Schiphol to cruise port - luggage problem
 

We are arriving early AM at Schiphol and need to get to the port. We wanted to drop off our luggage and then see a couple of museums. Problem: Holland America will not accept our luggage early in the day. There are lockers but we will be getting there just as the prior ship disembarks.

Alternative: Can someone recommend a reasonable tour / taxi service for a couple of sightseeing hours tour?

Thanks

How about at Amsterdam Centraal? http://www.ns.nl/en/travellers/about...at-the-station

Thank you Greg

The link is clear but it says that I can pay by Pin, Chip or Maestro. What are those? Won't the machine take a euro coin?

Thanks

It sounds all credit card variations to me.

No, debit cards only. Sorry to disappoint.

Edit: maestro may work with your credit card. pin and chip are dutch national debit cards

Amsterdam also accepts credit cards, but I don't know if they have to be chip and pin.
Your own debit card (not ATM only card) should work if you have a four figure PIN for it and it has a Maestro or Mastercard symbol. Can't guarantee that though.

I think you need to try and grab a locker at the port, despite the crowd disembarking.
I wouldn't want to leave my luggage in a tour bus whilst in a museum for instance. Different if you are on a bus tour to start with, but not for one aimed at day tourists. I'm not even sure they would have the room for it.
A taxi tour would be a ridiculously expensive option imho.

"chip and pin" -- generic definition of credit or ATM cards that carry a microchip and work with a Personal Identity Number rather than a signature. Most still have a magnetic strip to swipe but there are some places in the Netherlands, such as for train tickets at Schiphol, where the swipe no longer is available. Americans regularly post discussions of chip-and-pin on this forum.
Maestro -- European brand name equivalent to MasterCard.

Southam - in this case Chip and PIN are two different things - Dutch bank cards have had a chip on them for a long time and it it is possible to load money to that chip, and use it to pay small amounts in shops and machine. That is the chip they are referring to. PIN is paying using your debit card. Maestro is for international travellers who have that on their debit card.

All debit transactions in shops now use chip only technology, and a good many places no longer have the means to swipe a card, debit or credit. This is to become the norm throughout the EU.

I am not sure how the luggage lockers at Amsterdam CS work though, never had need to use them, they may still allow swiping for foreigners.

On the NS site it says:

At the 4 major stations (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht) you can also pay by VISA and Mastercard credit cards.

Report of magnetic swipe card working at Centraal: http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/h...fm?topic=83981

Yes, but don't count on it.

So, is there a place at Amsterdam Centraal Station or Schiphol to buy a debit card with the chip? I'd hate to take the hence that the machine no longer takes a swiped credit card.

The hence = the chance.

No, you won't be able to "buy a debit card".

PIN, as said earlier, is a debit card with an electronic chip and a 4-digit pincode. It is issued by a bank.

CHIP basically is an electronic wallet. CHIP usually is located on the same debit-cards that provide PIN, but works like a prepaid card. Since it can be updated through banking machines that are tied to a bank-account, you can't get a CHIPcard either.

Maestro is just a payment transaction system. If your debit-card shows the Maestro mark (connecting blue and red balls with the word "Maestro" in it) you can use the card to withdraw money in ATM's, pay with etc. in countries that support Maestro. You may be able to get a Maestro card from your local bank, check with them for details.

Martin,

There are chip and pin credit/debit cards now available to Americans I believe. Find a bank or credit union nearby who offer them and open an account with enough to cover sundries like the lockers while in Europe.

ATM machines can still work with magnetic strips unless these are also disappearing in the Netherlands...

A few years ago in Haarlem I had a problem with the luggage lock boxes. They would only accept C+P bank cards. I stopped a local passerby and explained my problem. He used his C+P card in my locker and I paid the fellow in cash.

The luggage lockers in the Amsterdam station are very busy. I have found them completely full at times.