Suggestions for expediting disembarkation?

[CathyCruises]

We disembarked Silhouette on 7/27/15 at 8:15 a.m. and it was horrendous. We had a 1:00 p.m. flight to Minneapolis and had purchased Celebrity transfers to Schipol. We barely made it to the gate as boarding had already commenced. Total disorganization on the part of Celebrity and their inept port agents. Dutch security screening was massive yet understaffed at D-1, as only about half the counters were manned. I will not even try to list all of the steps taken to get on board that aircraft! The airport was a complete zoo. It was like several football stadiums full of people pushing and shoving, and in the case of Celebrity staff, yelling at folks trying to get their baggage off one of the mis-stacked trucks, the higher numbers came off first.:( It was total absolute chaos. We will avoid Amsterdam at all costs in the future. BTW, the cruise was very nice, but a really sour and stress-laden way to end it!

 

What a great reason to avoid ship transfers. There's way too much waiting around for me and too many slow people who can disrupt my plans. And the sad thing is for the same or possibly less money you can get a private transfer or a shared one with others on your roll call where you don't have to go through the trauma of big scale transfers.

 

We did an inexpensive package to Alaska on Princess a couple of years ago that included transport to Seattle after docking in Vancouver. We got off the ship and onto the bus at the designated time. Then we sat on the bus for close to an hour before we actually moved. It was hot and stuffy and crowded and miserable. Ugh!!!

Edited July 30, 2015 by CathyCruises

[rlbeck]

What a great reason to avoid ship transfers. There's way too much waiting around for me and too many slow people who can disrupt my plans. And the sad thing is for the same or possibly less money you can get a private transfer or a shared one with others on your roll call where you don't have to go through the trauma of big scale transfers.

 

Ugh!!!

Perhaps private transfers would have helped somewhat. I have my doubts. If you self-disembarked at say, 6:30 a.m., one might have had less of a crowd at Schipol. That would have been six plus hours before our departure. Still, by my count seven passport checks, one body scan and two pat downs, and also have your hand bag opened for inspection would still slowed you down considerably. My understanding is they had a job action by most of their port agent staff. Very horrible working conditions, rain and poor equipment selection for the huge task of moving 2800 passengers off and 2800 passengers on simultaneously with three cube van trucks and coaches. Celebrity staff was pressed into service to do tasks they knew little about or wanted to perform. No direction to our check in as promised. It was ugly! I think getting to the airport 3 hours before flight time should have been enough. Other considerations were bad weather, a youth holiday and at least one other cruise ship in port. In my opinion Amsterdam Cruise Terminal and Schipol Airport are not capable of doing this efficiently. The coach captain said so much to us.

[CathyCruises]

Perhaps private transfers would have helped somewhat. I have my doubts. If you self-disembarked at say, 6:30 a.m., one might have had less of a crowd at Schipol. That would have been six plus hours before our departure. Still, by my count seven passport checks, one body scan and two pat downs, and also have your hand bag opened for inspection would still slowed you down considerably. My understanding is they had a job action by most of their port agent staff. Very horrible working conditions, rain and poor equipment selection for the huge task of moving 2800 passengers off and 2800 passengers on simultaneously with three cube van trucks and coaches. Celebrity staff was pressed into service to do tasks they knew little about or wanted to perform. No direction to our check in as promised. It was ugly! I think getting to the airport 3 hours before flight time should have been enough. Other considerations were bad weather, a youth holiday and at least one other cruise ship in port. In my opinion Amsterdam Cruise Terminal and Schipol Airport are not capable of doing this efficiently. The coach captain said so much to us.

Sounds terrible and I'm so glad we didn't have to fly out! I've never had to undergo that many inspections anywhere! We took the train to Paris a few days later and never even showed our passports til we entered the UK!

[rlbeck]

Sounds terrible and I'm so glad we didn't have to fly out! I've never had to undergo that many inspections anywhere! We took the train to Paris a few days later and never even showed our passports til we entered the UK!

 

Cathy: Good move!:) What I don't get is that with chip passports and being registered with the State Dept in the recent past, no criminal convictions at all, we are TSA pre-check and still additional screening for my wife who was very very fearful she would not make the flight. Not good. We love Europe. Not AMS tho..............

[cle-guy]

Cathy: Good move!:) What I don't get is that with chip passports and being registered with the State Dept in the recent past, no criminal convictions at all, we are TSA pre-check and still additional screening for my wife who was very very fearful she would not make the flight. Not good. We love Europe. Not AMS tho..............

 

They do a lot of random screenings with Pre-check and Global Entry these days, a few months back they started pulling more than they had in the past. Truthfully, who better to do soothing nefarious on a plane than someone with a perfect record who has been pre-vetted, so random screening makes sense to me (well as much sense as the rest of the "theatrics" they presume in security - but I digress).

 

I an Pre-Check and Global Entry, and am almost at 1 million miles with United alone, and got the SSSS boarding passes on my return from Rome this year, but I was kind of expecting it as it was a 1-way ticket in 1st class, and hd the joy of getting the special screening on both rome and Newark while transferring flights. :roll eyes: I love it when they don't trust their co-workers to have done it right the first time.

 

Though on my TA's the last 2 years flying back from UK, had no issue on those 1 way tickets.

