We were on the Rhine, Swiss Alps, and Amsterdam river cruise in late Aug/early September. This is the first time that we added extra nights at the end of the trip. Maybe this is normal; however, I found it to be a missed opportunity by Tauck.
Two days before the river cruise ended, the Cruise Director met with everyone to discuss the departure procedures and announced that 54 people out of the 120 people on the cruise were spending extra days in Amsterdam at the Pulitzer. At 9:00 a.m. on departure day, three buses transported the 54 people to the Pulitzer. When we arrived at the Pulitzer, it was chaos. The hotel had three people handling check-ins, a very slow process that includes checking each person’s passport. One of the tour directors arrived and looked stunned. She found an area where people could sit so only one person for each room had to stand in line. It took well over an hour to check everyone in.
Another Tauck group that had spent the night at the Pulitzer before boarding the river boat in the afternoon for the start of their cruise. Their luggage was pulled early so that their luggage could go on the truck that had bought our luggage to the Pulitzer. They also had checked out of their rooms early even though the Tauck transport service was not picking them up until 2:30 p.m.
The Pulitzer declined to provide an estimate about when our rooms would be ready. By lunch time, we were told that our room was on a priority list. We had tickets to the Anne Frank house at 3:00 p.m. We checked again around 1:00 p.m. and again at 2:15 p.m. and we were told that the room was ready but needed to be inspected. At 4:00, while on the tour, we received a text that our room was ready. The Pulitzer check-in time is 3:00 p.m. and they had no intention of providing early access to the rooms.
Is this a typical situation when staying extra days? Could a Pulitzer staff member have boarded the river boat on the final night of the cruise and registered the 54 people and let everyone know that there would be no early check-ins? Could Tauck have offered an activity in the morning rather than leaving two tour groups in the lobby of the Pulitzer? Would it be smarter to avoid the Tauck recommended hotel when staying extra days?
