My husband K, daughter J, and I got up with the alarm at 9 am. Since we needed to take turns in the bathroom, I sat down with the American Airlines app at 9:23. One nice thing about the app is that when you go back to it the next day, your previous day's conversations with their people are there. You still have to tell the app what you want and go through some steps with the bot to get to a human, though.
This time, I did not choose "track a delayed bag", but rather "see your bag delivery service". The bot said that I could track it online with the bag tag number and the last name on the reservation. This was not a helpful track and I had to write "My question has not been answered". Cadiesha came on the app and asked for a few moments to review my messages, which told me that the humans could see my previous messages. At 9:37, she wrote that the bag had been loaded on flight 0718 from Philadelphia and she was still checking on info for me. I asked if that meant that when Virginia told me last night that it was in Athens, she was wrong. Cadiesha couldn't confirm that, but only what she had access to when she searched for file info. While she did that, I used my iPad to look up flight 0718.
I wrote to Cadiesha that that flight was going to Rome, where it would arrive late this morning. The bag was not going to reach us today! Cadiesha said that info was not updated in the file. I asked how the bag was going to get to us, because, as she could see from last night's conversation, we sail this afternoon.
The internet dropped out momentarily and I had to log back in at 9:54. I asked where we were with this bag situation. She wrote that she not happy to have to share that she was unable to provide me with an update and she knew it must be extremely frustrating. She apologized and said they appreciated my patience as they worked to reunite me with the bag. She wanted me to check back a bit later today, because their Baggage Service Offices at the airport was closed and she couldn't contact them. (I later figured that no AA flight was going to Athens today and it didn't need to be open on a Sunday.) She said that they were able to send a message to the team about the urgency again. I replied that it was urgent. We'd only been able to find t-shirts for sale yesterday and 2 new t-shirts weren't going to cut it.
I also wrote to tell the team that the entire situation was beyond the pale unacceptable. One of the bags made it, so the second should have, too. When it didn't, it should have been put on the plane to London like those of the people in front of us in the complaint line. Then, it could have been routed here faster. I also noted that there were far too many of us in the complaint line for missing bags and that something must be wrong with the Philadelphia crew.
Cadiesha was really sorry and wished she could do more. She said that they were not happy that this had been my experience with us and that they were continuing to work to reunite me with my belongings.
My reply was that I had to go eat breakfast. I added that she needed to make it clear to whomever that this needed to be fixed fast. I knew she couldn't do it alone and that it is Sunday. I said I'd be praying at Mass on the ship that someone at American cares enough about a long-time AAdvantage member to fix this. I also said that the tracking system needs to be improved, because Virginia gave me false hope last night and it was wrong. (Cadiesha wrote that she was sorry about that last part.) I wished her a good day, but said mine was off to a lousy start. She told me that her fingers were crossed that they'd get the bag to me very soon. She wished me a good night, in spite of my mentions of breakfast and day.
She wanted me to complete the same survey Virginia had requested. Must be automatic. I wrote kindly about her, but not AA.
K and J had long ago gone up to the top floor for breakfast. It was so late that I wondered if anything would actually be left. The restaurant was relatively empty, but K had a seat for me. He'd even gotten me a banana, because he knows that I like them with breakfasts on trips. They are too expensive in the grocery store, so it is a treat to find them on a trip. As you can see from the following photos, I found a lot more.
Besides all the great sweet things, I was happy to find rolls and cold cuts. I learned in Germany long ago how great a breakfast sandwich with German bologna, ham, cheese, and sometimes turkey could be. It is pretty much my go to breakfast in breakfast in Europe. If I can find bircher muesli to be put in yogurt, I like to have that, too. I've even started adding oatmeal, especially in the US. A good breakfast can keep me going, when lunch is delayed. Little did I know how important that attitude would be today. Here's my delicious plate.
Since it had been a while since I contacted AA and there wasn't much else to do for a while, I opened the American Airlines app again around 11:30. Of course, I had to go through all the bot's questions before Caryn came on. She asked for the bag tag number and I forgot that I did have a photo of it and just gave her the case number. While she looked it up, I wrote that Virginia had said it would be delivered to the hotel and we were about to leave for the ship. Cadiesha had said it was on a plane to Rome this morning. Caryn wrote that the last update showed it was offloaded in Rome. I asked where it would go next. I noted that we were to sail at 4. I said that they could get it to the ship if they hurried and that we were in Athens. I asked if anyone was dealing with this.