[2psoki]

Agreed, those times are the norm. They usually say 10;30 but get everyone off by about 10:00 if they can. However, on our latest cruise, the target was to get everyone off the ship by 9:30. We were in the very last group [ten people with post-cruise hotels book through Celebrity] and disembarked at 9:50.

 

I have never disembarked in Amsterdam but I think that the target time depends on many things: the efficiency of port authorities, how many ships are in port, type of cruise [ours was a repositioning cruise expecting inspection by both US and Canadian authorities], etc.

 

Thank you!

[2psoki]

Yes, you can have breakfast in the buffet, and the main dining room is usually open for a relatively short amount of time. The latest I've ever stayed on board is about 930 but I haven't waited until they actually kick me off!! I think 10 would be the absolute latest.

 

Thank you!

[cle-guy]

Thank you!

 

Generally, breakfast in Buffet ends at 8am, and MDR at 8:30 am on disembarkation. SO early bird gets the breakfast...... Also breakfast is streamlined to the rest of the week in buffet. Room service ends at midnight, so no ordering it for the morning (however in a suite, butlers can usually bring coffee and pastries).

 

Café Al Baccio is open though, to get pastries and coffee.

[tinaperth]

We left the Silhouette June in Amsterdam. We self disembarked & it was very relaxed. We had tinker taxi booked for 8.45, left the ship at 8, just walked off. There is a long walk at the port & escalators but we found it no problems. Met others at the airport & they found Celebrity transfer chaos, luggage arrived at airport an hour after them.

I had read the airport is a nightmare & it was. The taxi took approx 30 mins, but was a weekend. You tell Tinker what time you want to get to the airport & they tell you when you will be picked up. We allowed 3 hours at the airport and just had 15 minutes to spare. Not even time to sit & have a coffee or duty free shopping. Only Bali airport compares for chaos and they were once a dutch colony, interesting?

Never planned to do in advance, just decided last minute to do it & would do again.

[CathyCruises]

Yes, forgot to say that the taxi line was horrendous when we disembarked. As I mentioned it was about 9:30, we must have waited 30-40 minutes to grab a cab. Luckily we weren't in a hurry, but I would have hated to be trying to catch a plane.

 

I must say we really enjoyed Amsterdam though once we got settled into our apartment, their public transportation system should be the envy of the world!

[Grillfish]

Oh boy... I better book a taxi then, might try Tinker. I have a 10:55am flight out of AMS, getting off the Silhouette. If I can disembark the ship by 7am (if they are cleared), I hope that is enough time.

 

I've done self disembarkation many times and will do this again.

[need2cruisesoon]

Oh boy... I better book a taxi then, might try Tinker. I have a 10:55am flight out of AMS, getting off the Silhouette. If I can disembark the ship by 7am (if they are cleared), I hope that is enough time.

 

I've done self disembarkation many times and will do this again.

 

We disembarked last week off the Silhouette and had a 11:40am flight to FCO (inter-European) flight. We had taken the Celebrity transfer as well and were on the bus and off to the airport by 7:30 am.

 

When we arrived at the airport the bobtail truck (#2 truck) had just started to offload all the luggage (groups 70 and 71). The reason for the delay according to the Celebrity rep was that the regular drivers and off loaders had all called in sick (yea..right) however we did retrieve our luggage by 7:45 and went through customs with ease. At the gate by 10:15 with time to spare.

 

If you are flying international back to the states then I would highly recommend a taxi which were plentiful at the pier.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[need2cruisesoon]

Celebrity transfer truck #2 at AMS:

 

Still waiting for luggage:

[Grillfish]

Thanks, N2C. Our flight out of AMS is direct to Atlanta. So I'll plan to do self-debarkation and set up a taxi for pick up at 7:15am (would think the ship is cleared by then). Hope everything goes smooth.

[20pluscruises]

Quickest way is express. You do not leave your luggage outside your room, you keep it and then in the morning queue up to be earliest off the ship carrying all your luggage. Only possible if you travel light.

 

Otherwise will receive a form stating what time you need to be off and then will be allocated a number. When it is called you leave. This is what most people do.

 

If you are traveling in a suite the conceirge will escort you past queues to luggage collection (suite luggage does have priority) and will then escort you to join immigration. This can be a big time saver.

 

Others have reported if you use a porter from luggage collection that will get you through faster.

 

What time is your flight? Schipol is a really big airport. Every time we have been through security has been very busy and has taken quite a lot of time.[/quote

 

FYI...they now limit the number of self walk offs.

[20pluscruises]

Thanks, N2C. Our flight out of AMS is direct to Atlanta. So I'll plan to do self-debarkation and set up a taxi for pick up at 7:15am (would think the ship is cleared by then). Hope everything goes smooth.

 

Make certain yu are on the list...they have started limiting the number of guests for self debarkation

[Grillfish]

Make certain yu are on the list...they have started limiting the number of guests for self debarkation

 

Thanks. How do I get on this "list"? Call Celebrity now or wait until I board?

[Grillfish]

I called Celebrity and they said to talk to guest relations when I get onboard to ensure I have one of the earliest debark times (she even said it might be as early as 6:30am, but we know it all depends).

 

Thanks for everyone's advice. First time on Celebrity so hope it goes well.