DocJohnB

Purple Traveller - I did indeed "beat myself up", until I (with the input from fellow cruisers) realized that it could have been so much worse and the only thing hurt was my pride. I did enjoy the cruise both before and after the 'incident'.

Now, I have no one but myself to blame, but my wallet was lifted in Lisbon and I am suffering the throes of replacing its content. My story: I am 81 years old, have 50+ cruises under my belt plus about 4 years "cruising" with the U.S. Navy and never in all that time have I suffered the loss of anything due to a pickpocket. Never that is until our stop in Lisbon while on the Sky Princess. The ship warned its passengers of the danger of these cretins, especially in crowds. Normally, I only take one credit card, some local currency and U.S. currency, and a driver's license in my wallet which I always store in a front pocket of my trousers. The rest is left in the locked safe in the stateroom. Well, not this day when I went out with a fully loaded wallet and some cash. Fortunately my passport and some U.S. currency were left behind. A small group of us went off the ship and had some good Portugese food. The ladies in the group wanted to "buy" some souveniers so we went into a nearby shop. The other gentleman in our small group said, "I'm not sure if I have enough Euro's to cover what she bought. I told him not to worry, I still had some Euro's and pulled the Euro's out of my wallet and placed them in my front pocket - but this is where I think I got careless and through force of habit (I think) I placed the wallet in my back pocket. We almost immediately headed back to the ship, but within 5 minutes, I realized my wallet was gone. After searching the shop and where we ate with no luck, we immediately headed back to the ship and I went straight to the internet cafe and "froze my credit and debit cards". Without going through a lot of posts where I am sure this subject has been beat to death, I posted this to show no matter how experienced a traveller one is, one has to be aware of their surroundings AT ALL TIMES. I have now shut down all 3 accounts and have received a new debit card. The credit cards will take a bit longer. I still have to go through the process of getting a new military retiree card, a new VA medical eligibility card, etc. I think of all the feelings I have expressed 2 stand out. The first is how PO'd I am at my own carelessness and stupidity. 2. The utter contempt I have for the cretins who earn their livings through theft.