the stress of reserving a seat hung over us.

Found out from talking to a Pole on the Berlin-Poznan train that July/August are always exceptionally busy so difficult to get a seat. On the Poznan-Gdansk train we didn't need a seat reservation - but the aisles were PACKED with standing passengers. But by this time we were just glad to be on a moving train.

Thanks for taking the time to give that report, so few bother to ever come back and help out others as they have been assisted here, it really stands out.