Caryn wrote that she'd sent a request for me to be contacted with an update by the baggage office and she asked me to confirm my phone number. After I did that, she said I'd be contacted by the baggage office. Again, they wanted the survey filled out and I was in no mood for it.
We continued to sit and wait. We read a little, but also people-watched. Finally, at 12:25pm, we were on bus 2. I watched to make sure our bags got loaded on. They'd be going through screening at the port and would be delivered to our cabins. I checked the Weather Channel app and saw that it was 81 degrees.
It was neither a long nor exciting bus ride. We did see a lovely Greek Orthodox church, which they probably just call Orthodox.
We arrived at the Port of Piraeus at 12:52. I was rather surprised that there was a large tent in front of the ship, rather than a terminal. Are they not used to dealing with cruise ships? Why in the world would you have such a temporary building?
It was warm out there in the sun and it just got warmer. Although it felt later, it was 1:18, when our group was let into the tent. We were out of the sun, but there was no air conditioning. It was warm. There were also no available seats. Holland America employees did give us cups of water several times, but no restroom was in sight.
At 1:31, we scored some seats. I decided to check on the bag again at 1:36. You may be wondering why I was willing to incur roaming charges. I was not. My brilliant daughter J had bought a personal WiFi hotspot and her father and I could log into it. She'd rented it on a couple of previous trips and found it was worth buying.
Anyway, I typed the usual "Where is my bag?" and added that the baggage office had not contacted me. I had to get through the bot's questions, of course. I had to join a virtual line to chat with a team member. It said that I could save time by texting my claim number and lo, I was now first in line. However, a few minutes went by and at 1:45, the bot said I was near the front of the line and to respond if I wanted to connect. Of course I did, but I just typed "yes". Once again, it claimed I was first in line.
At 1:54, Krystal came on and asked for time to review messages. She misspelled my first name but corrected it and asked what she could help with, which seemed to indicate she did not review the messages. I wrote that the bag was offloaded in Rome 2 hours ago and I've heard nothing since.
She wrote back that the only information she had was that it was offloaded in Rome. She was, of course, sorry for the inconvenience. I responded, "So nothing is being done to get it to me". She said I could check via the app for more updates.
I wrote back that I was to hear from the baggage office and "Crickets". I asked her to please find out what was being done and that I was getting fed up. Insanely, she responded that she could send a message to have them load it on a next flight and the bag would be moved by the airport. Why would she not just do it and say she'd done it? It was like she was was asking permission.
I then asked, "Load it to where?" Her response did not make me happy.
"To your final destination."
"Which is what in your records??"
"ATH (Athens, Greece)"
It's a good thing this was not a phone call, because I'm sure I would have nearly screamed, "I am sailing by 5! Possibly, by 4. Why is no one expediting this? I've complained enough. There is no way for me to track it in your system. It keeps saying there is no info. No one contacts me. Do your records have the ship name? I've given it enough." That she did have.
She told me she'd sent an email and that I could check with them for more updates.
I noted that the next port is Santorini tomorrow and asked if the bag was getting to Athens today. She couldn't say. The records still showed it in Rome.
I made it clear that I was incredibly unhappy with AA and that I'd been an AAdvantage member for years. This is no way to treat any customers. She understood and apologized. I was snippy, when she asked if I had any other questions, and replied, "Obviously, there are no answers".
She was sorry for the inconvenience and asked if I was still available to chat. I was, "but what is the point?" So, I got the usual blather about having a nice day.
I decided that Twitter was my next recourse. It worked really well the time Delta had lost my bag. I tweeted at American Air that I could not believe the poor customer service I'd been getting. Philadelphia was unable to put the second of 2 bags on a plane Friday to Athens. They put it on a plane Saturday to Rome where it sits. I finished with: "I sail in hours and have chatted repeatedly in the app. I want my bag!"
I was mad and sweating. There were air conditioners of a sort, but you needed to be in the direct line of air. The machine showed it was 82.5 degrees in there. We tried to read, play games on the phone, whatever. I chatted some with the couple near us with the woman in a wheelchair. Told them about K's missing bag and they were most sympathetic.
K had put his bag on the ground, when we'd moved in front of the air handler. Suddenly, I realized there was water leaking from the machine. His bag was soaked and he had to empty it and spread things out to dry.
