Currently on Getaway and noticed things missing from our suitcase

I have been following this thread and want to say something. I doubt if many people who are on a cruise are thinking about doing something to help others. Regardless of how the glasses went missing (and I would not even think to question the OP's integrity), I feel for the people who never got them-the patients. Roatan is such a poor country. OP-Thank you and your children for trying to make this world a better place: something we should all strive to do.

Well the problem with that is the ONLY time bags are searched is in the naughty room in the presence of the guest. You wouldn't need a camera since the guest would be an eyewitness.

Just a thought,

I think you said that it was only a new pairs that had gone missing.

If this was the case is it possible that they were removed because they contravened some export laws and were removed in the port?

 

Although I must say that when on the 2 occasions my bags have been opened by airport staff there has been a note in there saying so.

 

Hope it gets sorted

Yes only new ones were missing. But if they were violating some sort of customs law, then why not remove all of them? And wouldn't they leave some sort of note behind? My guess would be that they were in fact stolen, on purpose, and that whoever stole them, figured we had so many pairs in there that we would not notice if 20-40 prs went 'missing.' The only problem with that line of thinking is that we filled all of the plastic bags to the brim and there was no room for anymore in there. As a result, it would be very easy us to notice when a once full bag was now missing a 1/3 or more of its contents.

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The screening done in the terminal is for dangerous items that must not be loaded onto the ship. If they suspect that they might have detected something like that in your bag, you'd better hope they open it up to check, because the alternative is that the ship leaves without your bag. They don't just put a note on it saying "dear ship, this one might contain a bomb, we recommend you check with the passenger once the ship is underway".

That screening is all done via xray. If a dangerous item is suspected the CBP will escort the guest off of the ship to be present for the inspection.

In any case, bags suspected of containing dangerous materials are not passed to the ship with a liquor sticker attached. I also don't believe that the OP ever indicated that the bags contained anything that resembled a dangerous item.

We are currently on a vision conference on the Getaway and we brought hundreds of pairs of gently used eyeglasses with us to donate to the Clinica Esperanza in Roatan, Honduras, one of our port stops. Sadly, about 20-40 pairs of reading glasses that our kids collected, never made it to the clinic because they were stolen. Curiously enough, when our luggage was delivered to our room the first day, the one containing the eyeglasses had a red liquor sticker attached to it. Ironically we aren't big drinkers and never bring alcohol on board with us, and this time was no exception. We reported it to desk services and the security officer sadly spent more time trying to pass off blame to everyone but the Getaway staff, rather than trying to locate the stolen eyeglasses. As of today still no word from him, but on a brighter note the staff at the clinic was thrilled to receive our kids donation. Look, I'm not one to complain, and maybe those that stole the eyeglasses needed them more than the poor people at the clinic, but the way this whole thing was handled by NCL leaves a really sour taste in my mouth. Really reconsidering our loyalty to NCL and feeling very violated.

Its a shame about the glasses. Just wanted to say Kudos to you and your group! Job well done! (y)

I have been following this thread and want to say something. I doubt if many people who are on a cruise are thinking about doing something to help others. Regardless of how the glasses went missing (and I would not even think to question the OP's integrity), I feel for the people who never got them-the patients. Roatan is such a poor country. OP-Thank you and your children for trying to make this world a better place: something we should all strive to do.

Thank you and the kids and we were really pretty upset that some of them did not make it to the intended recipients.

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First of all, I just want to say kudos to you and your family for helping out those of us who are not as fortunate.

 

While I understand that you only want the glasses back, and are not planning to pursue an insurance claim - perhaps you might reconsider that.

 

That may be the only way for NCL to actually investigate what happened, and to spend a little time viewing security cameras and/or interviewing their security personnel who may have been involved in handling your bag.

 

Whatever you do, I wish you and your family a wonderful cruise :)

Even if OP had NCL insurance (cause a third party carrier won't care), the insurance aspect will be so far removed from the ship's operations; it won't have any effect.

I guarantee you that if NCL is responsible for the security screenings they are investigating this internally. A similar instance came up on a celebrity board. Someone's child left a bag somewhere on the ship with a game player and games. When they went to the lost and found the bag was there but not the games. Security took the report but didn't give them any indication that anything would happen. Person reported it on here and wild accusations were thrown about the passengers and crew. By the end of the cruise security had found the thief and returned the games to the OP. NCL isn't ever going to admit liability until they find out they are responsible (and still prob won't), but they will want to find and fire a thief if they have one.

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Thank you and the kids and we were really pretty upset that some of them did not make it to the intended recipients.

 

 

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It's a sad lesson that the kids had to learn unfortunately.

It's a sad lesson that the kids had to learn unfortunately.

It sure was, but they also learned a lesson on kindness on the part of some posters here (like yourself) and speaking up for what is right.

