As a counterpoint to all of this, we heard a couple of days into the cruise that more than 25 families never got their luggage from the airport. These people presumably flew in the day of embarkation. Some (but not all) had their luggage shipped to them at the first port of call two days later in Oslo. Some got it later than that. It's possible some never saw their luggage at all. (What a mess!) We heard there were a lot of upset people.
When we transited the North Sea Canal (see below), and while the Millenniumwas at rest in the lock, they ran a gangway across to the top of the lock. A delivery van pulled up and porters ran out to retrieve more luggage that had been sent by land from Amsterdam.
This event took place two hours after we had already sailed away (almost an hour late) from Amsterdam.
We later heard stories that a significant number of people "missed the boat" and didn't board in Amsterdam. Most of these poor folks eventually caught up in Oslo, 2 days later. Whether their baggage was with them, I cannot say.
On the final day of the cruise we heard about a poor soul who NEVER got her luggage. Naturally, since Celebrity didn't lose it, any replacement stuff she had to buy was at her own expense. If she bought replacement clothing in the shipboard shops, it would have cost her a bundle since none of their merchandise is anything that one would think of as low-cost.
It doesn't seem to us that that this was a Millenniumproblem but more of an airline problem. Supposedly there were storms in the US east coast gateways just before we sailed and many flight connections were missed. Here were people flying in the airlines' busiest season, a record number of people heading for Europe, and hoping for a precision connection for themselves and their baggage to make it to the ship on time.
If I dispense no other advice in this review it is to arrive at the embarkation point one or more days early, recover from jet lag, assure that you have all your baggage, and get ready for the main part of the vacation which is the cruise itself. Couple that with a very nice and interesting travel destination like Amsterdam, and it becomes a real plus.
If you can't afford the time and/or the expense of the extra day before embarkation, in my opinion you should be taking another kind of vacation.
There is a misconception that the cruise line will hold up departure of the ship if passengers who booked their air arrangements with the cruise line are late. This is simply not true. Oh, they may wait a half hour or possibly even an hour, but more than that….not bloody likely. There is a lot of invested money and a lot of passengers out there just waiting to go.
Amsterdam:
Schipol Airport (pronounced Skip'ole) is one of the models for the new notion of airports-as-shopping-malls. It was one of the first airports in the world to be built this way, and many have since copied the concept. You can spend quite a bit of time there shopping.
Conde Nast magazine once reported that as duty-free shops are concerned, Schipol is one of the few airports that offers true savings.
We like to obtain local cash…guilders in this case…from an ATM machine. This gives the most favorable exchange rate. Schipol has ATMs all over the place. There is even a machine in the baggage pickup area. I got my cash while waiting for our baggage to arrive.
Getting through the airport and out into a taxi was quick and painless. The cab fare to our hotel, the Amsterdam Hilton, was $25 with tip, cheaper for two than messing around with a bus.
We had made arrangements to stay at the Hilton on both legs of our visit to Amsterdam. This is a very fine hotel located in an upscale residential neighborhood just south of the central part of the city. We got a very good rate using our Hilton Honors membership.
Like elsewhere in Europe this year, the dollar is very strong, and buys a lot in Holland. Most things are dramatically less expensive than we recall from only two years ago. The hotel is forty years old but was completely renovated in 1999. I would recommend it. The rooms were very spacious, modern and relatively inexpensive.
We like to communicate back home via email using our notebook computer when we travel in Europe and elsewhere. Earthlink, our ISP, has a local dial-up number in Amsterdam.
Page 3 > > More of the Baltic Cruise review on the Celebrity Millennium > >