The whole bag conversation had been a distraction from the fact that our plans for the day were slipping away with each passing moment in this tent. K and I had prepared for the trip by watching travel videos. We even watched one about embarkation day and one about debarkation, even though this was definitely not our first cruise. However, we did learn something from each of them. For instance, today, we'd planned to see if the dining room was open for lunch, in order to avoid the hordes up on the Lido deck. We were going to roam the ship to make sure we knew where everything was before sailing. We were going to take care of checking into our muster station. All aboard was scheduled for 4. I didn't see how this crowd could make it through in time.
Finally, at 3 pm, we were moved to the next section of the tent. There was a long counter with various people behind it. We were directed to take the seats of the people in front of the counter, when they stood up. In spite of a woman trying to direct people as to which person behind the desk to see, people would bolt up the moment they saw an opening, which meant they were cutting the line. Another group was entering and she told K and me to wait for the next opening. J had already been sent up. While she was dealing with the newbies, a clerk waved to us to come up. The woman saw us move and started yelling at us. I believe, she'd totally forgotten what we looked like. The clerk finally convinced her that we were indeed next.
K got his test done before me and was directed to go over to a large section of seats perpendicular to the ones we'd been in. We had to show our passport and Covid card from the US. The test was simple and painless and I got it at 3:15. When I got over to K, he told me that we were to watch a screen that was not exactly huge for our number that we'd each been given after the test. J eventually decided to come sit with us.
J's number came up first and she went up to show it to a guy stationed between the screen and the door. When he confirmed that her number was indeed on the screen it meant that her test was negative and she could go to the ship. Moments later, at 3:31, our numbers popped up, too, and we were free at 3:32.
Well, not quite. We were directed to an actual building now at the end of the tent. To say it was warm is an understatement. Here, K and I were sent to a desk for passport check, but J had been sent to a facial recognition machine, which did both. K and I were sent to the facial recognition machine, too. We then had to go through security and have our hand luggage scan. The card did not have the cabin number on it for safety reasons. We already knew our cabins, but it was on the envelope holding the keys.
No doubt because of the late hour, there was no fancy welcoming paraphernalia at the gangway of the Nieuw Statendam, but it didn't matter. At 3:42, we were finally on board! And it was nice to hear the gangway folks welcome us home.
We went straight up to deck 4, Beethoven Deck. Since she is alone, J likes to get an interior stateroom. I like it to be near us for ease of doing things. Hers was 4125 and we stopped there first. We found her suitcase on one of the two single beds (she had the cabin steward make them into one bed) and the flowers I'd ordered to celebrate her birthday, which was the day after the cruise. For some reason, there were no balloons, but I got a credit.
K and I went down a short hall, took a left onto another short hall, and then a right at the end of that. Two doors down on the left was Vista Suite 4131, our home for the next two weeks. The bath was just inside the door. We had a sitting area with a sofa across from a desk. Our bed was up near the doors to our veranda. And, there was my suitcase on the bed waiting for me.
Before J went back to her cabin to unpack, the cabin steward that would be serving both our cabins stopped by to introduce himself. K then went off to talk to Guest Relations on Deck 2 about his missing bag. I set about getting unpacked and stowing my bag under the bed.
I saw that American had replied finally to my tweet and asked me to DM the bag number. I sent that and my name as it appeared in their records. When I finished that about 4:15, it was time to go back to the AA app. This time it said there were less than 45 minutes to talk to a team member. I told it I did not want to wait. I did step out, however, to take this photo of the port from the veranda.
Shortly before 5, the three of us headed down to Deck 1(Main Deck) to go to the Hudson Room for Mass. The priest was talking to those who were already there. He really felt that if you are retired there is no reason not to go to daily Mass. I disagree- my water aerobics is during that time and I walk on the other days. He was originally from Malta, it turned out.
The Mass came screeching to a halt at 5:23. The captain came on, introducing himself in a lovely accent as Captain Noel O'Driscoll. He announced that immigration here was the worst on the planet. It was so slow that 12 of his crew could not disembark to fly home. They'd gotten to immigration at 7:30 and were still not processed at 3 pm. They were now going to have to wait until Kotor after having been onboard for 9 to 10 months. He welcomed us aboard. The ship set sail during Mass, and, since that was J's criteria for believing this trip was really happening, it was!
Since I had figured that Mass would be at 5, I made our dinner reservations for 6:30, when I was making all of the reservations before we left. We took some time now to look at the Atrium and then the Shops, hoping to find clothes for K and not really having luck. We did buy him a hat, because we knew he'd need it for tomorrow's excursion.