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OP- you said in one post that there were personal things also in the suitcase. Was it still there or moved around?

All of the personal items were still there but things appeared to have been moved around or shifted. This could have been just from luggage being tossed around or from someone actually moving it, of that we will never know.

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We are currently on a vision conference on the Getaway and we brought hundreds of pairs of gently used eyeglasses with us to donate to the Clinica Esperanza in Roatan, Honduras, one of our port stops. Sadly, about 20-40 pairs of reading glasses that our kids collected, never made it to the clinic because they were stolen. Curiously enough, when our luggage was delivered to our room the first day, the one containing the eyeglasses had a red liquor sticker attached to it. Ironically we aren't big drinkers and never bring alcohol on board with us, and this time was no exception. We reported it to desk services and the security officer sadly spent more time trying to pass off blame to everyone but the Getaway staff, rather than trying to locate the stolen eyeglasses. As of today still no word from him, but on a brighter note the staff at the clinic was thrilled to receive our kids donation. Look, I'm not one to complain, and maybe those that stole the eyeglasses needed them more than the poor people at the clinic, but the way this whole thing was handled by NCL leaves a really sour taste in my mouth. Really reconsidering our loyalty to NCL and feeling very violated.

That's a shame. I'm really sorry to hear that.

Maybe the glasses were removed from the suitcase during a search and got misplaced and were not put back in the suitcase properly. For you to come on these boards and accuse an NCL employee of stealing your glasses is ludicrous.

 

 

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During a search where?? Porters do not search the luggage. :rolleyes:

I don't know why everyone is giving the OP a hard time for explaining his/her story. I think it's important that we all know things like this can happen. The way I see it, the only people who could have taken them were the porters or an NCL crew member. It wouldn't be the first time something like this happened. Yes, NCL crew is amazing. Yes, they are great people who I've developed close relationships with. The crew is a big reason why I look forward to my cruises. But it's not out of the realm of possibility that one crew member stole these glasses. If this is true, one bad egg doesn't ruin the carton. Nowhere did I see the OP criticize or blame all of NCL crew. The OP simply wanted to share his/her experience and hope to get to the bottom of this.

 

And for those who say there is no evidence, the OP explained the liquor sticker several times. He/she may be wrong but it is one piece of evidence that is pointing him/her to the crew, and I don't think that's at all a bizarre and too far-fetched claim to make.

 

And if it wasn't a crew member and it was a porter, then this is still an appropriate place to post this story. Regardless whether the glasses were stolen or fell out after a search of the OP's bag and regardless of whether a porter or a crew member was involved, doesn't take away that the OP missed out on significant part of his/her vacation. Whether it was theft or an accident, it shouldn't have happened and someone is at fault for it. Period.

Everyone isn't giving the OP a hard time. Most posters are trying to help or at least be encouraging. And, I believe, only one person has been calling out for evidence of theft and that was responded to exceptionally well by the poster who said the evidence is clear--the glasses were there and then they weren't. :D

I don't know why everyone is giving the OP a hard time for explaining his/her story. I think it's important that we all know things like this can happen. The way I see it, the only people who could have taken them were the porters or an NCL crew member. It wouldn't be the first time something like this happened. Yes, NCL crew is amazing. Yes, they are great people who I've developed close relationships with. The crew is a big reason why I look forward to my cruises. But it's not out of the realm of possibility that one crew member stole these glasses. If this is true, one bad egg doesn't ruin the carton. Nowhere did I see the OP criticize or blame all of NCL crew. The OP simply wanted to share his/her experience and hope to get to the bottom of this.

 

And for those who say there is no evidence, the OP explained the liquor sticker several times. He/she may be wrong but it is one piece of evidence that is pointing him/her to the crew, and I don't think that's at all a bizarre and too far-fetched claim to make.

 

And if it wasn't a crew member and it was a porter, then this is still an appropriate place to post this story. Regardless whether the glasses were stolen or fell out after a search of the OP's bag and regardless of whether a porter or a crew member was involved, doesn't take away that the OP missed out on significant part of his/her vacation. Whether it was theft or an accident, it shouldn't have happened and someone is at fault for it. Period.

I agree and knowing me, I would not stop until I got to the bottom of it even if I had to go to the "top"! It is certainly a mystery!

Yes only new ones were missing. But if they were violating some sort of customs law, then why not remove all of them? And wouldn't they leave some sort of note behind? My guess would be that they were in fact stolen, on purpose, and that whoever stole them, figured we had so many pairs in there that we would not notice if 20-40 prs went 'missing.' The only problem with that line of thinking is that we filled all of the plastic bags to the brim and there was no room for anymore in there. As a result, it would be very easy us to notice when a once full bag was now missing a 1/3 or more of its contents.

