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Most cruise ships and hotels say they haven't yet got around to planning their millennium festivities. "We're worried about the cruise business this year, much less 1999," snapped a reservations manager at Princess Cruises in Los Angeles. At Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, bookings are not accepted beyond May 1993, and no thought has been given to fin-de-millenaire entertainment. But don't be discouraged by such myopia; things can change at the mere drop of an inquiry. In 1983 when the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City's Times Square was still under construction, screenwriter Ed Woodyard phoned to book a room for Dec. 31, 1999. A Marriott official divined the potential publicity bonanza in the request and promptly offered Woodyard a complimentary four-room suite. Woodyard was soon immortalized on the Tonight show with perhaps the first millennial joke: Come that day in 1999, Johnny Carson predicted, Woodyard will be kept waiting in the Marriott lobby for 45 minutes because his room isn't ready yet.
Speaking of Times Square, don't rule it out. Rock-'n'-oldster Dick Clark, who will turn 70 in 1999, plans to be on hand, reporting the action for television audiences. "That would be nice," he says. "It would indicate I'm still ambulatory." Tama Starr, president of Artkraft Strauss, the company that has been building and lowering the New Year's Eve ball in Times Square since 1908, promises that the millennium ball will be bigger and brighter and more spectacular than ever. "There will be more strobe lights and maybe a hologram," she says. "Lots of dazzle and flash."
That thought may give you pause, but consider this: you've got seven years to find a date and make yourself presentable. "There is still plenty of time to coordinate your hair with your makeup," soothes fashion designer Dianne Brill. A night owl, Brill is planning the outfit she will wear to usher in the ) year 2000. Her rule of thumb: "Overdress, but be comfy."
One more bit of advice: Relax. However you spend Millennium Eve, you can't really go wrong. After all, humankind has been down this path only once before -- and it's not likely anyone did anything so memorable the first time round. So to recap: You can sit home pondering new names for 20th Century Fox and making earnest millennium resolutions. Or you can plan early, play hard and party late. Whatever you decide, have a nice millennium.