These photos don't show it well, but the metal you see actually spans three decks and is a piece of art made of stainless steel weighing 7.5 tons. It is called Harps, and was produced and designed by ArtLink, based on a concept by Tihany Design. Cost? $620,000. Evidently, the theme for the ship is entertainment, so the artwork was chosen with the criteria of music and performance. But, a lot is also related to still lifes, fashion, etc. J and I did an artwork scavenger hunt on our cruise 6 years ago and enjoyed it. I'll enjoy discovering the art on this ship, which is valued at over $4 million!
Back at the cabin, we took some time to go out on the veranda and see the sights. This is why I always want a veranda.
We headed back aft for the Dining Room. It turned out that because we were listed as "Open Dining" because our reservation for the ship was so late, we were not going to be eating on this deck. All of our reservations for dinner in the Dining Room would be on the deck below, the Plaza Deck, which also allowed folks with no reservations. So, downstairs we went.
There was a podium with a young woman behind it, which was something new for us. On previous trips, you never saw women in the Dining Room. We'd see them on the Lido Deck, but not here. I guess HAL finally felt they could move away from the maitre d' thing. She called over one of the line of guys behind her and gave him a sort of printed receipt with our assigned table. As we passed the other guys, they all greeted us.
I should have taken a picture of the table presentation, but I am just so used to it. Our waiter, Eka, came right after we were seated and introduced himself and told us his that his assistant was Tan. He presented us with menus and we poured over them while he was gone. I did my usual thing of taking notes on what each of us wanted. I needed a Coke Zero and gladly handed over the $50 drink card that was one of our perks and started working on getting it down to nothing. J did the same for a regular Coke. K chose coffee or iced tea; I'm really not sure which, because he doesn't order soda for dinner. I don't usually, either, preferring iced tea. But, I hadn't had a Coke today and needed it.
For an appetizer, I ordered Crab Seafood Cocktail, after making sure the only other seafood was shrimp. It was pretty good. For a main course, I ordered Pork Medallions with Huckleberry Jam and mashed sweet potatoes underneath, which was excellent. My dessert choice, after consulting with the others was a tasty Almond Chocolate Cake. In fact, there was a lot of consulting, since we planned to split the meals as much as possible.
J chose French Onion Soup, which the rest of us just tasted. It was full of delicious, gooey cheese. Her main course was a rich Beef Short Rib Stroganoff. For dessert, she was the one to order the delicious Lemon Torte with no sugar added. It had a nice Greek design on the back. I have to admit that these wedge desserts are difficult to split 3 ways.
K also ordered Crab Seafood Cocktail, which helped us decide not to split appetizers. His main course offering was one that was not shared with J and me either, because the Corvina Romesco was fish. His dessert choice was one we'd agreed to- a delicious Chocolate Fudge Brownie Cheesecake.
Because we were very hungry and had had no lunch, I also ordered for the table one of my favorites, Buffalo Mozzarella. It's actually the balsamic on the tomatoes that I really enjoy.
Since I'll probably never think to take a picture of the bread/ rolls again, let me post one tonight to cover the trip. All the different ones that were in the bowl on our table were delicious.
It was 7:50 when we finished this delicious start to the food on the cruise. We went up to the Promenade Deck and stepped out on the outside deck, when I noticed color through the window in the door. We were treated to a lovely sunset on the Aegean Sea.
I got a DM from American saying that they saw that I was finally reunited with my bag and they were sorry for any inconvenience. I wrote back that I had not been reunited with it. It took them ten minutes to get back to me and during the 10 minutes that it took them to reply, we stood in line at Guest Relations to ask about the whopping $1680 that had been placed on my credit card and about half that amount on J's. When we reached the front-this was not a short line, we were told it is a hold. We found in our HAL Navigator apps, that K and I each had $550 in onboard credit and J had $440. We figured this was from canceled cruises.
We ran into the couple from the tent as we were leaving the line. They asked about the bag. We explained the charge to them. They had gotten it, too, and were relieved to know why.
Americanair on Twitter wrote back to me that they found the bag was shown as delivered to the hotel. They gave me a website and said to feel free to reach out to their baggage team. I wrote bag asking why it was delivered to the hotel, when I told every single person that I was getting on a cruise ship today and that I was on my way to Santorini. "What is wrong with you people??"
I did go to the site they'd given and it just showed a tracker that it was put on a plane yesterday. Nothing else. "Where is my bag??" No response.