 

 

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You said that the new ones still had tags on.Perhaps they only took the new ones with tags on as they thought they were for resale and as the cruise was heading for Honduras, which I think is a british colony/dependancy, and they may have broken some sort of trade treaty. I don't know how or if luggage leaving the USA is screened in this way but I'm sure someone on here will. This is just my guess, but lets face it thats what we're all doing, guessing. Anyway hope it all works out for you.

Sorry for your loss, OP, but is there a reason that the case was not locked before handing it over at the pier?

While I cannot say for certain the process is the same at every embarkation port I do know from discussing with a security officer that the standard process is that the curbside porters (who work the port not the cruise lines) collect baggage and take it for initial screen via scanner. These are VERY LARGE scanners (not the small ones you find in the airport) and at the initial scan anything that turns up as questionable is pulled and tagged (i.e. with a red "liquor" tag) for a further scan more detailed scan. If this second scan reveals questionable contents, the offending bag is then dealt with through a set of procedures depending on the severity of the contravention (like naughty room for liquids / clothes irons / etc). There are clearly procedures for more serious issues but I didn't get in to that with the security officer. The point is that this is not like the TSA in the US where they can open and inspect bags absent the owner at the discretion of the individual officer.

Given the bag was flagged at the initial screen with a red "liquor" tag (again doesn't necessarily mean there is liquor or liquids - it's simply a flag for a further scan) BUT was delivered to the stateroom directly without the OP having to make a trip to the "naughty room" the bag should never have been opened at any point for an inspection. So, unless it is your wont to question the integrity of the OP it is safe to assume someone from either the port staff or NCL staff opened the bag in contravention of policy and without the consent and/or presence of the owner. It is further clear that specific bags of items inside the suitcase were removed while others were not. If this was a case of the bags of glasses falling out during a procedure-breaking search, that clearly would have been noticed and the items would have been catalogued so that when the OP went to NCL staff for help it would't have taken long to get to the bottom of the situation.

For those of you criticizing the OP for using the word "steal" to describe what has happened I'm at a loss as to why. If you cannot believe that in any group of over 1000+ people (port staff, NCL staff, other passengers, etc) that some of that pool of people are not dishonest, respectfully, you're living a very naive existence. There are really good people, there are truly evil people and then there is that vast majority that live in the wide expanse we call the middle.

Sorry for your loss, OP, but is there a reason that the case was not locked before handing it over at the pier?

The case was locked

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The case was locked

 

 

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Sorry for your loss, OP, but is there a reason that the case was not locked before handing it over at the pier?

OP said there were TSA locks on the luggage at all times.

I'm sure karma will sort everything out in the end, it always does.

 

 

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^^This^^ wishing you all the best :)

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OP said there were TSA locks on the luggage at all times.

Missed it! Time for new glasses. :rolleyes:

Missed it! Time for new glasses. :rolleyes:

Rumor has it an NCL employee is selling eye glasses on the cheap outside of the cruise terminal!

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That screening is all done via xray. If a dangerous item is suspected the CBP will escort the guest off of the ship to be present for the inspection.

 

In any case, bags suspected of containing dangerous materials are not passed to the ship with a liquor sticker attached. I also don't believe that the OP ever indicated that the bags contained anything that resembled a dangerous item.

For what it’s worth I have to say from experience that this is not the case. I do not know what the standard policy is, but in one instance on NCL we had one of our bags opened and searched before it got on the ship and without us present. We sometimes take a Sea Scooter on vacation with us and to the untrained eye it looks a lot like a bomb on an x-ray scanner. On this particular cruise the bag that it was in arrived with all the others like normal but it did have part of a red sticky tag on it around the handle; I don’t think it had any writing on it though. The bag was locked and looked fine on the outside but when I opened it I could see that it had been opened and the scooter had been disassembled (the internal battery was taken out and completely removed and then placed separately in the bag). It was a strange enough occurrence that I went to guest services to mention it and then got to talk with deputy security officer on-board who genuinely had no idea what I was talking about. Needless to say, they looked into it and later that day he got back to me and confirmed that the bag was searched at port for the above reasons. They definitely opened our bag somehow but I did not get into the details with the security officer. We did have a TSA approved lock and the bag was delivered to our room locked and undamaged so maybe someone at port had a key or was good at covert entry.

For the record, I totally understand why it happened and do not fault security officials at port or NCL at all, we now carry on our scooter when we take it BTW. To me, it sounds like there is a good probability that the OP’s glasses were stolen. While it is possible that they were misplaced I think that in this case the evidence points more strongly to theft by someone after the time that the bag had been flagged by security for secondary inspection. I hope the OP gets a response from NCL security and finds out what actually happened.

Shoompea, sorry about the loss of your glasses. But don't you think it is time to move on and enjoy your cruise with your family?