They three of us headed back to the cabins. We discovered that from the end of our portion of hall aft was closed off on both sides. We also found that at least half of that portion of 5 was closed, too.
At our cabin, we planned our alarm time and meeting time for the morning. It would be early. So, we bid J good night.
I, of course, went back to the AA app. I was determined to be such a pain that they had to take care of me to shut me up. At 9:33, I dealt with the good old bot again, before Heidi came on. I told her that the site for me to check the status of my bag said that the case was closed, and yet, I did not have the bag. She apologized for the inconvenience and asked for the bag tag number. She eventually asked me to confirm the destination for the bag. I said it was to go to Athens and that now I was on a cruise ship as I'd warned every other agent. I gave the name of the ship and said it needed to get to the ship, which would be in Santorini tomorrow. I asked if American would transfer the bag to the ship in Santorini. She said she'd send a message to the baggage department and that I could contact them later today for an update. I noted that it was 9:46 pm here and asked how much later. When she said they were open 24 hours, I said I would check back in an hour.
Meanwhile, a full hour and 9 minutes after my last response, American Airlines had DM at 9:37 pm. They said they'd circled back and found a favorable update to my file. The Bag Office in Athens requested the bag be forwarded to their JTR Office and it was set to arrive there at 8:30 pm. (These people never paid attention to what time it was where I was.) Once it arrived, their teammates would "continue to work as best as they can connecting with you directly with further details". I asked how, as I was on a cruise ship on my way to Santorini. No immediate reply. I looked up JTR and found out it was the airport code for Santorini.
I went out on the veranda for air and got this photo:
I did some needlework and played on my iPad for a while in an effort to relax, while K read. But, at 10:56, I went back to the app and did the whole song and dance to get an agent. Danielle came on this time. She was trying to take care of me and another customer at the same time. So, she asked me to tell her what I needed. I told her the case file was closed and that Heidi had told me to check back to see if the bag was indeed in Santorini and if it would be transferred to the ship tomorrow. I gave her the file number, too. At 11:18, she said the last scanned bag was the delivery in Athens and the file had no delivery order attached to it.
This was my response: "This is ridiculous. Over and over I have told each chat person: Virginia, Cadiesha, Caryn, Krystal-that I was getting on a cruise ship today and to get the bag to me. The Twitter responder said the bag was delivered to my hotel, then claimed Santorini, where the ship is going tomorrow. I have be assured over and over that it was coming. We sailed at 6 and no bag was here."
Insanely, she asked where the bag needed to be now, but at least thought to add "Santorini?"
I replied, yes, that it was arriving tomorrow morning and sails again early evening. I said that it needed to get on the ship there. I said that the Twitter agent was now claiming it was set to arrive in Santorini at 8:30 pm and I asked if it did.
She came back at 11:35 and said she could find no new updates on the file that indicated that. She asked if I could get more info from the Twitter agent. Was it retagged? Was there tracking? How was getting to Santorini, like a delivery company?
I told her that the Twitter agent was beyond slow. Danielle said that the baggage tag info said it was offloaded at FCO and then ATH closed the file. There was no more info.
I replied with the last Twitter message:"Our team will contact you directly with further details as the bag will be forwarded to our JTR bag office. We appreciate your patience with us!"
She said that that was possible because their partner airline Iberia flew there.
I asked how there could be no delivery order when I've been such a pain in the neck about this since last night. I'd chatted with all those agents and resorted to Twitter, when I got nowhere with them.
Danielle said that the Twitter agent needed to provide me with some sort of tracking info, if it had been put on a flight to Santorini. She was trying to get info out of Athens and Rome. Meanwhile, the Twitter agent was not responding.
She finally saw an update that said it was sent to JTR via FCO on flight 3350. This was my response:
I replied that that better have been Sunday night, because the last tender is 4:30. So, we probably sail at 5 pm Monday. If it meant 8:30 pm Monday, I would be furious.
She assured me that it was today and wrote out the update that included the date and that it was per agent request.
These were our last two messages with anything other than that the conversation was over:
I was worn out. When I went in to get washed up for bed, I was reminded that my toiletries bag was in that suitcase, too. I'd given it to K, because my bag seemed heavy. At least I'd kept toothbrush and toothpaste, comb, brush and deodorant in my carry on.
I checked the phone. I'd walked 3,689 steps for a total of 1.2 miles and climbed 1 floor.
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